Sustainable Carolina is proud to unveil our new Climate Resilience webpage. On this page, you can learn about the Climate Resilience Committee’s mission and goals. We will also share the group’s projects and progress on this page.
Origin of the Climate Resilience Committee
The Committee held its first meeting in April 2024. The group grew out of the Carolina Sustainability Council, conversations with UNC Institutional Integrity and Risk Management, and the realization that we need to take action on climate hazards that could affect campus.
“The early vision around the Campus Resilience Committee came from thinking about environmental resilience — today’s conditions and future conditions with climate change,” said Piehler. “The group will constrain the risks our University distinctly faces and think about who within our community would be good to connect with in order to build out a group of people concerned about impacts.”
Ileana Fenwick, a doctoral student in the Department of Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences, led the discussion during the first meeting. She first outlined the goals of the group. The goals include identifying risks campus may face due to environmental change, presenting possible strategies to mitigate those risks and to combining campus leadership across disciplines and levels to implement strategies.
One major task of the group is identifying our risks. This will be accomplished by first completing an environmental scan of potential threats. Then, the group will look at what segments of campus are most at risk. Finally, the group will reach out to potential partners and foster partnerships with local governments, businesses, nonprofits and institutions of higher education.
During the first meeting, faculty, staff and students hit the ground running. The group talked about pesticide use, phantom energy, urban heat, water use and runoff, air quality and more. These initial discussions created solid foundation for the work the group will accomplish during the 2024-2025 year.
“As a student in earth, marine and environmental science, resilience and climate change is something we think about often,” said Fenwick. “I’m excited to bring that lens to the campus community as we think about the future of our campus.”
Visit the new Climate Resilience webpage, located in the campus engagement section of our website.
