SECTIONS BELOW
Our Mission and Vision
Our Team
History
Our Mission and Vision
DACL exists because there is a global climate crisis which threatens all aspects of human civilization and the natural world. Science shows that for the world to avoid the catastrophic and irreversible climate impacts, greenhouse gas pollution from all sources must urgently be reduced, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least fifty percent within a decade.
DACL exists because Dartmouth must help lead the global effort to find solutions to the climate crisis consistent with science-based targets and timetables.
DACL’s VISION
Dartmouth ambitiously commits the College’s resources to find solutions to the climate crisis with the urgency that science establishes is necessary in order to avoid the rapidly worsening global impacts of using fossil fuels for energy.
DACL’s MISSION
DACL will urge Dartmouth to:
Deploy the necessary College resources to decarbonize and electrify both the Campus and the surrounding Upper Valley through implementation of Dartmouth’s Our Green Future 2.0 Plan, with ambitious goals and urgency in order to achieve real net zero emissions, and to act as a model for decarbonization and climate change resiliency, equity, and sustainability in northern colder climate areas of New England, the nation, and the world.
Move quickly and ambitiously to implement College climate initiatives which:
Commit the College to seeking solutions to the global climate crisis and its related impacts with programming and policies at Dartmouth and through collaboration with other universities throughout the world;
Allow Dartmouth to take leading academic roles in seeking climate solutions, including roles in fields in which Dartmouth already has established strength and or commitment, including the arctic, northern temperate and boreal forests, public health, and climate’s impact on Indigenous lands and peoples;
Allow Dartmouth to become one of the world’s leading institutions for understanding and addressing climate and eco- anxiety, on campus, within the alumni community, and globally;
Avoid fossil fuel influence on Dartmouths’s priorities, education, research, policy and programming, and avoid partnering with or accepting money from any company or organization that does not support the rapid phase down of fossil fuel use as required by the established science;
Provide graduates of all departments, programs and schools at Dartmouth with a thorough understanding of the causes, effects and potential solutions to the climate crisis.
Our Team.
Since inception, many members have contributed to mission, vision, strategy, projects and engagement with Dartmouth constituencies. DACL is lead by an operating that is a subset of its many members. These include Jan Kublick '74, Sarah Strauss '85, David Goodrich '74, Frohman Anderson '84, and Jack Firestone '21. As our work continues and expands, we seek additional members with passion and knowledge to best fulfill the Mission.
History
DACA began as a student initiative in 2014, focusing on divestment from fossil fuel investments by the College’s endowment. In 2021 the Trustees announced that Dartmouth would gradually divest. However at the same time, many in DACA were concerned that The Call to Lead’s commitment to prepare Dartmouth graduates to confront the world’s most pressing problems did not even mention climate change or sustainability. The focus of DACA thus shifted to encouraging the College to commit to climate and sustainability both on campus and beyond, as many of its peer colleges and universities had already done at theirs.
Moreover, In 2017 the College had announced a plan called Our Green Future (OGF), with goals that were neither ambitious nor aligned with climate science. In 2022 OGF was undergoing a five year review, intended to lead to OGF 2.0. As well, President Hanlon had announced his intention to step down. In 2023 the Trustees chose President Sian Leah Beilock to succeed him. Her first College wide message included a prominent commitment to climate, and DACA sought a virtual meeting with her.
DACA was invited to have representatives meet her for a ‘listening session on May 5th, 2023. After invitations for ideas, a committee prepared a presentation that presented a brief history of DACA and proposals for Dartmouth to assume a leading role in addressing climate change. The committee pointed out that Dartmouth had unique academic strengths to bring to bear as well as a special relationship with winter and the northern outdoor environment. We pointed out that Dartmouth was lagging behind other leading colleges and universities on climate and sustainability issues, notably by continuing to burn #6 Bunker in a hundred year old power plant. Not only did President Elect Beilock listen, but she was clearly interested.
Several of us met again with her in September, 2023, and discussed the plans already underway to address the College’s operational carbon footprint and OGF 2.0’s. Many DACA members continue to follow the OGF 2.0 process closely and have contributed comments and recommendations.
In September, members of the Faculty submitted a proposal to the Provost for a broad research and curricular approach to climate change and President Beilock’s Inaugural Speech contained clear climate and sustainability messages. DACA stayed in touch with the College and the Sustainability Office, but there was not much news from the College about it until this year.
Recently, the appointment of Professor Laura Ogden to be the Faculty Advisor to the Provost on Climate and Sustainability was announced. Most importantly, on Earth Day, President Beilock announced plans to begin a Dartmouth Climate Collaborative including a Climate Futures Initiative to broaden curricular offerings and research efforts on climate, energy, and sustainability, and to spend a half billion dollars to meet ambitious climate targets related to campus infrastructure and operations. That was followed the next day by a public program sponsored by the Sustainability Office, discussing the initiative.
A little more than a year after President Elect Beilock first met with representatives of DACA, and in light of the College’s broad commitment to climate and sustainability, it seemed the right time to announce the creation of the Dartmouth Alumni for Climate Leadership( DACL) as the successor in name to DACA. We believe that the new name is important, as it is indicative of a new moment at the College for climate and sustainability, and a new mission for DACL in light of Dartmouth's recent announcements, and is accompanied by a new Mission and Vision Statement which can be found at xxxx.
With President Beilock setting a course toward climate and sustainability goals, what role is left for DACL? A very important one. DACL is independent of the College. With that independence comes both the opportunity and the responsibility to closely follow the College’s progress on achieving those goals. DACL will be a source of information on climate and sustainability for Dartmouth alumni, an advocate whenever it can, a source of ideas and recommendations for the College, and if needed, a constructive critic.
This website will be a place where alumni and students can find information about climate and sustainability at Dartmouth. Consistent with our Mission and Vision, DACL intends to assist Dartmouth to become a leader in the climate and sustainability fields, while remaining vigilant about divestment and about fossil fuel influence on the College and its programs.