Call for Applications: Climate Action Planning Work Groups

Any student, faculty, or staff member may serve on one or more working groups. Working group assignments are on a first come first serve basis. 

Please indicate your interest here: https://forms.gle/R67D3bPzxhZ1QrGt9

About 

UMBC's Climate Action Steering Committee (CASC) is the official UMBC entity charged with climate action planning. The CASC is comprised of representatives from each arm of UMBC's shared governance, operations subject matter experts, and the Sustainability Office. CASC currently has five working groups. 

Academics & Engagement - This working group considers how to include climate action in the curriculum, advance climate adaptation and mitigation through scholarship, and how to provide unique and effective outreach opportunities to the UMBC outside of the classroom or the lab. 

Climate Resilience - the focus of this group is on the impacts of climate change to UMBC and how we can adapt to them. The group considers impacts to the physical campus, the natural world, and socio-economic implications related to climate change. 

Energy - members of this working group are charged with improving energy efficiency on campus and assessing opportunities to make UMBC a net-zero energy campus. 

Transportation - group members work on topics related to effective transportation alternatives to a single occupancy fossil fuel vehicle. The group considers how to reduce emissions associated with travel and how to plan for a campus that is designed for pedestrians not vehicles. 

Waste - working group members focus on reducing the amount of waste generated on campus and increasing the percentage of waste diverted from the landfill to either recycling or composting facilities. 

Working groups are lead by subject matter experts as identified by the CASC.

Yes! Working groups are open to everyone. Working groups are a designed to have a diverse set of stakeholders that range between having a slight interest in the topic to being an expert on the topic. 

The CASC has an expectation (under normal circumstances) that working groups will meet at least twice per semester. Meetings are 1 hour in duration and will have hybrid options. 

Working group member's minimum responsibilities include: attend the meetings and contribute meaningful ideas and dialogue. Preferred responsibilities include: members  continuing meeting dialogue, via ad hoc communications, and sharing any relevant research, articles, or speakers they come across. The working groups are designed to leave the heavy due diligence, or "homework", to the Sustainability Office. 

Yes! There is no limit. 

The CASC asks that those who apply are willing to serve for at least the duration of the current school year.