Second Nature Anecdotes

It’s Day 1 at COP26, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be here. Before I begin recapping my day, let me take a step back and introduce myself. My name is Noa Dalzell, I’m a 23-year-old, Boston-based climate advocate, and I’m here at the United Nations international climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. This is […]

Friday, April 30th was Arbor Day in Illinois and to celebrate, we proclaimed UIC’s tree accomplishments to all 47,000+ faculty, staff and students. We have been recognized, once again, as a Tree Campus Higher Education institution for our efforts in 2020. We put a lot of work into our urban forestry management, and we are […]

This spring, Second Nature looked to inventory their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their last two fiscal years 2019 and 2020. As a part of my fellowship with Second Nature through the College For Social Innovation, I conducted the inventory as my semester-long project. The thinking behind this endeavor was to not only be able […]

Webinar:  September 26, 2019 Click here to view the archived copy of the webinar Zero Energy Buildings & District Energy Systems: A case study from Spokane Currently under construction in Spokane, WA, “Catalyst” is at the leading edge of certified Zero Energy buildings, with a wide array of deeply innovative technologies to reduce environmental impacts while […]

Boston University, ENGIE, Second Nature and Boston’s Green Ribbon Commission hosted a peer-to-peer seminar / workshop on Climate and Energy issues for Campus Decision-makers in July 2019 at BU’s campus in Boston. The half-day program focused on sharing of ideas and intelligence so that campus leaders could be more effective in their decision making with […]

I ran across a new term today: Crisification. It doesn’t show up in any online dictionary, and I’m honestly not sure it’s a real word, but it seems to refer to the act of framing something as a crisis that may otherwise exist as a “problem” or “issue.”  Crisification happens in our household on a […]

During the Spring Term, Second Nature in partnership with Siemens hosted a half-day program for finance, facilities and sustainability professionals at Chicago-area campuses. These campuses each face unique sets of challenges and opportunities as the decision makers try to realize climate commitments. As buildings and campuses grow more complex, opportunities to leverage new, and existing, technologies […]

(This post is part of a series about Second Nature Corporate Partners and what we do together) Creative partnerships allow Second Nature to introduce and disseminate solutions to the Network widely and effectively. To support and advance the work of the institutions in the Climate Leadership Network, Second Nature works with organizations and firms at […]

The University Climate Change Coalition (UC3) is an ensemble of research universities that are venturing outside their campuses to connect with local businesses, governments, and communities to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future. This blog post is part of a series highlighting the climate action work of UC3. Up next is Washington University in St. Louis. Washington […]

Higher education institutions engage in many different types of emission reduction activities to achieve campus carbon neutrality. Recently, many schools have become interested in purchasing carbon offsets to counteract their unavoidable travel-related Scope 3 emissions. Data Analysis I looked at the data that Signatories, higher ed institutions that have signed commitments to climate action, reported […]