College of Humanities Takes Steps to Reduce Greenhouse Gases and Preserve the Rain Forest
Students, faculty, and staff at the University of Utah came together March 8, 2007 to rally support for a new partnership to preserve the Costa Rican rain forest and at the same time reduce greenhouse gases believed to cause global warming. The College of Humanities, along with Salt Lake City Corporation, entered into an agreement with Pax Natura Foundation to support its Costa Rica carbon sequestration project.
The rally and media conference took place Thursday, March 8 at 10 a.m. in the University’s Alumni House, Dumke Room (first floor). Presentations on the partnership were made by Robert Newman, dean of the College of Humanities, Rocky Anderson, mayor of Salt Lake City, and Randall Tolpinrud, president of Pax Natura.
“We teach our students to be good world citizens, and to be so through sustainable practices. As educators, we seek to model citizenship individually, but it’s important to do so institutionally as well. It is my great hope that our students will be alert to what companies and nonprofit organizations around the world are doing to protect the environment, and that they will be proud the College of Humanities is among them,” said Robert Newman, dean of the College of Humanities.
Students in support of the Pax Natura partnership include Environmental Studies and Environmental Humanities students; and SEED, the registered student group at the Lowell Bennion Community Service Center and the Associated Students of the University of Utah. SEED focuses on education about sustainability, which is the search for balance between economy, society, and the environment.
Pax Natura Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable and educational foundation that has acquired and protected more than 500 acres of primary forest in Costa Rica with an additional 60,000 acres as a link in the critical Meso-American Biodiversity Corridor.
Conferring nearly 20 percent of the University of Utah’s undergraduate degrees, the College of Humanities goes beyond the traditional disciplines of the humanities and has embraced interdisciplinary education in such areas as technical literacy, international studies, cognitive science, applied ethics and now the Environmental Humanities graduate program.