Department of Urban Studies & Planning (DUSP) Climate is a student-organized and -led group that champions the idea that finding ways to make substantial cuts in DUSP's carbon emissions could actually support the department’s educational and research goals, rather than threaten it.
During the fall term of 2019, students in Developing a Climate Action Strategy for DUSP, a project-oriented class, gathered data and evidence to create an actionable plan to implement the ideas outlined in the 2018 DUSP Climate Recommendations and reduce the department’s climate impact. Students in the class leveraged environmental footprint calculations and inventories, theory surrounding effective institutional change, conversations with stakeholders inside and outside of the department, and research on best practices at other universities to produce a Climate Action Plan for DUSP. The authors of the plan include Master of City Planning students: Julia Field, Amber Kim, Zoë McAlear, and Mary Hannah Smith.