Abstract

In 2013, the University of Richmond directly sponsored 3,076,643 miles of travel for faculty, staff, and student, conferences, engagements and sporting events. This type of travel emits over 2,410 tons of carbon into the atmosphere. This research and proposal recommends that the University implement a fee-structure that incorporates the cost of the carbon emitted, and invest the money into a green revolving fund that will allocate money to reforesting the University's Pagebrook Property (Map 1) and purchasing new lands. The reforestation, maintenance, and monitoring of the area will be completed by students interested in forest ecology. The exploration of the possibilities of what to do with the Pagebrook Property were assembled by investigating ways that the University can utilize the land that will maximize the biodiversity of the local ecological community, creates wildlife corridors for endangered species (see below) and revitalize water quality within the James and Chesapeake Watersheds while furthering the university's mission of undergraduate education (Map 2). The suggested best management practices from green revolving funds result from rigorous research of the practices of 83 institutions in the United States that currently have green funds in place (Map 4). The ultimate goal of this proposal is to convince the University that it can continue to be an innovative sustainable institution by implementing an original solution that will mitigate the carbon footprint for University sponsored travel and create a unique educational experience for students close to campus (Map 3).

Poster prepared for the Environmental Studies Senior Seminar/Geography Capstone.

Document Type

Poster Session

Publication Date

4-21-2014

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