Thursday, February 14, 2008
Editor’s Note: This article features Simran Sethi, who is one of the two KU faculty members chosen to serve on the Lawrence City Commission’s Climate Protection Task Force. A profile on Sethi will be in an upcoming issue of the University Daily Kansan.
Two faculty members at the University of Kansas have found themselves in a position to make a positive environmental affect on Lawrence.
One of them is Jeff Severin, director of the Environmental Sustainability Center, who Mayor Sue Hack appointed to work on the city’s new Climate Protection Task Force, which Lawrence city commissioners officially approved Tuesday night.
According to Cynthia Boecker, assistant city manager, the task force consists of people from various parts of the community who are interested in climate protection and improving the overall environment.
“I think I was appointed because I do work with a variety of organizations on campus, and I have a pretty good feel for how our campus views environmental issues,” Severin said.
Severin is no stranger to environmental issues. After he graduated from the University of Kansas in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, Severin got a job working for the Caw Valley Heritage Alliance where he coordinated a state-wide watershed education program.
The organization’s goal was to educate students about the natural and human influences on water quality and how people can moderate their effects, Severin said.
pullquote
Some people see reducing greenhouse gas emissions as halting or impeding growth and development, but I think we need to keep in mind that we can have a strong economy that limits our impact on the environment.
-Jeff Severin, director of the Environmental Sustainability Center
After three years of working for the Alliance, he got a position at the University of Kansas where he managed a recycling program.
“It was great to get a job at the same university I graduated from,” said Severin. “It’s a great community and we’ve got a lot of opportunity here as far as the campus’ impact on the community.”
He soon worked his way up to becoming the director of the Environmental Sustainability Center, where he’s now worked for four years.
Now that he’s a member of the city’s Climate Protection Task Force, he’s ready to start working with nine other appointees to put together a plan to lower greenhouse gas emissions in Lawrence by 7 percent while preserving economic development in the city.
“Some people see reducing greenhouse gas emissions as halting or impeding growth and development, but I think we need to keep in mind that we can have a strong economy that limits our impact on the environment,” Severin said.
Severin said he wasn’t sure when the Climate Protection Task Force will have its first meeting, but he said he expected the committee’s first priority to be to compile a greenhouse gas inventory to get a base line measurement of the current level of carbon emissions in Lawrence.
— Edited by Jared Duncan
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