30 January 2013
Unity College in Maine, which in 2010 asked President Obama to install solar atop the White House, says it has become the first US college to tie every aspect of its curriculum to the mitigation of global climate change.
Obama, in his second inaugural address last week, made preventing climate change his most prominent policy vow.
The school says, while it has always focused on the “what’s next” of ecological problem solving, focusing on climate change has been an imperative since the arrival of Unity College President Stephen Mulkey in 2011.
Mulkey has championed sustainability science as the defining framework for academic programming at the college, known as America’s Environmental College. This focus ties every academic major to the mitigation of climate change through the transdisciplinary approach. This means, whether pursuing conservation law enforcement or preparing for a career in environmental writing, every Unity College student graduates with a set of skills that will help them mitigate climate change.
In December 2012, Unity College also became the first US institution of higher education to divest from investments in fossil fuels.
