UC-CSU NXTerra
Delivering educational resources for teachers and students of the climate crisis, critical sustainability, and climate justice studies.
OUR HISTORY
NXTerra & The University of California’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative
The UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative
— Download the 2020 PowerPoint Course Module —
Module created by Nickie Cammisa, Jessica Heckman and Cully Nordby (Associate Director) at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES).
UC-CSU NXTerra has roots in the visionary work of UC President Janet Napolitano, who publicly launched the UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative in 2015 at the Carbon and Climate Neutrality Conference and created the UC Global Climate Leadership Council:
VIDEO: The Carbon And Climate Neutrality Summit – October 26-27, 2015, convened at UC San Diego
— Featuring UC President Janet Napolitano (founder of the UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative and the UC Global Climate Leadership Council) describing the steps the University of California has undertaken to reduce its carbon footprint to zero; Mario Molina (Nobel Prize winning UC professor of chemistry) describing international climate action; and V. “Ram” Ramanathan (Director, Bending the Curve initiative; member, Earth League; member, NXTerra KAN) laying out the Top Ten Scalable Solutions to combat global climate change. Recorded on 10/27/2015. Published by UCTV on December 1, 2015.
UC-CSU NXTerra TIMELINE:
2013, November: Janet Napolitano launches the UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative (CNI):
- Read the President’s Initiative: The First Research University to Achieve Carbon Neutrality
- CNI Overview
- Read the CNI Commitment.
2014, June: UC President Napolitano forms the Global Climate Leadership Council.
2014: University of California signs The Montreal Climate Pledge (Signatories).
2015, October 7: California Governor Jerry Brown signs legislation committing California to sourcing a minimum of 50% of its energy from renewables by 2030.
2015, October 26 – 27: UC San Diego hosts the Carbon And Climate Neutrality Summit; at the Summit, NXTerra member V. “Ram” Ramanathan leads the launch of the UC Bending the Curve initiative.
- Report: Executive Summary, Bending the Curve (2015 PDF)
2016 – 2017: UC President’s Global Climate Leadership Council and its Faculty Education and Engagement Working Group (FEE) create the UC-CSU Knowledge Action Network (KAN)
- UC-CSU KAN, Comprehensive Final Public Report – November 17, 2017
2017 – 2018: UC CNI convenes the UC-CSU Knowledge Action Network (visit the UC-CSU KAN Nearly Carbon Neutral Conference web archive).
2018: UC-CSU KAN begins development of the NXTerra digital platform for scaling up climate education.
2019, November 18: Public launch, UC-CSU NXTerra (view the public launch flyer).
2019, December 3: Global launch of UC-CSU NXTerra at UNFCCC COP 25 (view the global launch event poster).
NXTerra Co-Director John Foran introduces NXTerra at UNFCCC COP 25, Madrid, December 3, 2019.
2019, December 11 – 12: NXTerra featured at the Environmental and Climate Change Literacy Summit (ECCLPS) at UC San Diego:
2020, January 15: NXTerra in the News: A Teaching tool for a Warming World, by Tom Jacobs, The Current.
2020, June: NXTerra receives Best Practice Award in Interdisciplinary Academics from the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference:
2020, October 16: NXTerra screens new video Invitation to NXTerra at UCSB’s Engaging Teaching Symposium (program pdf):
2020, October 20 – November 22. NXTerra screens new video Invitation to NXTerra (above) for the AASHE Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE is The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education). The theme of the Conference was Mobilizing for a Just Transition (read the Just Transition Principles, articulated by the Climate Justice Alliance).
2020, October 22. NXTerra produces a Live Networking and Discussion Group event for AASHE Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE is The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education).
2021, February 1 – NXTerra Co-Director Sarah Jaquette Ray discusses the pedagogy of climate change in the ASLE EcoCast Podcast: Climate Changes Teaching – A Conversation with Sarah Jaquette Ray and Stephen Siperstein.
2021, April 27. The Climate Justice Symposium for Transforming Education. Hosted by CHESC, the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference. See the opening Keynote Session: Scaling Up Climate Justice Education, at which NXTerra KAN members John Foran, Ken Hiltner, V. “Ram” Ramanathan and Richard Widick join the new UC Center for Climate Justice and it’s director Tracey Osbourne to discuss their visions for transforming education with climate justice studies, including the ongoing development of UC-CSU NXTerra.