Caught in the ever-looming presence of global warming, audience members last night in Phillips Hall were treated to a presentation on successful sustainability projects in the Ithaca community.

The presentation was part of a series for the freshman writing seminar class EAS 1420: “Sustainable Earth, Energy and Environmental Systems.” Marian Brown, special projects assistant to the provost at Ithaca College, and Lanny Joyce ’81, senior manager for the department of utilities and energy management at Cornell, led the presentation.

Brown opened the night with a presentation on Ithaca College’s sustainability projects. She discussed how their initiatives were broken up into three interlocking categories: community outreach, curriculum and outreach and campus operations. Each category encompassed different sustainability problems and solutions.

“The problem with sustainability is that there is no endpoint. Sustainability is not a what, it’s a how,” Brown said.

Brown noted in particular the geothermal system used in the Peggy Ryan Williams Center at Ithaca College. Over 50 percent of the building’s energy comes from renewable sources, including the Earth’s relatively consistent temperature that is utilized to heat and cool the center.

Brown also stressed the integral role students play in sustainability projects. The “Green Office Guide,” a guide for faculty on ways to be more sustainable in the office, was written by a student. Alternative spring break trips, like habitat projects, enable students to make a bigger impact on the environment. Hall wars, a two week long energy conservation competition, pit residence hall against residence hall. The winning hall receives a free pizza party.

“The sustainable initiative is about everyone. Their success stories and their sustainable initiatives,” Brown said.

Following Brown’s updates on the projects at Ithaca College was Lanny Joyce, who spoke about sustainability initiatives in place at Cornell.

Joyce opened his discussion with campus utilities. Facilities like the water filter and hydroelectric plants help to reduce the energy used by the University. According to Joyce, all buildings are fully metered, helping to calculate energy use and devise ways to minimize it. These steps also help contribute to the Climate Action Plan.

“Our Climate Action Plan is very large and rigorous. We need to build better buildings and heat smarter. A lot of planning goes into carbon neutrality,” Joyce said.

The Energy Conservation Initiatives, put forth by Joyce’s department, also have big plans for the University. The program covers a broad spectrum of campus operations with projects like replacing aging or less efficient equipment. The program has a total estimated project cost of $40 to $50 million. The energy savings would be $8 to $11 million annually, according to Joyce.

“Imagine driving a car 200,000 miles and not changing your gas or giving it a tune up. ... Your gas mileage would not be very good. This is what we did with our maintenance of the buildings — we gave them a tune-up,” Joyce said.

The night’s presentations struck a positive chord with the audience, many of them freshman, but also grad students and residents from the Ithaca community.

“I think the most important things Cornell is doing to stay sustainable [are] projects like the lake source cooling and the upgrading of facilities. Both seem to yield good results,” said Herdis Schopka grad.

Louise McGarry grad, coordinator of the event, was happy to see the students gaining new perspectives on sustainability projects.

“There are people working on solutions. There are people here that are making a significant impact. I wanted to bring that message out and make that [connection] for the speaker series,” McGarry said.

The series will have its last presentation on Nov. 30. This time it will be from some of the students of EAS 1420. They will discuss successes, solutions and problem solving in sustainability.