Framingham State revising Climate Action Plan

By Sarah Daponde

Editorial Staff

Framingham State is reassessing the campus’s Climate Action Plan from 2022 and preparing to publish a new plan for 2026, according to Director of Campus Sustainability and Fashion Professor Ruirui Zhang.

Framingham State has been recognized as a Green Campus since 2010, according to the University’s website, which is an acknowledgment given to a campus that has made it a priority to integrate sustainability into campus life.

President Nancy Niemi said, “It is heartening to see that there are sustainability initiatives in most every quarter of our community.”

Niemi said her personal goals for campus sustainability include adopting overall environmentally friendly practices, promoting core values of climate action and justice in the University's decision making, and continuing to support educational opportunities for students.

Zhang said the Climate Action Plan was created in 2012 under the direction of Framingham State’s facilities and sustainability planning teams, and is updated every three years.

According to Zhang, the plan is a report that includes relevant information about sustainability activities and the future environmental goals of Framingham State.

The plan is configured by the Campus Sustainability Committee, which Zhang said is made up of people from a range of departments on campus. 

The plan acts as a transparent way to share information with the community, as well as with both the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and Second Nature of the National Carbon Community, an organization that partners with colleges and universities to help facilitate climate action.

Zhang said the goals and initiatives of the Climate Action Plan are periodically updated to align with the goals of the Massachusetts DOER and Second Nature, including an objective to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Every new revision of the plan is based on the past plans.

Framingham State signed an agreement with the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) in 2007 to measure the greenhouse gas emissions on campus. Many universities in Massachusetts have signed it, Zhang added.

“This is not only the obligation - it is our identity,” said Zhang.

Megan Mayer, the former director of Campus Sustainability, conducted a sustainability assessment during the 2022-23 school year, which surveyed students, faculty, and staff. The information collected included what people on campus thought could be improved in the new plan.

Zhang said there would not be a new survey put out for the 2026 revision, and instead, the committee will continue to use information from the previous survey.

The updated initiatives, based on the 2022-23 survey, will be completed by the end of this semester, so the committee can gather data in the Spring 2026 semester to formulate the new plan and publish it in 2026, according to Zhang.

She added she has not heard of any budget cuts being made this year, despite the rescissions to environmental projects made by the federal government.

“The Trump presidency has been cutting the budget for a lot of science projects … carbon neutrality, greenhouse gas emission, solar panels - all those projects. At the federal level, there are huge changes, but at the state level, for this year, we haven’t heard anything about budget cuts for now,” said Zhang.

She said nothing has changed in the work the committee is doing, but she cannot guarantee there will not be any budget cuts in the future.

In April 2025, the University, partnered with the DOER Leading by Example Program and the PowerOptions Consortium, finished installing solar panels above Salem Lot, along with six charging spots for electric vehicles. The construction had been ongoing for two years and was funded by a $400,000 grant from Leading by Example, according to an article published in The Gatepost on Feb. 21.

According to the Framingham State website, the solar panels will produce 800,000 kWh annually.

Another goal in the 2022 edition of the Climate Action Plan was to increase the amount of recycled waste on campus to 50%. This included encouraging students to utilize the water bottle fountains on campus.

Twenty percent of the waste on campus was recycled in 2009, according to the 2022 plan. After the University implemented single-stream recycling and added 51 new recycling receptacles throughout campus, it increased to 30%.

In the spring of 2022, Stephanie Gray’s graphic design course partnered with Campus Sustainability to design a reusable water bottle for the University to hand out during freshman orientation.

Sophomore English major Ollie Mainguy said she was concerned about whether students were recycling on campus despite the abundance of recycling receptacles. 

“I remember going past [Corinne Hall] Towers and there were just piles and piles of trash outside,” said Mainguy. She added many of the items she saw in the trash were recyclables.

Sophomore Wildlife Biology major Demri Jarvis said she wants to see more education about how to recycle properly. “I personally remove food before recycling, but I know for sure, a lot of people don’t know to do that,” she said.

Jarvis said she thought the sprinklers were another issue on campus. “On Monday, it was downpouring and I saw all the sprinklers on.”

According to the 2022 plan, new sensors were installed to the sprinkler system so it will automatically turn off when there is adequate moisture.

The plan stated, “This prevents the system from functioning during rainy days.”

According to the Director of Environmental Health and Safety, Maureen Fowler, the sprinkler system “does not work as expected.”

She said the lawn irrigation system, which consists of sprinklers in the ground and battery-operated sensors on campus buildings, is controlled by an app called RainBird. When the sensors get wet enough to sense that it is raining, the sprinklers shut off, and a “red alert” notification is sent to staff via RainBird.

If the rain begins when the sprinklers are scheduled to turn on, this creates a delay in the sprinklers turning off.

Fowler said the sprinklers were winterized during the week of Oct. 15 and will not be used again until the spring. The batteries in the sensors are replaced every spring.

The water used in the sprinkler system is not measured separately from total campus water usage, so Fowler said she was unable to estimate the amount of water used on the lawn irrigation system.

The committee is currently working on reducing water use in the updated Climate Action Plan, which was also a goal in the 2022 plan, Zhang said.

Freshman Environmental Science major Corbin Allen said it is important to educate people on environmental issues and Framingham State’s policies.

Allen believes the sprinklers should only operate at night. “We should be watering our greenery at night because the sun absorbs it less,” he said.

Zhang said she wants the 2026 Climate Action Plan to include more digestible information and straightforward data for students to understand. The current plan is so long students do not often read it “line-by-line,” said Zhang.

“Maybe make our Climate Action Plan shorter and more concise - make it almost like a PowerPoint,” she added.

Educating students on the environmental goals of the campus starts in the classroom, Zhang said.

“I think every department does something about educating students about sustainability - the environmental parts, the social parts, the economic parts - all the faculty embed that information into their curriculum,” she added.

She said she wanted the faculty to be aware of what activities are planned for the campus’ sustainability, such as campus clean-ups. She wants the information to not only be available on the Framingham State website, but also straight from the faculty.

Zhang said despite the University’s efforts to update the buildings, such as adding solar panels and recycling bins, she believes students are unaware of the efforts made to make the campus more sustainable.

Sophomore Art Education major Io Phillips said, “We should have more native wildflowers and biodiversity - also clover lawns because they’re easier to take care of.”

Junior Shiba Nankya said she has been to the Green Initiative club meetings, a student-run  organization dedicated to finding ways to help the environment on campus.

She wishes there was more student involvement in clubs that work toward bettering the environment, as well as more support from the University.

“I think there’s more focus on BINGO nights and all of that fun stuff. When it comes to gardening and doing things that are good for the environment, there’s less support for that,” Nankya said.

[ Editor’s Note: Corbin Allen is a Staff Photographer for The Gatepost. ]