PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Students Sit In for Penn State Global Warming Policy
by Josh Lynch Friday, Apr. 28, 2006 at 8:32 PM
joshwlynch@gmail.com 415-255-9221 x318

Twelve Kyoto Now! student activists have protested outside Penn State President Graham Spanier's office for 26 hours to demand a meeting to negotiate a global warming policy and plan to return.

The students are asking the university to commit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 7% below 1990 levels by 2012. 4,500 students and academics have signed letters supporting the objective.

"Penn State can be the national leader," EcoAction President Maura Cowley told Vice President Gary Schultz. "And you're negating the severity of this if you choose not to step up to the plate."

The campaign, named "Kyoto Now!" after the Kyoto Protocol to address global warming, has been active for over two years. While other administrators have met with the group, President Graham Spanier had not until Friday, when he met with them twice during the sit-in. The group has said that progress was made in their meetings, but greenhouse gas targets had not been set and they would continue their protest on Monday until the university made a commitment to set measurable targets with a deadline and a plan to achieve them.

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