Trains, planes, and automobiles burn fuel, producing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. While NAU is primarily a residential campus, many faculty, staff, and students commute to campus in cars. Some drive cars between classes on north and south campus. Student teams travel to competitions, administrators travel to business meetings off campus, and faculty travel to professional conferences and events around the world. Our analysis suggests that transportation contributes about 8% to NAU’s total greenhouse gas footprint.

Mitigation: reducing car travel on campus is an important part of NAU’s master plan. In addition to emitting smaller amounts of greenhouse gases, encouraging alternative transportation has been demonstrated to increase the quality of life in many cities. For example, Flagstaff residents consistently rank reducing traffic as the best way to improve quality of life in town (link). Our project is also examining ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with commuting to and from campus, and during travel off campus for university functions.