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March 15, 2012 – Allegheny College is one of only four colleges nationwide to be named a finalist in its category — colleges that award baccalaureate degrees — for a 2012 Climate Leadership Award. Allegheny was nominated for its “deep infrastructure approach to sustainability,” in which progress is made in all areas of campus life.

The awards program is sponsored by Second Nature, a national nonprofit that seeks to create a sustainable society by transforming higher education, and PlanetForward, a media company that publishes news, opinion and insight about energy, climate and sustainability.

“Because sustainability is a lifestyle that addresses today’s economic crises, not a set of disparate technologies or principles, there is no better place to begin building a culture of sustainability than at America’s colleges and universities,” said Anthony Cortese, co-founder of Second Nature. “The 2012 finalists represent the best of the best institution-wide approaches to teaching and action.”

The awards feature a public, online voting component. Each finalist institution has produced a video that promotes its specific sustainability efforts in hopes of being named the most innovative climate leader. Visitors will log their votes by clicking the “thumbs up” icon beneath the video link.

Voting began March 14 and ends a month later at www.planetforward.org/climate-leadership-awards. PlanetForward will profile the institutions that accumulate the most votes during its “Move the Planet” conference the week of April 16.

In May, the steering committee from the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), an agreement between nearly 700 colleges and universities to promote sustainability through teaching and action, will select the official 2012 Climate Leadership Award winners. One or two institutions from each category will receive an award, announced during the ACUPCC Climate Leadership Summit at American University in Washington, DC June 21 and 22. Second Nature is the lead sponsor of the ACUPCC.

More information on the awards is at https://secondnature.org/awards.