The select Faculty Senate Committee on the Institutional Response to the Climate Emergency (CIRCE) was established in December 2019 (Almanac December 17, 2019) by the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate for the purpose of facilitating discussion among faculty and the entire Penn community about all aspects of global warming and climate change as they pertain to faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. CIRCE considers the following categories of faculty concern relating to the climate emergency:

• Education, including classroom instruction and extra-curricular educational activities
• Research, including scholarship, practical expertise, and artistic expression
• Operations of the University, including decarbonization, energy efficiency, and sustainability
• Flourishing of community, both within Penn, and between Penn and its regional and international stakeholders

The CIRCE subcommittee on Community and Policy, chaired by Simon Richter, was forced to recalibrate its plans after the pandemic shutdown and instead of in-person events, they focused their attention on an idea that had been central to many of their discussions—while it is important for faculty to urge the University to mitigate institutional climate effects, individual action is equally critical. Our cumulative individual actions not only add moral weight to requests we make of the University but, for example, but the carbon emissions produced by faculty and staff residences also rival those of the main campus.

As a first action, the subcommittee developed a Resolution on the Individual and Institutional Responses of Faculty in the University of Pennsylvania to the Global Climate Emergency. Because individuals, commuities, and institutions play interlocking roles in either worsening or reducing climate change, this pledge asks faculty to commit to five actions:

• to support and encourage relevant teaching and research initiatives in our respective schools and departments, and centers and initiatives
• to reduce our personal carbon footprints with respect to our air travel (including the purchase of reliable offsets when such travel is necessary) and our energy use at work, at home, and in transportation between work and home
• to examine our personal retirement investment portfolios in order to align them as closely as possible with our values favoring a radical reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and new business solutions to the climate challenge
• to encourage our schools, departments, centers, and other administrative units to become active in the Green Office Program, including certification for reducing energy use, greening supply purchases, and adopting green catering options
• to work within our academic and professional societies to find pathways to a less carbon-intensive future—in particular to create alternatives to conference travel

The resolution was endorsed by the Faculty Senate Executive Committee on May 13, 2020.

To read and add your signature to the Resolution as a member of the Penn Faculty, please visit: https://forms.gle/3jLeaAad29H1Aizp7

To help faculty and staff act on the commitments, the subcommittee developed a manual called Bring it Home: Practical Ways for Faculty and Staff to Respond to the Climate Emergency. CIRCE is delighted that the PPSA and WPPSA, the two Penn staff associations, were involved in preparing Bring it Home and have endorsed its recommendations for their members. We encourage all current and future faculty to read and sign the Resolution and, along with members of University staff, to take the practical steps outlined in Bring it Home.

To download a copy of Bring it Home, please visit: https://provost.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/users/user131/CIRCE_Bring_it_Home_v1_200810.pdf