Cal Poly Recognized for Leadership in Fostering Sustainability

SAN LUIS OBISPO – County leaders and a representative from Congresswoman Lois Capps’ office recognized Cal Poly for its leadership and commitment to sustainability at the Feb. 7 Board of Supervisors meeting.

District 5 Supervisor Jim Patterson spearheaded the resolution honoring Cal Poly for its adoption of the international Talloires Declaration, a 10-point action plan incorporating sustainability in teaching, research, operations and outreach at colleges and universities, as well as for Cal Poly’s designation of January as Sustainablity Month.

Betsy Umhofer, representing Congresswoman Capps, joined the county by presenting a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition to Cal Poly’s Solar Decathlon team for its third-place finish at the international Solar Decathlon held last October in Washington, D.C.

In accepting the certificates of recognition, College of Architecture and Environmental Design Dean R. Thomas Jones called Cal Poly’s efforts to promote sustainable practices a “team effort” involving many facets of the university, He added that the university is already planning for the next Solar Decathlon competition. “We’ll be back in 2007,” Jones told the board.

Architecture professors Sandra Stannard and Robert Peña, advisors for the Cal Poly Solar Decathlon team, expressed gratitude and offered encouragement for advancing sustainability thoughout the county, state and nation.

“Green is the new red, white and blue,” Peña said.

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