The Clark University Net Impact group continued its busy semester of events and activities. In late October, twenty members of the Clark community, including students, staff, and faculty, toured SolarFlair’s solar farm in Charlton, MA. The University maintains a financial agreement with Solar Flair to purchase the offsets produced by the solar panels through virtual net metering for the next 25 years. Situated on two parcels of land, these solar panels offset 1.3 million pounds of CO2 equivalent each year, and they account for about 10% of Clark’s energy use. Aside from being able to examine the panels up close, the students saw the inner workings of the dashboards, which show the energy production of the panels in real time.
Four members of Net Impact were fortunate to attend the Net Impact National Conference in Minneapolis in early November. Dual-degree students Christian Davies (MBA/ES&P), Georgia Lawrence (MBA/CDP), Robin Miller (MBA/ES&P), Michelle Kozminksi (MBA/ES&P) heard speakers who included corporate leaders, nonprofit visionaries, and entrepreneurs, while taking part in various break-out discussions. The students returned feeling inspired to share what they learned with the Clark community and continue to make connections on and off campus.
Net Impact continues to collaborate regularly with the Clark Sustainability Collaborative to bring guest speakers and events to campus. The groups co-sponsored the film screening of Growing Cities, along with theEconomics Society in November, which was very popular, and a number of upcoming regional and web conference opportunities will round out the fall semester.
Finally, the group took part in a recent community service project with the Salvation Army of Worcester to serve Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless. A group of nine students volunteered to help set tables, prepare plates of food, and act as servers.
“It was a great opportunity to get to know the employees of the Salvation Army, build relationships with them, and help them with their mission to serve the community of Worcester,” said MBA student, Suja Chacko (concentration in social change, ’15).