Drawdown is the point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. 

— Drawdown.org

In Phase One of our Drawdown Plan, here are some of the specific campus-wide pilot projects that we've been pursuing:  

  • Investing in solar power: With solar panels on our campus and new agreements with other providers, we are close to offsetting 100% of our electricity needs with renewable solar power. We’re drawing on this electricity with new technologies, like heat pumps.
  • Shifting to electric vehicles: We’ve invested in several mowers and utility vehicles that emit zero direct carbon emissions. Our fleet will contine to expand.
  • Reducing mowing: We’ve reduced our mowed acres by 50% since pre-pandemic, mow less often, and “raise the blade.”
  • Experimenting at the dairy: We are covering our manure pits with biochar to control nitrous oxide emissions and installing a methane monitor in our dairy barn to see whether a new cow feed will reduce the cows’ methane emissions.
  • Educating: Education is an often forgotten strategy in working for Drawdown. All our programs weave in questions about climate, the systems involved and affected, and active, hopeful responses to it.

In Phase Two of the Plan, we will begin bringing pilot projects to scale, and tackle additional projects identified in Phase One.

Download printable PDF outlining these initiatives and the context for them.

Watch these videos about climate solutions and challenges here on our farm.