Second Nature Inc. is an environmentalist advocacy group of university presidents and administrators who seek to fight global warming through pledges to achieve net-zero carbon emissions on university campuses. Second Nature provides research, guides, and programs to fight global warming, and has been involved in environmental equity efforts. Second Nature’s programs have called for land reparations to indigenous tribes, integrating environmental justice across universities’ curriculum, and advancing a global warming activist message across campuses and communities.

History

Founded in 1993, Second Nature works with colleges and universities to make environmentalism fundamental to every aspect of education. ¹ In 2006, the presidents of 12 colleges and universities began the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) working with Second Nature, ecoAmerica, and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). ² Within a year, the ACUPCC had signatories from 336 higher education colleges and universities. ³

In 2015, the ACUPCC was rebranded as the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments (PCLC) and became the priority program of Second Nature’s Climate Leadership Network. ⁴ The PCLC is comprised of a Carbon Commitment to lower greenhouse gases, a Resilience Commitment focusing on environmental adaption and building community capacity, and the Climate Commitment that integrates both. ⁵ Higher education institutions are considered members of the Climate Leadership Network if they have made a signatory to at least one of the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments. ⁶

Issues and Programs

The Climate Leadership Network is the signature program of Second Nature. ⁷ To join the Climate Leadership Network, higher education institutions must sign a commitment, develop a structure and plan to make the institution more environmentally friendly and carbon-neutral, implement a campus-wide task force to implement a plan, assess the college or university’s environmental issues, develop a plan that includes a target date of making a campus carbon-neutral, submit annual reports to Second Nature on the progress of the plan, and, after completing a Climate Action Plan, reevaluate and update the plan every five years. ⁸  Dues for institutions ranged annually from $825-$5,000 depending on the size of the college or university. ⁹

Second Nature, with the Intentional Endowments Network, runs an annual Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit. ¹⁰ Topics that have been covered at previous summits include investing in racial equity, launching a “climate justice” working group and website, guides to indigenous land acknowledgments, land reparations and indigenous solidarity, and LandGrabU (which discussed how universities have received land stolen from tribal nations through “over 160 violence-backed treaties and land seizures”) .¹¹

After the 2018 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit, Second Nature and representatives from 23 universities published UC3, the University Climate Change Coalition strategic plan for 2020-2025. ¹² The plan calls for “transformative teaching” to engage students in research, practices, and action focused on global warming. ¹³ The plan emphasizes climate action by integrating global warming into academics, operations, and the community. ¹⁴ The plan calls for colleges and universities to provide research, teaching, and activities on campus to accelerate further climate actions, administer activities to foster and strengthen the message to the community, and elevate and further research on a global scale to accelerate moving to a low-carbon future. ¹⁵ To help achieve these goals, the UC3 plan implements a fellows program to provide action in cities, provide guidelines for equitable and just climate action, and provide research. ¹⁶

Second Nature additionally provides information for colleges and universities on hosting climate forums on campus, guide to carbon pricing, how to become carbon neutral, pursuing climate justice through climate action, integrating climate action and sustainability across the curriculum, and engaging on climate action with elected officials. ¹⁷ Second Nature also runs the Offset Network providing guidance and support to higher education institutions to lower carbon emissions. ¹⁸

Funding

In 2019, Second Nature had assets of $749,442. ¹⁹ According to the organization’s tax returns, in 2019 Second Nature recorded $2,025,182 in revenue and $1,816,316 in expenses. ²⁰ In 2018, Second Nature had $1,738,268 in revenue and $1,771,892 in expenses. ²¹

Leadership

Timothy Carter has been president of Second Nature since 2014. ²² Previously, Carter spent five years as founding director of Butler University’s Center for Urban Ecology. ²³ From 2006 to 2009, Carter was on the Public Service Research Faculty at the University of Georgia. ²⁴ Carter has a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of Georgia and a bachelor’s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Tennessee. ²⁵

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