Clinton seeks greener colleges; Prods campus officials
Former President Bill Clinton on Thursday exhorted university officials from around the country to do a better job leading the way on making their campus buildings greener.
“For all the good we’re doing, we’re just piddling compared to what we ought to be doing and compared to what we could be doing,” Clinton told 250 college administrators meeting at the Palmer House Hilton.
“Think about it: 6.7 million jobs lost. And all this work out there is laying on the ground, begging to be done with an absolute certain high return. I am anxious to speed this up. For all the good you’re doing, we should be doing three, four, five, 10 times what we’re doing as a country.”
Clinton has become a crusader for environmental renovation as a catalyst for energy conservation and putting people back to work.
If solar panels or green roofs could be seen going up on campus roofs around the country, other builders would follow suit and put people back to work, helping fight unemployment as well as saving energy, Clinton told the receptive audience.
“Every time somebody sees a project on one of your campuses, fixing a building, you are having an impact, even beyond the fight to produce climate change and lower your utility bills,” Clinton said.
