ENVIRONMENTAL MISSION STATEMENT

Phillips Exeter Academy is committed to fostering a culture of sustainability in our community. Through our academic programs, we educate our students about the principles of sustainability and the threat of climate change and cultivate their capacity to take action. Through our operations, we will continue to manage our natural resources and campus facilities responsibly, reduce our environmental impact, and minimize our contributions to climate change.

The three overarching goals call on the school to:

1. Ensure that every student graduates from Exeter with a fundamental understanding of the principles of sustainability and the issues posed by climate change.

2. Reduce scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions (from a 2005 baseline) 75 % by 2031 and achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050.

3. Integrate principles of sustainability into all Exeter programs and operations.

The plan dedicates a chapter to each goal: Education; Emissions and Energy; and Sustainability Integration. The chapters lay out where the school stands in each area and how it intends to achieve the stated goal. The text is the product of more than a year of work by Principal Rawson and the Environmental Stewardship Committee, led by Warren Biggins, manager of sustainability and natural resources, and Andrew McTammany ’04, an instructor in science and the school’s sustainability education coordinator. The 23-page document was completed in March, but the desire for bold vision on the subject is long-standing.

“The Academy has been thinking about sustainability for a long time,” says Biggins, who came to Exeter in 2019 after working in the sustainability department at Pitzer College in California. “My position has existed for over 10 years. There have been various attempts at some sort of a sustainability master plan.” The newly published plan establishes Exeter as a leader among secondary institutions, Biggins says, adding: “On the college and university level, it’s pretty much par for the course at this time. At the high school level, it’s going to be early, and it’s going to be really, really ambitious.”

“All Exonians understand that the climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time, but few know exactly what they can do about it,” says Safira Schiowitz ’23, co-head of Exeter’s Environmental Action Committee. “I hope that the climate action plan will encourage students to find unique ways to contribute to climate change mitigation.”

Building From Strength

More than just a vision for the future, the plan confirms the strength of the Academy’s foundation on the subject of sustainability. The Courses of Instruction boast 12 sustainability-oriented classes across disciplines, including Regenerative Agriculture, Earth and the Climate Crisis and Literature and the Land. Student clubs like the Environmental Action Committee and Exeter Climate Lobby have long championed the cause of a sustainable Exeter, and the school’s Global Initiatives program offers students a variety of experiential and immersive opportunities related to the environment.

The school has made significant progress in curbing greenhouse gas emissions, slashing output by nearly 60% since 2005. Eight buildings use geothermal wells for heating and cooling, and a solar array installed in 2018 atop William Boyce Thompson Field House has generated an annual average of 575,000 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power 54 homes.

Since 2008, Exeter has constructed six LEED-certified buildings, including the gold-standard field house and The David E. and Stacey L. Goel Center for Theater and Dance. The 12-unit faculty housing development being built on High Street uses all-electric construction, avoiding HVAC and appliances reliant on fossil fuels.

Impressive headway, certainly, but the climate action plan pushes the community to “aim higher and act more ambitiously,” and puts the institution’s intentions on the record. “It gives us something to point to when we’re doing something new,” Biggins says. “When we’re building a new building, when we’re replacing a vehicle, when we’re replacing some piece of grounds equipment. Having the formalized approved plan is really a nice tool to have to achieve the goals that we want to achieve on campus.”

Dr. Ira Helfand ’67, a trustee who advised Principal Rawson and the committee throughout the plan’s creation, adds, “It represents a clear commitment to prepare our students to be leaders in the difficult transition that humanity will have to make if we are going to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate change.”

Digging Into The Plan

The document’s first chapter purposefully focuses on education. The committee acknowledges that Exeter’s “primary contribution to climate action is through climate education.” The Academy’s environmental footprint is infinitesimal in global terms, but Exonians who are