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Professor urges for university to go to carbon neutral

"Installing solar panels" by OregonDOT is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

A professor’s open letter is urging Northern Michigan University President Fritz Erickson to make campus carbon neutral by 2050.

More than 1,000 people signed the letter, which outlines the dangers climate change and fossil fuels pose to the region.

NMU climate advocate John O’Bryan says the university could achieve carbon neutrality by relying on its biomass steam plant and other technologies.

“Combining the biomass burning, which is carbon neutral, with carbon capture technology, to actually sequester those carbon emissions into geological formations… that could potentially result in a net-negative source of emissions,” said O’Bryan.

President Erickson issued a statement saying he’s looking forward to working with campus to address the issues.