How Penn State is cutting its greenhouse emissions in half

And saving money Gene J. Puskar/AP Happy Sunday, This week, we bring you the story of one community in central Pennsylvania that is having remarkable success cutting back on its emissions. The area is growing, with tens of thousands of people, yet its greenhouse emissions have been dropping dramatically. Perhaps most amazing: Those reductions have paid for themselves. This, of course, is not your typical town — it's Penn State University. But in many ways, it's just like any other town or small city. "We've got 600 major buildings here, over 22 million square feet," says Rob Cooper, Penn State's senior director of engineering and energy. "We have our own water system, our own wastewater plant." Most buildings are heated by steam from two gas-burning plants, delivered through miles of underground pipes. About 14,000 people live on campus. Roughly 65,000 people work or take classes here. Tens of thousands more show up to watch football games. Like most U.S. cities, this enterprise runs largely on fossil fuels, releasing hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide every year. The planet-warming gas comes from the steam plants, from power stations far away that supply electricity, from the cars that people drive to campus and from aircraft that faculty members take to conferences. Penn State has calculated those emissions, year by year, over the past 25 years and laid them out on a graph. It tells a startling — and hopeful — story. Twenty years ago, the line was going up sharply. The university was growing, with more people and more buildings. It was burning more and more coal and gas — just like the rest of America. Then, in 2004, the line suddenly changed direction. It started falling like a rock rolling down a mountain. And it has been falling ever since, even though the university is growing. So how did Penn State succeed when the rest of the country has struggled to reduce its greenhouse emissions? Click the button below to read more from NPR’s Dan Charles. [The Penn State Plan]( Now, let’s get into some news from this week… Schools across the country are so fed up with students vaping on campus that they're suing the e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs. Multiple districts filed lawsuits on Monday, including school systems in Olathe, Kan.; St. Charles, Mo.; Long Island, N.Y.; and La Conner, Wash. Three of those suits charge that Juul has hooked a generation of young smokers with its sweet flavors, placing a burden on schools. "Schools have been forced to install special sensors in bathrooms, remove bathroom doors, ban flash drives, hire more staff and provide programs to help students deal with nicotine addiction," said Kirk Goza, a lawyer representing some of those school districts. [Read more here](. Prospective college students who take the ACT exam will soon be able to retake sections of the test to improve their overall score without having to retake the entire exam. This move is part of a number of changes that the test maker announced this week. On NPR’s All Things Considered, Elissa Nadwony reported that, starting in September of 2020, students will also get something called a super score. It combines a student's highest score on each section, regardless of when they took them. The test will also be available online. [Listen to Elissa Nadworny's reporting here](. A group of parents and disability rights activists are suing Fairfax County Public Schools, alleging that students with disabilities have been discriminated against and faced physical harm through improper isolation and restraint. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, claims that FCPS violated federal law and its own policies by "illicit use of restraints and seclusion to silence, detain, segregate, and punish students with disabilities." The Fairfax school system bars seclusion and restraint unless the practices are deemed necessary to protect the student or staff member. [Read more here](. And before you go, something to make you laugh… A student of ninja history submits a report written in invisible ink. Teachers, you can probably see this lie coming from a mile away. But it's not a lie. According to the BBC, Eimi Haga, a freshman at the University of Japan, used a ninja technique called "aburidashi” and spent hours soaking and crushing soybeans to make the ink, which becomes visible by applying a little heat. (If you're wondering, she passed the assignment!) [Read more here](. See you next week. What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: [npred@npr.org](mailto:npred@npr.org?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can [sign up here](. Looking for more great content? 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