“You can’t just buy a hybrid car, slap on the solar panels and — voila! — carbon neutrality,” he said.

Lew Giesking from the city of St. Peter talked about what the city is doing to help out, such as giving rebates to residents who purchase energy-efficient appliances. The city, he said, also is working with Gustavus to make the campus greener.

And J. Drake Hamilton, a state geographer, said a lot of progress has been made in the past year on global warming.

“We’ve proved that it can be done,” Hamilton said. “And now we have to step up and do it.”