by KYW's Nancy Griffin

Temple University's president joins hundreds of college leaders in signing a commitment to improve the planet's climate.

President Ann Weaver Hart says the climate commitment was created in 2006 to reduce greenhouse gases, a major factor in global warming:

“A university like Temple can take action that affects not only the immediate future through our impact on students and their lives but have a greater influence over responsible environmental action in the future."

The effort is part of a series of environmentally conscious initiatives:

"One of the things that we have tried to do is encourage all of our offices to stop using bottled water. Almost every office has a water cooler and all of us have glasses and we can immediately start saving in our environment."

Weaver Hart is one of 500 college and university presidents to sign the climate commitment.