This article attempts to answer the question of how should institutions of higher education best go about achieving the emissions reductions specified in the Kyoto Protocol. To answer this question, it examines the efforts to make Lewis & Clark College (LCC) the first institution of higher education in the USA to actually meet the emissions targets stipulated in the Kyoto Protocol. The article concludes that LCC's strategy of offset purchasing for immediate Kyoto compliance is feasible and desirable for other institutions of higher education, particularly when combined with a program for long-term on-campus emissions reductions.