Wednesday, February 4, 2009
For the first time, some campus housing are using the month of February to inspire residents to think about sustainable living through a competitive atmosphere.
The Jayhawker Towers and scholarship halls have started programs to inspire residents to reduce energy and water usage for the month.
The towers program is called “Towers Going Green.”
Megan Gerwick, Derby junior and senior staff resident assistant for the towers, said she would work with two other resident assistants to head up the towers’ efforts on green campus living. Gerwick said fliers would be posted around the towers each week with suggestions on how residents could reduce their effects on the environment. This week’s tip: Reduce shower time by two minutes and save 180 gallons of water a month.
“With the info we’re showing, it’s kind of eye-opening to realize how much water and energy we’re using and how much we can save by changing really small habits,” Gerwick said.
To gauge the success of the program, Gerwick said, the program leaders collected the water and energy bills for the month of February from the past two years. They will average the two bills and set that average as the number to beat. Gerwick said results would be calculated in the middle of March.
Travis Kimple, Beloit sophomore, is the All Scholarship Hall Council environmental chair. The scholarship hall program Kimple leads is called “Rock Chalk Turn it Off.” This is the first year the halls are participating in a conservation program and all 12 halls are getting involved. Similar to the towers’ Going Green program, the competition between the halls emphasizes the reduction in energy and water usage based off the previous year’s February energy and water bills.
The results for each scholarship hall will be calculated by the percentage decrease in use from the previous February’s totals. Kimple said the scholarship hall with the highest percentage drop in energy and water usage would receive a trophy.
“It’s actually going to be a big indoor plant,” Kimple said. “It will have a plaque on it recognizing the winning hall, so there’s definitely incentive.”
Kimple said he wanted scholarship hall residents to remember the tips put around the building for longer than just a month.
“What I’m primarily looking for, and I think most residents understand this, is that this program is designed to change your lifestyle,” Kimple said. “This isn’t just some silly competition. We all know it’s an exercise in lifestyle, and that’s really what it’s all about.”
Tyler Enders, Leawood sophomore, had a new vision for a campus-wide green living competition that would take place after spring break. Enders said he wanted all campus housing, including Greek houses and residence halls, to participate in a competition similar to that of the towers and scholarship halls called Green Wars.
Enders said he got the idea from Leadershape, where students came up with ideas that could change campus. Enders said that after Leadershape his inbox was flooded with offers for help from other Leadershape members. He said the positive support for his idea made him feel responsible for following through with it.
“The support made me much more gung-ho about it,” Enders said. “A fire has been lit under me.”
For the Green Wars competition in the spring, Gerwick said she would team with Kimple, as well as a representative of Greek housing and a representative of the residence halls, to start the program.
Gerwick said she hoped to make saving money on energy and water a habit for towers residents by the time Green Wars started.
“We think of it as a continuation of what we’re doing now,” Gerwick said.
Kimple said the scholarship hall program would act as a test to see how the larger campus-wide competition would work. He said that although the competition was still in the planning process, he didn’t think the scholarship halls would participate in a second official round of the green housing competition.
Enders said he hoped the findings from the scholarship halls would translate well to Greek housing, and the findings from the towers would translate into valuable numbers for the residence halls.
— — Edited by Chris Hickerson
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