The excitement or relief that arrived with a University acceptance letter may have faded. New students might be wondering what they have gotten themselves into: Was the University of Southern Maine a good choice for me? New students are not alone if they find themselves asking this question in these busy first weeks in a new environment. More of a feeling than a question, even the most confident of us has probably admitted to an occasional, transient, sinking doubt about one of life’s choices or another. While I am unable to speak with authority as to whether or not USM is a great full-term match for each student and every employee, I am writing to express my growing understanding that USM is a wonderful “learningscape” that we can be proud of. This new buzzword, “learningscape” expresses the fact that we learn most of life’s lessons outside the classroom. The landscape of the campus community is now understood to be a vitally important “classroom”. As USM tends to the important business of granting academic credentials the University has also accepted the difficult and on-going challenge of working to create a campus community which role models the best of what is taught in our classrooms. USM has made a commendable commitment to practice what it teaches.
Nursing courses, chemistry courses, and even criminology courses all provide a different perspective on the need to have access to clean water. How is USM responding to the challenge of ensuring an adequate supply of clean water for future generations of students? Recognizing that it is easier to keep water clean that clean it up, one project has been to stop making water dirty in the first place.
Returning male students may already know about the University’s waterless urinals. Instead of polluting 1.5 gallons of water with every use, these innovative urinals “flush” using only the water relieved by the user. If they were not so regularly misappropriated by miscreants, signs above these bathroom fixtures explain that in higher-use applications, each of these installations can save 40,000 gallons of water per year. Imagine that-urinals that teach! This is serious tinkling but it still doesn’t amount to an overall water conservation and efficiency program. Water-saving shower heads, self-closing faucets, use of native and drought resistant landscape plantings and conscientious use of standard water controls by students and staff amount to a literal flood of annual protection efforts. Dual flush toilets may be next.
Whether you select a business law course, a business management course or a course in environmental science and policy you will almost certainly receive confirmation that clean air is important. How important? For confirmation of how concerned your University is about air quality you can look at University policies and practices. Last November University President Richard Pattenaude agreed to support New England’s Governors and the Premiers of Eastern Canada in their effort to implement a climate change action plan and made a commitment to reduce the University’s contributions to the release of CO2 and other global warming gases. Even before the President made this commitment, the University purchased a fleet of hybrid electric cars to replace motor pool vehicles. Last semester, a University staff member reported getting over 60 miles per gallon in a University hybrid. This is over twice the fuel efficiency of the cars that were replaced. Cleaner air and with gas at two dollars a gallon, USM stands to save money on the purchase too. This small fuel efficiency project coupled with a University purchase of enough wind generated electricity to run 250 Maine homes for a year. The construction of a start-of-the-art “combined heat and power” plant on the Gorham campus and a ground-source heating and cooling system in the new award-winning Joel and Linda Abromson Community Education Center adds up to a significant University clean air policy. We can all breathe a little easier.
Cleaner water and cleaner air-this is more than a hopeful beginning. We can be proud that the USM community is learning that to meet the University’s academic mission we must make our use of air and water part of that mission. Every day. FootPrint welcomes all new and returning students and wishes them a wonderful semester.
Dudley Greely can be contacted at