USM students, faculty and staff are working to “green” USM’s campus, but we’re not alone. USM is a founding member of the Green Campus Consortium of Maine, a group of a dozen Maine colleges, universities and a number of state and private agencies that meet every six weeks to share information on how to become more sustainable institutions. USM students are welcome to attend these meetings-see the GCCM website for next meeting date: www.megreencampus.com. Efforts to create more sustainable campuses, often lead by students, have been going on for years throughout the state, the country and the world.
Students at Maine’s Unity College built a wind turbine to generate electricity for one of their residential buildings. The College of the Atlantic recently signed a contract for wind-generated electric power and now gets 100 percent of its electricity from non-polluting “green” generators. Colby and the University of Maine, Orono have also bought significant amounts of “green” power. Bowdoin is building two Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) “green” residence halls, offers organic and local food selections, composts much of its food wastes for use as fertilizer on the campus and just purchased its first hybrid vehicle. Bates has completed an environmental audit of campus operations and its food service operations are recognized nation-wide for use of local and organic produce and practices that have dramatically reduced the amount of food that is wasted. Several of these schools have sustainability coordinators.
At the University of Oregon, a ribbon cutting ceremony on January 14 marked the completion of a 12 kilowatt (kW) photovoltaic generation installation. Eighty-four solar panels on the roof of their rec center are now generating electricity for the school. The project was conceived and funded by the students.
A bit further south, a student group at California State University, Renew CSU, is pushing for 500 kW of solar installations per campus, new LEED silver certified green buildings, reducing energy consumption per student by 20 percent by 2014 and purchasing 25 percent renewable energy by 2014. In response, the Board of Trustees made plans to carry out a cost-benefit study and formed a Sustainability Committee that met for the first time on January 13, 2005.
The University of Colorado at Boulder is participating in a nation wide “RecycleMania” contest and the University of Vermont will be hosting the third annual Northeast Climate Conference this Feb 18-20 (interested? check out www.climatecampaign.org/conference or e-mail [email protected]).
USM is one of many hundreds of campuses committed to adopting more sustainable practices. This column, FootPrint, was recognized by the national Campus Ecology Program for contributing to environmental literacy. The Free Press/WMPG building at 92 Bedford St. is now heated by burning heating oil that is 20 percent vegetable oil. The Joel and Linda Abromson Community Center on the Portland campus and the new technology wing of Gorham’s John Mitchell Center are both registered with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design program and have numerous energy-efficient and community-friendly features. The Community Education Center will be partially solar-powered by photovoltaic panels on its roof and the toilets will function with stored rainwater instead of using treated, potable, water from Sebago Lake. USM owns a fleet of hybrid-electric vehicles, one of which got over 62 miles per gallon on a recent trip! USM is nearing its goal to replace most incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent light bulbs and purchased 1.5 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy credits for wind-generated electricity last year. A 40-panel solar water heater on the Sullivan Gym has been providing hot showers for students for over twenty years. We can be proud of these efforts and all help to keep the momentum going.
These are just a few national examples of a global trend. USM is one of many campuses around the world that have pledged to become models for more sustainable societies. Students are often the catalysts. The sustainability movement has taken root on campus soil. You have the opportunity to help it grow, to advocate for and support sustainable practices at USM. Talk to your student government, classmates and professors. We can begin today to create the kind of world you want to live in. We can start right here in Southern Maine.