Smith Green Team Promotes Sustainability
Alex Davis
Issue date: 9/22/05 Section: News
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According to the mission statement, "Through incremental changes in everyday activities, we [The Green Team] seek to transform the college's practices so we can achieve the greatest possible efficiencies in preventing pollution and using natural resources."
The Green Teem encourages students not only to recycle, but also to use personal water bottles and travel mugs in lieu of paper cups and bottles. Changing sleep settings on computers, the Green Team suggested, "can save 200 kilowatt-hours of energy a year and avoid 300 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions."
The Green Team also suggested that students purchase compact florescent light bulbs rather than incandescent. According to The Green Team website, "If every student bought one 20 watt compact fluorescent, we could avoid 120 tons of greenhouse gas emissions and save the college more than 30,000 a year."
During orientation week, the Green Team debuted with a table that included free mugs for students as well as information regarding previous success the college had had in recycling and efforts towards sustainability. The Green Team was also responsible for selling lights and other electronic devices made by Energy Star. According to the Green Team Website, Energy Star is a qualification used to suggest more efficient energy use by the product to which it belongs.
In their first big initiative, The Million Monitor Drive, The Green Team hopes to apply the Energy Star power management features on all the computers connected the Smith network. Potential savings for this campaign include $60,000 and the prevention of 520 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere this year.
"A short term challenge is implementing as many energy/materials saving projects as possible...[This would include] the complete elimination of incandescent lighting...as well as the million monitor drive," said Hartwell.
The Million Monitor Drive will be a collaborative campaign, including the student organizations Gaia, MassPIRG and Clean Energy for Smith within its membership. For more information about the Drive and for volunteering opportunities, contact Katherine Thompson, (kthomps2@email.smith.edu).
According to Hartwell, "From my perspective getting people to really understand global warming and what that implies, to accept the fact that fossil fuels are a finite resource and linked to all kinds of environmental calamity and then take action; it is a task best done with many."
The Green Teem encourages students not only to recycle, but also to use personal water bottles and travel mugs in lieu of paper cups and bottles. Changing sleep settings on computers, the Green Team suggested, "can save 200 kilowatt-hours of energy a year and avoid 300 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions."
The Green Team also suggested that students purchase compact florescent light bulbs rather than incandescent. According to The Green Team website, "If every student bought one 20 watt compact fluorescent, we could avoid 120 tons of greenhouse gas emissions and save the college more than 30,000 a year."
During orientation week, the Green Team debuted with a table that included free mugs for students as well as information regarding previous success the college had had in recycling and efforts towards sustainability. The Green Team was also responsible for selling lights and other electronic devices made by Energy Star. According to the Green Team Website, Energy Star is a qualification used to suggest more efficient energy use by the product to which it belongs.
In their first big initiative, The Million Monitor Drive, The Green Team hopes to apply the Energy Star power management features on all the computers connected the Smith network. Potential savings for this campaign include $60,000 and the prevention of 520 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere this year.
"A short term challenge is implementing as many energy/materials saving projects as possible...[This would include] the complete elimination of incandescent lighting...as well as the million monitor drive," said Hartwell.
The Million Monitor Drive will be a collaborative campaign, including the student organizations Gaia, MassPIRG and Clean Energy for Smith within its membership. For more information about the Drive and for volunteering opportunities, contact Katherine Thompson, (kthomps2@email.smith.edu).
According to Hartwell, "From my perspective getting people to really understand global warming and what that implies, to accept the fact that fossil fuels are a finite resource and linked to all kinds of environmental calamity and then take action; it is a task best done with many."