The New Green InitiativesSidebar: The New Green Building
By: Abby WoodOne simple action can make a big difference, and for High Point University, that one action is a concern for the environment.
For the first time since this campus has been established, the idea to take care of our environment is a new prospect that will be carried out by students.
“The students are the ones who will make it happen,” said Roger Clodfelter, Director of WOW at High Point University.
The Green Team made its big kickoff on April 7th, when it offered the new Primo water bottles and flyers to students in the Slane Center. The effort was an attempt to get the Green Team’s name on the campus, and to persuade students to go green.
According to David Bryden, Director of Library Services, about 40 students were on the initial list to become members of the Green Team.
The projects to make High Point University a more environmentally-friendly campus will be created and carried out by students, who will give their ideas in a free open discussion at the designated meetings.
Currently, students have a blue recycling bin in their dorms, combined with a larger bin for recyclable items of that dorm provided to them in the laundry room.
So every week students take out the trash, they can recycle as well.
Senior Jen Hastings said, “We want to do more than recycle.”
Student organizations like the Greek societies, Campus Crusades for Christ, and Service Fraternities will have the opportunity to get involved with projects to make the campus green.
In the future, they will be able to elect a student representative to go to the Green Team meetings.
The efforts to start the green projects will be underway when students return in the fall, and will continue into the future.
“Right now,” Clodfelter said, “We are putting the agenda together.”
Goals of the Green Team
High Point University’s Green Team is composed of faculty, staff, administrators, Budd and Food Services personnel, and couple of students.
“The team’s purpose is to educate and advocate issues with the environment. This is a developing and emerging concept; we are doing the best we can with the knowledge we have today, and learning as we go,” said Associate Professor of Communications Dr. Judy Isaksen.
Isaksen is one of the professors who has worked at High Point University since 2001, and since then, green initiatives were not mentioned.
“The thoughts now about going green are more mainstream,” she says, “but before thoughts were not so big.”
Isaksen says the team talked about introducing the programs at the start of orientation in the Fall Semester 2009.
She says they plan to have activities for students when they come back, a large Earth Day celebration, an effort for Greeks to Go Green, and other related activities.
Isaksen says what she wants to see most is “a shift in the entire culture at High Point University, and the ideas going and thinking green will become the norm.”
Better Water Comes From Primo Bottle
Efforts like the newly- owned Primo water bottle, recycling containers, the tray-less dining program in the cafeteria, recyclable napkins and straws made from corn are just the beginning of the green initiatives.
High Point University’s partnership with Primo Water Corporation has given the university the opportunity to enjoy fresh, cool water with much less impact on our planet, according to the new Green Team flyer.
According to the flyer, “the Primo water bottle is made from plants grown on American soil, not crude oil,” and “will bio-degrade in 90 days in a commercial composting facility, and can be recycled.”
Which means even if you don’t recycle the bottle after 90 days, it will decompose to corn minerals and carbon, according to Bryden.
According to the 2009 Statistical Abstract, in the year 2007, 530 million barrels of crude oil were imported to the United States from Saudi Arabia.
Crude oil, otherwise known as a petroleum product, is mixture of comparatively volatile liquid hydrocarbons that occurs in the Earth's crust and is extracted for use as fuel and various petroleum products, according to the encyclopedia Britannica.
The First Green Building
As an already-thought-of construction plan for the new Brayton School of Education building, Roy Epperson, Director of Special Projects says the building will be the first new green academic facility on campus.
Epperson says the education building will be the first LEED building to be built on campus.
LEED, according to Epperson, stands for:
- Leadership
- Environment
- Energy
- Design
To get started in the process, the steps to take are:
1. Learn
2. Register
3. Become an expert
4. Educate
5. Collaborate
6. Celebrate
According to the U.S. Green Building Council website, “LEED is an internationally recognized certification system that measures how well a building or community performs across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.”
In order to achieve certification, several points on the factors must be completed.
Epperson says there will be several things that will make the building green.
The toilets will be timed to save water.
Natural light will be used in the lighting system, and will have motion-detection censors placed in them to save electricity.
Materials for the building, which have yet to be determined, will not be traveled a distance longer than 500 miles to the campus.
Epperson says these are the initial starting point steps, the next step is the consultant.
“A year from now we will hopefully be finished,” Epperson said.
Eco-Products Costs
Food Services is a big member of the team, represented by Pete Mandalo, who is dedicated to make the food in the cafeteria as well as utilities more eco-friendly.
Mandalo has been very active in the project for more than a year now, and began his efforts with the tray-less dining program, which reduces client environment footing, pollution, and conserves water.
The biggest issue, Mandalo says, is the cost of buying new eco-products.
“The eco-products are very costly. I hope to see the prices come down so that they could be affordable,” he says.
Mandalo says they are in the process of shopping for new vendors for food products, and those that are made locally to fit the growing demand to be more regional.
“If a lot of green products were available, I would like to see prices come down. It’s what the customer is willing to pay,” he said.
The understanding of this challenge is that the product is hard to produce, therefore it costs more.
Gas and Carbon Dioxide
Besides costs on eco-products, the emissions of gas and carbon monoxide and dioxide are another challenge environmentalists have.
The emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that are dispensed in the atmosphere causes pollution.
Carbon Dioxide is a chemical compound which emits from oxygen and is a natural gas that exists in our atmosphere, according to Britannica encyclopedia.
According to the description by the authors Philippe Rekacewicz, Emmanuel Bournay, UNEP/GRID – Arendal, emissions of carbon dioxide have soared significantly from the past.
“Since pre-industrial times, the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases has grown significantly. Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration has increased by about 31%, methane concentration by about 150%, and nitrous oxide concentration by about 16% (Watson et al 2001). The present level of carbon dioxide concentration (around 375 parts per million) is the highest for 420,000 years, and probably the highest for the past 20 million years.”
Past and future CO2 concentrations
Another graph made by the source UNEP/GRID – Arendal, says the emissions of gas from the years 1970-2004 were an equivalent of a thousand million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
David Bryden says the project to convert diesel to biodiesel engines in the university vehicles, trolleys, and shuttle buses sounds like a good idea to the administration.
In order to contribute and face the challenges the green team is facing, the ultimate goal is to get many students involved.
A Professor Speaks to Students
Associate Professor of the Physical Education department, Dr. Martie Bell says she believes the students are the ones who have the voice, and need to be involved in the efforts.
“For now,” she said, “we are trying to do as much as we can.”
Bell believes a lot of things need to change, and that this undertaking will be an educational or learning experience.
“We need to be aware of things, and get to the point of knowing what we are doing to the earth,” students should be involved and take responsibility,” she said.
Bell said she is frustrated with Chick-fil-A in the Slane Center right now because of the Styrofoam cups they use, and wishes there was a way for prices to be reduced on the costs we spend to have our green products.
Mandalo from the Food Services agreed, “It’d be cool to get students involved.”
Clodfelter says the administration wants to ensure that student interests are being responded, and the health of our environment is a responsibility we should all care about.
For more information, visit these external links:
LEED: LEED Certification Information
U.S. Green Building Council
Campus Articles: Making a Splash
Other statistics: 2009 Statistical Abstract
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