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by Abby Schwimmer
No one ever said that affecting change would be easy. To members of the
Indiana Public Interest Research Group (INPIRG), a student-run social
and environmental activist organization on the IU campus, this adage
could not ring more true.
Currently, the group is focusing its time and effort on the Campus
Climate Challenge, its global warming awareness, emissions reduction
and clean energy advocacy campaign. In particular, members are crafting
suggestions to reduce the 68,000 tons of Indiana coal that the physical
plant burns yearly.
As global climate change begins to visibly manifest itself
around the world, INPIRG is advocating efficiency upgrades and policy
changes that would lessen IU’s emissions.
Elliot Hayden, director of the Campus Climate Challenge, has been
researching possible energy efficiency improvements that would conserve
energy, which have the potential to save IU millions of dollars in
utility costs.
“There are so many ways we can reduce the amount of pollutants
we emit,” he said, “and so many alternative sources that we should have
incorporated into our energy usage long ago. The main problem that we
have run into in the past is a general absence of student awareness of
the serious consequences of global warming.”
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At IU, a lack of awareness of environmental issues has traditionally
translated into a lack of concern and action on the part of the student
body. It is this trend that INPIRG is working to reverse.
For Brett Kokot, the Campus Climate Challenge Coalition
coordinator, the need to acknowledge and address energy-related issues
is immediate. “We need to change, and we need to do it now,” he said.
Unbeknownst to most of the IU student body and administration,
upgrading the university’s energy efficiency is a practical decision
with positive results that would extend far beyond solely environmental
benefits.
For starters, switching to alternative energy sources,
outfitting residence halls with Energy Star certified appliances or
implementing green building standards would cut utility costs and yield
an eventual payback of the initial funds invested, in addition to
reducing ecologically harmful emissions.
Citing the concerns caused by the effects of global climate change,
including increased numbers of wildfires, disappearing coastlines and
species endangerment, Kokot views student awareness as an integral part
of this race against time.
“We are entering this battle late,” he said. “We have been
flooding our atmosphere with pollutants for years, and there has been a
feeling of complacency with the status quo on campus. No one has
effectively challenged the status quo and said ‘Hey, we really need to
clean up our act.’”
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However, INPIRG’s diligence may soon yield tangible results. Over the
past several months, members have observed how IU uses energy and have
found that while the university meets compliance with the necessary
state regulations, it has made no major efforts to go above and beyond
the bare minimum.
In the meantime, colleges across the country, including both
Purdue and Ball State universities, have reduced their ecological
impacts by updating inefficient heating and lighting systems, using
cleaner burning alternative fuels and adopting several other
utilities-based improvements.
By taking stock of IU’s energy policies and comparing them to
those at other universities, INPIRG has developed a set of energy
efficiency proposals that it recently brought before a member of the
Board of Trustees. Citing the win-win nature of such upgrades and
initiatives, the Board of Trustees has agreed to give the matter
further consideration in the months ahead.
This opportunity to effect major energy policy changes has not
gone unnoticed around campus. Since learning of this new development, a
number of faculty and staff have contacted the board to voice their
support for such changes. Overall, the IU community is beginning to
show interest in operating more sustainably.
“The response to our recent efforts has been very encouraging,”
Hayden said. “We have seen that it is not too late in the game for IU
to change the way it uses energy.”
With time, hard work and patience, led by concerned members of
the community such as the volunteers at INPIRG, Indiana University is
poised to make ambitious changes that will allow it to stride forward
into a cleaner, greener future.
Abby Schwimmer can be reached at acschwim@indiana.edu.
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