I found this article "How green is your campus?" to be a great read and on target. Considering that the Green Coalition at Florida A&M University is trying to get the Student Green Energy Fund passed, understanding what other schools have done to promote going green is a very important tool.
According to the article, Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. gave its 1,300 incoming freshmen and parents their first lesson during their orientation. School officials served them food that was locally and sustainably produced and had them eat with cutlery that was made from sugar cane. I personally have never seen cutlery that was made from sugar cane, but I am now definitely interested in what that may be.
To further encourage students and parents, school officials gave out compact fluorescent light bulbs and reusable water bottles, which were in reusable grocery bags.
Emory University has created a model that is easy and simple for other schools like FAMU to follow. Encouraging freshmen who are probably the most easily influenced at that stage is where school officals should start. "From the first time the students interact with Emory, we try to make it clear that sustainability is part of our DNA, that this is our expectation from them," says Ciannat Howett, director of the university's office of sustainability initiatives. (Mascarelli, 2009, Nature 461)
During the two-day orientation period, Emory composted about two tons of waste. As part of its first near-zero-waste freshman orientation.
Emory is only one of the many colleges and universities that are following the trend of going green. With this in my mind, I hope that learning from what other schools like Emory have done as a class, we can use these different and easy tactics to promote going green at FAMU.
Mascarelli, A. (2009, September). How green is your campus? Nature, 461 (7261), 154-5. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from Research Library. (doi: 1860920651)
To read this full article please visit the following link: http://proquest.umi.com.famuproxy.fcla.edu/pqdweb?index=4&did=1860920651&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1320940322&clientId=20177
I found this post to be a great read. While reading, I was interested in the unique ways Emory University enforced sustainability on their incoming freshmen. This article was actually perfect to read for wanting further information on how to compare other sustainable universities to FAMU. Emory’s strategy for Going Green was encouraging and creative. Incorporating going green into freshmen orientation was a great way to engage students and their parents. This strategy showed that it related sustainability to the family and not just the individual. If students saw more going green at home, there will be a greater chance of carrying that trait with them to college.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the Emory University’s approach to inform their students about sustainability was great. I thought that having the freshmen and their families eat with sugar cane cutlery was a great strategy. It was interactive and it help to show them that there were sustainable alternatives that they could use in their daily lives. We could be interactive in our class campaign and get our target audience involved in our approach to persuade them to vote for the “Green Energy Fund.”
ReplyDeleteWhat Emory University is doing, is the same thing that Florida A&M University needs to do and that is educate the students from the beginning of their college journey. Starting with the freshman is a great idea to get a campus started with sustainability. If they start out practicing sustainability from the start, the chances of them continuing it when they become juniors and senior would probably be very high. Like Bendiane said, I've never heard of cutlery made out of sugary but after reading her post, I am very interested as well. Emory University has stared something great, and other universities, as well as FAMU, need to follow.
ReplyDeleteBendiane:
ReplyDeleteFor some reason this post makes me so proud. Maybe it is because I am from Atlanta and am considering Emory University for future studies. I don’t know but from your description, I am very interested in reading this article. I know that FAMU would be an awesome school to mimic the composting idea. All it takes is some proper planning. They can get help with that right here in the School of Journalism and Graphic Communications. Hopefully, our administration wakes up and sees the benefit of having this an active part of our mission and vision because in my opinion, the Green Campus Energy fund will not be successful unless every public related to the University is on board.
- Alisa Routh