Going for the Green
Stout takes steps towards an eco-friendly campus
Maggie Meixl
Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: News
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+ Ride your bike to class!
+ Shop with a greenbag to reduce the number of plastic bags used. (www.greenbag.info)
+ Buy locally grown food from the Menomonie Farmers Market at Wilson Park. Opens the first Saturday in May and ends the last Saturday in October. Market days are from noon to 6 pm on Wednesday and from 8 am to 1 pm on Saturday
Okay, fine. Earth week is April 22, 2008. So why should I care now?
Colleges and universities around the nation are catching the “green” bug. Many campuses are forging new ground, replacing old ways of operating with sustainable methods.
The University of Wisconsin-Stout has taken a grassroots approach to sustainability. Student and staff volunteers with a passion for the environment have led the movement to make campus actions more sustainable.
On Sept. 15, 2007, at the petition of UW-Stout students and staff, Chancellor Sorenson signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. Campuses nationwide have signed the commitment to integrate sustainability into their curriculum to better serve their students and meet their social mandate to help create a thriving, ethical and civil society.
To ensure an organized approach to sustainability, UW-Stout created a new part-time position. Raina Clark serves as the Environmental Sustainability Coordinator for the campus.
“Our number one plus at UW-Stout is that we are the most energy efficient campus in the UW System because we have maintained our systems well and we also have a number of energy conscious people working here,” Clark said.
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“If you really want to do or participate in something, I am your first stop,” Clark said.
RecycleMania is on campus for the second year in a row. UW-Stout is once again leading the UW campuses in the Waste Minimization category and is in the top 11 percent of all campuses in this category.
Students Heidi Behnke and Mandy Mulder, also the acting Greensense president, organize the event for the campus and are receiving help from Biology 111 lab groups. The 56 lab groups are responsible for promoting the 10-week event to the campus through presentations and advertisements.
“RecycleMania is about promoting recycling on campus so that when students leave, they can take what they’ve learned with them,” Behnke said.
University Dining Centers produce many tons of organic recyclables that are currently being thrown away instead of recycled. The dining centers are working side-by-side with students and staff to find a way to use these in either a composting system or an anaerobic digester to help UW-Stout reduce the amount of waste produced. It may also be possible to use the food waste to produce electricity and high-quality composting material.
“We are currently working with dining services and Greensense to brainstorm ways we can change the campus culture and infrastructure in order to get students to separate their food waste and also appropriately dispose of compostable food containers,” assistant biology professor Kitrina Carlson said.
 Media Credit: Maggie Meixl Bituminous eastern coal burned at UW-Stout from the mid-November to mid-March. Bituminous coal is a soft coal used to generate electricity that is only mined in states such as West Virginia and Kentucky. |
“We’ve had great interest and support by the Stout students and faculty. Dining services is very excited to implement a system to appropriately dispose of food waste and we’re discussing developing a campaign to promote sustainability issues to UW-Stout students,” Carlson said.
Composting pilot projects are expected to start soon.
At 4 feet 6 inches tall, the new ZENN car used by campus parking enforcement officers is getting some questioning looks from unknowing UW-Stout students.
The zero-emission no-noise car runs completely on a rechargeable battery and is nearly silent while driving. It can reach speeds up to 30 mph and run for 30-50 miles on an eight-hour battery charge.
Designed for urban transport, the car is a perfect fit for the needs of parking enforcement officers on campus, allowing them a comfortable ride while doing their job.
According to ZENN manufacturers, one gallon of gas provides the same energy as fully charging the car about seven times making it a smart economical choice for UW-Stout.
“We’re trying to be as green as we can possibly be doing what we do with parking,” Keith McCarten of UW-Stout’s Police and Parking Services said.
The car has been featured in newspaper articles and on Channel 18 WQOW, the Eau Claire news station, since UW-Stout parking services purchased it in February. At 1,200 pounds, it would be easy to assume that the silver ZENN would be difficult to spot on campus, but its unique shape and frequency of use ensure that Stout students will see a lot of it in the coming months.
 Media Credit: Maggie Meixl Jill Klegin uses a "green bag" to complete her shopping at Market Place foods. Green bags are and environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional paper or plastic bags which can be reused indefinately. |
Take green to a whole new level with UW-Stout’s new minor in sustainable design and development beginning fall 2008. The new minor will be offered through the department of engineering and technology and is an interdisciplinary approach that integrates the natural and social sciences with technical course work in a variety of disciplines associated with environmental issues. The meeting of current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs is growing in industry, as manufacturers consider multiple uses of products throughout the products’ life cycles.
Personal efforts, such as cutting down on time in a hot shower, walking to the store or riding a bike to class may seem like insignificant efforts against a large global warming problem, but they’re all a good start to a positive, more sustainable future for UW-Stout.
Around Wisconsin
In September of 2006, Governor Doyle mandated a pilot program to demonstrate that four state university campuses could be completely energy independent within five years. Amoung those chosen were the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the Universtity of Wisconsin-River Falls and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, because they already had significant sustainability actions in place. These campuses are experimenting with different means of operating.
The UW-Stevens Point has a green roof on its library. Five different drought tolerant plants are embedded into UV-resistant trays, which catch rainfall for the plants to absorb, leaving less harmful rain runoff. The plants provide extra insulation for the building whereby reducing energy usage. UW-Stevens Point is also using alternative methods, on one of its dorms. Solar panels on the roof produce energy that is used by the dorms environmentally-friendly hot water system.
Ripon College, located in southeastern Wisconsin, will implement a new program in 2012 that encourages students to “just say no” to cars. Incoming students will have the option to sign a pledge saying that they will not bring a car to campus for the duration of the upcoming academic year. Those who participate will be given a brand-new mountain bike, helmet and lock to keep.
There are many ways to get involved with UW-Stout’s sustainability efforts and numerous ways to cut down on personal negative impacts on the environment.
• Greensense is an environmentally-friendly group made up of students who share a passion for the environment. All students are welcome to join their Monday night meetings at 7 p.m. in the Terrace. http://greensense.uwstout.edu
• The Sustainability Committee is open to any sustainable ideas for the campus from students. Recycling centers are outside every dorm on campus for residents to take advantage of. www.uwstout.edu/sustainability/
• Campus buildings are filled with bins for paper, plastic and aluminum, encouraging students to take the time to recycle.
• www.recyclemaniacs.com
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