Web posted
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Southwestern students to search for ways to cut carbon footprint
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WINFIELD, Kan. (AP) -- Southwestern College is recruiting students to become part of an environmental program to reduce the school's carbon footprint.
The Winfield college is offered scholarships of up to $3,200 to eight or nine students to become the first class of the Green Team, which will look for ways to recycle and conserve resources, along with leading the college toward renewable energy sources.
''We are interested in exploring ideas such as, can we generate our electricity with wind?'' Southwestern College President Dick Merriman said. ''We are learning as we go. And, we need a work force of smart, committed young people at the college who can lead us.''
Southwestern is part of American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, about 500 colleges across the country that have agreed to reduce their greenhouse emissions by 80 percent by mid-century.
The group includes Harvard, the University of California, Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina and Labette Community College in Parsons.
The universities are developing long-range plans and will report back to the organization every two years, according to Tony Cortese, president of Second Nature, which helped create the climate commitment group.
''The presidents of these colleges believe if we don't reverse climate change, the students of today, their children and children's children won't have the same quality of life as the generations before them,'' Cortese said. ''We have a real responsibility to the rest of society to train the next generation of graduates and help them have the knowledge and skills to lead their lives.''
Merriman said a study of Southwestern College's utility usage estimated that the school emits 10,661,106 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually from its 600 students, 150 employees and 20 buildings.
Southwestern has already taken steps to decrease its carbon footprint, retrofitting fluorescent light fixtures in campus buildings and replacing windows at the library with energy-efficient, double-paned windows to reduce power usage.
Studies are under way to provide campus vehicles that run on electricity or other forms of energy, and students this spring will conduct energy audits for 30 low-income and elderly residents' homes in the area.
Other students have suggested putting in more bicycle racks at the college to promote bike riding.
''Southwestern students are a tremendous resource,'' said Pam Moore, executive director of the Legacy Regional Community Foundation in Winfield, which is providing the money for the project.
The Green Team will be directed by Jason Speegle, valedictorian and a 1999 graduate of the Leadership Southwestern program who's currently teaching and is national director of Crown Financial Ministries, doing mission work in the Dominican Republic.
Green Team members will be required to take environmental issues and leadership classes, Speegle said, but can major in any academic program. Lab work will be in projects at the campus and in Winfield that become more advanced each year.
''The students will focus on projects, develop leadership skills -- skills they can use in the workplace,'' he said. ''But while they are at the university, they can be in a non-threatening environment where they can fail and learn from failure, succeed and learn from success without having a paycheck. They will be free to try things without fear of failure.''
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