Part 3 of a three-part series, ‘UMass goes green’ by Frank Godinho.
Many departments on campus have made efforts this semester in going “green” – while others have plans in development. For instance, the UMass Bursar’s Office has eliminated its paper system and is exclusively offering online billing to help eliminate paper waste.
Other University efforts include the Environmental Sustainability and Energy Conservation Campaign’s introduction of the Eco-Rep program.
The new pilot program invites students living in eight residence halls to educate other students about the environment. Recruitment for student representatives of the program took place during September and a variety of topics chosen by the campaign will be discussed each month for the remainder of the 2008-2009 academic year.
A new event came to UMass this semester, the “Campus Consciousness” tour featuring the band OAR, who just announced a partnership with the environmental group Reverb.
The tour offers students an environmental concert event at several college campuses. UMass Amherst was the tour’s first stop this year. At the Campus Center, a meeting similar to that at a town hall took place before the concert, and featured organizers of the event, including Josh Stoffel and one member from the band OAR. Panelists answered a variety of student questions concerning green initiatives and ways to lessen their carbon footprints.
“For a band like OAR to say these things with me, instead of just me to saying it, I feel might carry a little more weight,” said Stoffel.
Other news indicating that UMass is furthering its green efforts include some plans by Dining Services. Ken Toong revealed his latest plans about how he continues to support local agriculture. He hopes to increase the amount of local produce for dining services from 23 to 25 percent by 2010. Toong also says that plans to renovate Worcester Dining Commons are scheduled as early as 2010 to make the building become more energy efficient.
The first green certified LEED building at UMass may be a part of the campus as soon as the summer of 2010. The green initiative involves a new campus police station that is still under development and in planning mode. The Facilities and Planning department is hoping to make the new police station an LEED certified gold-standard building.
