Al Gore inspires student; sparks SU green dorm program

By: Sarah DiGiulio

Posted: 9/28/07

Twice as many Category 4 and 5 hurricanes have struck land in the last five years. The flow of melting ice from the Greenland glaciers has doubled in the last 10 years. Global sea levels are predicted to rise 20 percent. All of the ice in the Arctic Ocean could melt in the summers by 2005.

After hearing former Vice President Al Gore talk about the threat of global warming last fall, junior Neville Williams decided something needed to be done.

"I wanted to know what Syracuse could do," Williams, a international relations major, said.

So he challenged Syracuse University. And that challenge starts Monday.

Williams united several student organizations and administrative offices across SU to sponsor the Saving Juice in the 'Cuse challenge. For two months, the residence halls are competing to see which hall can most effectively reduce its energy consumption as well as increase its recycling output, Williams said.

The winning hall will receive a trophy and have a tree planted in front of their hall. Williams added there would be another prize to be named later.

"If you can convince students that it's not too difficult to live sustainably, that's my goal," Williams said. "My biggest concern is making sure it's a program that engages students. I'm trying to stir up something."

There are daily opportunities to save energy, whether it involves turning off a computer when leaving for more than one hour or using energy-efficient light bulbs, Williams said.

A compact fluorescent light bulb uses 75 less energy than a standard bulb, according to the Energy Star Web site.

"The world is full of limited resources. If we don't look at ways to maintain those, we take away from future generations," said George Athanas, an assistant director of the Office of Residence Life and coordinator of the Civic Engagement Committee (CEC). Athanas' office is sponsoring Saving Juice in the 'Cuse as well as the "Be Orange, Think Green" initiative.

Sometimes sustainability seems really big, Athanas said. But, he added, this challenge shows how one person really can make a huge impact.

"College students are the primary change agents. If they understand this concept and go out into the world with it, that is really significant," Athanas said.

Athanas is promoting the challenge through resident advisers who will promote it to their students, he said. There is also a Facebook campaign through the CEC, he said.

The challenge has been a collaborative effort, Athanas said.

The Office of Purchasing and Procurement will monitor the recycling part of the challenge, said Tina Julian, a senior purchasing specialist for the office.

"We've turned into a 'throw away' generation. Everything's invisible. They put it in the trash can, and they don't have to look at it anymore," Julian said.

Each week of the challenge, Energy and Computing Management will read the meters that measure the energy usage, said Steve Lloyd, chief sustainability officer of the ECM. Although it will take electricians extra hours each week to read the meters, Lloyd supports the challenge.

"It saves resources that are finite," Lloyd said. "It trains and educates people for the future."

Lloyd wants students to realize they can save energy and they should be doing it 365 days a year, he said.

"It just makes sense," he said.

It made sense to Williams last fall when he envisioned the challenge. The initial idea spurred from talking to a friend at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

As part of an environmental action organization there, she helped to launch an energy conservation challenge among the student dorms. The dorm with the lowest energy usage after a month won.

Williams said he was dedicated to bringing the idea to SU. The international relations major has been interested in environmental problems since high school and wants to work on environmental policy in the future, he said.

"It seemed like it was right up my alley," he said.

Williams said he did not even know if it was possible to measure the energy output in an SU residence hall. But, he talked to ECM, the Office of Residence Life, the Division of Student Affairs and the Office of Purchasing and Procurement. He collaborated with friends from the Residence Hall Association, the Student Environmental Action Coalition and New York Public Interest Research Group.

Williams has a positive attitude in his efforts to make this student challenge successful.

"I'm going to do this, and I want to make sure it gets done," he said.