The Cyberspace Race: Pac-10 Edition

If the technology age has taught me anything, it’s that talking isn’t done in person or even over the phone; it’s done over the good old vast stretch of the cyberspace super highway.

While some may subscribe to the idea that universities should walk the green walk now and self-promote later, Pacific-10 schools are all jockeying for the most sustainable online visibility.

Let’s see which schools rated highest—not on their individual green efforts, but rather on how they present themselves via their Web sites. For fun’s sake, we’ll split them up by natural rivalries.

Criteria for the rankings included ease of use, layout, encouragement of student involvement and gimmickry (or lack thereof).

The Apple Cup: Washington State vs. Washington

We’ll start in the Pacific Northwest, with two schools who wish they were as good at football as they are at being green. Washington State’s Web site is simple enough, with a few links and some news, but it’s the slogan that steals the show: “Be Crimson. Go Green.” It’s so corny, it just may work, especially against rival Washington, who is the only Pac 10 school without a sustainability Web site. For shame, Washington! For shame! Of course, you can always join UW’s hastily put-together listserv, if you can ever figure out how to make it work.

Advantage: Washington State University

The Feud in the Forest: Oregon vs. Oregon State

The Oregon’s Web site is impressive not only in its presentation, but also its variance in content. The site is a bit disorganized, but the information is there. The school also hosts a lucky 13 different sustainability/green committees and groups. However, I must dock points from the Ducks for not somehow making a bigger deal about the fact that Oregon is the only Pac 10 university whose main school color is green—countless (shameless) slogan/logo ideas there. For example, they could do something like, “Green for life,” “Ducks love it green,” “We bleed green and green.” They must have been too busy actually making a difference through their numerous events and committees.

Oregon State gets style points for the effort put into their sustainability blog. The Web site itself is impressive in its simplified focus, but OSU is put to shame by their in-state rival’s vast array of web options.

 

I never thought I’d see the day where a beaver would lose a fight to a duck.

Advantage: Oregon

The Bay Area Brawl: University of California-Berkeley vs. Stanford University

Just in case we were wondering what the heck we’re talking about when we say sustainability, UC-Berkeley has spelled it out loud and clear on the very front of their Web site. Kudos, as it seems like sustainability is kind of like ginseng — everyone has an idea of what it is, but few can really explain it. As for their content, it goes far beyond tips and events — summits, awards and internships. They even have a link to the Office of Sustainability.

As for Stanford, when your mascot is a tree, you have to step it up, right? For Stanford University, no bells and whistles — just honest and straightforward navigation to where you want to go. The Web site shows a focus of education (and funding toward environmental education), as well as what the everyday Joe Schmo can do, instead of pulling a Berkeley and tooting their own horn. Awards? This one goes to the tree, actually that’s a fight I would pay to see. It’s an upset, all right. Call it a buzzer beater, a last second touchdown or a walk-off home run. Whatever sports metaphor, don’t mess with a tree!

Advantage: Stanford (in an upset)

Battle in La La Land: UCLA vs. University of Southern California

UCLA’s Web site seems pretty “cookie cutter” at first — events, fast facts, definitions, etc. What takes the cake, though, are two things: They have utilized their own podcast and their events have actual significance. This is where green bake sales are trumped by panel discussions on climate change and green job fairs.

USC is a bland site full of arbitrary “Recycle, it’s good for the environment!” type tips, nothing of actual urgency — no classes or workshops. And their most recent news is from October. Ah, Trojans—decendents of Zeus and recipients of a beatdown from the Bruins of UCLA. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times — in a fight over sustainability, never mess with a bear, unless you’re Stanford.

Advantage: UCLA

Duel in the place where it is not natural for people to live — the desert: Arizona vs. Arizona State

The University of Arizona’s sustainability site is not terribly flashy, but effective nonetheless, with (updated!) current events and recent news, as well as several links concerning student involvement, community outreach and campus sustainability. Oh, and also, points for having a link to the one and only The Cat Scan.

On the other hand, it’s hard to compete when you (the UA) are going up against a school (ASU) who has their own Institute of Sustainability and School of Sustainability, complete with all the stuff you have on your site, just more of it, and better. ASU takes the cake via quantity and quality. The UA must have been busy being the only Pac-10 team to make it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. What’s your excuse, Washington?

Advantage: Arizona State

Trashing the environment in about 20 minutes

As students at the University of Arizona, many of us eat several times a day at the Student Union Memorial Center. Most of the restaurants serve their food in paper bags and Styrofoam or plastic containers. The food is then usually eaten with plastic forks and knives. This entire process takes all of about 20 minutes before all of our food wrappings, plastic containers and water bottles are in the trash.

 

So, how much damage are we doing to the environment by simply living our lives as college students?

 

Unfortunately, this is something that goes on at every college campus. Many of us make an effort to change our habits, which is a difficult thing to do, in an attempt to be more “green.” But what can we do about habits that we really can’t change?

 

We can’t stop eating at the student union. We can’t eat with our hands and we definitely can’t simply take our food without it being in some sort of convenient eating or carrying tray.

 

Students can take it upon themselves, however, to make changes in their daily waste habits. We can ask for food without all the wrapping or plastic containers, we can ask for everything to be placed in only one bag, or restaurants can start using single, disposable, and biodegradable plates.

 

In fact, several companies offer biodegradable food containers. These include food and soup coups made of eco-paper, biodegradable spoons and forks and deli containers (similar to clear, plastic containers) made from corn. 

 

Several college campuses across the country have already made an effort to cut down on their waste. The University of New Mexico began using biodegradable materials in their student union in May 2008.

The University of Arizona has an overall grade of B from the College Sustainability Report Card. The UA’s grade for food and recycling is also a B, which proves that we’re not extremely wasteful as a school but positive changes can still be made. 

 

 

Recycle this…

 

 

Budget cuts across college campuses are no secret and unsurprising in this economy. But does cutting funds also cut how campuses can be more environmentally friendly?

 

As college students, we’re always looking for resourceful ways of saving money by recycling or reusing and by simply trying new ways of being environmentally friendly. For example, at Sinclair Community College in Sinclair, Ohio, college students are finding ways to turn cooking grease into biodiesel. And Butte College in Oroville, Calif. is the largest solar campus in the state. 

 

College students today are more aware of the environment and the harm we’re causing simply by living our every day lives. Our habits range from good to bad to worse in terms of how we affect the environment. Some of these bad habits are developed in the dorms where items like good, recyclable paper gets thrown in the garbage and where buying items like bottled water and heavily packaged goods becomes far too common.

 

According to an article in the Arizona Daily Wildcat, dorm recycling was cut in 2002 from the University of Arizona. Since then, recycling in the dorm has fallen to the responsibility of the student. Students can recycle anything from plastic water bottles to paper and even clothes. However, we as college students are responsible for buying our own recycling bins and gathering and dropping off our recyclable goods.

 

Some of the stuff we choose to recycle can greatly impact the environment. Paper can be reused and clothes can be used by someone else. We don’t always have to buy new goods.

 

Some retailers like Buffalo Exchange encourage students to sell their used clothes. Not only does it make us feel good by not throwing clothes away and them ending up in a landfill, but we get instant monetary gratification for doing something environmentally friendly.

 

However, taking it upon oneself to recycle paper, plastic and aluminum makes the task seem so daunting that we don’t even bother to do it. But students can take part by doing little things to provide a more sustainable future. 

Sustainability only a pint away

Yes, baseball is America’s pastime, but college has had its own infamous vice since the days of Jim Belushi. And while its past responsibilities may have included little more than finding a non-greenhorn to tap the keg, today’s college students simply demand more-namely in the field of activism.

 

This is not just any awareness, of course, but rather environmental awareness. What better place could student activism and binge drinking meet than in the unknown realm of eco-friendly beer?

 

“Green”beer? And we’re not talking St. Patty’s Day. We’re talking a multi-billion dollar industry focused on reducing beer development’s CO2 emissions.

 

We already  have a company willing to take the idea to the extreme. British beer manufacturer Adnams has developed the world’s first carbon-neutral beer, achieved by such measures as a new, lightweight bottle and energy-efficient brew house.

 

Unfortunately for American admirers, ordering the beer would offset its eco-friendly standing because of the energy and emissions that would have to be used to ship it to the U.S.

 

Though there is hope American beer greenies! “Green” American beer may not be far behind. In fact, the revolution has already begun.

 

Of course, at the risk of dangling out an obscure beer company in the newly-emerging world of “green” beer, one major brewery has taken the suggestion seriously enough to pull out the pie charts to show that mainstream alcohol can keep up with the eco-rush. New Belgium, the creator of such high-end beverages as “Fat Tire” and “Skinny Dip,” is the first jumper on the bandwagon of environmentally-friendly beer.

           

One six-pack of the caramel-infused beer emits over 3,000 grams of CO2 between packaging materials and transportation. New Belgium hopes to drop this number by 25 percent by 2015.

           

However, the specifics for how the Colorado-based brewery will achieve its suggested results are a bit fuzzy and include the phrase “by finding additional efficiencies in its production process.” New Belgium seems to be heading in the right direction, especially considering they already use less water than what is typical in the beer industry and recycle almost three quarters of its waste. Not to mention, all of its electricity comes from renewable sources.

           

And as if New Belgium couldn’t get any chummier with the “green” community, they’ve also changed the packaging of their flagship beer to “save paper, money and emissions.”

           

Of course, seeing a fellow mainstay of the beer industry take strides in eco-friendliness has caused other domestic beer companies to follow suit, most notably Anheuser-Busch and Miller Coors.

           

While Miller is focusing mostly on the general goal of reducing packaging and recycling almost all packaging waste, Anheuser-Busch has pulled out all the stops, from energy efficiency to greenhouse gas emissions and water use company-wide.

 

While some of the goals seem lofty and are backed by little more than charts showing where the brewing companies would like to be in the future, it is at least the beginning of a much-needed alcoholic sustainability conversation­, hopefully over a pint at the local pub.

Welcome to College: Where Going Green Can Make You Some Green

At a time when some colleges are turning to a simple (and effective) solution of planting trees as a means to reducing their carbon footprints, others are encouraging their students to make small changes in their day-to-day life.

Among these is the question of transportation. Aside from the nauseatingly ubiquitous call for drivers to avoid going solo on the road, some are attempting to motivate in a more creative way…Call it going green to make green. Basically, the idea is to provide prizes, money, etc. to those willing to take advantage of environmentally-friendly approaches to transportation.           

Enter colleges and universities, banking on students’ greed to get something done, and thanks to this nifty little measure of progress, colleges have something to aim for while looking over their collective shoulders at their carbon footprint grades. And while they’re being graded, why not pass the proverbial buck onto the students? It’s not like it’s never been done before.

For example, the University of Arizona has an overall grade of “B,” including “B’s” in the categories marked “Climate Change and Energy,” “Food and Recycling” and “Green Building.” On the other hand, Arizona State University holds a grade of “B+” with “A’s” in “Student Involvement,” “Transportation” and “Green Building.”

To gain a high grade of “A” on these arbitrary green college report cards, as well as achieve a reputation for being “selfless” in their eco goals, colleges are pulling out all the stops. That’s right. What grade school assemblies touting the three Rs and Arbor Day never figured out is that when rants on the impending doom of the planet we live on fail, good ol’ fashioned incentives ought to do the trick. In short, “The world I’m living on is going to die, along with everyone I know…nah!” vs. “Wait, I get stuff for being eco-friendly? Sweet! I’m down.” I think we know which one wins.

For example, Santa Monica College is offering incentives for environmentally-conscious transportation methods in amounts that could total over $200 for those who play their cards right. Such incentives include subsidies for carpooling, taking public transportation and bicycling. Those participating are even included in a $100 “Grand Prize Drawing” in gift certificates. Of course, as irony would have it, claim forms for the incentives can be faxed to college officials…not emailed. Emailing would make too much sense and actually save trees and thus wouldn’t be funny enough to make fun of.

Countless colleges across the nation aren’t much different, as they too have jumped on the alternative transportation bandwagon(with all of them seemingly obsessed with these self-evaluative forms).

While such incentives are catching on big time, it still must be nice for colleges to know that they still have something to fall back on to make being green appealing to college students. But that’s for another day…

Welcome

Bootstrings Green is a blog that is dedicated to helping students live green while also enduring the rigors of college.  The blog will explore everything from green consumerism, food choices, transportation tips, tips for traveling green, ideas for dorms/apartments and other helpful advice.  It should be centralized to the University of Arizona student but should also be helpful to others.