BGreen Sustainability is making its debut as the University’s newest learning community for the 2016-17 school year.
Sponsored by the Department of the Environment & Sustainability, the BGreen Sustainability learning community is open to students of any class standing or major and focuses on educating students about living sustainably, specifically on campus.
The BGreen learning community’s website said, “Being part of this community will put you in contact with the people that are making a difference on campus in terms of sustainability as BGSU moves towards climate neutrality.”
In recent years, the University has worked to become greener, leading President Mazey to approve a Climate Action Plan in November of 2014.
This plan seeks to make the University a sustainable campus that produces net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2040.
This learning community is a component of the Climate Action Plan, Director of BGreen Sustainability, Holly Myers said.
“If we are going to be carbon neutral by 2040, everybody on campus needs to think about how we can cut back on resources and use them more efficiently,” she said.
This includes students living in residence halls.
“The biggest contribution to our carbon footprint on this campus is our energy use, specifically electivity,” Myers said. “We also know one thing that has just skyrocketed over the last twenty years is energy use in residence halls.”
Students can make small changes to curb residence hall energy use; using an EnergyStar mini-fridge, using surge protectors that can be turned off, unplugging unnecessary or unused cords and using drying racks instead of running dryers.
The goal is for active learning community members to become good examples and advocates for greener living on campus.
The community is working to fulfill those expectations, taking action on campus and in the community.
Two weeks into the school year, the group had already met with naturalists at Wintergarden Park in Bowling Green and partnered with the Chapman Learning Community and their recycling initiative during move-in weekend.
Friday Night Lights is another program that the learning community is striving to get more involved with. Every Friday night students disperse from their meeting place outside the theater in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union to various academic buildings across campus where it is their mission to turn off all lights left on in the classrooms.
Several students from the community will be in attendance at The Ohio State University versus Bowling Green State University football game this weekend to observe how OSU conducts its Zero Waste Game Days and hopefully bring some of their techniques back to the University.
These actions are just the beginning.
Though the community is small now, Myers hopes the community will continue to grow and that sustainable lifestyle of students within the learning community is infectious and permeates to other students on campus.
If you are interested in getting involved with BGreen Sustainability, you can contact Holly Myers at [email protected].
