University President Dan Mote's column March 27 titled "A Little Greener" was a summary of what many believe are the shining examples of environmental stewardship at the university. Sadly, that was all it was, a list of past achievements. It did not include any promises for future action or sustainability mandates from our administration.
And many of the "achievements" touted as remarkable are anything but. The claim that "biodiesel fuel ... powers our shuttle bus fleet" is weakened quite a bit when you learn that only 5 percent of the fuel used in the shuttle bus fleet is biodiesel, the rest being plain-jane diesel. Our dorm housekeeping staff only uses green-seal products? A program that still suffers from a lack of administrative support. Sure, it is used in some of the dorms, but campuswide implementation is still waiting in the wings.
I am also surprised that the administration is taking credit for the 4.6 percent renewable energy "already achieved," in Mote's own words. The State of Maryland requires all electricity utilities purchase 4.5 percent of their energy from renewable sources. Every home, school and office in the State of Maryland is at least 4.5 percent renewable - all from a mandate from the state government, not any action on the part of the university.
While the dining halls and now the Stamp Student Union compost all food waste, we still use and discard thousands upon thousands of polystyrene containers every week. These polystyrene containers are not the only option: Biodegradable containers that can be fed directly into our composting stream are available and the university only has to take advantage of them, like Duke University already has.
If Mote would like "suggestions on how to make our campus more efficient, more sustainable and more respectful of our environment," here are some places to start:
1) Institutionalize green purchasing guidelines. Our campus consumes an incredible amount of physical goods each year, but very little of it is environmentally friendly. For example, paper consumption on campus is over 75 percent virgin wood, even when paper with recycled content is available for a comparable cost. Simple changes in purchasing behavior can significantly reduce our ecological footprint without adding significant cost.
2) Require that all new construction meet U.S. Green Building Council LEED silver standards. This is a standard already required by many universities and municipalities across the country. It would not only reduce our environmental footprint, but would promote more responsible land use, enhance human health and reduce lifetime operations costs.
3) Create a sustainability office to coordinate campus efforts and establish a greenhouse gas inventory. On April 20, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed onto the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, mandating at least a 10 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by the time it is fully phased in. By starting now, the university can make sure it is a leader, not a laggard, when it comes to greenhouse-gas action.
4) Lastly, listen to students: Implement a clean-energy fee as supported by 91 percent of the student body.
I look forward to Mote's next column; I hope it will be a list of actions the campus will be taking and not just a list of past achievements. Hopefully the next time the Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference comes to the university, it will be because we are leaders in sustainability, not just because we are sponsoring the conference. To learn more about what steps the campus can take next, please visit www.askmote.org.
Sam Snellings is a junior government and politics and geographic information systems major and a member of the SGA's environmental affairs committee. He can be reached at ssnell@umd.edu.
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