Univ. in the running for a $5,000 environmental prize

Going "green" never looked so good — especially when the university could win a $5,000 prize for its environmentally-friendly efforts.

The university is the top contender in America's Greenest Campus, a competition designed to promote sustainability awareness on college campuses around the nation. The winning school gets the prize money to put toward sustainability efforts on their campus.

America's Greenest Campus began earlier this year and will end on Oct. 5. To compete in the challenge, schools had to rally their students, alumni, faculty and staff to register online at http://americasgreenestcampus.com, a website run through the nonprofit sponsor of the contest, ClimateCulture.com, with a .edu e-mail address. Those who register are able to see what his or her carbon footprint is. The winner is the school with the most people signed up.    

ClimateCulture.com is a first-of-its-kind comprehensive carbon-footprint calculator.

People can sign up on the website to use it as a tool in increasing their awareness of how their habits are affecting the environment.

Adam Sandler, vice president of online marketing at ClimateCulture.com, said the contest is "creating a grassroots way for students to contribute toward living sustainably?"

The university's closest competition is George Mason University, which is steadily creeping up in their registration numbers.

Joanna Calabrese, chair of the Student Sustainability Committee, the advising body to the Student Government Association in all matters concerning sustainability, and the organizer of the America's Greenest Campus contest for the university, describes the university's participation as important because "we have these lofty goals in our strategic plan to be a national model as a green university."

Calabrese and other members of the committee have been encouraging fellow students to register online.

After registering  with ClimateCulture.com, users can explore multiple avenues to pursue concrete ways to alter their lifestyles to live more sustainably. Sandler said the website is important because people's ability to contribute to living sustainably varies between the generations.

"People can [usually only] see 10 static things to do to reduce their carbon footprint — like buy a hybrid car," Sandler said, adding that ClimateCulture.com provides many more and less invasive ways to live greener, such as using compact fluorescent lightbulbs that not only lessen the amount of energy needed, but also pay for themselves.

Sandler and the staff at ClimateCulture.com know people still want to live comfortably and don't try to impede on that. Instead, they offer options that fit into lifestyles without ruining them.

Freshman English major Katlin Meissinger, said that attending a green university is very important to her.

"I want everyone to sign up and take this as a step toward doing one more thing that is part of a greener lifestyle," Meissinger said. "Once you sign up, you are promising yourself that you are going to do things that are more environmentally friendly."

University pride is also a factor in the America's Greenest Campus contest, according to Avi Saha, a freshman nutritional sciences and community health major.

"We get more applicants and people would want to be part of the university," Saha said. "This would be another way to promote UMD."

Heather Lair, the project manager of the Campus Sustainability Office, said America's Greenest Campus "is a testament to the students' dedication to sustainability".

ga@umdbk.com