Cities across the world went dark Saturday as “Earth Hour” casted everything from Sydney’s Opera House to the great pyramids in shadows to show support for a global climate campaign.
On April 1 and 2, Aggies will have the opportunity to show support for environmental services. Students will be given the choice to pass a referendum asking whether they would like to see more sustainable services on campus.
“We have been working on a lot of issues and we want to use this referendum to show that this is important to students and we want these things to take a higher priority on the administration’s agenda.” said Environmental Issues Committee (EIC) chairwoman Amanda Grosgebauer, a senior English major.
The referendum will be used to gage the student opinion and represent the student body’s voice. If passed, it is a way to let the administration know that Aggies want more sustainable services and environmental standards put in place.
“The response to the referendum is an important tool for the administration to use to determine where the students are coming from and to help prioritize some of their programs,” said the University’s Sustainability Coordinator
Kelly Wellman.
Programs advocated by the environmental issues committee, who has spearheaded the Aggies Vote Yes referendum campaign including accessible recycling in all residence halls, more efficient regulations on energy, retrofitting old buildings to use less energy, implementing low-flow toilets to decrease water usage, catching rainwater runoff for use on campus, landscaping that needs less water and care, supporting green campus vehicles and using more energy-efficient light bulbs.
Many of these programs focus on conserving water and energy, which would in turn save students’ money. Reducing the amount of energy A&M uses would reduce the cost of student energy fees, Grosgebauer said.
Some of the suggested programs introduced on a smaller scale have seen successful results. The Residence Hall Association has changed to more energy-efficient light bulbs in residence halls, and in less than a year these light bulbs have paid for themselves and are saving the University money in energy bills.
What everyone needs is more of these changes on a grander scale, Grosgebauer said.
“I’m in a unique situation because I have been the chair for two years and was involved in EIC before that, so I have seen the way that A&M has progressed, and we are progressing at a much slower rate than other schools,” Grosgebauer said.
Baylor University introduced several changes to make the campus green in one year. Other schools reporting increased sustainable services were the University of Texas and Austin Community College.
“It’s not just big campuses or private colleges, it’s every school across the state,” Grosgebauer said. “We hope that this referendum would increase support for these services here and [the sustainability coordinator] would be able to initiate more of the programs that are the most urgent and affordable.”
Though these programs will cost money, the referendum draws upon the existing budget, which presents no extra costs to students.