“Green Future” at Valdosta « It’s Getting Hot In Here

by Valdosta student: Karly Bishop

The environmentally active student group S.A.V.E. Valdosta students spell (Students Against Violating the Environment) at Valdosta State University in Georgia has been very active in attempting to adopt a Clean Energy Program on campus. After surveying students earlier in the year about clean energy practices, SAVE found that nearly 95% of those surveyed rated implementing cleaner energy practices on campus as a “very important” issue and noted they were willing to increase students fess by an average amount of $9 semester for such.

Upon receiving this information and obtaining support from students, members have proposed a Green Energy Initiative Bill in order to help bring renewable enrgy sources on campus as well as fund LEED certification efforts. The bill was recently passed by the Student Government Association by a majority vote and is currently awaiting approval by a Fees Committee, chaired by students and administration, before it can be passed on to the president of the university for approval. SAVE members have been highly involved in various events throughout the semester in order to raise awareness and make perservation of the environment an issue of importance for the campus community. The attached picture was taken on the front lawn of the Valdosta State campus, in which students used candles to spell out the phrase “Green Future.”

About Liz

While at the University of North Carolina, Liz led one of the first successful campus renewable energy campaigns in the southeast and won the Morris K. Udall scholarship in both 2002 & 2003. She organized the first Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference April 2-4, 2004, to engage other Southern schools beyond UNC in energy and climate work. In the summer of 2004 she became a co-founding member of Energy Action Coalition, which she has been actively involved with since then. She co-chaired the Energy Action Coalition Steering Committee for 2 years and is Executive Director of the Southern Energy Network, which works with students in the Southeast on clean energy and climate initiatives as part of Energy Action Coalition's Campus Climate Challenge. In late fall 2005, she attended the UN Climate Negotiations in Montreal and helped start www.itsgettinghotinhere.org . In 2008, she joined the board of the Highlander Research and Education Center (www.highlandercenter.org).

It’s Getting Hot In Here