It\’s Getting Hot In Here

by Claire Schuch

Thirty people from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota attended Power Shift. 1,770 Mac students did not. Not to mention faculty and staff. Thirty people from the Mac community came back energized, inspired, and well-connected. But what about everyone else? I bet it was the same story for your campus…

This February, 2008 engage the entire campus in the National Campus Energy Challenge, a month long energy conservation competition organized by students around the country. This is your opportunity to engage everyone in reducing your campus carbon consumption. The NCEC is modeled after Campus Energy Wars, a statewide competition last February among 16 Minnesota colleges and universities. Through Campus Wars, we solidified an awesome coalition (TEAM Minnesota), generated local and statewide media attention, passed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment at several colleges, helped pass aggressive state policy… and significantly reduced our energy usage.

When I tell others about my experience at Powershift, I often get the reaction “I didn’t know you were an ‘environmentalist’”, along with a somewhat distant look. This is slightly irritating as I do not understand why someone would create a barrier like that. I care about human rights, public health, global peace and equitable development, and so do the people I met at Powershift. I believe it’s important that everyone realizes it’s not just up to the ‘environmentalists’ to work towards a clean energy future, that collaboration between individuals, communities, industries and politicians is required because the impacts of global climate change don’t limit themselves either.

I’m not going to elaborate on how important it is for our generation to step up, as I assume you are already highly aware of the consequences of our fossil fuel addiction. Instead, I want to urge you to take action and get involved with the National Campus Energy Challenge! During February 2008, high schools, colleges and universities across the nation participating in the Challenge will compete to achieve the greatest percent reduction in total energy use. In partnership with Energy Action Coalition and Focus the Nation we aim to create awareness and establish sustainable energy policies on campus as well as expand sustainability into communities. Visit http://ncec08.org/ for more information and to participate in this Challenge! You can sign up with a regional coordinator, or if there isn’t one, you can become one!

Even though I think those of us stuck in icy Minnesota are going to have a hard time cutting down on energy used for heating, I’m excited to take on this Challenge and ready to compete against your school!