Could building a better Dartmouth help improve the world at large? Environmental consciousness is something that is easy to preach, but much tougher to act on. At Dartmouth, home of ECO mugs, the Big Green Bus and sustainable move-in sales, the foundation for a greener future is already being set.
Environmental clubs on campus recently underwent major restructuring. All of Dartmouth's green groups have been grouped into one umbrella organization with different projects being operated within it.
"I'm hoping the consolidation of green groups on campus into one big organization will help get membership up," Melissa Gordon '13, last year's co-leader of the Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO), said.
Student involvement in ECO went down last year after the first meeting a trend observed in several other environmental groups. According to Scott Stokoe, Organic Farm manager and faculty advisor for the Sustainable Living Center, having a green campus is not just about membership in a club or group, it's about a notion of activism. "Students must be willing to make a change in their own lives and at Dartmouth," Stokoe said.
The relatively recent establishment of the Sustainable Living Center (SLC) as an affinity house has taken environmentalism at Dartmouth one step further garnering incredible student support from its inception in Fall 2008. Stokoe said he and other students who founded the SLC had a vision that the center would be a "sustainability hub for the entire student body."
The Big Green Bus, another relatively new environmental project on campus, has enticed many students to promote sustainability. It runs on waste vegetable oil, has solar panels and a sustainably harvested bamboo floor. The Bus not only travels the country raising awareness of environmental issues, but also makes using alternative fuel look both easy and fun.
"I think the Big Green Bus does a great job of connecting the Dartmouth community around the country," Ben Paly '11, who was in charge of public relations for the bus, said.
"We love meeting with the alums and members of the Dartmouth community, the lifetime bonds with Dartmouth that we saw never ceased to amaze us."
The future of environmentalism at Dartmouth looks promising, and the College is actively moving towards a greener lifestyle.
"I think that students would be more successful in their efforts to live sustainably if they had a budget to work with," Stokoe said.
According to Stokoe, Dartmouth is considering the institution of a greenfund, or bank loan devoted solely to dealing with environmental issues. Money would be loaned out for the purchase and installation of things like insulators and solar panels, while costs saved on the campus energy bill would recover any financial loss. In addition, sustainability is being incorporated into the academic curriculum at Dartmouth through a new sustainability minor, which has garnered a good deal of student interest.
So, what would an ideal Dartmouth look like?
"I would like to see a campus where there's a culture of sustainability and people are actually enthusiastic about things like recycling," Elizabeth Howland '11, who is in charge of organizing Earth Week, said.
Gordon spoke about more specific changes she would like to see around campus.
"I want to see people without plastic water bottles," she said, "carrying reusable mugs and bottles, not driving cars around campus, turning lights off, using things that are given to them like recycling bins and not using elevators as much."
Paly has his own ideas about how Dartmouth could become more sustainable.
"I think the name of the game is simply being conscious about the way we live our lives here at Dartmouth," he said. "That means always considering the things we're consuming, whether it's throw-away products or leaving our windows open in the winter. We hope that the Big Green Bus can help promote that level of consciousness, but it's definitely something that's going to have to come from lots of different sources on campus."
Although the road to success is always under construction, I think we can all agree with Stokoe that "Dartmouth is moving in the right direction."
