As many colleges and companies in Boston are making the effort to get more eco-friendly, students at the University of Massachusetts have taken it upon themselves to boost renewable energy practices on the campus.
In the past two years, the UMass Sustainability Club has implemented an extensive recycling program, started lining trash cans with biodegradable garbage bags, worked on a composting program, brought in benches of plastic lumber made by recycled bottles, used soy ink in its printers and rode hybrid buses between campus and the nearest T stop.
UMass senior John Pearson, who started the club after he transferred from the university’s Amherst campus in 2005, said he hopes UMass will set an example for other students, universities and lawmakers by taking the initiative to deal with climate change.
“Universities educate the leaders of tomorrow,” he said. “Having renewable energy on campus is not just filling the classrooms with ideas. The campus becomes an embodiment of those ideas.”
Currently, Pearson said he is also working with the Undergraduate Student Senate and the administration to add an optional $5 fee to students’ school bills that would contribute to a trust called the Green Investment Fund, from which the university would invest in “green” companies and assets and a large sustainable energy project on campus.
The Student Senate has already approved the fee, but he is still waiting for the administration to approve it, he said. Pearson noted the importance of students taking initiative on pressing issues, instead of waiting for academic officials to take the lead.
“If we say we will pay for it and invest in it, [that] sends signals,” he said.
The school’s Student Senate also recommended yesterday the president and chancellor of UMass sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which is a pledge made by campuses nationwide to devote funds and efforts to reducing emissions. So far, 111 campuses across the nation have signed the pact. Although no schools in the Boston area have approved the pact, many colleges in the northeast have.
“Universities are playing a very important role in our society, particularly in the northeast,” said Eric Friedman, director of the State Sustainability Program in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. “There’s always more that institutions can be doing to actually improve their record and go beyond their practices.”