Campus sustainability calls for individual effort, collective awareness

By Roni Deitz     10/22/09 7:00pm

As a sophomore pursuing a minor in Energy and Water Sustainability, I was ecstatic when I found out I would be living in a building unlike any other - Duncan College, the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold-certified building at Rice. However, after living in Duncan for two months, I am beginning to question not only the structural design, but also whether or not these residential colleges are actually any more environmentally conscious than the others.The university took a firm stance on its commitment towards sustainability by constructing these buildings according to LEED standards, but it is not enough to just erect these two structures and expect that they will carry the whole campus towards sustainability. For example, even though Duncan and McMurtry College have light sensors in their bedrooms, it does not mean that an extensive amount of electricity is being saved across campus. The solution does not reside in installing high-tech light sensors in every single dorm, classroom and office - it resides in becoming conscious and taking a personal initiative to turn off the lights when leaving a room. The practices and mindsets of the members of the Rice community need to change in order for the university to become worthy of "gold."

Similarly, even though the two new colleges were constructed to be "green," this does not mean that the members of these communities practice any more "green" habits. The Duncan and McMurtry communities do not recycle any more than the communities of other residential colleges. Large recycling separators are not any more abundant than at any other residential college, and there is no college-wide campaign amongst the students to promote recycling. Thus, it can be strongly asserted that just as much waste is being generated at the new colleges.

While more recyclable materials would probably make it to their proper "end point" if recycling receptacles were as frequent as garbage cans, there are still many students and community members who choose not to be bothered with recycling in their own rooms and homes. Hence, the solution to achieving a greater percentage of materials recycled resides in teaching and promoting an environmental awareness to our peers and fostering an internal motivation to protect the world around us.

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This is essential because that world is being ransacked on a scale that's almost unimaginable. We are destroying our forests - we have lost enough forested land to cover an area the size of Germany between the years of 2000 and 2005. We are losing biodiversity - somewhere between 5,000 and 100,000 species become extinct each year. Our climate is warming, our air is contaminated with toxic pollutants and our sea levels are rising.

Thus, the time to change our mindset and habits is now.

The efforts are simple. Turn off the lights when leaving a room. Unplug small electronics when not in use. Refill a water bottle rather than buying a plastic one. Print on both sides of the paper. Recycle.

Rice has started taking strides toward reducing its ecological footprint on this planet, but in order to be successful, we as the Rice community need to change how we think and respond to our surroundings. We need to stop viewing nature as something we are separate from, something we can conquer, something we can mold and landscape as we choose.

Instead, the community needs to view nature as something that we are part of and constantly interacting with.

We need to want to find our place within our surroundings. We need to want to preserve the Earth for future generations. We need to want to challenge ourselves to think in terms of what is sustainable.

We need to want to be worthy of "gold."

Roni Deitz is a Jones College sophomore and Duncan College ambassador.

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