Green initiative promotes environmental awareness

By Staff Editorial     11/5/09 6:00pm

Contrary to outward appearances - most notably, that we print thousands of copies of the paper each week, and the recycling bins in our office are often neglected - the Thresher supports environmental efforts. The latest of these, the Green Dorm Initiative, the brainchild of Rice's own Environmental Club, began this week for members of Brown College (see story, page 1). The initiative aims to increase awareness about the amount of energy and water needed to perform everyday tasks. Students will self-report the lengths of their showers, the number of times they've shut down their computers, their light usage and other aspects of their existence, sustainable or not.Raising awareness is great, and a monetary reward for those who, at the end of the competition, have been judged to live most sustainably is even better. But who's likely to participate in the initiative? Those who take two-minute showers in the first place. The people who drive Priuses and insist on setting their thermostat at 78 degrees during the long, brutal Texas summer. The Tetra Points reward may be an incentive to some, but those in it purely for the money are unlikely to keep up the sustainable efforts after the 20-day competition. We feel that the spirit of the competition comes from the right place, though it's nothing new or groundbreaking and may not legitimately change the behavior of those not already invested in the green movement.

We know how these competitions normally play out, but we urge those at Brown, even those overwhelmed with apathy, to put forth an effort for the 20 days to log their activities. At the least, students will get an idea of the amount of energy they use on a daily basis and potentially make an effort to live more sustainably in the future. This is, after all, the goal of the competition.

Plus, the $15 in Tetra points buys at least a few soy chai lattes.

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