Colleges Go Green

Jinhyun Kim

According to the article "At Colleges, the Environment is Hot" by Elia Powers, many colleges have been giving a lot of efforts and thoughts on environmentally friendly buildings and sustainable landscapes on their campus. Each campus has different strategy to outstand in this unseen competition of going green. Such as, New York University plans to purchase 118 kilowatt hours of wind power. The University of California at Berkeley tries to reduce the greenhouse gas emission. Harvard University is putting in place toilet handles to conserve water, and some others are planning about making green roof of buildings which puts soil and vegetation on top of the buildings so it can reduce energy costs and waste of rain. Many of Georgia Tech students would be able to recall what was written on environmentally preferable paper towel dispenser in the restrooms and kitchens in residence halls, which says, “Paper without trees”.

In order for colleges to go green, they will need first, to collect project proposals. They will have to choose a best-fit for their colleges and spend a lot of money and time. It will cost a lot of money to change a whole structure of building or to build a new one with the new methods. It will also require a long time to plan, carry out, and see the outcome of eco-friendly efficiency. Since there are great amount of colleges with huge campuses like a city within a city, if going green becomes a trend, we will be able to see a big difference made by our generation, after some time.