<< Back to Report Card
With the publication of the College Sustainability Report Card 2010, more than 1,100 school survey responses from over 300 institutions are now available online. In total, these surveys offer more than 10,000 pages of data collected from colleges and universities during the summer of 2009. To access surveys from other schools, go to the surveys section of the website. To see grades, or to access additional surveys submitted by this school, please click the "Back to Report Card" link at the beginning or end of the survey.
Name: Megan Selvig
Position (in student organization): Co-leader, Environmental Concerns Organization (ECO)
Date survey submitted: 7/21/2009
STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
1) Please describe the student-run campus environmental/sustainability organization in which you have a leadership role.
Name of organization: Environmental Concerns Organization (ECO)
Number of active members: About 15
Website: N/A
Date of last meeting: May 6, 2009
Frequency of meetings: Weekly during the school year
Key issues addressed and programs implemented since August 2008:
- Presidential Candidate Environmental Stance: Education about candidates views on environmental issues
- Petitions for various environmental legislation
- Luther/Wartburg Energy Challenge: Helped organize and run events
- Earth Day celebration
- Upper Iowa River Clean-up
- KIVA lending
Progress made on each issue/program since August 2008: In preparation for the 2008 Presidential Election, ECO took the opportunity to educate students on each candidate's stance on the environmental issues and urging voters to put environmental issues first when considering the candidates. This also served to educate students about the various environmental issues in government at that time. The rest of the programs listed above had all been done previous years, but in every example, we feel progress has been made. We increased the number of petitions that we sent to Washington D.C., improved visibility of the Luther/Wartburg Energy Challenge (among other things that will be discussed below), learned a few things about hosting a rainy-day Earth Day celebration indoors, and continued excitement for the river clean-up and KIVA lending.
SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES AND COMPETITIONS
2) Does your group organize any sustainability challenges/competitions for your campus and/or with other colleges?
[ ] No
[ X ] Yes. Please list details for each competition.
#1 - Name of competition: Energy Evolution (or) Luther/Wartburg Energy Challenge
Year initiated: 2008
Frequency of competition: Annual - Every February
Participants: Luther College and Wartburg College. For Luther, ECO volunteered throughout the month at various events, and around 40 student volunteers helped in our campus-wide "room energy audits."
Incentives: Mainly bragging rights. The two schools are rivals, so we used that to spark competition. If Luther lost, we had to hang a banner up that said “WARTBURG WON” in our Union. We are working on a larger prize for the winning school next year. There is also a separate competition among residence hall floors at Luther, with prizes for the winners including a pizza party, solar-powered iPods and gift certificates to area bike shops and restaurants.
Goal of competition: Our goal is to raise awareness about energy conservation and to reduce energy use at least during the month-long competition, if not beyond.
Percent of energy/water/waste reduced: Luther’s February 2009 electric bill was 1.8 percent higher than its 2008 bill, which we attribute to a new building and equipment on campus. In the heating competition, Luther was victorious, reducing the institution’s gas consumption by 11 percent.
In Luther’s residence halls, at least five of the seven reduced their electricity usage throughout the month by over 12 percent with the winning hall reducing 16 percent.
Lasting effects of competition: We hope that the competition has and will continue to instill lasting energy conservation habits, such as unplugging appliances, taking shorter showers, and turning off lights. We set out to create a greater awareness of where our energy comes from and why conservation is important.
Website: http://www.luther.edu/about/sustainability/challenge.html
SUSTAINABILITY IN STUDENT GOVERNMENT
3) Does your student government include a specific position or committee dedicated to campus sustainability issues?
[ ] No
[ X ] Yes. Please describe: I was the environmental representative for Student Senate, a yearly position appointed by the Environmental Studies Department Head.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
4) Please describe any additional campus sustainability activities or projects that you or your group has initiated at your school: A sub-group of ECO, a "Sustainability Events Group" held two educational events. First was "Waste Awareness Day", teaching students about the impacts of our consumptive society and the waste we produce. We had a display about our campus waste audits, handed out free reusable water bottles and shopping bags with our sustainability logo on them and set up a flea market. The second event was "I'm Dreaming of a Green X-mas", giving tips for how to spend a more environmentally-friendly holiday.
A small group of students also worked on Project Energy - a residence hall-based educational initiative to get students informed and excited about energy reduction. We sponsored events with games, videos and food (see our video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnxIyCWAZS4).
5) Please list and briefly describe any other student-run organizations related to campus sustainability at your school, and provide URLs if available (e.g., student groups; student government committees; student-run food co-ops, gardens/farms, bike co-ops) and provide contact information of the student leaders, if possible: Luther Student-Run Garden (current leader is Flannery Cerbin, Backyard Wilderness Pursuits (outdoor recreation group - https://sites.google.com/a/luther.edu/bwp/Home)
Questions 6 is for informational purposes only; your response will NOT be included in the Report Card evaluation process.
6) Please list any regional or national networks with which your group is affiliated (e.g., Energy Action Coalition/Campus Climate Challenge, Sierra Student Coalition, a state PIRG, a state student sustainability coalition): ACUPCC, AASHE, The Upper Midwest Association for Campus Sustainability (UMACS), NWF Campus Ecology, Real Food Challenge, Powershift/Energy Action Coalition
<< Back to Report Card