Students at Carolina have begun many initiatives involving sustainability, from purchasing environmentally preferable products to alleviating poverty through sustainable agricultural practices. The following are several recent and ongoing student initiatives. For a list of all sustainability-related student groups at UNC, visit the student organizations page.
Focus the Nation
Founded by Middlebury College Professor Eban Goodstein, Focus the Nation is a nationwide movement to engage faculty and students at thousands of colleges and universities in discussions about global warming solutions. The campaign culminated on January 31, 2008, when thousands of campuses hosted symposia and other events involving students, citizens, and political leaders.
Students, faculty and staff at UNC participated in Focus the Nation by hosting educational events to raise awareness about global warming. The UNC Focus the Nation group continues to be active with subcommittees addressing a range of topics.
Watch the UNC Focus the Nation video!
Green Games
Green Games is an environmental competition among residence halls organized by students and the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling. Halls are divided into teams based on housing communities. The purpose is to stimulate conservation of energy and water and reduce the amount of trash generated while increasing recycling and promoting student awareness with regards to campus sustainability.
Housing communities receive points for each percentage point of reduction in their energy and water usage. They receive points for each percentage point increase in recycling and for battery recycling. Communities also receive points when students from their community participate in Green Games recognized events. In addition there are individual contests such as: an essay contest, an oratorical contest, and a photo contest, and team contests such as: recycled art contest, t-shirt or bumper sticker contest, and a bulletin board contest.
See the Green Games website for more information
Millennium Village Project (Campus Y)
In a teleconference held by UNC Campus Y’s Health Focus Committee in September of 2005, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs challenged several UNC students to get their university involved in ending by extreme poverty by sponsoring a Millennium Village. The Millennium Village Project finances community development strategies which are designed to lift community members out of poverty in a way that is sustainable.
In an unprecedented collaboration, students from the University of North Carolina, Duke University, and Bennett College, joined together with the goal of raising $1.5 million dollars. After countless fundraising events and help from generous donors, students in the Millennium Village Project are close to meeting their goal and becoming the first student group to fund a Millennium Village.
RESPC
In 2003, 75% of students voted to increase student fees $4 during the next two years to fund renewable energy on campus. Passed again in 2005 with 85% of students voting yes, money from the student fee is managed by the Renewable Energy Special Projects Committee, which consists of five undergraduate students, two graduate students, and three administrators that serve as ex-officio members. Committee members work closely with facilities planners to identify potential projects where renewable energy can be incorporated, apply for grant funding, and allocate money from student fees to fund renewable energy projects.
To date the committee has funded a number of renewable energy projects. Most visible is the solar array on Morrison Residence Hall, which reopened from renovations in the fall of 2007. The solar thermal panels, funded in part by a grant from the North Carolina State Energy Office, heat domestic hot water for the 800-person residence hall. In Fall 2005, RESPC provided $1,685.44 in funding for the incremental cost of fueling the University owned Point-To- Point (P2P) bus fleet with B-20 biodiesel for the 2005-2006 school year. This commitment then prompted the University’s administration to include the extra cost of B-20 biodiesel in future P2P budgets. In Spring 2007, RESPC committed $210,000 to fund the construction of 30 geothermal wells to be installed at the NC Botanical Garden's Visitor Education Center. RESPC is currently investigating future opportunities for renewable energy projects on campus.
SWEAT (Campus Y)
Formed in 2005, Students Working in the Environment for Active Transformation (SWEAT), is now a full-fledged committee of the Campus Y and concentrates on environmental justice issues from a number of angles. SWEAT has run a number of awareness campaigns around campus dealing with issues from mountain top removal to a CLP-associated project, GROW, that volunteers in local schools to teach gardening and environmental consciousness to kids. SWEAT has also worked with UNC staff to ensure that the university does not purchase any coal obtained from mountain-top removal sources for its cogeneration facility.
SWEAT has had fall break service trips to West Virginia in 2007 and 2008, as well as international summer service learning trips to Tanzania in 2007 and Bolivia in 2008. SWEAT has also been involved in a number of regional and antional events such as PowerShift 2007.