SEA's Sustainability Audit

By Matt Tyler, SEA President

It is easy to blame “lazy” or “inconsiderate” students for sustainability failures on campus: leaving lights on and driving to campus are the bane of student environmentalists, and backhanded comments about someone throwing away a plastic bottle have become the vernacular in closed circles of recycling snobs (myself included). The environmental community must remember, though, that institutions affect people’s behavior, and we cannot expect the average student, already bogged down by full schedules, to go out of his or her way to recycle a bottle when bins are not easily accessible; we cannot expect students to ride bikes to campus when safe bike lanes are only intermittently available throughout the Athens community; and we cannot expect students to turn off lights when light switches are not easily accessible. These are coupled with more sociological factors—the fear of being the “weird kid” who goes around turning off the lights or digging through trashcans to look for recyclables (been there, done that)—and problems of collective action. Why should I go out of by way to do something when there is no incentive for me to do it?

In a politically polarized climate, it is also easy to associate environmentalism with liberal political ideology. What we are advocating for, however, has no such implications; we are calling on personal responsibility to ensure a greener future. Leaving lights on wastes student money—especially when lights are left on next to giant windows (looking at you, Tate Atrium)—and recycling could save students money on tipping fees and reusable plastic.

In order to gain a better understanding of why students avoid certain sustainable practices (and how we can encourage them to live more “greenly”), SEA has decided to perform a “Sustainability Audit” this year. This audit will consist of light raids—going around campus and turning off lights that have been left on unnecessarily and recording where they are consistently being left on—and waste audits—which, you guessed it, means that SEA members will be digging through the trash (and will be doing some nice people-watching to observe how students interact with recycling and trash bins). We will also be promoting the newly established “Bulldawg Bikes” program in the Ecology building and Building 1516 in an effort to reform transportation at UGA. After collecting this data, we will systematically institute new measures (such as signs, motion sensor lights, and more accessible switches) that will pragmatically and economically address sustainability issues on campus and encourage eco-friendly practices.

SEA has consistently strived to make immediate and pragmatic impacts at UGA—this has resulted in an energy proposal in 2010 (which created precedent for the recently-installed solar panels on the Jackson Street art building), a bike share program, and the proliferation of the Every Watt/Drop Counts campaign. We are hoping that our Sustainability Audit will provide us with new information on how the average student interacts within the sustainability community at UGA and will allow us to promote a more vibrant culture of environmentalism that will benefit all students without requiring significantly more effort.

Throughout the process, we will be using student-powered data collection. If you are interested in participating in a waste audit (don’t worry, you won’t have to dig through the trash if you don’t want to) or a light raid, please join us for our next meeting on Wednesday, October 3^rd at 5:30 pm in MLC 268 or email ugasea@gmail.com. All students (even non-SEA members) are welcome to join us!

facebook.com/ugasea

twitter.com/ugasea