Campus Climate Change

Much has been to combat climate change on college campuses across the nation. Combating climate change in this way serves as an ideal community to reach out to in making strides toward success. Not only is it important to educate this age demographic on the issues at hand, but it is the college aged students who will serve as future leaders who will be needed to combat the issue. Our generation is the future and thus we need to be educated on climate change. Additionally college campuses serve as an ideal place to spread knowledge about climate change given the large demographic of people who attend colleges. With thousands of colleges located across the united states, there is a significant number of people, both students, faculty, and staff that serve as people to be educated by this issue. College campuses are essentially micro communities that have their own operational systems and reducing greenhouse gas emissions on them would make a significant difference. One of the largest changes college campuses can make to contribute to the issue is working to change the behavior and consumption habits of students. Rather than have students pay their room and board fee, a flat rate that covers everything associated with dining, lodging and comfortable living, students should be charged per amount or item that they use. Students should have to pay for the amount of water, electricity, food, paper products etc that they use. This will essentially force people to change their habits rather than being careless and knowing that their usage is already covered in their payment. Living in an off campus house this year and last summer, I was made much more aware of my consumption. By paying your water, electricity and food bills, one is more aware of their use and pays more attention to conserving water, electricity and minimizing waste. Rather than simply investing in renewable energy sources to be carbon neutral, colleges should work to change the consumption habits of their students to contribute to their reduction in greenhouse gases. This will not only benefit the campus, but the student and the society for generations to come.