Those Rockin’ Earthquakers
The student environmental group, Earthquakers, has been ruffling a few feathers. In fact, they kept Facilities Management running the entire spring semester.
The sustainability program at Haverford employs two students as ‘Energy Czars. It’s a quirky little job. Each evening students patrol campus, checking to make sure lights are turned off, sinks aren’t dripping, windows are closed etc. They also check building temperatures, which is where facilities enters the picture. Protocol is, that if a temperature is significantly out of range (80 degrees) the Energy Czar sends a list to the work order system and it’s adjusted remotely. Well, they were inundated with emails. It ended up that they had to have someone work on it for an entire day to make sure all temperatures were reset. Other responsibilities include slipping notes under doors urging offenders to turn off lights when they leave. My email in box received so many messages, I decided to change the contact information and direct them to the Greening Haverford site. A drawback of working on a very small campus is that everyone knows who you are. I was getting flagged down left, right and center questioning why we were doing this. The credit for stirring the pot goes to Charlotte Lellman and Jasmin Parker. Nice job!!
Another project they spear headed was researching alternatives to paper towels on campus. They would like to see the removal of paper towel dispensers currently in residential and academic building to reduce Haverford’s carbon footprint as well as cost to the school. Their action plan consisted of installing one Xcelerator hand dryer to compare costs and energy use with new paper towel dispensers installed elsewhere on campus. They also proposed installing cubbies and hooks to encourage students to build their habits around using their own towels. Credit here goes to Lydie Costes, Eve Gutman and Sarah Wolberg.
Congratulations to a semester well done!
For more information about Earthquakers, their projects and member ship, visit the website below.
www.haverford.edu/greening_haverford/student_environmental_groups/earthQuakers/index.php