April is everyone's favorite month. Spring weather finally secures a beachhead strong enough to defeat the wintry weather experienced earlier this week, and spring training finally ends. This April promises to exceed all past Aprils. Not only will the Chicago Cubs embark on their first exceedingly triumphant campaign since 1908, but also Duke University will experience the greatest earth month ever!
This is truly the time of year when tree hugging is socially acceptable. If you need a cuddle on a lovely spring afternoon and can't find anyone special, trees will be there for you. The question is, will you be there for the trees?
By participating in the Duke Green Power Challenge, you can reciprocate. It's the chance of a lifetime, offered to you by the Environmental Alliance, the Facilities and Management department and Renewable Choice (a grassroots, renewable-energy company). Instead of pumping thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide into the air to power your electricity fetishes, you can now choose wind power.
Each semester, the average student uses one ton of coal for his or her dorm room. Multiply that by the thousands of students living on East and West campuses and that is one big puff of smoke without sweet nicotine. Our reliance on fossil fuels no longer needs to exist; people, starting with the Duke community, can begin to transfer some of their energy sources from coal to wind. The transition won't be quite as painful as quitting smoking - no gum or patches. All it takes to crossover to clean wind-power energy is $25 per semester. That's five extra value meals at McDonald's or two haircuts at the Hair Cuttery without the adverse health effects of either!
To make the deal even sweeter, Duke administrators have promised to match up to $25,000 worth of commitments by students to buy wind power. So, each and every person who decides to go green in the dorm also goes green in the library, computer labs or gyms.
If this sales pitch isn't working so far, then I am falling short of my dream to emulate Ron Popeil, the salesman of the century and promoter of the pocket fisherman and those cool rotisserie machines that cook an entire turkey.
Still not convinced you should go green at Duke? If 1,000 Blue Devils accept the administration's challenge, then $50,000 of wind energy will be purchased and 4,050,000 pounds of carbon dioxide will not be emitted as a result of our energy-dependent lifestyles. Not many people can lift that much carbon dioxide. There's a clear advantage for the entire community to cooperate and keep that much out of the air. If you think this idea excels above anything else occurring at Duke, then fork out another $25 to cover clean energy bills next semester before it gets added to the spring 2004 housing forms, at which point you will simply check a box to tack it onto the housing bill. Another 25 small ones won't break your back, and it will keep you a bit healthier. An alternative strategy to this would be asking your parents for the money; I'm doing it right now as they read this sentence. Then they too won't be left out of earth month fun.
Earth-month activities and efforts to decrease Duke's impact upon our earth's natural integrity do not begin and end with a drive for clean energy. President Nan Keohane and her band of merry administrators are leading a visionary charge to improve our environmental standards at Duke and make us responsible citizens of the world. Though we may perceive ourselves as a small school swimming amongst a large population and unable to curb the ultimate direction of our species, the changes occurring here are mind-bogglingly visionary.
The environmentally friendly achievements are many, and only a few can be listed. Duke Stores will begin purchasing products that meet Environmental Protection Agency environmental standards. Buses will soon run on natural gas or biodiesel. (They might all run on natural gas if it weren't for Union Pacific and their bridge.) Carpeting will be recycled. Construction projects are minimizing ecological damage to less than 30 feet from the new building, a rare occurrence when bulldozers are involved. Printer labs can now produce double-sided documents.
Admittedly, Duke University does not account for a significant amount of the United States' energy consumption. It is, however, a nationally recognized institution, respected by many, adored by more and disliked by some. Setting the standards ranks high on our priorities here in Durham. If we do not start, who will? Fossil fuels simply cannot remain an acceptable energy source with so many viable and affordable alternatives. Our pollution levels are unacceptable and unhealthy.
Dr. Ben Carson, chief pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins University, pointed out on the Charlie Rose Show that within the last 50 years, cancer rates among men and women have increased and are projected to continue to do so. Asthma diagnosis has also increased along with other health problems. Carson believes, as do many others, that these mounting maladies result from a degrading environment. Our air simply isn't as clean as it was before the power plants began chowing down on their favorite fossil fuel.
A turn must be made at this critical crossroads in society's history. Will we continue to consume recklessly, burning coal and using unrecycled products while reducing personal health in the process. The time to make a right turn is now; choose renewable energy and green products. Sign up for the Duke Power Challenge over the next few weeks. The Environmental Alliance will be at the Marketplace and the Bryan Center eagerly awaiting your commitment to a greener world, where you can show trees you appreciate their constant availability.
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