Compost/Pre-Thanksgiving
Describe one interaction you had with another student around the topic of compost, unplugging appliances before leaving campus, or sharing rides.
posted by UVM Eco-Reps Program Coordinator @ 12:05 PM
Describe one interaction you had with another student around the topic of compost, unplugging appliances before leaving campus, or sharing rides.
posted by UVM Eco-Reps Program Coordinator @ 12:05 PM
19 Comments:
Several students were surprisingly protective of their outlets. Although they were leaving for the holiday, many did not want to unplug. I also found that many students whom I had convinced to consolidate their plugs onto a power strip were not turning it off when they left the room. This was a bummer, but I found that these people were willing to turn off their power strip for the break.
I got the compost going in the first week of school. I always remind students to compost during my column meetings. I’ve noticed that students do not bring personal food scraps to the compost, however food waste collects from people who are cooking in the kitchen. The food waste is from the same handful of students, however it still gets filled on a regular basis. I want to try to figure out a way to get the other students in the column composting.
-Lindsey Gillies
I told people in my CAB about it. They thought rideshares were a good idea, but one person said she had trouble accessing the board. People also said that it was advertised too close to break. A lot of people make plans for going home pretty early in the semester. I think maybe everyone who has a car on campus should be told about rideshare when they pick up their parking pass at the beginning of the year. Then, they can let people know about it as breaks approach.
Steph
About three or four days before leaving for Thanksgiving break, I was planning to let everyone know that the composting bins would not be out until after the week off, and to my pleasant surprise, many of my fellow residents encouraged me to leave the bin out until the very last day before leaving. I was really pleased to see how positively everyone on my floor has viewed the composting process and I'm excited to start it up again these next several weeks.
I didn't get a chance to talk to everyone in my building about unplugging appliances, but I did put Flyers on each floor encouraging it, with info on how much energy/money could be saved. i had several fellow residents drop by and let me know that they unplugged everything and helped to spread the word. It seems like the message is getting out.
-Colin (Wilks)
I was able to talk to a few kids who live relatively close to me back home. They understood the advantages of carpooling and we eager to find more people to fill up their car. We had four people on the way home and five in the car on the returning trip. It was a little tight, but worth it. -Drew E.
My roommate refused to unplug our refrigerator, well MY refridgerator that we are sharing, because she did not want to throw her food away thinking it would be a waste. I wasn't sure how to respond since I wasn't really prepared for that reasoning. If I knew her better I would have pressed it more but since I have to live with her I decided not to chance it too much until I at least had a good argument. Im not sure how much energy goes into the production of all the new food that she would be buying but I'm guessing it would take less energy than leaving the refridgerator running.
- Liz White
The person who lives across the hall from the trash room on my floor was happy that I was really cleaning out the compost bin. He said that the R.A. always props the door to the trash room open and the smells from the room, often times the compost, drift into his room. I was really glad he brought this to my attention as I now know that the compost is being utilized more then I had thought, and that I need to make sure I check it every day opposed to every other day.
I had a pretty good amount of success this week. People were very receptive to unplugging their appliances, even my non-environmentally conscious roommate! Rideshare seemed pretty successful too, and people appreciated the tips and advice I had for them.
Composting is still a challenge in Millis- our bins keep getting taken by the housekeeping staff, and there isn't a lot of interest by the residents- yet. We put up flyers in the trash rooms with information on how to contact us for bins, and have yet to be contacted... There's still time though!
-Kate R
Students at slade are very concerned about unplugging the right things to save energy, but i often find that their confused about what things draw energy while they are off, and which don't. I got lots of questions about lamps, hot pots, TVs, and microwaves, so there is definitely confusion out there about what things draw power and which don't. Thanks to the Kw meter, i was able to answer a lot of the questions. I also noticed that a lot of student weren't using their power strips as a way of cutting off the power supply. That surprised me.
- Mollie
For the most part, people sufficiently understood the value of composting and were visibly supportive of it. I interacted with my program director for my L/L program and she was so excited about it that she actually got her own bigger bucket because she didn't like the small containers that I got from the Eco-Reps program and then asked me where to dump the compost.
In terms of unplugging, people were less willing to take the time to clean out their fridge, clean it, and then defrost it, so they came up with reasons for not unplugging it. I myself found it inconvenient when I came back and found fungus growing all over it. I had to clean it before I could use it again. Next time, I will know to clean it before I defrost!
-Daniel
Well, the pace has rapidly changed from slow/relaxing break and we are thrown back into the game. Before Thanksgiving, things were just as hectic with everybody getting ready to go home. Surpisingly almost everybody I talked to was catching a ride home with someone they knew or driving a group of people home. I do not think I talked to one person who said they were going home by themselves. Even my friend Lindsy who lives in Maryland carpooled back. It seems they are making the environmentally friendly choice, perhaps not by choice, but props to all nonetheless. :) Hope everyone had a good break!
Emily
ha. I got into a little bit of a debate with one of my goodfriends. I suggested she unplug her fridge and she said she had things that needed to be chilled over break. So I suggested she take those things home with her and she thought it was a waste of energy to transport her goods back and forth and to have to "re-cool" her fridge. I considered this, but told her that since she was headed home for the holidays anyways, a block of cheese and some hummus won't need a car of their own. She unplugged her fridge...
I also had more residents ask for their personal composting which I thought was excellent. I need to pick up some yogurt containers!
MEGG
Before leaving for Thanksgiving break I was able to talk to a few of my peers about sharing rides. Fortunately, most were open to the idea, though some had their concerns. Some were frightened at the prospect of riding with a stranger, equating the program to hitch hiking. Those with these feelings were generally women who felt more vulnerable than most of the men I talked to. The overall receptiveness was encouraging though, and I'm glad the idea was opened up to people who previously would not consider such an idea.
The posters really helped.
-Kate G-H
After talking to several students in my building everyone for the most part were cooperative about unplugging their appliances during the break. I have also talked to several students who were carpooling back to UVM.
-Erin
After I got back from break, a student approached me about composting. She said she read the EcoReps bulletin board and realized that she had no reason NOT to have a compost pile. (Apparently she has a garden and a horse!) I told her she could join me and a bunch of other greenhouse kids with our composting bins on the side of our building. Hopefully she comes and learns that composting isn't hard.
I think there is this impression that composting is this difficult, complex procedure. Honestly, I just pile all my food scraps into a secure pile behind some pine trees back at home. Of course it's slower than windrows, but I'm not there year round to use it or attend to it. I wish there was some kind of composting consciousness shift.
- Kasey
I decided to retire the compost bin a week before Thanksgiving Break to prevent grime buildup. The same day I took the compost bins away I got about three or four people stopping me to ask what was going on with the composting because they wanted to make sure we would still be doing it in the dorm. I thought it was pretty cool that so many people use it and that it was making enough of an impact for some that they got concerned when they saw it wasn't out for use. It was really uplifting.
Katherine Moser
Well one of the things I encountered was that many people did not want to unplug their refrigerators because then you have to defrost it or you end up with a lot of water on your floor. So many people didn't want to do this. Also one person suggested when defrosting to stuff the fridge with paper towels to absorb the water and I was taken aback. I said they should use a towel to soak up the water. I'm pretty sure she just left it plugged in. Also I was disappointed that the rideshare website did not work when I tried to use it. Did I do it wrong? I couldn't even access the website.
I found that people are generally willing to unplug all of their appliances - except for the fridge. Why? Because they are too lazy and it is too much of a hassle. They don't want to go through the whole process of getting rid of their food, unplugging it the day before to defrost, and then mopping up all the water from the melting. It's so much easier to just leave it plugged in. And it wastes so much more energy. But some people just don't care, and that's sad.
On a more lively note, I think ride share is a great idea. Not only is it great for the environment and the polar bears, but it makes transportation a hell of a lot cheaper. It would be great if more people knew about it.
I talked to a lot of kids about going home for break, and how they were getting home. One friend who needed a ride asked me for help, and I told him about the UVM Rideshare website. He had never heard of it! I also tried using it last year and again this year, and I got no response to my postings. Maybe there was no one headed in my direction, but I think there are not enough people who use the website to truly get the full effect of it. I also talked to my floormates, and I asked them to unplug their fridges. They answered me by saying that they received notices from our RA that said we did not have to turn them off for Thanksgiving break. That was upsetting to me, because keeping a fridge on for ten days is a lot of wasted energy! I talk to my floormates pretty often about the compost bin. I encourage people to use it, and a lot of people do! Its pretty cool to open up my bucket and see that people are using it correctly. However, some people are just disgusted by it, and they don’t understand why I do it. Yet again, I feel that the lack of education surrounding compost and appliance use makes our job as Eco-Reps harder, because it is difficult to convince a student to use compost or to change their habits when they have had no previous knowledge of the concepts.
Sorry- I just realized I have neglected the blog for entirely too long. I did not have problems with people not unplugging their appliances. As for Ride Share, I heard a lot of feedback about people not being able to get where they needed to go.
- Arielle
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