Students make dorm rooms sustainable

Whether studying by daylight, turning off the water while brushing teeth or using a drying rack for laundry, students involved in the Green Dorm Room Certification Program are working to live sustainably.

The new program aims to provide students in dorms with a model to live more sustainably. To be certified, students must satisfy 20 actions from the Self Certification Form on the program’s website.

Senior Bridget Flynn is the First Year Experience intern for the program.
She has been working to develop, market and get people excited about being green on campus.

“The reason why students should do it is because sustainability is really important for everybody,” Flynn said. “We’re dependent on the environment.”

The actions lie within nine categories: energy, water, transportation, food, resource use and recycling, computing, laundry, involvement and other.

Flynn said there are small steps to get students proactive about reducing their ecological footprints.

Some criteria include unplugging electronic items not in use, using scrap paper and walking or biking to and from class.

Sophomore Hannah Coots, director of environmentalism for Read Center, recently created the Greenest Floor Competition in the center. The winning floor received a pizza party.

“I think that this challenge has created so much excitement for green living,” Coots said.

Coots said she hopes to see the challenge in other dorms as well.

“The certificates that are up on my floor show me that people are proud of what they’ve achieved,” Coots said. “They are happy to show that they are taking care of our planet.”

Emilie Rex, assistant director of sustainability for the Office of Sustainability, said Coots has been one of the biggest advocates for the program.

“We’re hoping it is educational, but at the same time challenging enough that (students) can change,” Rex said. “We don’t want students to feel like it is insurmountable, but we want it to have meaning.”

Rex said students across campus are participating.

“We’re really trying to build a community with students who are trying to be green,” Rex said.

Students are also encouraged to take sustainability-related classes and get involved in sustainable groups on campus.

Coots has met 27 of the criteria and said the certification challenges students to make more environmentally friendly choices.

“Taking part in the Green Dorm Room Certification Program, or even the Greenest Floor Competition, makes a bold statement that IU is moving in a more sustainable direction,” Coots said.