Cleaning up IU

As an IU alumna, I have a great deal of pride for my alma matter and know I received my education from a top-notch school.

After college, I moved on to work in the nonprofit sector and now work as conservation director for the Sierra Club.

This is the same Sierra Club that sponsored this week’s basketball game and the same Sierra Club that has been working with students here on campus, partnering with Coal Free IU to make the University and Bloomington even greater.

I continue to be excited and inspired by the members of Coal Free IU and other students working hard nationwide to secure clean energy for their campuses and communities.

Unfortunately, the one thing that holds IU back from being a truly innovative and impressive university is its on-campus coal plant located on Fee Lane.

This coal plant is the largest source of mercury, sulfur dioxide and carbon pollution in the area. It also releases several tons of particulate matter pollution, which contributes to asthma, chronic bronchitis, heart attack and even strokes.

College is meant to be a place for education and growth, where young people learn to be great leaders and exemplary citizens. Do we really want dirty, polluting coal to be part of the legacy that we leave to future Hoosiers?

Bloomington was my home for four of the most formative years of my life, as it is for many others. Why does the University continue to pollute our experience with environmental and health risks?

We can meet our energy needs without polluting our air, water or bodies. In fact, the clean technology sector has been one of the fastest growing parts of the United States economy.

Already more people are employed in the wind industry than coal mining, and renewable energy continues to become more financially competitive with other energy sources.

Hoosiers should be leading the way when it comes to clean energy. Indiana, for example, is the third-fastest growing state for wind power. Between 2009 and 2010, the state increased its installed wind capacity by 10 times!

IU should also increase energy efficiency campus-wide by updating aged and failing infrastructure — a move that won’t just save energy, but money as well.

Clean energy solutions already exist, and it’s time for IU to embrace them. IU students deserve better. Hoosier spirit is what brought me back to campus this week, and I hope that IU continues to impress us all by transitioning to clean energy.

So, in the spirit of Hoosier pride and this basketball season, let’s score one for clean energy.

­— Sarah Hodgdon, deputy conservation director of the Sierra Club