Stressing a need for communication and collaboration on environmental issues, about 100 Penn State students, administrators and faculty members met yesterday at the Bryce Jordan Center to discuss the university's energy use.
The event, titled "Forum for the Future: An Energy and Environment Discussion," focused specifically on improving Penn State's environmental impact and lowering energy costs. It was organized by Take Charge, which promotes campus-wide energy conservation.
Richard Alley, Evan Pugh professor of geosciences, opened the forum with a keynote address on the "broad picture of energy use, which is that we use a lot."
"The issue is solvable," he said, "but it's going to require a lot of doing."
Later, a panel made up of administration, faculty and student body representatives fielded questions from the audience on conservation initiatives at Penn State.
Suggestions ranged from adding an "environmental" credit to general education requirements to closing the campus to outside vehicles in order to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions.
Panel members also stressed the importance of student involvement and interest in energy conservation.
"The challenge is to get our students motivated and excited," said College of Engineering professor David Riley. "We need to respond to the interest of this generation to do something."
Paul Ruskin, Office of Physical Plant (OPP) spokesman, said individual participation in energy initiatives is more important than sweeping, university-wide changes.
"It's important for Penn State to reduce operating costs, pollution and our carbon footprint," he said. "It's more important to have our students learn these behaviors, to be good citizens of the planet."
Members of the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) were on hand at the event to provide a student perspective.
"We're like the conduit between the students and the administration," UPUA co-chief of staff Sean Flynn (senior-architectural engineering) said.
Eco-Action President Brittany Harris was a member of the panel; Flynn said Eco-Action has been partnering with OPP on energy conservation issues for years.
"We've had an opportunity to practice and learn here," Harris (senior-biological anthropology) said. "Now we need to take that to the community."
Overall, participants were optimistic about the university's continued conservation practices, citing recycling efforts at football tailgates and a planned energy-saving competition in East Halls as steps in the right direction.
"It's very impressive what Penn State's doing at this point," Alley said. "We're actually saving [energy] at this point. It's starting to really help."
Wendy Jones, a member of the Take Charge committee, said the group plans to organize more forums in the future.
"There was definitely really good dialogue from the folks who attended today," she said. "You can get a lot out of just conversation."
