October Pledge Campaign Sets the Stage for Increased Sustainability at NAU

 
In October 2005, the Campus Sustainability Steering Committee (CSSC) embarked on its first effort to gauge the “sustainability mindedness” of the NAU community. The October Pledge Campaign asked each member of the faculty, staff, and student body to make a commitment to reduce his or her overall consumption by 10 percent for the month.

Goals of the Pledge Campaign
The goals of this campaign were to:

• Get people to recognize the amount of resources that each one of us wastes

• Offer simple suggestions as to how this waste can be easily eliminated.

Nearly 400 members of the university community responded to this call and pledged to reduce energy use, water use, and waste generation on campus and at home.

How They Pledged to Conserve
The easiest and most common way that participants conserved was by turning off electricity-consuming items that were not being used. Switching off the lights when leaving unoccupied rooms (bathrooms, classrooms, offices) is an easy and effective way to save energy. More significant is the powering down of computer equipment that was not in use. Enabling “sleep mode” or other power management features on your computer can reduce its energy use by 60 to 70 percent and turning off your monitor whenever you’re not looking at it is also an important way to save power.

Water conservation, being regionally significant, was also high on the priority lists of participants. Using the 10 percent rule as a guide, those who pledged gauged their water use and reduced it accordingly. One way that people reduced their water consumption was by decreasing their time in the shower by 10 percent. This was as simple as cutting a 10 minute shower down to 9 minutes. Participants in the pledge campaign also sung the praises of saving “gray-water.” Grey-water is the water that would otherwise run down the drain… without a little innovation. People saved the water they used to rinse their dishes or cook their broccoli and watered the plants with it. They made sure that the water wasn’t blasting through the spigot when they washed their hands and made sure the faucet was turned off (all the way!) when they were done.

The goal of this campaign was to educate and increase awareness of how easy it is to act in a responsible and sustainable manner. This goal was certainly accomplished with the October Pledge Campaign.

Sustainability Ambassadors Network
The most promising outcome of this endeavor has been the genesis of the Sustainability Ambassadors Network – a group of students, staff, and faculty who have pledged to lead the way towards sustainability in their various offices, departments, classrooms, dormitories and homes. With monthly meetings planned to share ideas and increase the visibility of campus sustainability, the network will provide an opportunity to showcase NAU’s efforts and make a noticeable difference in the community. Equipped with ideas and suggestions compiled by the CSSC, these ambassadors are advancing NAU’s standing as a university dedicated to becoming more sustainable.

Interested in becoming a Sustainability Ambassador? Have a question or comment?
Send us an email: sustain@nau.edu. 

 
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