Ramen & Rand: 3/15/09

There's been a wave of green efforts on WKU's campus just this year. The cafeteria ditched trays to save waste and water. The campus did a shut down over winter break that saved the school over $128,000. The office of Sustainability Coordinator was created. And WKU recently adopted a new energy policy, back by Governor Beshear, who's trying to advance his own green agenda on the rest of the state.

President Gary Ransdell sent this mass email out to students yesterday:

Dear Student:

At 12:45 today, Governor Beshear will help us announce our new WKU Energy Policy. The Administrative Council adopted the Policy following a collaborative effort among faculty, staff, and students. Departments that helped shape this policy include: Facilities Management; the Energy Management Team; Planning, Design and Construction; Parking and Transportation Services; the campus Sustainability Coordinator; the WKU Sustainability Committee and Energy Conservation Task Force; and Environmental Health and Safety.

The adoption of this Energy Policy coincides with Governor Beshear’s statewide effort. The Beshear Administration has set state-owned building setbacks for lighting, heating, and ventilation during nights and weekends and regulations for energy efficiency in building construction, renovation, and operation, which we have now supported in the WKU Energy Policy.

The WKU Energy Policy is comprehensive in scope and is intended to guide the university in responsible use of energy through personal conservation, responsible purchasing, efficiency in building design and management, transportation, and education and awareness. As you review the WKU Energy Policy, you will see that personal responsibility is emphasized, but there are also significant changes in the way we will build and operate buildings, purchase goods and services, schedule classes and activities, and ultimately think about energy. Kentucky is a state known for its intensive use of energy. We will seek to be known as the Kentucky university that leads in energy efficiency, ensuring a safe and comfortable present, and future, for our students.

As an institution of higher learning, we are mandated not only to use energy wisely, but to act as a model of conservation and efficiency for students and the greater community. The success of our efforts thus far has been remarkable. We have reduced our consumption of kilowatt hours by 2,357,360 this year from the matching period of last year, despite campus growth in size and population. This reduction is largely due to efficiency measures such as temperature setbacks during unoccupied hours, improved temperature control, and improved conservation efforts by the campus community. Our shut down experiment over the winter break resulted in better than expected results, saving over 1 million kilowatt hours, 1112 tons of coal, and over $128,000 in cost avoidance. The success of this experiment illustrates what is possible when we work together to take responsibility to conserve energy. We know that the simple things like turning off lights and computers and reducing our use can make a significant difference.

The savings realized from the holiday experiment have helped to offset the current fiscal year utility bill shortfall, originally projected to be $521,000, but currently projected to be $142,000 thanks in part to the winter break effort and also to rollback of utility rates. With the adoption and immediate implementation of the Energy Policy it is possible to save enough energy to offset the remainder of our utility budget deficit. We now face a new challenge: Can we save $142,000 in 120 days?

Departments and divisions will be responsible for developing an implementation plan for components of the WKU Energy Policy, such as determining a protocol for shutting off lights at night and on weekends, and purchasing energy efficient equipment. You are encouraged to set examples for colleagues, students, and other university departments.

To ensure continued improvement in wise energy use at WKU, the WKU Sustainability Committee will focus on the creation of a Sustainable Purchasing Policy and Guide to help ensure that best choices are made when making university purchases of electronics, appliances, and other goods and services.

Additionally, the Sustainability Committee has formed an ‘Awareness and Education’ group, that will work with the Energy Management Team to provide feedback and education on campus energy use and conservation and efficiency efforts.

Thank you for your important efforts in this regard. It can help us financially and it can help our environment. Thank you.

Gary A. Ransdell

I've yet to hear what's actually in the new policy. Only it's expected effects on the campus. Thus far I've yet to disagree most with the campus's green efforts (Albeit, there are a good few that pissed me off. Like when Housing and Residence Life thought it was okay to come into my room when I wasn't there, leave a recycling flyer, and put a "Reduce Your Use" sticker on my light switch. No, that was not okay). I'm all for efficiency. I'm glad the college is evaluating its costs and cutting unnecessary spending. It's saving them, and therefore me, money. What I do disagree with is the ideas behind many of the actions.

The motivation for WKU to adopt all these green policies is to save the planet. But what's wrong with that? It's a good thing, right?

Ask yourself this, what does the planet need saving from? From humans? From man? From you? That's essentially what environmentalism is: man vs. nature, with man being the evil villain. Environmentalists spout that man pollutes the air with his factories, destroys the landscape with his mining, kills the forests with his logging and building, diminishes marine populations with overfishing, and dries up natural resources with energy use.

Sounds pretty bad on the surface. But think about why man does this. His factories produce the products that both sustain and enrich our lives. His mining produces coal and oil, the lifeblood on which the world runs on. His logging produces the lumber used to make houses, offices, furniture, and other necessary items. He fishes to provide food for him, his family, and sometimes, to sell. He uses natural resources to power everything in his world. Man does all these things to better his life, to sustain it. If he didn't, he would die.

Think about it. Is there anyway for man to live and not affect the environment? Try it one day. Try to live just one day without materials or services taken from the environment. You couldn't. Everything from the bed you sleep in to the food you eat to the light you turn on was created from raw materials that had to be mined, cut down, or made in a factory. For you to be truly green, to have no environmental footprint, you would have to die.

And that's why I am skeptical of the green efforts, even the mild ones that have good effects, like saving money. Because while some benefits may come of the actions, the morality behind it is anti-man, anti-life. And it needs to be criticized now before more drastic measures are taken, such as energy caps for students, forced recycling, or any other imposing measure.

Update:
How convenient: Paul Hsieh posted this video on NoodleFood today. It's truly disgusting, but illustrates the anti-man point pretty well.

Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at aniBoom

Thanks to Rachel for this tip in the comments.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer published it's last newspaper today. Hearst Corp. terminated the print version after it couldn't find a buyer for the Seattle P-I. After 146 years, the publication is shutting down...almost.

The paper (do you still call it a paper?) will still keep seattlepi.com up and running, making it the largest daily newspaper to go all online.

The new operation will be more than a newspaper online, Steven Swartz, president of Hearst Newspapers, said. The so-called "community platform" will feature breaking news, columns from prominent Seattle residents, community databases, photo galleries, 150 citizen bloggers and links to other journalistic outlets.

This should be interesting for journalists to watch. Can they make it? How will they earn money? Will profits do better without the burden of printing? What new innovations will come with a full online staff?

"Our goal is to just let the quality of the Web site speak for itself," Swartz said in an interview. "We're very excited that the people who are staying with us will continue to evolve and experiment and innovate. The newspaper industry needs more innovation, needs more experimentation, and I think the new seattlepi.com is an innovative experiment and I think that the eyes of the country and this industry are going to be on what we do in Seattle."

Funny this should come just a few days after my post Death of Newspapers, Dawn of the Internet. Or incredibly well timed. Either way, I'll be watching the.... paper? online publication? digipaper? Hm. Someone should think up a good name for these online news outlets. Or at least let me know what they're calling them these days.