A legendary puppet once said, "it's not easy being green," and while he may have a point, Goucher is proving it's up to the challenge.
Goucher launched a special section of the website devoted to environmental sustainability on Feb 11. According to a campus-wide e-mail from President Sanford Ungar, the website has had 1,200 hits since it went live.
Developed by Kory Dodd, a newcomer to the Office of Communications, the site's main goal is to inform people of what Goucher is doing concerning the environment.
"There are a lot of misunderstandings about what Goucher is actually doing," Dodd says. The site is designed to clear that up and to help the campus go "green," that is, become more environmentally sustainable. It provides tips on conserving energy, a list of environmental events, and information on what Goucher is doing to further its sustainability initiatives.
The school's green initiatives are monitored by an Advisory Committee, consisting of student, faculty, and staff representatives from groups across campus.
"With the formation of the Advisory Council and then the launch of this website, I think it solves two of the big needs for the students and the faculty working together to make changes on campus," Dodd says.
Franklin Russell '10 heads the Goucher Climate Action Group (GCAG), one of the clubs represented on the Advisory Committee. He says the new site is a good way for environmental activists to see what their peers are up to, but he doesn't think students will utilize it.
"There's a lot of room to improve [the site]," he says. "I think it's a good start, and I don't know where that improvement would come from."
On the front page of the website, President Sanford J. Ungar says the efforts of the Goucher community are what will turn these initiatives into reality. However, it seems many students know nothing about the new site, even after having received an E-mail announcing its launch. Dodd says posters and events on campus should help promote awareness of the site.
"We're going to have more environmental events posters," Dodd says. "And from now on when they come out they're going to have the website on them."
She also says now that the Advisory Committee has formed, their activity on campus will help increase awareness.
"They're going to be taking a lot of information from students and faculty and formualting that into actual policy," Dodd says. In addition to pushing the administration and the Goucher community as a whole to make changes, they will be promoting events.
Some students say the building of the Athenaeum - representing, for instance, urban sprawl - goes against Goucher's green initiatives. Dodd and Russell both say otherwise.
"The Athenaeum has some great green components to it," says Dodd. The building is the first on campus that will have a Silver rating, according to the standards set by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). The organization's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, rates newly constructed buildings according to sustainability factors.
"The Silver LEED certification is a phenomenal step," says Russell. "I would like to see those standards applied to all the buildings on campus." The website says such plans are already in the works. Russell says the website fulfills the school's needs as well as the environmental movement's needs.
"In a way, Goucher is tooting its own horn, and that's only natural," he says. "But there is initiative - Sandy supports it, and the administration supports it." According to Dodd, a lot of Goucher's environmental plans are currently up in the air.
"The best thing people can do is to contact people already on the [Advisory] Committee and give them suggestions," she says. "The committee is where people need to funnel their information."
There is also a section of the website that invites people to submit suggestions for improvement and change.
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