Council approves five green projects in 2nd round
The Student Sustainability Council approved all five Blue Goes Green Fee project proposals submitted during a Monday meeting, allotting a tentative $12,737 of the remaining $17,000 budget.
During fall semester, five project proposals were submitted, but two received funding.
“My standpoint as an administrator is I am looking for quality collaborations led by students, but involving staff and faculty,” said Sean Damitz, director and founder of the Utah Conservation Corps. “If we have twice as many applications next year, that will be great. That will show more interest in the program. At the end of the day – to address some of the criticism – we really want to have high-impact projects.”
The Blue Goes Green Fee passed in the 2011 ASUSU elections with 54 percent of the student body approving the fee, which added $3 per semester to student fees.
For a project proposal to receive money from the Blue Goes Green Fee fund, two-thirds of the Student Sustainability Council must vote in approval, Damitz said. This round, the council consisted of 12 members – one student representing each of eight colleges, three Student Sustainability Office interns and two professors.
The guidelines students voted on in the 2011 ASUSU elections stated that council members voting on where the Blue Goes Green Fee funds were distributed could not vote on projects that presented a conflict of interest.
“The first project that passed is an educational farm for the elementary school on campus,” said Kate Auman, an intern for the Student Sustainability Office. “We will have volunteers from the education college teaching the students about farming.”
The “Edith Bowen Laboratory School Organic Education Garden” is a proposal that will be appropriated $3,975, and the only project with a definitive grant amount. Other project amounts will be determined in the coming week.
The council also approved a project to help the Outdoor Recreation Program better advertise its Powder Wagon program. The Powder Wagon is a carpool program that transports students to Beaver Mountain for a $5 charge, Auman said.
ORP staff members want more students to know about this program and take advantage of it, she said, so the Student Sustainability Council will help them market with logo-printed stickers, clothing and other merchandise.
“On a lot of the projects we only said yes to part of them,” Auman said. “Like with this one they asked for a year of free rides, but we decided we didn’t want to do that.”
The next project is a “Solar Algal Dryer” created by students from the College of Engineering. Their project converts algae into energy that will be used on campus, including as fertilizer for the Student Organic Farm.
Another project, submitted by USU student Mitchell Bullough, is a “Solar Air Heater.” Bullough will be given funding to cover the price of the materials needed to construct the heater, Damitz said. The solar heater will be placed on the top or side of a building where it will generate heat for the building, he said.
“We are also going to fund an intern for the organic farm that would specialize in bringing food up to campus to sell,” Auman said. “It will only be funded for one year and then will be self-sustaining through the money it makes after that.”
During fall semester, $17,286 was allotted to the two approved Blue Goes Green projects – water bottle stations, including a large drinking fountain on the Quad, and a bicycle maintenance station.
“We want to make sure that we really are thinking through these proposals and making sure they give students the most impact,” Damitz said.
Auman said with the Blue Goes Green program still in its first year, there are a lot of logistical elements that still need adjusting.
“I think right now we are still in the works of figuring out what each intern position means and how each intern acts in the office,” Auman said. “We are still figuring out what kind of projects we are looking for and how to get projects that are strong and benefit all the students. That is where we want to go.”
Because two project proposals were submitted by engineering students, Kristin Ladd, campus outreach intern for the Student Sustainability Office, said she feels the Blue Goes Green initiative is progressing down the path it was intended to. As more students learn about the possibilities that open up to their research ideas because of the Blue Goes Green fund, the council will see increasing project submissions, she said.
“You have to have thought about (a project proposal) at least a semester,” Ladd said. “So if you don’t know about it from the beginning of the semester, you are not going to be able to propose a project – let alone get a grant.”
For the fall 2012 round of project proposals, Auman said the submission contract will be more clear about what type of projects the council is looking for. She said the Student Sustainability Council will also focus more heavily on advertising in hopes of bringing in more proposals.
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu