Publicity Matters!

Many universities are beginning to embrace sustainability and use the green practices surveys for sustainability rankings. This makes their practices known to the public. However, most of the publicity focuses on energy use such as wind power, renewable energy, and carbon emissions. Many universities still lack an environment that promotes green behavior in students (“Higher Education Moves Toward Sustainability”).

My research proposes that convenience, incentive, awareness, and ethics are all factors in students' green behavior.  Universities should create an environment that not only physically reduces our impact, but provides students with easy ways to implement more green practices into their everyday life, such as recycling, food waste, and transportation methods. 

Margaret Trott discusses the trendiness of going green in her article in Messiah College’s Student Newspaper, “The Swinging Bridge”. She promotes the “reuse” aspect of sustainability over purchasing new “green” items, such as the new hybrid cars recently purchased for the college and questions if green purchasing is a worthy investment.  Margaret provides an example of how some sustainable actions are not translated into the student body’s behavior.