Students
You, MSU students, are the future leaders of the world. You can lessen your environmental impact now. Small changes which are easy to make today add up to big savings.
It’s easy. Try this:
RETHINK your buying habits by purchasing ENERGY STAR products. Energy Star computers and monitors use 5-8% less energy than traditional computers and monitors.
Go one step further, look for the EPEAT score when purchasing computers. EPEAT is a system to help purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT also provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products, and provides an opportunity for manufacturers to secure market recognition for efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its products.
Faculty
You, MSU faculty members, are educating the future leaders of the world. Your research is solving world problems. You can lead by example by making small, individual changes that will produce global results.
It’s easy. Try this:
RETHINK your practices and methods. Be innovative in planning research and curriculum that positively impacts the environment. Tie your efforts into MSU’s Be Spartan Green movement. Incorporating Sustainability into the Higher Education Curriculum RETHINK your buying habits by purchasing ENERGY STAR products. Energy Star computers and monitors use 5-8% less energy than traditional computers and monitors.
Staff
You, MSU staff, make the University run. Your efforts are the key to making it run efficiently while creating ways to positively impact the environment. You can lessen your environmental impact now. Small, individual changes will produce large, university-wide results.
It’s easy. Try this:
RETHINK your buying habits by purchasing ENERGY STAR products and other environmentally friendly supplies. Search for environmentally friendly items in the University Stores online catalog by typing ‘be green’ into the search feature. Energy Star computers and monitors use 5-8% less energy than traditional computers and monitors.
Go one step further, look for the EPEAT score when purchasing computers. EPEAT is a system to help purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT also provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products, and provides an opportunity for manufacturers to secure market recognition for efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its products. The MSU Computer Store carries hardware that is evaluated by EPEAT.
What’s Happening in the World
The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) rethinks how the world reduces its greenhouse gasses. The CCX has developed a market based system to systematically reduce greenhouse gases worldwide. CCX members make a legal commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a certain percentage. Members can either make actual reductions at the facility, or they can purchase offsets. As a result, there are economic incentives to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. If a member reduces below its goal, it may “sell” its excess CO2 reductions to other members, similar to how people sell shares of stock. Members may also invest in offset projects that help mitigate CO2, e.g. renewable energy projects or planting new forests to earn carbon credits to apply to their reduction goals or to sell on the exchange. Either way, the net result is a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across the globe.
MSU announced that it would join the Chicago Climate Exchange in 2006 and officially became members in 2007. In additional MSU professors and administrators serve on several of the CCX committees.
Michigan State University has set clear goals to reduce its environmental footprint. By 2015, MSU will reduce: waste by 30 percent, energy consumption by 15 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent. Track how your building is doing at reducing waste, conserving energy, and recycling on the GIS website.
MSU is rethinking our culture of environmental stewardship. As a result, Environmental Stewards were created so that every member of the community has access to and input on the environmental stewardship program. Every department and unit in every building on campus has at least one person who is designated as an environmental steward. Environmental stewards are the liaisons between their unit and the Be Spartan Green team. They help communicate messages for the environmental stewardship program, as well and provide important feedback on process and program improvements.
