Thursday kicked off the sixth Greening of the Campus Conference held by Ball State University in an effort to increase sustainability awareness. The conference, which is themed "Extending Connections," runs through Saturday and will include keynote speakers, workshops and activities.
"We wanted to emphasize the idea that universities have to reach beyond their boundaries and work with the local community and other universities," Robert Koester, the director of the Center For Energy Research, Education, and Service and architecture professor, said. Koester is co-chairing the event with Stanley Keil, economics professor.
The conference costs $65 for students and $135 for professionals, but anyone may attend the keynote speakers, Becky Amato, administrative coordinator for University Core Curriculum office, said. Amato, who helped coordinate the event, said many people - administrators, students and grounds people - come to the conference.
"It's to get across to people about the environment and all the aspects of our lives it touches," Amato said. "It's not just one thing. It's everything you do. It's about getting more people aware."
Amato and Koester have both been involved since the very first conference in 1995. Koester said this is the largest conference yet, with about 240 paid attendees and about 400 people attending the keynote speakers. A total of 37 states and 127 organizations are represented at the conference.
Several of the workshops center around papers submitted to the conference. Dudley Greeley, sustainability coordinator at the University of Southern Maine, submitted a paper on a sustainability column that was started two and a half years ago in the university paper.
"I saw the call for papers and I had heard that the Ball State sustainability conference is one of the largest east of the Mississippi River, possibly in America," Greeley said. "I wanted to put together a paper on one of the activities a student in my department did a few years ago."
He said the column, which is written by students in many different areas of study, has been making an impact on the campus and is changing how students act and think.
Amato said she is very excited about the conference and the people who attend.
"We really have a great audience of people to come, and just being at the registration table I hear so many great conversations going on. Someone will say, 'I'm having this problem at my university,' and someone across the country says, 'Well, we solved that by doing this.' It's great hearing things like that," she said.
Information on projects Ball State has been involved in for creating a more sustainable campus can be found online at www.bsu.edu/cote. Recent projects involve mercury minimization, the smoking policy and awards for individuals and groups working toward a sustainable campus.
Koester said he hopes students take the time to visit the conference.
"They can come away with an awareness of the impact they can have on the future. They can ensure sound economic development," he said.
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