John Vann knows he cannot change the world on his own. That's why he's calling on Ball State University students to do their part.
Vann, associate professor of marketing, is teaching ID 250, a three-credit-hour course focused on sustainability, often dubbed "green" living.
"It's true, whatever you do, just you in your life space isn't going to make much difference," he said. "But what we do as 300 million people in the United States makes a huge difference."
Vann said he understood students could not afford to change the structures in their homes; however, they could change their own behaviors in energy use, water use, heating and cooling, diet and transportation.
Students could implement a few changes easily, he said. For example, they can take five-minute showers, plug everything into a power strip and turn it off between uses and use compact fluorescent light bulbs when their regular light bulbs burn out.
Vann said such seemingly miniscule changes helped the environment immensely. For example, he said, if everyone in the world switches to CF light bulbs, the planet would need 20 fewer power plants.
Some more involved steps students can take are using Energy Star appliances, avoiding beef and taking courses that make them more aware of environmentally friendly behaviors.
Justin Miller, green development specialist for Ball State's Council on the Environment, said he shied away from using the word "green" because he thought some people associated it only with a modern "hippie" trend. Instead, he said he focused on the goal of green living: avoiding waste.
Miller said skeptics of global warming should still try to use sustainable practices because even if they are right, and global warming is not a problem, they at least were not hurting anything. And if they are wrong, they'll be thankful for what they have done, he said.
Miller said he's not worried that many people are only buying into "green living" because it is a trend; at least they are helping, regardless of their motives, he said.
Ball State also is doing its part to contribute to the cause, Miller said. According to Ball State's Strategic Plan, the university will increase quality of life on campus by requiring all new construction to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards from the U.S. Green Building Council. In addition, the 2008 Freshman Connections Common Reader is "Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change" by Elizabeth Kolbert, a book dealing with evidence behind climate change.
This story was produced in conjunction with NewsLink Indiana.
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