Unplugged electronics in dorms this winter break is all Penn’s Eco-Reps want this holiday season.
New to Penn this year, the Eco-Reps program — which encourages sustainable practices through peer education — is recruiting participants for its kick-off initiative, the winter break “Power Down Challenge.”
Student Eco-Reps in Kings Court, Hill and Rodin college houses are busy signing up students to pledge to turn off and unplug appliances before they leave for winter break. The college house with the highest percentage of resident-pledges will receive custom organic cotton T-shirts for all participating students.
Starting this December, each month the Eco-Reps will focus their efforts on one area of sustainability. The program will be in conjunction with Penn’s Climate Action Plan, announced earlier this fall, said Eco-Reps Program Coordinator Julian Goresko.
Although this month’s challenge is targeted at energy conservation, future initiatives will be directed at water conservation, recycling and encouraging alternative transportation.
The Eco-Reps program is an arm of the Climate Action Plan focused on transforming behavior on campus to increase Penn’s sustainable practices.
“If we want to get large-scale behavior change, it’s key to get to students,” who have a large impact on energy consumption on campus, said Penn’s Environmental Sustainability Coordinator Dan Garofalo.
The program is loosely based on aspects of several Eco-Reps programs at other colleges and universities, such as Johns Hopkins and Harvard Universities, but adapted to be “very specific to Penn,” Garofalo said.
Penn’s 27 Eco-Reps meet weekly with Goresko to learn the science behind sustainability and discuss strategies and goals for the program.
“I love that the program is so open to students’ ideas and initiatives,” said Rodin Eco-Rep and College junior Amy Smith.
Though so far the program only has representatives at three college houses and in the Tau Epsilon Phi chapter house, organizers are encouraging the entire University community to participate. And so far, campus reaction has been positive.
According to Goresko, within the first day, 20 people pledged to power down this winter break — hearing solely through word of mouth.
And weeks before the Eco-Reps’ first official event, Goresko said students have been contacting him asking why the Eco-Reps program hasn’t started in their college house yet.
“The hope is to make it expand to all college houses,” Garofalo said of the program. “It’s always a good idea to try and pilot these things to identify problems, solutions, and strengths.”
He added that the program will hopefully save enough money through conservation to help cover some of its costs.
A similar peer-education program is under development that would encourage sustainable practices among staff and faculty of the University. Garofalo said that program is expected to take off after the first of the year.
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