UNT “green” forum proposes changes for sustainability

by Graciela Razo of North Texas Daily

UNT President Gretchen Bataille presented a list of everything the university is doing to be more energy efficient at the Discover the Power of Green program on Friday.

She said the university is replacing harmful aerosol cleaning products with wipes, putting electric vehicles on campus and using soy-based flooring for buildings - tasks that she described as being "incredibly important."

Bataille's speech preceded the numerous speakers and demonstrations that were a part of the Energy and Environment Forum, which was sponsored by the North Texas Energy and Environment Club.

The two-day event stressed the importance of alternative energy sources, environmental building and resource sustainability.

It also started UNT's "We Mean Green" project, which promotes more environmentally friendly ways to live.

"I am so incredibly proud of this campus," Bataille said. "It is 'greener' than it ever has been before."

As attendees went to different rooms to listen to guest speakers, "We Mean Green" reusable water bottles were handed out to reduce the number of plastic bottles and the energy it takes to manufacture them.

Presentations included talks about "green" building, environmental justice, energy conservation and linear hydropower, a form of renewable energy through natural water cycles.

Guest speaker Ann Drumm, energy chairwoman of the Lone Star chapter of the Sierra Club, said she was impressed that there were sustainability conferences such as this one on campus.

"I think any kind of educational forum that teaches people to be solutions to environmental problems is a great thing," she said.

Drumm previously gave presentations at NT to those who do not identify themselves as environmentalists because of negative perceptions. She said she usually comes across those who find an inconsistency with protecting the environment and being prosperous.

"Long term wealth depends on us being stewards to our resources now," she said.

Encouraging young people to be "green" was the focus of Drumm's speech at the forum. She said this generation is the most important in reducing carbon footprints in the future.

"Today's students are at the leading edge of an evolution," she said. "Because of that evolutionary advance, we will get to a more sustainable place than we are at now."