Professor of Geoscience Fred Soster dimmed the lights in the Julian Auditorium on Wednesday afternoon, approximately halfway through Wells' presentation on sustainability.
"Fourteen incandescent, 134-watt light bulbs in this room...dumped four pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in the hour that we've been here," Soster said. "I just killed those lights. It doesn't kill the quality of our environment, and look what it does."
Soster's example represents what the Office of Sustainability is trying to accomplish. Their goal is for DePauw University to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2040.
The Office of Sustainability plans to accomplish this by partnering with one of six different environmental companies that DePauw is considering working with. The forum on Wednesday presented these companies to students and faculty alike to get their opinions and to raise questions that members of the DePauw community may have regarding sustainability on campus.
The forum, presented by Vice President for Communications and Strategic Initiatives Christopher Wells, discussed the pros and cons of each company in helping DePauw reach its goal by 2040. Categories of discussion included the companies' sustainability experience with liberal arts colleges, each company's relationship to DePauw and the cost of the company.
All six companies will soon be coming to campus to "demonstrate their capacity to complete a comprehensive study of campus energy, water and waste systems," according to an email sent out by Sustainability Director Carol Steele. "This study will ultimately guide what types of efforts DePauw should consider regarding facilities (and their use and maintenance), a rough estimate of costs and time required for these initiatives, and the relative benefits of the projects over time."
One of the biggest issues brought up in the forum was cost. Many of the companies have a high price that comes with their involvement in this study.
"The University is about to invest serious resources in this study," said Associate Professor of Geosciences Jeanette (Jean) Pope.
Assistant Sustainability Director Anthony Baratta believes that, while finances are important, DePauw needs to do all that it can to be in sync with sustainability efforts across the country.
"If there's reasons we can't do something, we want it to only be financial and not for a lack of planning," Baratta said. "We don't want to be behind the curve. We want to know all the possibilities and we want to have our act together."
Another large issue of discussion during the forum was complacency.
Sophomore Mitch Metzger expressed concern that many DePauw students simply do not care about sustainability on campus. He believes that the first step toward being a more sustainable community is garnering student interest and changing social norms.
"What can we do between students and student body interactions to change the norm?" Metzger asked. "We need not just student involvement but the complete norms to change."
Associate Professor of Biology Vanessa Fox agrees with Metzger.
"The hardest piece is changing behaviors," she said in response to Metzger's question. "This is the most difficult piece of all of this."
Wells, who facilitated most of the discussion, is optimistic that forums such as the ones that took place on Wednesday can encourage students, faculty and staff to become more excited about sustainability initiatives.
"It's not an easy thing to do, in some ways, to move a culture," Wells said. "I would love to see students and faculty, all these constituents, more actively engaged in these issues."
