Red, Blue & Green - Ole Miss' Mike Mossing & Jim Morrison talk substantive change beyond "green marketing"

Today, Monday, November 2, 2009, Mike Mossing, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Jim Morrison, Director of Strategic Planning and Campus Sustainability Coordinator, gave an hour long lecture concerning the green initiative at the University of Mississippi. 

The green initiative at Ole Miss began in 2008 when then Chancellor Khayat signed the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment.  With this action, Khayat actively pledged to eliminate the Ole Miss campus' greenhouse gas emissions over time. This involves:

•Completing an emissions inventory

•Within two years, setting a target date and interim milestones for becoming climate neutral.

•Taking immediate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by choosing from a list of short-term actions.

•Integrating sustainability into the curriculum and making it part of the educational experience.

•Making the action plan, inventory and progress reports publicly available.

Mossing began his portion of the talk by explaining his part in the initiative: to as accurately as possible measure the carbon footprint of the University.  With many a pie chart and spreadsheet, Mossing illustrated the insane task of calculating all that is burned/emitted within the boundaries of Ole Miss, adding off-site powerplant usage and all that contributes to this equation but is not under the aegis of Ole Miss - such as waste water disposal, emissions from people travelling to and from Ole Miss and transmission losses in powerlines.  One can easily go cross-eyed imagining Mossing's daunting task!  Luckily, he had help from the Clean Air - Cool Planet Campus Carbon Calculator.

Mossing stressed his interest in including the commuter travel to and from Ole Miss, stating that he believes solving commuter issues will drastically decrease the amount of energy consumed by the University. 

After combining so much data, Mossing concluded that the average Ole Miss student contributes 7.1 metric tons of greenhouse gases per year.  While the average U.S. citizen contributes an estimated 20 metric tons, one might also consider that 7.1 metric tons is twice as much as the average global citizen per year.

Jim Morrison outlined many of the green initiatives that are ongoing and in line for the future of a greener Ole Miss:

1.  Energy management - all of the Ole Miss campus buildings are now on Smart Meters - and soon you will be able to log on to the school's website and see how the utilities are measuring up per building.

2.  Rebel Pedals - the bicycle sharing program of the University of Mississippi. Rebel Pedals was established to make the quality of student life better by giving students increased access to affordable bicycles, a healthy alternative to driving a car. Our mission is to promote bicycling as a desirable means of transportation in a greater effort to strengthen a culture of sustainability on campus.

3.  OUT - ride the free bus provided by grant support and the University.  A dollar a ride, free to senior citizens

4.  Coming soon (we hope) a Rebel Car Share program - much like ZipCar in Washington, DC.  University of Alabama has all ready implemented this program.

5. More recycling bins in the Grove - there is actually a major demand for recycling in the Grove.  Morrison reported that 9,000 coke bottles were recycled after the Alabama game a few weeks ago, and that 1,300 lbs of recycling was collected from the Grove, as well as 700 lbs from the stadium.

Morrison also hopes that by the end of 2010, Ole Miss will have access to a complete recycling station on campus - one that separates recyclables via machine, and this work won't have to be done by the hands of volunteers.  ****"CRUNCHTIME" is a gameday recycling program under the umbrella of the Green Grove Initiative.  Volunteers are needed for a two hour shift of education and outreach for the Tennessee football game which is on 11/14. Depending on game time, the shift would begin 3 hours before kickoff and would end one hour prior to kickoff. Also, in an effort to increase the overall excitement of this initiative, we are utilizing gameday door prizes as an outreach tool to engage and educate tailgaters on UM’s gameday recycling efforts. The primary role for each of the volunteers will be to sign up tailgaters in the weekly drawing once tailgaters agree to commit to supporting the gameday recycling efforts within their own personal tent. We’ve had great success with this initiative during our two previous home games. We were able to collect nearly 1800 pounds of aluminum cans and plastics bottles during the Southeastern Louisiana game alone. Also, we need volunteers to sort collected recyclables every Monday following home football games at the Oxford recycling center on South Lamar. This usually begins around 4:30 and ends anywhere from 5-5:15. If you have any questions, concerns, or would like to know more about "CRUNCHTIME" or sorting on Mondays contact Elliot Warren, Office of Campus Sustainability, ebwarren9@gmail.com.****

He also mentioned that all of Ole Miss' lawnmowers are now running on a 30-40% mix of gasoline and oil from the various cafeterias on campus.

Morrison reminded everyone that the next big initiative coming up is the Cell Phones For Soldiers recycling opportunity that's coming up in a few weeks:

The University of Mississippi has partnered with the Cell Phones for Soldiers organization to support our efforts to recycle cell phones across campus. Each cell phone that UM collects will result in 60 minutes of pre-paid phone cards to MS soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Collection points are located throughout the university campus as well as in Oxford.

Mossing and Morrison gave a great talk about all things green at Ole Miss - I was definitely impressed by their efforts and their goals.  It's not an easy thing that they are facing, but they are both very sincere in their work to actually make Ole Miss a carbon neutral University, and they are certainly not hiding behind any trendy slogans.  The Ole Miss Green Initiative is for real, and I hope they will continue to receive grant funding and support to propel their many ideas.