Elizabethtown College shut down air handlers and chillers on Wednesday, Sept. 10 for the benefit of our environment. This is part of the College’s plan to become more energy efficient and to help Mother Nature.

Our school is doing many different things to help the environment such as adjusting the summer and winter temperatures of our buildings, using high efficiency fluorescent lights and conserving our water supply.

In my opinion, Facilities is doing a great job of trying to get students to conserve college resources. It is not a hard task to turn off something that you are not using, and if everyone participates in the smaller tasks, the end result will be overwhelmingly positive. Many students do not realize how they can help in small ways; with Campus News providing a list of instructions, it makes it easier for our school to make a difference.

Campus News is letting the whole campus know how they can help, but I feel like there are better ways to get the message across instead of sending emails. Many students will skim through their emails and not truly read them before they get deleted. Doing something more than reading an email will go a long way in the fight to help our environment.

I believe one thing that can be done to raise environmental awareness is an event on campus. This can range anywhere from an intramural sporting event, bake sale or concert. This would bring more attention and attract more people to the cause. People are drawn to visuals, and by having food or a game attached, the cause will draw a crowd. As people start having fun, information can be given to them about energy conservation.

Using social media like Twitter and Facebook to promote energy conservation would reach everyone on campus. Social media is such an effective medium in today’s world, and by spreading the word through it, the message could possibly reach someone with more influence. Events promoting energy conservation can be spread through social media, which will reel in more people and money. Social media yields the best results in today’s world to reach the most people possible.

I think that when students read a less-than-exciting email, it does not register in their heads as a highly important issue. The reason for this is because, to them, the school is just turning off the lights for a while, and it is not affecting them personally. In contrast, if students read an email saying tuition is increasing again, they would be up in arms. When something personally affects you, you become emotionally attached, and then you want to make a difference. An environmental email probably does not affect many students because it is not a “pressing” issue to them.

Any time a student checks their email, they will skim it for the most important information. The best way to market concerns about the environment is to have the title of the email in bold lettering. This will immediately grab the reader’s eye and have them read the information to get the gist of what is being said. This may lead to people becoming interested and passing the information through word of mouth.

I believe that any issue will be important to college students if it is marketed to them the right way. By diversifying market strategies and being creative, the issue of environmental efficiency will become the hot topic of campus. Every student gets many emails a day, and we have all learned that being different makes you stand out. To me, that is the best option on the table for helping the environment.