Chanting, cheering and carrying posters that called for the MSU administration to shut down the T.B. Simon Power Plant, about 20 members of MSU Greenpeace and other environmental campus organizations marched from Case Hall to the Administration Building Sunday in support of renewable energy on campus.
The event was part of a 10/10/10 Global Work Party, started by 350.org, MSU Greenpeace campus coordinator Tabitha Skervin said. The “350” references the parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that experts have predicted as the safe upper limit to avoid “the most horrible parts of global warming,” Skervin said.
The Global Work Party involved events in more than 180 nations to promote greener practices, according to a statement from MSU Greenpeace.
“We want the administration to commit to a time line that gets us 100 percent off of coal by 2015 and a time line that gets us onto carbon-neutral resources by 2020,” Skervin said.
Skervin said she hopes the administration begins to use energy resources such as wind turbines, solar power and possibly geothermal or biomass sources — resources she called renewable, clean and safe. Some college campuses, including Cornell University, already have committed to similar sustainability initiatives, she said.
“A whole bunch of other campuses are already making this big step,” Skervin said.
Food science sophomore Matt Janette came to the rally holding a white kite that read, “This is my kite. It is clean. I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Especially with the oil disaster this summer, we’ve got to start really thinking about helping our environment,” Janette said.
Jennifer Battle, assistant director of campus sustainability, said the power plant committed to burn 4,000 tons of biofuel per year and is pursuing a permit to allow it to burn up to 24,000 tons, in place of coal.
Additionally, some buildings on campus have solar panels that generate about 7 to 8 percent of its energy, she said. The university also is researching anaerobic digestion, which is energy generated from a combination of food and manure waste, to see if it’s a viable way to produce energy for farms on campus, Battle added.
MSU has an Anaerobic Digestion Research and Education Center, which was completed in April. The center studies ways to convert waste into energy, according to State News records.
“As new wind technology becomes available, we are studying wind power to see if it makes sense in the region,” Battle said in an e-mail.
Battle said the university and students both have the same long-term goals when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and currently are working on a long-range energy plan.
“This is a complex plan that must consider fiscal and environmental sustainability such that decisions made today make sense in the long term,” Battle said.
Psychology and English senior and MSU Greenpeace member Glenna Johnson said she hopes the rally will bring attention to the coal plant, something she thinks a lot of students on campus don’t know about.
“I came out today to see all the fresh new faces who love the environment and love our campus and want to make sure that it actually is Spartan green,” Johnson said.
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