University of Minnesota, Duluth
ER-2: Student Sustainability Outreach Campaign

The UMD ENERGY PLEDGE campaign promotes energy conservation actions for students, staff, and faculty. The campaign started in Spring 2010 by a student intern, Hannah Schoof. During the 2010-2011 school year, students in the UMD MPIRG group (MN Public Interest Research Group) rallied around the Pledge and helped tripled the number of Energy Pledge signers. The Pledge is used at various student events, tabling, and is also promoted in electronic communications to campus. It is accessible from the home page of our UMD Sustainability website www.d.umn.edu/sustain. PLEDGE TEXT BELOW I pledge to join my fellow students, staff, and faculty by taking the following actions to help save energy at UMD: Check any that apply Enable energy saving settings on my computer to turn it off or 'sleep' when not in use Turn off lights when leaving a room Avoid the use of space heaters and personal fans Use automatic door openers only when necessary Put recyclable items in the proper bins instead of the trash Buy products with reduced packaging or high recycled content packaging Walk, bike, ride the bus, or carpool to school Rely on natural lighting when possible and/or use compact fluorescent lights Take the stairs instead of the elevator Unplug equipment, appliances, and gadget chargers when not in use, or turn off a power strip

Our campus is over one-third of their way to meeting their UMD ENERGY PLEDGE goal of 1,000 pledges. To date (June 2011), 348 students, staff, and faculty have signed the Pledge to take energy-conserving actions on campus. The Pledge promotes easy, everyday behaviors to help create a new social norm of energy conservation on campus. A student intern in the Sustainability Office is working to estimate carbon reductions from the Pledge actions, and this will be used as part of a future dashboard on our Sustainability web page. The UMD ENERGY PLEDGE has been used in several Education classes as a class exercise. It is also promoted through Housing as part of Earth Hour (take action step) and other sustainability-related Residence Hall events. In 2011, Resident Advisers in Housing will receive a smart power strip and be asked to sign and promote the Pledge as part of their outreach/education duties as an RA. In addition, the Pledge is used as part of the Green Your Office trainig for staff/faculty.

The UMD ENERGY PLEDGE is accessible through the UMD Sustainability Home Page at www.d.umn.edu/sustain or directly at the Pledge (survey tool) at https://umsurvey.umn.edu/index.php?sid=98498&lang=um