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University Offers Credit for ‘Sustainable’ Lifestyle
By Tyler Lyon
The Daily Iowan
Can a lifestyle double as college credit, even a certificate?
The University of Iowa is offering a certificate in sustainability this fall, and one person has signed up so far.
But recent UI graduate Eric Holthaus has dedicated his job, apartment, and habits to being environmentally friendly.
“The idea is being aware and learning a formalized way to show a lifestyle,” said Holthaus.
He is an intern in the UI Office of Sustainability, created last December as an effort to bring green to a solidly black-and-gold campus.
On July 10, Holthaus manned a table at the information fair at freshman Orientation.
Approximately 40 students signed up, expressing interest in the new certificate. Only one person enrolled, but Holthaus said the program is valuable to students in all majors.
He passed out fliers to educate incoming students about the certificate at the table. The fliers — double-sided on quarter-sized pieces of paper — show ways students can make their dorm rooms more green, student organizations that are environmentally friendly, and ways they can find used clothes or furniture.
Holthaus said the hardest part of changing his lifestyle was breaking old practices.
“I never grew up with any of these habits,” he said. “You just kind of learn them on your own.”
He started close to home. At home, in fact, he filled his Dubuque Street apartment with energy-saving features.
On Monday, the afternoon sun provided the room’s only illumination as the fluorescent bulbs — which use 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs — were all turned off.
The cool breeze flew through the open windows past the silent air conditioner and his Energy Star-approved TV.
And Holthaus has proof that his apartment is more environmentally friendly. From his building’s basement, he is able to keep track of his unit’s energy use in each billing period and compare it with others.
The meter for Holthaus registered at 1,426 kilowatt-hours so far on July 13. Other rooms clocked in as high as 7,844.
But a sustainable lifestyle isn’t without difficulties. Holthaus said he has found it impossible to completely eliminate any one item from his life. Plastic is one example.
“Plastic is so everywhere,” Holthaus said, “It can be taxing on your mental sanity.”
For college students, adhering to a particular lifestyle can get complicated with a roommate. There were times when Holthaus asked his former roommate to turn off a light not in use, but the man didn’t bother, Holthaus said.
Still, living green offers one major incentive. One of the biggest advantages to the lifestyle is the money he saves, he said.
“Buying things in bulk is always cost savings, me not driving my car is cost savings,” he said.
While anybody could live a green lifestyle, he said, the university’s new certificate aims to put more focus on sustainability on a larger scale.
“Every time I go out, I get questions about it,” said Liz Christiansen, who became director of the Office of Sustainability in December 2008. “What we found at the table is the parents are really interested.”
UI Registrar Larry Lockwood said he expects the program’s single participant to have classmates in the sustainability certificate soon; the enrollment numbers could increase because students can register for the program online.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
The data about his KWH is actually quite high. I am a college student as well, with 2 roommates in a 4 bedroom house, and for the month of April (in AZ) we only used 591 KWH. And for August 2008 which is the hottest time of the year for Arizona (where I live) we only used 641 KWH. We did switch out all the light bulbs in the house, but we were also running 3 desktop computers. So this guy is clearly not “green living” when we manage for use 1/3 the energy and not even try.
July 20th, 2009 at 12:09 am
hmmmmm — I find this all rather amusing. I am a native Iowan with a degree from ISU’s College of Agriculture (1983). These “new ideas” are nothing more than common sense, as well as things our family practiced on a day-to-day basis as I was growing up. That we have to offer college credit to teach this generation a “sustainable lifestyle” – especially for college students in the midwest – absolutely leaves me shaking my head. I don’t know whether to laugh or be disgusted!
July 21st, 2009 at 8:02 am
I like articles like this that encourage green lifestyle despite of the fact that I have a long way to go to be green. I would also like to see articles on encouraging urban gardening, suburban gardening and revision of zoning codes that help individuals and families to live more in harmony with nature. I would like to see information on how to reclaim abandoned black top and convert it to arable land. I am conservative in my views and believe that private resources should be preserved and encouraged as basis for changing infrastructure.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:07 am
Wow he’s all ready to do his time in the concentration camps the new Nazis in charge of America will be opening soon! Green living = how to keep people alive as slaves long enough to get enough labor out of them to make it worthwhile without investing significant state resources on them… Wouldnt want to have to invest $5 of resources on each slave and have them die before we get our ‘investment’ back…
Anyone who thinks they are going to save the earth by living a GREEN lifestyle is delusional. Like going to the ocean with a paper cup intent on irrigating the Mojave desert…
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:22 am
I think that Global Warming is a political not scientific issue and not supported by facts. It would be nice if Universities offered a Sustainable Lifestyle guide to students on Economic issues. Such as; 1. Spend less than you earn. 2. You can’t borrow your way to wealth. 3. It took your parents many years to earn enough to buy the car and house they want, you don’t graduate college with the same things.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:27 pm
“adhering to a particular lifestyle can get complicated”
It should have been written.”adhering to a peculiar lifestyle can get complicated”
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:39 am
If I spent my day worrying about the impact of every little thing I did I’d eventually grab an AK-47 and take it to work. Humans are consumers, and consumers pollute regardless of what they do to offset it. The only responsiible answer to the pollution problem is less people, anyone care to step in front of a moving bus to “save the planet”?
I thought not…(rolls eyes until they hurt)
July 27th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Hello everybody. I think the hardest step to save our planet is to change our own life everyday. If you save water when you clean your mouth you can also help to the wolrd. This is our home, it is not only a planet in the universe. Lets do the hardest step.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:35 am
this kind of lifestyle suits you people suffering from a very bad case of O.C.D.
Come on admit it. You all have a massive mental problem Dont be ashamed you can be helped with O.C.D.
October 4th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
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