ETSU’s Campus Sustainability Fee, also known as the Green Fee, has been used for new recycling bins, energy saving motion sensors in some buildings, a community garden and an electric vehicle.The Green Fee is a $5 fee that was proposed in Spring 2008 and was passed by a student body vote of 1,416 to 282. The fee goes along with the trend of “going green” and is used to increase environmentalism on campus. The fee raises around $120,000 every year to be spent on different projects and any money that isn’t spent rolls over to the next year.

The Tennessee Board of Regents sets out guidelines on its Web site for TBR schools when it comes to the construction of new buildings and the use of money. The Sustainability Fee can be used for energy and utilities, generation of renewable energy and alternative fuel.

“We wanted students to see the results of their money,” said Kathleen Moore, the director of landscapes and grounds at ETSU and the past chair of the Sustainability Committee.

From 2008-09, the money was used for installing new bike racks around campus, a recycling building with a baler by the Center for Physical Activity, a community garden by Buccaneer Village, electric meters, marketing materials and an electric vehicle for the recycling crews.

The electric truck, often called the Ghost, cost about the same as a regular gas-powered truck. One day it could be taken off the grid by buying a solar panel that would make it completely solar powered and cut back on the electricity, Moore said.

One project that is still open from last year is the refurbishing of an old garage to house the campus’s Yellow Bike Program. The building is located on the walking trail behind the CPA and will serve as a maintenance shed for the program.

“My crew actually had a work order to demolish the building,” Moore said. “We just never got around to it so now we’re reusing it. So we’re happy about it.”

Projects are chosen by the Campus Sustainability Fee Committee after they decide what will work with the system at ETSU and correspond with the “bigger picture.” The committee consists of four students and three faculty/staff members.

The deadline for proposals this semester ended on Nov. 6 and there were around 18 proposals, said Micky Morton, the new chair of the Sustainability Committee.

The new ideas included tray-less dining, covered bus stops, water stations around campus to cut back on the amount of plastic from bottled water, a crosswalk across University Parkway to increase foot traffic and a child arboretum at Little Bucs Day Care to educate the children about trees. There is also a large amount of interest in living roofs, Morton said.

Living roofs are roofs covered in grasses, flowers and sometimes shrubs that deter rainwater runoff, insulate buildings and would help with ETSU’s flooding problems. Morton said that they might have people collaborate and come up with a way to make covered bus stops with living roofs.

Another idea included having the stationary bikes at the CPA generate electricity. There is an attachment that can be bought for the bikes that would not only generate electricity for the CPA but also would have a screen, so that people working out could see how much energy they were creating, said Morton.

The committee will hold a 15-minute question-and-answer session with everyone that made proposals to get a better understanding of each idea.

They will vote on Dec. 4 on which ideas are possible, money-wise and system-wise.

“It all comes down to money,” said Moore.

Other schools, such as Austin Peay State University, also have sustainability fees, but according to Morton they have many of the same problems at ETSU when it comes to students not proposing ideas. She said many of the ideas come from faculty or staff members.

“It’s the best thing in history that students get to spend their own money,” said Morton.

There are ongoing things around the ETSU community that many people don’t know about to increase environmentalism. For example, the new construction being done according to energy-saving guidelines or the 40,000-gallon water tank at the softball field that collects all of the water runoff that is used to water the sports fields, said Moore.

“One of the things we talk about it reduce, reuse, recycle,” Moore said. “Recycle is the last step. Reduce is the first one, reduce what you use, reduce your energy use, reduce what you throw away … and then reuse and then recycle.

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