If you were to drive past the campus Recreation Center in the wee hours of the morning, you would see that it is lit up like a Christmas tree. Bright globes of light shine into the darkness as if those gym rats taking over the cardio section are still on the Stairmaster at 2 a.m. Considering the Rec Center is closed for at least six hours each night, it is a minimum of six hours of wasted electricity. Those beams of light that seem so comforting while walking back from the Mullins Center late at night are actually causing tons of greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere from the coal power plants providing the electricity.

This is not the only area in which the UMass campus falls far short of environmental friendliness. If you have lived in an on-campus dormitory you are likely well aware of the tropical temperatures in the residential halls during winter months. In order to sleep comfortably through the night without waking drenched in sweat, the windows have to be cracked open to allow the frigid winter air to dilute the heat of the room. In my sophomore year, my roommate actually used her bed to block the heater in our Washington tower “z room” in order to keep the sweltering temperature of the room at bay.

The University of Massachusetts recently received a gold rating for the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). The University was graded on various areas, including energy, but considering there is only one rating higher than gold, it seems AASHE thinks UMass is doing pretty great. Based on my own observations across campus though, the University could be doing a lot more.

This worries me that our university is being portrayed as some sort of institution to aspire to. I think it is great that this campus has several LEED certified buildings in progress — we compost in Bluewal, and there are Eco-Reps to hand out energy saving light bulbs. That being said, I do not see a tremendous amount of sustainable practices happening on campus.

The majority of students I knew during my life in the residential areas did not recycle or turn off their lights when they left their rooms. Lights in bathrooms all over campus are generally on all day and night, heat pumps out into classrooms in the same abundant quantity as in dorm rooms, and, because UMass transit does not provide buses as frequently as necessary, many students are forced to drive to campus.

Electrical power and transportation are the nation’s two leading emitters of greenhouse gases. This is well represented on our campus if you’ve seen the Rec Center at night or the daily afternoon North Pleasant traffic jams. The University could be doing much more to reduce its carbon footprint, but seems to be moving very slowly in that direction. Bathrooms could have motion sensor lighting installed to prevent the electricity from being left on at all hours. The Rec Center could simply have the lights shut off during the hours when it is not open.

Residential halls could have the temperatures lowered, which will not only prevent heat from going straight out the open windows, but will make partying much more comfortable with 30 people crammed in a dorm room.

Furthermore, technologies like solar panels could be included in the plans for new buildings and retrofitted to the old ones. It would seem that the 22 story height of the towers in southwest would lend themselves well to solar panels, seeing as there is nothing but the clouds in the sky to block sunlight from reaching the roofs. Additionally, the University could increase the frequency of bus service.

These changes cost money, of course, but the great thing about many sustainable transitions is that they often save money in the long run. The University could save on heating and electricity use if it invested in some greener technologies for the campus. It could actually become the role model of sustainability that its gold STARS rating implies.