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GE, mtvU fight for Earth

General Electric and mtvU challenged college students nationwide Tuesday to become more environmentally conscious.

The mtvU Ecomagination Challenge encourages students to work individually or in groups to come up with big but realistic plans to make their university more environmentally friendly.

As an incentive to participate, the winning school will receive $25,000 to put their plan in motion. In addition, the winning college will be awarded a special Earth Day concert with up-and-coming artists featured on mtvU.

On the University of Wisconsin campus, students are already thinking green. WISPIRG is involved in an ongoing campaign called "Big Red, Go Green" to improve energy use at UW, emphasizing policy innovation, education and, above all, personal responsibility.

"mtvU and GE's new energy challenge is extremely exciting, not only because it will encourage other universities to confront the growing energy problem, but also because our campus has a realistic chance of winning," said Luke Farrell, co-coordinator of Big Red, Go Green.

Another effort, We Conserve, works through the Wisconsin Energy Initiative. This campaign has invested over $29 million to make UW facilities more energy efficient. The We Conserve program has listed some easy tips for students to follow in order to save energy, such as turning off computers at night, only using essential lights and appliances and taking advantage of natural lighting during the day by opening blinds and shades.

"College students often tell us the environment is one of the global issues they're most concerned about, especially as it's one that will profoundly impact their lives in the years ahead," mtvU spokesperson Jason Rzepka said. "Given that, we wanted to empower college students with the means to make a meaningful environmental impact on their campuses, communities and beyond."

Rzepka said mtvU is excited to see what UW students have to offer.

"Whenever we ask our audience for ideas, we're always blown away by what they come up with," he added. "We can't wait to see the proposals that come in from the University of Wisconsin."