In an effort to inform students about the dangers of global warming, MTV has joined the Campus Climate Challenge in launching a new campaign to encourage college students to reduce their energy consumption.
The Campus Climate Challenge, an organization originally developed at the University of Wisconsin, has grown in size to include 30 youth environmental groups from across the country. Backed by MTV's sponsorship, the group's new campaign — the Break the Addiction Campaign — will encourage young people to take action against global warming by supplying them with energy-saving tips.
"Today's generation is going to be the one who has to face the detrimental effects of global warming," said Mary Nicol, coordinator of the Campus Climate Challenge. "If we engage our peers now, we'll be able to implement the solutions much faster."
Maggie King, coordinator of UW's Big Red Go Green campaign — which is part of the Campus Climate Challenge — said all students could benefit from simply taking small steps to conserve energy.
"Students are going to save money if they get involved," King said. "On a small scale, if students reduce energy, they will immensely reduce their energy bills."
Beyond saving money, King said students should be informed about the dangers of global warming.
"We're looking for students to become aware of how big an issue this is — how much energy they use and how easy it is to save energy," she added.
During the Challenge, representatives will visit campus to provide tips on how students can conserve energy.
"The kids out on the street will be giving advice to students," King said. "They'll have lots of information on things students can do to save energy."
Additionally, the Break the Addiction Campaign will have three exams and will be granting money to the winning schools at three points during the year.
In December's fall exam, the five universities who do the best job gaining media attention around their campaign will be granted $1,000. For the spring exam, two schools will be given $5,000 for getting all their students to fully convert to renewable energy. At the end of the year, one institution will be awarded $10,000.
"The winner of the final exam will be the group that does the best job overall," Nicol said. "The school with the best policy piece will be granted a $10,000 renewable energy makeover to campus buildings."
The Campus Climate Challenge, initially developed on the UW-Madison campus through WISPIRG, went national through USPIRG last month, and MTV launched the initiative last Thursday.
Because much of the initiative was developed in Madison, King said UW has a good chance to succeed.
"Madison has a lot of potential," she added. "It's a perfect place for kids to get involved with their energy usage."
Right now, 302 schools are signed up to participate in the Break the Addiction challenge, and Nicol said their goal is to have 1,000 universities involved by 2008.
