UW-Milwaukee Considers Sustainability ‘Green Fund’

UW-LaCrosse has one. UW-Eau Claire has one. UW-Stevens Point has one, and now UW-Milwaukee may be getting one too. Now, the Student Association (SA) has voted in favor of establishing a green fund at UWM.

The green fund is designed to give students who have an idea about how to make the campus more sustainable the resources to do that, and to educate all students about sustainability, according to Dakota Crowell, co-author of the proposed green fund.

The proposed green fund will be funded by students through segregated fees and a green fee would be added, according to the SA proposal. Around 80 percent of students surveyed by the SA said they would be in favor of paying a green fee.

There are five UW schools that have green funds, and their green frees range from $3 at UW-Oshkosh to $10 at UW-Green Bay, according to the green fund proposal. What would UWM’s be? The purposed green fund would cost students somewhere between $3 and $10, according to the SA spring survey.

Full time students at UWM currently pay $669 per semester for segregated fees, according to the SA.

UW-Stevens Point has a green fund and has become the first UW-System school to have all of it’s energy to come from renewable sources, according to UW-Stevens Point.

“I get a lot of students who come into my office excited about an idea they have,” said Director of the Office of Sustainability, Kate Nelson. “I tell them ‘that’s great, but we don’t have the funds for it, but here are some grants you can apply for.’ When you are trying to compete with professional grant writers that can be intimidating.”

The way the proposed green fund will operate is that a student will present his or her proposal, along with a cost estimate, to a committee of students and staff who will either approve or deny their idea. If their idea gets approved they will work with green fund staff to make their idea happen, according to Crowell.

“Students have the ideas, but they don’t have money for them,” said Crowell.

The green fund would also try to put more composting bins around campus. It would also educate students about what can and cannot be composted, according to the green fund proposal. Currently, the residence halls are the only buildings on campus that have composting bins, according to Nelson.

UWM currently has a few sustainable programs on campus like the gardens in front of Sandburg and the physics building. These were created by the Office of Sustainability.

The Grind composts its used coffee grounds into fresh earth.

“Yesterday’s coffee is tomorrow’s soil,” said Kate Nelson, Director of the Office of Sustainability. She has been working closely with Crowell and Michelle Amidzich, co-author of the green fund.

Students have had a lot of ideas for making the campus more sustainable, like concentrated bike shelters, changing lights on campus to more energy efficient LEDs and improving composting, according to Crowell.

“I feel like some students don’t bike to campus because they are scared that their bikes might be stolen,” said Crowell. “We hope that having a bike station with security cameras may make students feel safer about biking to campus.”

Another idea that one student has was to invest in a bio digester for campus, according to Crowell. A bio digester uses micro bacteria to break down biological waste, like food, into methane, which can be burned to create energy and “organic solid waste”, which can be used as fertilizer, according to UW-Oshkosh, which bought a bio digester with its green fund.

Last Semester, UWM welcomed Bublr Bikes to campus. As part of student’s segregated fees, UWM students receive a Bublr Bikes pass, which is good for unlimited 1 hour rides, according to Bublr Bikes.

“Students are already living very sustainably,” said Nelson. “They have roommates and don’t generally live beyond their means.” But, she added students can still do more.

Students should use their U-Pass and bike to school more often, according to Nelson. If they drive to school she said that they should try to car pool.

“UWM is already doing great work and I think this green fund will start a dialogue about what we can do to improve campus,” said Crowell.

“Legislation is just the first step in ensuring change happens,” said Director of the Student Association Professional Staff, Rachel Leih. “Generally, it is the SA taking a stance on something. The real work comes in meeting with administrators and doing the research to see if something is feasible and assisting with taking the steps to make an idea a reality.”

The SA approved legislation to purchase a handicap accessible BOSS van two years ago. “But,” she said, “it has taken the last two years for students to work with administrators to make this a reality by Fall 2016.”