By Maggie Young, Staff Writer

Published in print Mar. 25, 2015

In fall 2014, Anna Poteat, a second-year Geography student, took an Environmental class that inspired her to get involved with the Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN).

ENV 110, Intro into Sustainability Studies, focuses on sustainability from multiple perspectives.

The main intention is to provide students with a variety of ways to implement sustainability within different contexts.

After taking the class, Poteat and a fellow classmate gathered a group of students and faculty with similar goals to begin preparing UNCG for participation in the competition.

Campus Conservation Nationals is a competition that takes place on campuses across the country. Dorms on campuses compete against each other in the hopes of being ranked number one in conservation of energy and water usage.

According to Poteat, turning off lights when exiting a room may seem like an obvious way to conserve electricity.  But partaking in more minute efforts, such as unplugging electronic devices when not in use, helps take big steps towards cutting down energy consumption in a large building. 

The United States Geological Survey states that a typical showerhead uses about two and a half gallons of water per minute.

By those numbers, taking just a ten-minute shower uses 25 gallons of water.

It can be easy to take fifteen-minute showers when the bill is being placed in someone else’s hands, but Poteat urges students to make the effort to conserve.

CCN aspires to engage students and faculty in sustainability practices, all the while providing education on sustainability and offering fun ways to change uneconomical behavior.

Poteat believes that CCN “gives colleges and universities (worldwide) the chance to reduce their water and energy consumption and ultimately the carbon footprint of the university.”