This February, Carleton students took it upon themselves to turn out the lights, take the stairs, and turn down the heat, all in the name of saving power. It has been a Carleton tradition for Dorm Wars to encourage students to think about the electricity they consume and foster a little healthy competition between the dorms to see who can save the most electricity relative to past years ( Burton and Sevy Halls won last year by cutting their energy consumption by 20%!).
This year co-organizers SOPE and MPIRG kicked up the competition a notch with the Green Wars competition. Students were encouraged not only to reduce their energy consumption, but also their personal dorm and dining hall waste.
Some students involved in the project took a creative approach to spreading the word about reducing waste. For two Friday evenings in February, several students from SOPE and MPIRG stood by the tray return area in the LDC. Students who returned their trays (clear of leftovers that would have contributed to the dining hall’s food waste) won cheers, pats on the back, and a sticker that said “Clean Plate Club” on it.
But what happened to the trays with leftover food on them? The SOPE and MPIRG students ate it all!
This is not the first time students have seen their food waste going to good use in the dining halls. The Clean Plate Club was founded last fall during Food Truth Week and is headed by Blake Hansen ’10. The club organizers plan to do more plate-cleaning demonstrations throughout the rest of the school year.
They weren’t picky about the leftovers that they eat. “We eat everything,” said Michael Lane ’08.
The object of the Clean Plate Club was not to offend people who didn’t finish their dinner. “The thought is not to be critical about not finishing food … but to just remind students to be mindful that there are hidden costs to everything, even throwing away food,” said Vera Chang ‘09, of Food Truth. Chang and others hope that with positive reinforcement (like the sweet Clean Plate Club stickers), students will be more careful about how much they take in the first place.
