Week 8:
Saying Goodbye

July 29, 2016

7/21 – 7/29

The last week of my Fellowship is finally here, and I’m sad to see it go. While there were no big final projects or looming internal deadlines, everything still had this note of finality to it.

Climate Narrative Response

I received an answer from Jeff Biggers fairly early in the week. While he did not give me any specifics on how to start the Climate Narrative Project at Cornell, he did propose another solution. He encouraged me to work with Cornell faculty to get him to give a lecture and presentation sometime this fall. I’m unsure who I will have to contact to make that a reality but I’ll be sure to find out. I strongly believe that bringing Jeff in and instilling a program similar to the Climate Narrative Project would be very beneficial to Cornell and allow it to be a more knowledgeable and green campus.

Interviewing

I had to conduct an interview for an article this week, something I haven’t had to do since high school. Before he left on vacation, George had a meeting with Doug “Lit” Litweller, the Associate Director of Energy Conservation for U of I. There Lit explained just how much energy U of I uses to power its buildings in comparison to his own house. George was extremely fascinated by this. Thus he asked that I get more information from Lit and put it on the Office of Sustainability website.

Talking with Lit immediately took me back to high school. My junior and senior year, I conducted interviews as part of the yearbook staff. It was odd at first, but I quickly got back into the swing of things. During our interview, I learned quite a few interesting things about the energy used by U of I buildings. I even learned an interesting fact about Lit himself: he has an energy-conserving alter ego named Professor KW Therm! Professor Therm was developed before Lit came to U of I, but he’s made quite a home for himself among the Hawkeyes. He likes to think of himself as an energy conservation icon and hopes to one day be a household name. He even has a Twitter!

Energy Usage

Talking to Lit reminded me of last week when Liz and I found out how much U of I spends on food per semester. Once again I was floored by the amount of money it takes to run such a large university. According to Lit, just one of the medical science buildings on campus uses $1,600 worth of electricity every day. That adds up to a little less than $600,000 a year. And doesn’t even take heating or cooling into account, just electricity, making the overall cost much higher. Large amounts of gas and chilled water are used everyday to keep the building at a comfortable temperature. The medical science buildings use even more, since they have to be cooled year-round and not just in the summer. Many of the machines used for research run very hot and need to be cooled significantly.

While Lit has only looked into the energy usage of a few U of I buildings, within the next two years or so he hopes to systematically examine each of them. His findings will likely be posted in a section of the Office of Sustainability website as he learns more.

Final Thoughts

I’m really going to miss the Sustainability Office. I’m really grateful to Cornell for letting me have this opportunity.  I learned so much about sustainability, from composting to energy usage, and no day was the same as the last. This Fellowship also gave me the chance to explore Iowa City, which I had never done before. Liz and George were wonderful mentors and I got along well with all of the other interns. I was told that I’m welcome to visit the office if I’m ever in Iowa City, and I fully intend to do so.

I was really charmed by Iowa City; I absolutely loved the atmosphere of it. If I could find a job there I think it would be my ideal place to live. And who knows, perhaps I’ll look into a career in sustainability. My experience here at the office tells me that English majors are more than welcome in the field.

I think I’m most excited to bring what I have learned back to Cornell. Programs like water bottle upcycling and compost collection would do well at Cornell, just probably at a smaller scale. And of course there’s the Climate Narrative Project, which I think could be a huge success if we can find a way to get it off the ground. I know we have an Environmental Club on campus, but I’m unsure how active they are. I think this year would be a good time to connect with them, see if they can help me instill some new projects.

While I had a wonderful time here at the office and I’m sad to go, I look forward to putting my new sustainability knowledge to good use.

Want to learn more about the U of I Office of Sustainability and what they do? Click here!