Calendar

Building a green living program (GLP) calendar for the year will help you think through your specific campaigns and project timelines. When developing your calendar, consider the following:

  • your own schedule

What are your hours? What are your other commitments? When are your vacations?

  • adapting activities to your campus

What is your school's academic calendar? It is important to be able to plan for the ebb and flow (and flood) of the academic life. Be sure to know when examination and other pressures are high so you can plan your activities accordingly. This is especially important to avoid burning out your student employees. Assign lighter or more flexible projects when academic loads are heaviest, such as during midterms and before finals.

  • coordinating with steering group

Is dining services part of your steering group? Does this department already do a waste audit? If so, you might want to focus on food waste around the same time.

  • alternating types of programming

Intersperse study breaks and group events with other types of activities.

  • linking projects to national or campus events

Have your program reps talk about green gifts before the holidays or recycling before a big party weekend. Be sure to give them enough time to carry out their work before everyone holds their parties or leaves for vacation. Also consider the timing of other campus events and how might these affect your planned activities.

  • the weather

Strategically plan to educate about heating right before the heat is turned on. The information you provide will be at the forefront of students' minds when they are making decisions related to the thermostat.  Do not plan to plant mini windmills in the ground for your wind energy campaign when the ground is frozen during the middle of winter. Do not ask reps to spend hours tabling outside if it is cold. DO take advantage of the weather by having reps wear bikinis over their winter clothes to get attention for your "adjust the thermostat" campaign.

  • enthusiasm for a particular project

A project will be more successful if a rep is excited about it and takes ownership of it.

  • administrative support

Is your recycling program manager willing to back your plans for a Mt. Trashmore? If not, you may have a hard time obtaining the necessary permissions.

  • outside support

Is a biofueled bus or traveling solar panel van coming to your campus on tour? If so, plan to have activities related to transportation or clean power coincide with the visit.

  • the availability of giveaways

Does the facilities department have a budget for a dorm lightbulb exchange? Connect lightbulbs to a theme, such as "brighten up" before the midterm period or "lighten up" before spring break.

  • habits

Get dorm residents on the right foot with practices like recycling and laundry early in the fall semester, so they learn efficient practices while they are familiarizing themselves with their new living quarters. One advantage of starting the GLP cycle in the winter, or as early as possible in the fall, is that reps are trained and ready to work during the move-in period.

  • time constraints

If your GLP schedule is almost full, do not take on time-consuming activities like a survey about laundry practices. Instead, try squeezing in a "3 Top Tips" for washing clothes efficiently.

  • individual projects

Be sure to give students enough time to work on individual projects. Many of the GLP campaigns described in this manual evolved out of individual project work that laid the groundwork for a group campaign the following year.

  • publicity opportunities

Consider the avenues you have for spreading the word about your activities and events. Does your campus have a group email list for the area covered by your program? Such listserves enable you to efficiently remind students about time-sensitive GLP-related matters. If no listserves exist, can you set one up? For example, consider setting one up through campus computing services or a free Yahoo group. Do you have access to a banner-hanging space in a frequented area of campus? This is great for raising spirit for intercampus competitions.