Florida Gulf Coast University is Environmentally Friendly.

*Picture from FGCU*

Florida Gulf Coast University is known for being a very green and environmentally friendly university . It is located in South-West Florida and has much wildlife around campus. The school offers many resources to students to teach them and encourage them to recycle and preserve the natural resources that we have around campus. On main campus solar compactors and recycling bins are provided as well as energy efficient lighting. In housing, along with the amenities that are on campus, solar panels and freeze water air-conditions are also in place.

*Picture from Big Belly Compactors*

The school offers Big Belly Solar Compactors in many of the high traffic areas along campus. By having many these on campus where each and every student can see them, they are used more often and help to eliminate the waste and the litter that can be seen around many “typical” college campuses in the US. The Big Belly Compactors are constantly compacting the trash that is being placed in to them. This helps to limit the trash pickup saving time and money, as well as fuel. The Big Belly’s get 100% of their energy from the sun and also uses less than 5 watt hours per day.

Traditional recycling bins are also available all throughout the academic buildings. By having these accessible, they give the students who are just getting in or out of class the opportunity to get rid of the trash that they have while also being environmentally conscious.

*Picture from FGCU*

Many students who attend Florida Gulf Coast University live and work on campus. Since this is their home many take a higher pride in keeping it clean and being sustainable. The dorms that FGCU provides are equipped not only with recycling facilities such as the ones that are on the main campus, but they also have energy-efficient lighting. Many times the lights are off, or they will go off when there is no movement within the room. When someone walks into the room, the lights will turn on and after a while of no movement they will shut back off again. This helps to prevent an over use of energy as well as saves the school hundreds of thousands of dollars each and every year on their energy bill.

Florida Gulf Coast University is also known for having one of the largest ice-thermal storage plants in the state. This will be discussed further in the blog. However, in general this plant helps to save the University money and keeps the electricity bills low and reduces the need for additional buildings for air conditionings.

Eagles Love Tap Water!!!

At Florida Gulf Coast University it is strongly encouraged to drink tap water instead of bottled water. This launched the Eagles Love Tap Water campaign. There are many reasons for this group to promote drinking tap water. First of all tap water is much cheaper than bottled water and free for students. Tap water is also regularly checked for E. Coli and fecal coliform bacteria while bottled water isn’t. Tap water is also tested for coliform bacteria more than 100 times a month, unlike bottled water, which is tested once a week. The water in the plastic bottles is actually tap water 25% of the time, so you’re actually spending a large amount of money on tap water.

Bottled water is also a danger to our environment. The water bottles account for one and a half million tons of plastic waste each year, and this plastic waste is placed in landfills. In fact approximately 90% of the waters bottles used by Americans every year are not recycled thus being placed landfills. Add to this that it takes 1,000 years for a plastic bottle to biodegrade and a serious issue for our environment has been caused by our carelessness.

*Photos From Cafepress*

The group responsible for the Eagles Love Tap Water campaign, eagles4earth, is now also distributing 2000 reusable aluminum bottles to combat our growing environmental issue. The cost of this procedure is $8,280 but will save students so much more since almost every type of plastic water bottle purchased costs $1.25. You can fill the water bottles up at the newly installed spigots on the water fountains. Eagles4earth group also provides other alternate solutions that can be used like using water filters for your water.

The eagles4earth group has also distributed pamphlets to students to raise awareness of the harms of plastic bottles. The pamphlet contains information that indicates the harms and cost of plastic bottles like that it takes 1,000 years for a water bottle to biodegrade, that tap water costs $.002 per gallon and bottled water ranges from $0.89 to $8.26 per gallon, that it takes 17 million gallons of oil each year to create the 1.5 million tons of plastic used to make bottled water, and that the amount of waste created by the plastic bottles have contributed to make an island of trash estimated to be roughly twice the size of Texas, called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

When I was walking to class one day I got a pamphlet handed to me with information like this. I read the pamphlet, understood the dangers, and have tried to use bottled water as little as possible. In fact, I now refill water bottles with tap water, place them in my refrigerator, and drink them when they are cold. This has proven to be a good enough substitute to bottled water, and I most likely would not have thought about doing this had it not been for the pamphlet handed to me.

Center for Sustainability

Florida Gulf Coast University is a school that takes environmental preservation very seriously. Through organizations created by students and faculty FGCU is always taking measures to raise students’ awareness of the environment. One organization is the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education, which actively encourages students to help our environment and provide our generation with a secure and safe future. Using innovative educational research methods, emergent eco-pedagogies, educational philosophy and practice based on ethics of care and sustainability the CESE educates the understanding of environmental goals for FGCU students. The CESE has four main goals that they are trying to achieve. The first is to advance innovative educational research methodologies. The CESE achieves this by doing local and global research. Not only does the CESE do research of the environment, but it also works on making people ecologically literate and advance civic engagement in the critical environmental issues of the Western Everglades and Barrier. This is the CESE’s second goal. Their third goal is to educate the faculty about environmental sustainability. And finally the fourth goal of the CESE is to provide opportunities to help the environment to students and faculties so that the CESE can achieve their environmental mission at FGCU. Resources provided for the students by the CESE are the Earth Charter Youth Iniative, Orion Grassroots Network, National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Program, and service learning programs.

Energy Saving Light Bulbs

Daydreaming in class, I notice the light bulbs and they happen to be the energy saving light bulbs. They are guaranteed to save money on the electric bill and they are everywhere on campus. Also, half of the lights turn off after a certain time in the freshman dorm, Biscayne. Some of the newer buildings, like Academic Building 7 and Holmes Hall, have light efficient mechanisms. When the hallways are not being used, the lights turn off. This is a great idea and is a good way to be green. All throughout the campus there are many different signs that remind you to conserve energy. For example, in every dorm room, by the light switches, there is a sign posted that says, “Did you turn your light off? Help us conserve energy and go green!” Seeing this reminds us that when you leave a room you should turn off the light because it is so wasteful to be left on if the room is not in use.

FGCU Compares

*Picture from FGCU*

Sustainability is something that many colleges pride themselves on and has become a large part for many campuses across the country in the recent years. Many of us “student aged” kids have been hearing even more about it now that colleges have jumped on the train to help make the world a better place. All across Florida you will see many Colleges and Universities, but a few only catch peoples eye as being highly influential and talked about. Three of the main ones are the University of Central Florida, University of Florida, and University of Miami. Here is how they compare to Florida Gulf Coast University.

Florida Gulf Coast University:

• Ice Thermal Air Conditioning
• Erosion control during building
• 50% more run off collection for treatment then the mandatory amount
• Limited disturbance to vegetation during construction
• Fresh-air ventilation through walkways on campus
• All buildings have sites for recycling
• Zero CFC Refrigerants
• LEED Certified buildings
• Car pooling website
• Campus shuttle

University of Central Florida:

• Preserve biodiversity within unique habitats
• Promote responsible land use
• Preservation of wetlands on campus
• Campus wide recycling
• Car pooling website
• Campus shuttle
• Building built after February 2007 are all LEED certified
• Chilled water AC
University of Florida sustainable.uf.edu
• Encouragement of reusable cups for campus employees
• “Green Teams” in campus dining to promote less waste
 Recycling and waste
 Energy
 Food
 Maintenance
 Paper
 Purchasing
 Water
 Transportation

University of Miami:

• Collects traditional recyclables as well as electronic parts and batteries
• LEED certification of all buildings build in 2009 or later
• Multiple student organizations to promote a “green” campus
• 50% discount on parking to those who drive hybrid cars
• UBike – offers affordable bicycles and safety equipment
• “green parking meters”



As you can see, many schools, both private and public, in the state of Florida are doing what they can to help the environment. But when compared to Florida Gulf Coast University, they stand way below the marker. Florida Gulf Coast University offers many different opportunities to support their efforts to keeping the campus clean, green, and eco-friendly while still making it accessible to everyone.

What Do Students Think Being "Green" Means?

*Picture From GMU*

Many students have many different opinions on what it means to be green and what it means to be environmentally friendly. Everyone has their own opinions. Some students from Florida Gulf Coast University are here to lend a hand in helping you define what it means to be green and sustainable.

Anne Z: I think to be green; you have to know what little things to do help save our planet. Like recycling and only buying what is needed so that you’re not wasting anything that you don’t have to. And keeping your use of non-renewable resources down to a minimum.

Tiffany M: I think that to be green you have to keep everything down to a minimum and not use your electricity or other resources. I think that it also means to keep your waste down and reuse as much as you can.

Alisha W: I think that when you’re green, you’re conscious to everything that you do. Driving, eating, saving water and making sure you’re not taking more then what you need from the planet.

Erika W: To be green, is to be smart about everything that you do. Thinking about what you’re doing and what you can do to use less.

Brittany U: When you’re green, you saving the world. You’re helping your future children have some place nice to live and teaching the younger generations how to do the same.

Evan M: Being green is being one with the world around you. Knowing how each and every action you do affects everything around you.

Students define "green" many different ways, but all end up meaning the same thing. That we must be consious of what we do and how we treat the planet that we live on and save it for future generations.