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Many decent things are green — money, trees, Kermit the Frog and a majority of vegetables. It’s the color of growth, nature and renewal, but in other cases having a bit of green in you isn’t as complimentary as one might assume.
When something is rotten, after all, it often takes on a glaucous hue.
The University of Maine prides itself on its Green Initiative, assuming a position on the green honor roll along with the other exemplary eco-friendly universities and colleges in the nation with gusto.
Recently, a select group of UMaine buildings received recognition from the Maine chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for displaying “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.” While on the surface this recognition appears to represent the good kind of green, at its core, it’s actually quite spoiled.
The parameters for USGBC applicants and the selection process in itself both serve to deflate the grandeur accompanying such an acknowledgment. It would appear that a careful observation process was carried out by the USGBC to come up with the “esteemed” designations, but upon closer exploration of the material used to judge, the whole ordeal was ultimately a bloated essay contest.
The council did not visit the sites praised in these essays, written by members of the college or university being reviewed, instead making decisions based on biased words alone.
In an Oct. 25 article in The Maine Campus (Green Team president criticizes wetland fills), Gregory Edwards, president of UMaine’s Green Team, said he would not certify Wells Commons under LEED because of concerns of energy waste.
Furthermore, a private sector energy expert, UMaine mechanical engineering capstone adviser Jim Labrecque, told The Maine Campus in October (UM adviser: Small wind turbines not economically viable solution, Oct. 7) that the university has “more energy blowing out of buildings than what [small] windmills could ever produce.”
And, though unrelated to buildings, how could any of us forget the university’s recent violation of the federal Clean Water Act. The university, from 1984 to 2009, has illegally filled over three acres of wetland space for parking lots and buildings. Surely, this is not a green practice.
Of course, the USGBC should be frowned upon for their poor examination into the truth behind the self-praise, but what should be even more deplored is UMaine’s eagerness to cash in on the easy win — lying about their shortcomings to rack up another success. This one, however seems undeserved and insignificant.
It is simply time for UMaine to stop patting itself on the back when there is real work to be done. We can either spend all our time trolling for the effortless prize, or we can make serious changes and be in the running for a premium of worth.
