“I wanted to make an educated guess that people could actually relate to,” said Green Team president Walter Lazarz, a construction management technology junior.

The amount of fuel was calculated by a complicated process of conversions, according to Lazarz. He used information from Constellation New Energy and the Maine Environmental Protection Agency.

“If you ask the average student on campus how much fuel they use, I would venture to say they just don’t know,” said Lazarz. We are trying to give them a relative idea.”

On each side of the box is a poster. One shows the mathematics used to calculate the fuel amount. Two are lists of what measures are already being taken for campus to be more sustainable and suggestions on what can be done in the future. The last is a poster of the prophetic Dr. Suess creature, the Lorax, who says, “I’ll yell and I’ll shout for the fine things on Earth that are on their way out!”

“I think there will be people who don’t care and there will be people who will be shocked and say, ‘I can’t believe I used this much,’” said Green Team member Ele Jones, an anthropology and history sophomore.

Sixty photos of UMaine students are taped to the box. The photos were taken in the first week of April. Each student holds a sign with a message supporting sustainability. On Earth Day, Lazarz brought the signs and took photos of students beside Project Awareness to add to the collection.

“We’re going to be sending pictures like that to our state representatives and senators of Maine,” said Lazarz to psychology senior Ashley Suitter as he took her photo with a sign that read, “I love windmills!”

“It’s just nice to see people getting out and trying to make everyone else aware of the consumption of energy by campus and by people individually,” Suitter said.

“I want to see more individuals working toward a more sustainable UMaine but I also think there’s been a lot of work done already,” Lazarz said.

The Green Team set up a table beside the display and brought chalk for people to write comments and suggestions around the posters on the cube. By noon, messages such as “Comprehensive Campus Recycling” and “More Carpooling!” had been written.

“This is a pretty cool idea,”said Paige Case, a chemical engineering sophomore. “I’ll probably join the Green Team after this. I didn’t know about it.” Case wore a T-shirt that read “Green is the new black” and had Lazarz take her picture with a sign that read “Clean Energy.”

Green Team was founded by Lazarz and Michael Parker in fall 2007 with a mission statement promoting efficiency and sustainability on campus and in the surrounding community. For more information on the Green Team or Project Awareness, contact Walter Lazarz on FirstClass.