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February 23, 2007 Vol. 77,
no. 6S
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| COOL
COMPOSTER: ME/EECS major Tim Edgar demonstrates a
worm composting bin, the latest addition to the Green Apartment
he and three other undergraduates are showcasing to help
raise Berkeley’s environmental consciousness.
RACHEL SHAFER PHOTO
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Student housing goes green
Engineer helps pioneer an eco-life in the Green Apartment
Showers are timed to the minute. The thermostat is
set at 65 by day, 58 at night. Lights are switched off until dark,
and you might get scolded if you let the water run while brushing your
teeth. You are in the Green Apartment, located in Berkeley’s
south-side Channing-Bowditch student housing complex.
Tim Edgar, an ME/EECS junior, is one of the apartment’s four
undergraduate residents, three of whom are longtime friends with a
shared interest in the environment. They were chosen from dozens of
applicants for their demonstrated commitment to conservation and their
willingness to open their home routinely for tours to promote environmentally
conscious living to the campus community.
“It’s not hard for people to make a difference in small ways,” Edgar
says. “Radical lifestyle change is not the point. If you make
incremental change, it will probably stick with you for the rest of
your life.” It quickly becomes second nature, he says, to power
down the computer, find new uses for glass jars and take the bus rather
than drive to the market.
The Green Apartment is the latest in a series of demonstration projects
inspired by a 2002 Regents policy to promote eco-friendly practices
on UC campuses. Other Berkeley projects include the Green Room, an
eco-friendly residence hall room, and the Global Environment Theme
House, which provides housing and credit-bearing educational activities
for 20 ecologically minded students.
The apartment is sponsored by Berkeley’s Green Room Committee,
which advises Edgar and his roommates on the hottest new green products,
many of which are supplied through grants or donations. During tours,
each item is labeled to explain why it is good for the planet. Featured
are some familiar items, like power-saving Energy Star appliances and
biodegradable, phosphate-free Seventh Generation household cleansers.
Less familiar, perhaps, are the bed linens made of beechwood, which
requires fewer pesticides than cotton to grow, and the compost bin,
complete with live earthworms, for recycling organic garbage.
Edgar’s own environmental awareness was raised when, as a high
school student, he visited his sister at UCLA. A notebook he was carrying
got rained on and, as the pages dried, they exhibited an unsavory yellow
stain, the result, his sister said, of the infamous Los Angeles smog.
“From that moment, I realized that we’re destroying the environment
for future generations,” Edgar says. The first step for those
who want to go green, he suggests, is becoming more conscious of little
things, like how long you shower, and looking for ways to reuse household
items. Don’t be afraid to try something new, he adds.
“Organic might be 50 cents more,” he says, “but it might
be something you really love.”
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Written by Patti Meagher
For more information, go to www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/11/09_green.shtml.
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