Dorms becoming a classroom of sorts at the U

What do piles of pizza boxes, ever-present fluorescent lighting and an embarrassing number of empty cans bring to mind?

A college dorm room, no doubt.

But if a new University of Minnesota sustainability program is successful, dorms will have an entirely new look. And students will be well schooled in simple things they can do that will help save them money when they start living on their own.

"If you start looking at sustainability, it can be really daunting," said Ana Evenson, a community adviser and sustainability advocate in Yudof Hall. But little things, from unplugging Xboxes and phone chargers to using reusable water bottles, can have a profound effect on the way college students use resources.

Once you learn those practices, she said, "it becomes naturally integrated into all that you do."

In addition, the program teaches residents about even bigger changes that can be made to reduce their environmental impact, like buying food in bulk or locally, and biking whenever possible.

Those ideas fit well into one of the cold, hard facts about college life: Money's always tight.

Evenson said there's always room for improvement: switching to compact fluorescent lightbulbs, for instance, or even saving old class handouts to take notes on later.

The pilot project appoints student leaders, like Evenson, in residence halls to promote eco-friendly lifestyles. The centerpiece of this program is Conservation Madness, a competition last month among the campus' 11 residence halls to see which reduced its energy use and waste production the most.

The contest examined how students reduced building-wide consumption on a per capita basis last month. Winners will receive an NCAA basketball championship party in April.

But beyond the promise of free food and basketball, the competition aims to reshape the way students think about their lives after they move out of the dorms.

"This year was the first year that all the residence halls were asked to have specific sustainability advocates," said Ben Falter, co-chair of the sustainability committee for residence halls.

The university has already made some common-sense changes in the past few years to help students practice sustainable living, including placing recycling bins in every dorm room. What started as a pilot project in Pioneer Hall in spring 2008 moved to all the dorms after it spurred a dramatic increase in recycling rates.

"It's very much now built into the way we do things," said Falter.

The recyclables they collect have revealed patterns in how students perceive recycling. Perhaps not surprisingly, cans and bottles are the most commonly recycled items.

Where students lack awareness, Falter said, is in the "newspaper plus" category, which encompasses cardboard boxes, magazines and books, among others.

The relatively low amount of recycling collected from "newspaper plus" bins, Falter said, reveals where the advocates have work to do in educating residents.

She said it's about "focusing on the other Rs -- reduce and re-use -- and recycle is the last option."

Beyond just helping the dorms save energy and reduce waste, she said, the program aims to teach practices that will help residents once they move off campus.

That means pointing out that long showers lead to bigger water and heat bills, or that keeping your computer on overnight will vastly increase how much electricity is used.

Evenson said she hoped that more "adult" economic responsibilities -- like paying the bills for the first time -- would effect some change in off-campus students. "Dollars and cents talks to people," she said.

At the very least, the sustainability program is teaching the advocates themselves about the importance of eco-friendly practices.

"The purpose of the program is education, not just a prize at the end."