CNU to Create Eco-Campus:
Small Steps, Big Impacts
By Oh Uhl, Student Editor
Ryu Seung-hyi, Guest Reporter
Lim Seon-hye, Tribune Reporter
Things You Can Do 1. Do not Walk on the Grass
Many universities currently have made an effort to create the ‘Green’ or ‘Eco’ campus conserving the environment and pursuing the coexistence between humanity and nature. In the past, they usually built many buildings and roads without any careful consideration of nature and the surroundings, including campus landscape plans. However, nowadays, they aim to make ecologically stable and green campuses.
This comes in line with the growth of demands for universities to match quantitative developments and efficiency with qualitative improvement so as to provide a better educational environment and eco-friendly campus for their students and faculty alike. Chonnam National University (CNU) also started to improve environmental quality on campus and to change its campus into a sustainable and eco-friendly green campus for students and local residents by recognizing that their activities have a significant impact on the environment.
The University Administration has made long-term plans to make an eco-friendly and green campus and started to promote the “Eco-Campus” project beginning last year. After this, CNUians have become more interested in CNU’s educational environment in terms of space, transportation facilities, architecture and landscape design more so than before. Chonnam Tribune examines major activities of CNU to create an “Eco-Campus” focusing on three sectors as follows: ‘green and clean campus’, ‘good campus to walk on’ and ‘open campus to make communication easy’, and then it will introduce other activities including campaigns and contests that CNUians can put into practice.
What Is an Eco-Campus?
The eco-campus is defined as a campus to pursue communication and coexistence between human and nature, and inter-human interaction and to consider the surrounding environment in order to make campus as a living space for students, faculty and staff members. Though it is difficult to define the eco-campus because the word ‘eco’ implies so many meanings, the eco-campus is an environmentally sound and sustainable campus. The eco-friendly campus can be accomplished by producing eco-friendly energy like solar power and minimizing the amount of trash by recycling. It is necessary to arrange campus structures efficiently and to be comfortable for walking and communicating among people so as to become the eco-campus.
At the same time, the eco-campus needs to be open for local residents to take a rest on campus and to establish a good relationship with the local community. When a university implements its eco-campus projects, many changes are expected. The university can reduce energy consumption and save resources such as electricity, water and paper and can also communicate with its surrounding residents in the local society. Therefore, to implement the eco-campus projects, long-term plans are essential. With regards to this situation, we need to examine CNU’s eco-campus projects and activities.
Toward a Greener Campus
The ultimate purpose of the eco-campus is harmony with nature. As a living space, any university campus has to become a place that people feel comfortable on campus, like a park, that is a restful place in the city. CNU, as a primary campus in our local community, needs to function as a public garden comfortable for students and local residents. As a part of an eco-campus, CNU recently established an arboretum near the Dental Hospital and many places in the university are green and wooded. The density of trees on campus has also increased but it is not yet sufficient. Some places around new buildings and parking places have many cars on the roadsides that make students feel that these areas are interfering with nature.
CNU’s campus has to be more forested to change into a nature-friendly green campus. Moreover, constructing new buildings induces the resultant destruction of nature. When the building of the Law School was constructed, it was pointed to ruin the surrounding nature. Many trees were covered with dust on the side roads of the College of Business Administration under its construction. In order to provide a better educational environment, new buildings are needed but it is desirable to renovate old buildings to be an eco-campus.
It is important to plant trees inside buildings like the roof garden as well as around the buildings and to make more green rest places at CNU. Hwang Kyung-min (Junior, Dept. of Forestry) who participated in the CO2 ZERO Eco-Campus Idea Contest, which was supported by the Ministry of Environment on April 22 with the slogan, ”One Man One Young Plant” said, “Our idea was that a young plant was given to a freshman every year instead of giving a diary. When it grows in some degree, students move it to the roof of building. I'm sure that the roof garden can be a store house of oxygen of our campus.”
A clean campus is positively necessary to be the green campus. However, many places including roads, lawns and school grounds are dirty with dumped paper cups, plastic cups and trash. Lee ji-young (Sophomore, Dept. of Fine Arts) said, “I cannot find trash cans because they disappeared for defile the appearance of the streets on campus.” Though there are many shops and vending machines where students can buy drinks such as fresh fruit juice and coffee in and out side campus, as trash receptacles are not placed throughout the campus, many students dump rubbish on the roads or grass under trees and put their leftovers on the seat. These behaviors make our campus messy. If CNU members could stop throwing away trash anywhere it would make our campus clean, it will be result in a greener and eco-friendly campus in the near future.
2. Do not Throw away Trash anywhere on Campus
3. Separate Your Garbage
4. Always Try to Recycle
5. Walk and Ride a Bicycle
6. Take Stairs instead of Elevators
7. Turn out the Lights in Empty Rooms
8. Be interested in Our Campus Environment
Toward a Better Campus to Walk
Some universities have established underground facilities like car parks and changed the school ground into a green tract of land and the place for walking students as a part of making ‘Eco-Campus’. The effect of the underground car parks is fresher air and comfortable walking due to less cars on campus. In the hope of creating a car-free campus, CNU enforced a Car-Free Zone project and expanded it from March 23. At CNU there are three Car Free-Zone places; In front of College of Humanities Building l, the University Library annex (white) and the College of Education Building l. The aim of this project is for pedestrians to become free from the inconvenient and dangerous places that cause the risk of car accidents and spoiling the appearance of campus. It is also both a way of making a good campus to walk and to improve educational environment from vehicles’ noises in the streets of the campus as a part of creating an eco-campus.
However, until now, there are so many cars at CNU that students suffer from discomfort to avoid many cars to walk in many places, especially around the Yongbong tower and in front of the College of Humanities and Business Administration. In addition, as many drivers usually park their cars nearby Car-Free Zones like a park zone, it seems like doing a stunt when students pass through the parked cars. Na Hye-jin (Junior, Dept. of Communication) said, “This project seems to mitigate inconvenience to walk on the roads and streets, but I think only carrying out Car Free-Zone within and outside particular areas isn’t enough to be eco-campus. More detail and sustainable managements and supplementary plans are needed.” With regard this, Lee Jong-won, a chief of Innovation Section, Division of Planning and Cooperation said that through agreement by CNU members the Car Free-Zone campaign will continue and the Administration tries to make CNU Car Free-Campus ultimately.
Inconvenient roads are also a problem. The wooded road to the front gate and roads around Bong-ji pond of CNU are difficult to walk because the roots of trees shoot onto the road. Yoon Sun-ha (Sophomore, Major of Wood Science & Engineering) said, “Bumpy roads around Bong-ji pond are uncomfortable to walk. I have experience several times that the heels of my shoes almost got broken due to the road.” CNU has to make good roads to walk and further the roads that students want to walk pleasantly on campus.
In order to make CNU campus a Car-Free campus and good campus to walk, CNU has to make car parks somewhere in or outside the campus and control cars passing through in the university. As the alternative-day-no-driving system is in operation but it is not a duty for drivers, it is not enough to improve the current transportation environment. If there are sufficient car parks within or outside the front and back gate, cars on campus will disappear noticeably.
Of course, inconvenient roads have to be improved. It so, our campus will be a good campus where we can walk and think sincerely.
Toward a More Open and Accessible Campus
An eco-campus also means an open campus to facilitate good communication between students, faculty staff members and an accessible campus to local residents. A few months ago, the Office of Financial Management renovated the office interior for effective communication among members and providing a better work environment for them. Unlike the existing office, the brightly-colored office is like a café and classical music is played in the office. This is judged to be a good attempt. In other cases, many colleges like the College of Social Sciences and the Law School renovate several places inside and outside the buildings so that students can take a rest and have a talk as open conversation spaces. If campus benches that are available were installed, our campus will be better than now.
CNU has currently carried out various activities for making the closer relationship between CNU campus and its surrounding local community. It removed noise control walls in front of the College of Engineering at the side gate as a public design model project. Also, the CNU football pitch located next to the wooded road to the front gate and the gymnasium is open to local residents. Many places and facilities at CNU are always accessible to the public so that many local residents use them as a kind of their living space. Recently, CNU started to build up a park from the front gate to the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. Like these, CNU is striving to make its campus more open and accessible where both CNUians and local residents can usually enjoy nature while taking a rest and making conversation pleasantly.
Eco-Campus Campaigns
CNU aimed at improving the quality of environment in the campus to be an “Eco-campus” by increasing environmental awareness of student, faculty and staff who can contribute towards creating a green and sustainable campus through a number of campus projects and activities which could serve as good examples for other institutions. The followings have been carried out since last year.
First, the Administration started a “Paperless-meeting System” for minimizing wasteful use of resources by introducing an electronic video conference system in October, 2008. It launched a turning off the light campaign to save energy and enhance energy efficiency on campus.
Second, the School of Dentistry is holding a Bicycle Riding Campaign for reducing campus-generated impacts on the environment and making a green campus. Ten red bicycles are arranged in front of the School of Dentistry Building II and students and staff members are allowed to use the bicycles when they move between buildings which are distant more than 1 km away. Once riding a bicycle on campus is revitalized, we can reduce the environmental pollution and noise from cars in the campus.
Third, The CNU Weekly has conducted the campaign with “Do Echo Eco Campus” as a slogan from March 2, by publishing a series of articles for informing CNUians of “Eco-Campus” projects and activities at CNU. With each theme, they give us several directions that the Administration and CNUians need to do for being an eco-campus.
Join the Campaign and Practice
Until now, we examined a variety of eco-campus projects, activities and practices operated by many institutions at CNU. Despite of The CNU Weekly’s campaign, many students may not have known the projects and activities mentioned above. It is time to join the campaign and put into practice for making a green and sustainable campus an eco-campus by building general campus awareness. The Administration should annually develop an action plan with activities targeted for achieving the goals for the CNU Eco-Campus and invigorate the eco-campus projects with new ideas and inspire them to new heights. It should use environmentally friendly building practices for the construction of its new buildings.
At the same time, CNUians have to make individual efforts to save energy, reduce waste on campus and create a pleasant and enjoyable environment. We have enormous power to institute change in our classrooms, dormitories and other facilities in the campus. Let’s start taking small actions: turning out the lights when we leave the lecture room, taking the stairs more and using the elevator less, using recycled or reused materials and disposing trash properly. Those important small practices will act as an umbrella for a wide range of environmental efforts with the goal of creating our eco-campus. CNU campus will be a more eco-friendly campus than now.
Interview
“Universities has pursued just efficiency with rapid quantitative growth, but it is time to pursue coexistence and communication with human and nature. From this point of view, eco-campus is a paradigm shift from efficiency to coexistence and communication over environmental-friendly campus. So eco-campus is a continuous project bringing out change in constituents life. CNU’s Eco-Campus Project is in operation in several parts.
For example, the Administration started a paperless executive conferences and extended a ‘car-free zone’ to the section in front of College of Humanities Building I. CNU will spread out the paperless conference and the car-free zone. CNU also make repose campus for neighbors by eliminating soundproofing walls and planting trees. In addition, CNU will build master-plan by professionals at CNU and start detail works.
It is expected that many changes are from a variety of activities towards an eco-campus. It will be hard to find cars in campus by a full-scale car-free zone and then CNU constituents and local residents will enjoy rest and speculation on a greener campus. CNU also will supply itself environmental-friendly energy, reduce carbon dioxide emission and minimize quantity of trash. Non-mainstream studies like ecology and economical ecology will be brought up throughout active support of university as parts of eco-campus. Above all, constituents and nature will coexist and communicate each other.
If CNU wants efficient eco-campus, it can be fine to build up campaign and enforce students to do eco-campus works. CNU, however, will not enforce students to do something for eco-campus. Eco-campus is made up with trivial and meaningful change done voluntarily in campus.”