The first meeting of the year for any club is always the most awkward and confusing. You don't know the other members sitting around you, you're not sure of how much time you can invest in any given group, and you doubt that it's really possible for the club to accomplish all of its stated goals.
And, of course, there's those sign-up sheets coming around, promising a semester of e-mails if you sign up. Yet you've only been in the meeting for 15 minutes, so it's a hard call. Do you sign up? Do you wait? Do you move to the back of the room, so you have more time before the sign-up sheet actually reaches you?
These confusions and doubts are common as the fall semester begins, thrown into the already frustrating mix of new living situations, more difficult classes, high expectations and overwhelming pressure from friends, family and professors. As this transition time passes and things become clearer and this uncomfortable blend of confusion and awkwardness smoothes out, we inevitably understand both our goals and our priorities.
The first month of this semester has already come and gone and many people have subconsciously endured this process. Now they have once again become situated with life on the Hill, settled into their new classes and become active in various clubs, teams and organizations. Unfortunately, I would be willing to bet that as all of this has happened, energy conservation and environmentalism has not been at the top of many peoples' list of priorities.
I admit that these were not the first things that I thought about upon beginning this crucial sophomore year of college. Sophomore year is a year in which it is easy to be overshadowed by upperclassmen with more imminent concerns of graduate school and employment, and at the same time cast aside by freshmen whose attention is centered on their recent arrival to Tufts.
However, after settling in and revamping for the year ahead, I soon began taking notice of my energy consumption habits. For example, I realized how unproductive and unnecessary it was for me to leave my fan blowing when I went to class. I started to ask friends to make sure that they turned off the bathroom lights when they went to bed and that they turned off their computers when they were not using them.
The simplest of tasks can make the biggest of differences, and through Tufts Environmental Conscious Outreach's (ECO) energy reduction competition, "Do it in the Dark," this point is proven. As individuals make efforts to cut their energy consumption, others follow suit, and pooling the conservation of many inevitably results in significant energy use reduction and hopefully bolstered environmental awareness and concern.
I understand that it is very easy to come back to school and question the point of turning off the lights or unplugging a few appliances, but the truth is that these actions really do help.
Becoming more energy conscious is something that helps everybody, especially with costs of energy being what they are today. It is my hope that all dorms will actively participate in the ECO initiative and adopt valuable new habits of energy conservation.
As helpful as this competition might be, it is still not enough for students to become temporarily aware of our energy usage, only to regress back to previous energy consumption habits as soon as the competition ends.
It is vital that we learn from our efforts and continue to promote environmental awareness. Whether you do it for yourself, for a club or for the environment as a whole, make sure that you "Do It." So unplug the fan, turn off the lights, grab a glow-in-the-dark condom and make sure that you "Do It In The Dark" this fall, winter, spring and for years to come.
Matthew D. Whitehead is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major.
