No one ever said that affecting change would be easy. To members of the Indiana Public Interest Research Group (INPIRG), a student-run social and environmental activist organization on the IU campus, this adage could not ring more true.

Currently, the group is focusing its time and effort on the Campus Climate Challenge, its global warming awareness, emissions reduction and clean energy advocacy campaign. In particular, members are crafting suggestions to reduce the 68,000 tons of Indiana coal that the physical plant burns yearly.

As global climate change begins to visibly manifest itself around the world, INPIRG is advocating efficiency upgrades and policy changes that would lessen IU's emissions.

Elliot Hayden, director of the Campus Climate Challenge, has been researching possible energy efficiency improvements that would conserve energy, which have the potential to save IU millions of dollars in utility costs.

"There are so many ways we can reduce the amount of pollutants we emit," he said, "and so many alternative sources that we should have incorporated into our energy usage long ago. The main problem that we have run into in the past is a general absence of student awareness of the serious consequences of global warming."

At IU, a lack of awareness of environmental issues has traditionally translated into a lack of concern and action on the part of the student body. It is this trend that INPIRG is working to reverse.

For Brett Kokot, the Campus Climate Challenge Coalition coordinator, the need to acknowledge and address energy-related issues is immediate. "We need to change, and we need to do it now," he said.

Unbeknownst to most of the IU student body and administration, upgrading the university's energy efficiency is a practical decision with positive results that would extend far beyond solely environmental benefits.

For starters, switching to alternative energy sources, outfitting residence halls with Energy Star certified appliances or implementing green building standards would cut utility costs and yield an eventual payback of the initial funds invested, in addition to reducing ecologically harmful emissions.

Citing the concerns caused by the effects of global climate change, including increased numbers of wildfires, disappearing coastlines and species endangerment, Kokot views student awareness as an integral part of this race against time.

"We are entering this battle late," he said. "We have been flooding our atmosphere with pollutants for years, and there has been a feeling of complacency with the status quo on campus. No one has effectively challenged the status quo and said 'Hey, we really need to clean up our act.'"

However, INPIRG's diligence may soon yield tangible results. Over the past several months, members have observed how IU uses energy and have found that while the university meets compliance with the necessary state regulations, it has made no major efforts to go above and beyond the bare minimum.

In the meantime, colleges across the country, including both Purdue and Ball State universities, have reduced their ecological impacts by updating inefficient heating and lighting systems, using cleaner burning alternative fuels and adopting several other utilities-based improvements.

By taking stock of IU's energy policies and comparing them to those at other universities, INPIRG has developed a set of energy efficiency proposals that it recently brought before a member of the Board of Trustees. Citing the win-win nature of such upgrades and initiatives, the Board of Trustees has agreed to give the matter further consideration in the months ahead.

This opportunity to effect major energy policy changes has not gone unnoticed around campus. Since learning of this new development, a number of faculty and staff have contacted the board to voice their support for such changes. Overall, the IU community is beginning to show interest in operating more sustainably.

"The response to our recent efforts has been very encouraging," Hayden said. "We have seen that it is not too late in the game for IU to change the way it uses energy."

With time, hard work and patience, led by concerned members of the community such as the volunteers at INPIRG, Indiana University is poised to make ambitious changes that will allow it to stride forward into a cleaner, greener future.

Abby Schwimmer can be reached at acschwim@indiana.edu.