FARMINGTON – University of Maine at Farmington students in associate biology Professor Drew Barton’s freshman seminar got a lot more than they bargained for when they signed up for the class.
Far from the stereotypical high school and college lecture course, “The Party’s Over: Climate Change and the End of Fossil Fuel” is more of a collaboration, freshman Andrew Merrill said Tuesday.
And though the seminar began with a heavy load of reading and a strict syllabus covering energy consumption and its long-term effects on society, once the students had gotten a grasp of the material, classes began changing direction in ways even Barton couldn’t have imagined.
“I always say this is as new to me as it is to my students,” Barton said, explaining how an idea he had to introduce freshmen to the rigors and possibilities inherent in college life turned into a project that next Tuesday will extend out of the university and into the community.
One thing most high school students and college freshmen tend not to expect about university life is the amount of power students can have, Barton said.
College students, unlike high school students, have the freedom, the resources, and the knowledge to do something other than write papers with their ideas. The energetic biology professor conceived of a way to both teach his students about fossil fuel depletion, and show them the power they have to reach others, by working with them to host a home energy forum to teach others about ways to increase energy efficiency in their homes.
The students came up with the program and are doing all the work, from filming it to making posters for it, to introducing the speakers, all local energy efficiency specialists.
At 7 p.m. Tuesday, in UMF’s Lincoln Auditorium, Barton’s students will begin the forum by handing out free fluorescent light bulbs, which they say use less energy and last longer than incandescent bulbs.
The students will introduce six speakers: UMF physics Professor Paul Stancioff, energy efficiency consultant Conrad Heeschen, Vital Air Technologies representative Bede Wellford, Daydreams Solar representative Darrell Dyke and longtime off-the-grid homeowners Susan Cochran and David Larkin
The talks will feature advice for both new home builders and those who want to save money and energy in their existing homes, and will cover things like modern insulation techniques, solar photo voltaics, passive solar design, energy-saving architecture, living off the grid, biodiesel cars, and tax incentives for people who want to make their homes more energy efficient.
Now nearing the end of their semester-long project, Barton says he and his students feel the project is a meaningful way of using their newfound knowledge to help reduce energy use and decrease greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.
“No one person can prevent the nation’s energy problems. The home energy forum is a step toward our greater goal of energy preservation,” said student Jessica Symes.
According to Barton, planning for the forum has done what he set out to do. “It helps them connect the big issues about energy that we discuss in class with the practicality of what happens in one’s own home. It shows the students how to turn what they learn into action and helps the students realize that they can make a difference, not just after they graduate, but while they’re students at UMF,” he said.
For more information regarding the forum, contact Barton at 778-7397 or [email protected].
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