Emory students, staff and now alumni still searching for a New Year’s resolution may find inspiration from the Office of Sustainability Initiatives’s (OSI) revamped sustainability pledge initiative and carbon calculator.

The carbon calculator, introduced prior to the winter holiday, calculates the carbon savings equivalent of each particular behavior change after participants of the pledge select their three commitments for the semester or renew their previous commitments.

“At the beginning of the year, so many people make a New Year’s resolution, often to be more responsible or healthier,” OSI director Ciannat Howett said. “Some sustainability commitments relate to things that have to do with health and wellness, so it’s a good time to introduce it.”

Howett said that unlike the carbon footprint calculators showcased by other organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency, this carbon savings calculator encourages sustainable behavior by showing how simple commitments can have a significant impact, rather than only impressing negative impacts of current behavior.

“We have a carbon savings calculator to inspire you, to show you how much you’ll be saving with your commitment, equivalent to how much gas being saved, trees being planted, cars taken off the road,” Howett said. “It’s an eye-opening and wonderful feeling.”

Howett said the revitalized pledge, initially introduced during the 2009 spring semester, has a more user-friendly interface, more educational information, and an expanded list of commitments. She said the outreach has also expanded outside the immediate community to Emory alumni.

“There are a variety in the list of possible things to do in order to appeal to a wide spectrum of people,” Howett said.

She said the pledges range from smaller steps such as turning off monitors to more challenging ones such as walking to work one day every week.

Other commitments also intend to educate the community in the process of making the pledge, Howett said. For example, she said, many people do not realize that screensavers use up a lot of energy.

Howett said the OSI began brainstorming ways to personalize the institutional commitment that Emory has made to sustainability after realizing that the University could not reach its target through technological changes alone. She said experts estimated that with technological changes, Emory could achieve a 20-percent energy use reduction by 2015. But to reach its target of 25 percent, she said, community members would need to change daily habits.

“Culture change happens when people feel personal control and where a social norm is created to do it,” Howett said. “This is not only the right thing to do but also the smart thing to do during tight budget times.”

By achieving all reduction goals, Howett said, the University could save $7.5 million annually.

She said that similar to when the pledge was initially launched, the OSI has been spreading the word about the pledge through a sustainability listserv and Residence Life staff, among other actions.

The marketing to students, staff, and alumni is grassroots-based, she said, as pledge makers are encouraged to pass on the pledge to three friends. In addition, the OSI has put up banners on lamp posts around campus, she added.

“People sending it to their friends to spread the word is a low-cost way,” Howett said.

She said she feels people are more likely to listen to their friends who have made commitments than to a mass e-mail.

Howett said that senior administrators, such as University President James W. Wagner and Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration Michael Mandl have already taken the pledge.

— Contact Tiffany Han.