The Department of Energy and Sustainability is fighting back against greenhouse gas emissions on campus by hosting a carpool speed dating event. The goal of the event is to help students who commute to campus individually find someone to carpool with to reduce gas emissions.
The event will be held in room 321 in the Stewart Library, on Feb. 7 from noon to 1 p.m. There will be pizza for lunch with gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options available, along with various mocktail options.
Weber State University is a current leader in sustainability and has been nationally recognized for its achievements in the department. The Department of Energy and Sustainability is involved with The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, a Sustainability Tracking Assessment & Rating System program, and is currently at a silver ranking, but is aiming for gold by the year 2025.
Transportation at WSU creates the largest category three greenhouse gas emissions. Reduction of these emissions is one of two goals the Department of Energy and Sustainability may not be able to meet with their sustainability plan.
“There is absolutely no way we can get beyond that if we don’t tackle transportation emissions,” Miriam McCutchan, organizer of the event, said. “It’s 80% of students commuting by a single occupancy vehicle,”
The “Carpool Speed Dating” idea was proposed to reduce the amount of students driving to campus individually. In turn, WSU’s greenhouse gas emissions are lowered through the help of its students.
During the event, there will be six tables set up in the room, but instead of “dating” in lines like traditional speed dating, participants will be grouped by zip code at each table. This will help participants easily find others with similar commutes to campus.
The event will also be used to introduce the participants to Travel-Wise, a website to get signed up for carpooling. Travel-Wise provides a safe experience to reduce any concerns of possible incidents and makes it possible for users to filter what gender they prefer riding with or for them to only be WSU students.
The online tool also provides transit times from your location to campus whether students choose to commute by bus, bike, car or walking. It includes how long the transit will be and how much CO2 the commute will burn.
Along with the table groups, there will be icebreaker questions to help attendees get to know each other better and feel comfortable creating new friendships for carpooling.
This is the first year the Department of Energy and Sustainability is trying this event. McCutchen hopes that its first year is a success and will be able to continue the event annually.
“We are really trying to make improvements and trying to get people a voice to participate. If they would like to get engaged and involved with people, it helps everybody. If we don’t have people’s input, we can’t make the changes we want to see,” McCutchen said.
