Editor’s Note: Patrick Minnerly is a resident of Allen Hall and a campus correspondent at The Daily Campus.
The University of Connecticut’s annual EcoMadness competition has once again returned to campus. Hosted by the Office of Sustainability, EcoMadness is a month-long event in which students are challenged to lower energy and water use and increase recycling. EcoMadness began on Oct. 1 and will end on Oct. 31.
Students are organized into teams based on their residence halls, which are equipped with a meter to monitor the building’s water and energy consumption. Not every hall is metered, but that doesn’t mean others can’t participate — residence halls without meters can still win prizes for their recycling. A complete list of metered halls can be found on the website of UConn’s Office of Sustainability.
As of Sunday, Oct. 13, the leading residence halls are Whitney (first place in energy reduction) in East Campus, Allen/Kingston (water reduction) in Towers and Hollister (recycling) in West Campus.
The Office of Sustainability recommends a number of strategies students can employ in order to be more environmentally conscious, all of which can be found on its website. Some simple steps that UConn students can take include unplugging electronics when not in use, making sure dorm and bedroom lights are off and taking short showers. The office also asks that students report all leaks to Facilities Operations as soon as they are noticed.
“It helps people be a little more mindful about what they’re doing to preserve the environment,” first-semester student Patrick Minnerly said, when asked for comment on EcoMadness. Minnerly lives in Allen Hall, where he and his hallmates currently lead the school in water reduction. “We’re giving our little bit to help the planet.”
Minnerly noted that he has regularly been unplugging his devices and taking shorter showers in order to contribute to the event.
EcoMadness has been going on at UConn since 2012, with first place going to Sprague in East Campus. Since then, EcoMadness has taken place annually, with 2024 being its 13th year running.
Under the Institute of Environment, the Office of Sustainability focuses its mission on the ideas of leading, empowering and collaborating with students to “set and achieve strategic sustainability goals and actions across UConn’s campuses,” according to their website.
EcoMadness is one of many Educational Engagement Events, which the Office of Sustainability regularly hosts in an effort to increase awareness about how students can be more sustainable in their day-to-day life. Other events include the upcoming Haunted HEEP (Hillside Environmental Education Park) on Oct. 23, a roughly one-mile walk “filled with terrifying scenes,” according to the office’s Instagram.
Students can get involved in EcoMadness by following the guidelines set by the Office of Sustainability online. The office also has two different internships, the first of which is the Sustainability Internship, allowing students to work directly for the Office of Sustainability, where they can “host campus sustainability engagement events, carry out UConn’s strategic sustainability plans, and research best environmental practices to improve sustainability at UConn,” according to the office’s website.
Another internship offered to UConn students is the EcoCaptain internship — EcoCaptains are found at every residence hall, and “act as liaisons between the Office of Sustainability and UConn’s resident students.”
More information about EcoMadness and other events hosted by the Office of Sustainability is available on its website.