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Go Green. Save Green.A Campaign for Auburn University’s Office of Sustainability: Climate

Action Plan

Melinda Bowens Kristin Keller Caitlin DeForest Stephen Kelly Alyssa Ramos-Herrera

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April 30, 2010

Office of Sustainability

200 Langdon Annex

Auburn University

Auburn, AL 36849

Dear Community Engagement Working Group,

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to work with you on the development of this campaign. It has been a pleasure working with the group on what we are confident will be a successful campaign to raise awareness of the Climate Action Plan. We believe the campaign presented, along with the strategies and tactics included, will help to achieve the goals of the group.

We sincerely appreciate the opportunity to have worked with you on such an important campaign. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us.

Thank you,

Catlin DeForest Alyssa Ramos-Herrera cnd0002@auburn.edu ramosaa@auburn.edu (256) 899-3439 (256) 698-1978

Stephen Kelly Kristin Keller kellyst@auburn.edu kellekl@auburn.edu (205) 541-3077 (251) 533-7620

Melinda Bowens bowenmk@auburn.edu (344) 201-2035

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Table of Contents

Thank You Letter

Executive Summary………………………………………………………...............…………............................1

Client Analysis……………………………………………………………………………........................................3

Publics Analysis………………………………………………………………...................................................6

Situation Analysis……………………………………………………………………………...................................8

Research Summary………………………………………………………………….….......................................12

Effective Communication…………………………………………………………….…….................................14

Goals and Objectives………………………………………………………………….…....................................18

Objectives………………………………………………………………………….................................................21

Tactics……………………………………………………………………………….…..............................................23

Limitations………………………………………………………………………….…............................................26

Evaluations………………………………………………………………………….…….........................................27

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………..………......................................31

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..…….........................................32

Contact Information………………………………………………………………..………..................................33

Appendix A: Budget………………………………………………………………..…….....................................34

Appendix B: Calendar……………………………………………………………….…......................................35

Appendix C: Pre-Survey…………………………………………………………............................................44

Appendix D: Pre-Survey Results………………………………………………………..................................46

Appendix E: Survey……………………………………………………………………….....................................47

Appendix F: Survey Results………………………………………………………...…....................................49

Appendix G: News Release………………………………………………………………..................................52

Appendix H: Fact Sheet………………………………………………………………..……................................53

Appendix I: Facebook Fan Page…………………………………………………….……................................54

Appendix J: AU vs. Bama Event Poster……………………………………………..……….........................57

Appendix K: Light Switch Cover…………………………………………………………................................58

Appendix L: Client Material……………………………………………………………….................................59

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Executive Summary

This campaign is designed for the Community Engagement Working Group, whose task is to develop recommendations for strategies to communicate the importance of carbon reduction and global climate change at Auburn University. This is part of the Climate Action Plan which is a campus-wide initiative for students and faculty to significantly reduce carbon emissions, with a goal of zero, over the next 40 years.

The Climate Action Plan was initiated after Auburn University President Jay Gogue committed Auburn University to the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. In this agreement, the president agrees to specific terms addressing Auburn University’s future carbon footprint. Terms in the agreement include completing an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, creating and implementing a climate plan and eventually eliminating Auburn’s net greenhouse emissions.

The goal of the Climate Action Plan is to reduce carbon emissions with an ultimate long-term goal of carbon neutrality at Auburn University through individual actions. The campaign will help accomplish this by creating awareness of the Climate Action Plan among students, faculty and staff.

Three objectives were designed to contain elements of awareness, acceptance and action. The three objectives of the campaign are:

1. To create awareness of the Climate Action Plan among students with the effect of reducing carbon emissions through altering energy use in residential habits and actions.

2. To create awareness of the Climate Action Plan among faculty with the effect of reducing carbon emissions through altering energy use habits and actions in classrooms and offices

3. To create awareness of the Climate Action Plan among staff with the effect of reducing carbon emissions through altering energy use habits and actions in building maintenance.

For each of the three objectives, there are suggested tactics that we believe will help to achieve each objective and the overall goal. There is also strategy and rationale included.

For the first objective, the strategy is to educate students about the financial benefits that can result from specific individual actions of energy conservation. We felt showing how they personally can benefit would be the best way to achieve awareness, acceptance and action. For this objective, we suggested seven tactics. The tactics suggested are:

1. Develop the “Go Green. Save Green.” Theme2. Transit Promotion Poster3. News Release4. “Go Green. Save Green.” Brochure5. Climate Action Plan Facebook Fan Page

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6. “Lights Out!” Vinyl Sticker for Light Switch7. Auburn vs. Alabama Sustainability Event

For the second objective the strategy is to encourage department leaders in each college to promote energy-saving practices among faculty. Our rationale is that if we can create a sense of affiliation with energy conservation in the faculty’s individual identities as teachers, they will be more likely to willingly engage in the desired behaviors. The tactics suggested are:

1. News Release to AU Daily2. Fact Sheet for professors3. “Lights Out!” Vinyl Sticker for Light Switch4. Auburn vs. Alabama Sustainability Event

For the third objective, there are two strategies. The first is to motivate staff to routinely incorporate energy saving actions into building maintenance. The rationale behind it is staff associated with building maintenance will often be the last people in buildings on campus at the end of the day, which makes them a key public to reach about conserving energy use. The second strategy is to inform staff on a regular basis about energy use in individual buildings. This is important because research shows people are more likely to engage in energy saving activities when they are presented with statistics on their actual energy use. The suggested tactics are:

1. Bulletin Board in Staff Break Areas2. Campus-wide Staff Competition3. “Lights Out!” Vinyl Sticker for Light Switch4. Auburn vs. Alabama Sustainability Event

The Climate Action Plan was created to not only reduce the present state of carbon emissions, but to change the waste habits of future students and faculty members. We believe the campaign presented, along with the strategies and tactics included, will help to achieve the goals of the group.

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Client Analysis

Internal EnvironmentBasic Planning

Auburn University’s Office of Sustainability began its work on the Auburn Climate Action Plan in 2008 after receiving signed approval from President Gogue. The Climate Action Plan will be a campus-wide initiative for students, faculty and staff to significantly reduce carbon emissions with a goal of zero over the next 40 years. One of the initial steps of the plan’s process, which was implemented in 2009, is to take a campus-wide inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions, including emissions from electricity, heating, commuting and air travel. Since the Climate Action Plan is still in its early stages of conception, the analysis of the internal environment is limited.

The quality of the Auburn University Climate Action Plan’s performance will be dependent on its ability to reduce the emissions of Auburn University and its associated members. A recent published study ascribed Auburn an overall grade of a “B-” in regard to its carbon emissions (The College Sustainability Report Card). President Gogue, unsatisfied with this mediocre ranking and recognizing the importance of the university’s impact on the climate, signed this plan into action with aims of making the university’s carbon emissions neutral.

Communication resources for the Climate Action Plan are immense. The nature of Auburn University’s enrollment gives the Climate Action Plan roughly 24,600 new communication resources and ideas in students each year. Seven hundred other universities nationwide are participating in similar plans to reduce carbon emissions. Examples of these plans are compiled on the Office of Sustainability’s Website. These resources will be beneficial in comparing geographically similar schools in the Southeast with similar air conditioning and heating use, but none of these research plans have been fully completed. These plans provide a good database of ideas, but there is no consensus as to which ideas are the most effective. After the Climate Action Plan is complete, President Gogue will budget which segment of the plan to put into effect. The large scale of time allowed for the completion of this plan will allot for financial support over a number of budget years.

The Climate Action Plan is supportive of public relations activities as a tool for community engagement. No public relations activities have been utilized at this time because the plan is still in its early stages of development. The Community Outreach division of the Climate Action Plan will derive the majority of its public relations actions from this campaign. The public relations plans will depend on President Gogue’s and the Board of Trustee’s approval before being set into action.

Extended Planning

One of the problems associated with the Climate Action Plan is the competing political views on global climate change. Some political factions do not agree with the science behind human effect on global climate change, while other populations see global climate change as a looming threat to civilization. This disagreement could potentially create tension and aversion to the Climate Action Plan’s goals. Another inherent problem in the planning process is that there is no history of success in this area. This leaves the nature of the plan to be an educated trial and error.

Despite these problems, the Auburn University Climate Action Plan has many natural advantages. The size

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of Auburn University provides a rich database of students and facilities to test and research solutions. Auburn University is one of a select few universities to have a building science department. This department is heavily focused on teaching and developing sustainable building standards. The architecture and design department also focuses on the incorporation of sustainability in design. Another department that is advantageous to the Climate Action Plan is Auburn University’s public relations department. Service learning will be utilized as a beneficial resource to the plan by implementing public relations tactics, created by students of this department, at no cost.

Public PerceptionBasic Planning

As the Office of Sustainability continues to work on the Climate Action Plan, the present perception of the project is crucial. In large, the public perception is indifferent because few people know of the office or the forthcoming project. Little awareness has been warranted for this project for a few reasons, including the infancy of planning for the task. Over the last three years, little information has been made public about the formation of the project. Due to this limited stream of data, the community has not been afforded the opportunity to form an opinion as of now.

However, a few people in the university administration are aware of the project and their perception seems positive. The university president is responsible for the establishment of this committee and seems to be confident in the project.

Although the majority of the public may be indifferent to the Office of Sustainability and the Climate Action Plan, people may have some preconceived thoughts about the work of the office. As explained by the client, the plan may have to cope with the backlash of information from prior environmental activists, such as Al Gore and his feature film documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” Even though the client and other activists are unrelated in this capacity, the community may choose to associate all environmental groups together. The hurdles also include a public political debate on the validity of global climate change, which may influence public opinion before the public has knowledge of the project. The client is now taxed with responsibility of possibly separating their image from the image created by others. While these theories are hypothetical in context, they must become legitimate concerns as the client gains momentum with upcoming projects.

Currently, the focus of the client is to create a positive public perception, free of the political and social stigmas attached to the term “going green.” With the office having little notoriety at this time, they are in a good position to create a favorable image with the public.

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External Environment

Basic PlanningThe sustainability movement at Auburn University is relatively new. Currently, there is no direct competition because they have not created a plan yet and no other universities have implemented or completed sustainable policies or plans. Also, there is no direct opposition since being sustainable is necessary and desirable. The obstacles for planning come from external sources in the environment.

The stage for sustainability is growing and different colleges and universities are working to develop plans to promote it on their campuses. Since no school has successfully implemented and completed a sustainability plan, it is difficult to predict the outcome of the projects. There is room for drastic change in the environment after a sustainability plan is successfully finished. Regulators could pose problems for Auburn University since it is a state school and land grant university. Since the university receives government grants, when they bid for outside contracts they have to take the cheapest one. Now, the sustainability plan needs to convince them to look at cost over time before they choose. Another regulator is the president of the university. If he leaves his position before the plan is approved then there is no guarantee that the next president will continue the initiative. Finally, there is the board of trustees. The plan needs to be approved by them before finally being enacted.

Expanded Planning

Another impediment comes from politicians. Global climate change and limited resources are topics that are constantly being debated. Politicians on both sides agree on a need for sustainability, but some form opinions that oppose scientific evidence. The result causes a debate over ideology that floods the public with conflicting opinions. When the public is presented with conflicting ideas, they tend to just choose and hope for the best. For behaviors and attitudes to change, the solutions to becoming more sustainable need support from politicians and opinion leaders. Other impediments from society include a lack of awareness.

The Office of Sustainability does not have a strong reputation on the campus; some do not know that a sustainability effort is happening. Their service is not widely visible because they are still in the planning phase. The leaders of the organization would like a way to improve this reputation by raising awareness and changing behaviors.

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Publics Analysis

Basic PlanningWhile planning the proposal for the client, the group must consider the prospective publics trying to be reached by the client. For this project, the client is targeting students, faculty and staff of Auburn University. According to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, Auburn University employs approximately 10,000 members on the faculty and staff. In addition, Auburn University is home to some 24,600 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. The Auburn University community is the major and key public for the campaign.

As the creation of the proposal progresses, intercessory publics must also be identified. At this time, the president of Auburn University, the board of trustees and other environmentalists are the intercessory publics. The board of trustees and the president are ultimately responsible for implementing the proposed campaign. With this power, they control the final information communicated to the Auburn University community. However, the media’s attention on other environmentalists will also affect our perspective public.

Expanded PlanningCustomers

With a plan spanning many areas on campus, the customers of the client are all 34,600 individuals engrossed in the Auburn University community. In the last three years, customers have become more aware of current environmental issues and we hope to reinforce this trend by strengthening attitudes.

Producers

The Climate Action Plan is a part of the American Colleges and Universities Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which President Jay Gogue signed in 2008. The Office of Sustainability has been charged with developing and monitoring the Climate Action Plan and formulating a way to have the plan initiated throughout campus. Financing for the Office of Sustainability is provided through the Auburn University yearly budget, this includes the Climate Action Plan. The Office of Sustainability has changed in the last few years by taking on the Climate Action Plan two years ago. Within the next three years, the Office of Sustainability will present a plan to President Gogue to help the university reduce its carbon footprint.

Enablers

An important opinion leader and regulator for the Climate Action Plan is President Gogue. The campaign being developed will have to be approved by him before it can be implemented. Another regulator would be the board of trustees, who also has to approve the plan. The campaign will rely heavily on the media to get the message out. The media most readily available will be campus-related media.

Some examples of campus-related media that could be utilized are: The Plainsman, WEGL 91.1 FM and the Auburn University Website. Also, Websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Auburn Family would be a good way to reach students, faculty and staff of Auburn University. Other than campus-related media, The Corner

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News and The Opelika-Auburn News are newspapers that could be used to reach the Auburn community. Although the Climate Action Plan has not yet produced much media coverage, due mainly to the plan being in the early stages, the campaign will help develop awareness by using the media.

Limiters

Auburn University’s Climate Action Plan is a campus-wide initiative for students faculty and staff to significantly reduce their carbon emissions over the next 40 years. Since this is a personal goal for Auburn University’s campus and community, the Climate Action Plan does not have any main competitors. However, Auburn University’s budget is limited so competition arises over what programs and projects will be funded. Other universities are participating in similar programs, but the goal of reducing carbon emissions is a collective effort, not a competition.

The debate on global climate change is based on political opinion and many have expressed that they, despite scientific evidence, feel global climate change is not a real threat. These groups of individuals bring controversy, but they do not have much power in stopping or slowing down the Climate Action Plan. That power falls into the hands of President Gogue. He has the final decision in what parts of the plan get put into action and how much money is to be allotted to do so. The limiters to the Climate Action Plan are likely to stay the same over the next three years, as they have remained unchanged for the past three years.

Intercessory Public and Opinion Leaders

The publics for the plan are separated into students, faculty and staff of Auburn University.

Faculty has a direct line of administrative opinion leaders. The president and the board of trustees stand at the top of the administrative ladder. Each individual college has a dean, and each department within that college has a department head. This chain of command will allow for successful integration of the plan’s energy saving procedures and thus creating awareness of the plan within the faculty through a sense of beaurocratic duty.

Students have elected officials in the student government association that hold positions that represent and influence the student body en mass. Students involved in Greek organizations on campus also have a direct line of elected opinion leaders within each fraternity and sorority. Each fraternity or sorority in turn reports to a regulating body within the university. Fraternities report to the Interfraternity Council, and sororities report to the Pan-Hellenic Council or the National Pan-Hellenic Council. These organizations have administrative influence over each Greek organization on campus and could easily promote awareness of the plan among participating students. Because the central focus of the plan is to reduce energy usage, which has a direct effect on power and water bills each of these administrative agencies should be monetarily inclined to actively participate in the plan.

Students can also view their teachers as opinion leaders and may be influenced by observing their teachers participating in energy savings techniques.

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Situation Analysis

Basic PlanningAs the Office of Sustainability begins to work on the Auburn University Climate Action Plan, the prominent situation facing the committee is engaging the targeted publics. The current targeted publics include the faculty, staff and student body of Auburn University.

The Climate Action Plan was created after President Gogue committed Auburn University to the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. In this agreement, the president agrees to specific terms addressing Auburn University’s future carbon footprint. According to the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment,

Presidents signing the Commitment are pledging to eliminate their campuses’ net greenhouse gas emissions in a reasonable period of time as determined by each institution. This involves setting up a mechanism within two months to guide the process, completing an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions within one year from the subsequent of the three annual start dates: September 15, January 15 or May 15. Also, creating and implementing a climate action plan, which includes a target date and interim milestones for achieving campus climate neutrality within two years. Moreover, taking two of seven tangible steps specified in the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while the more comprehensive plan is develops. The university agrees to integrate sustainability into the curriculum and making it part of the educational experience. Finally, the action plan, inventory and periodic progress reports will be publicly available.

In accordance with the Climate Action Plan, the Office of Sustainability has established 10 working groups representing the campus community. The groups include energy, waste reduction and recycling, information technology, purchasing, transportation, buildings, grounds, food and dining, students and campus and community engagement. The initial purpose of the groups is to identify areas of need and later the groups are given the task of creating possible solutions to problem areas.

The importance and urgency of the Climate Action Plan was best stated on the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment website:

The re-stabilization of the earth’s climate is the defining challenge of the 21st century. The unprecedented scale and speed of global climate change and its potential for large-scale, adverse health, social, economic and ecological effects threatens the viability of civilization. The scientific consensus is that society must reduce the global emission of greenhouse gases by at least 80% by mid-century at the latest to avert the worst impacts of global climate change and to reestablish the more stable climatic conditions that have

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made human progress over the last 10,000 years possible. Without preventing the worst aspects of climate disruption, we cannot hope to deal with the other social, health and economic challenges that society is facing and will face in the future.

To stop systematically increasing the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, all of our institutions must collectively achieve climate neutrality. The current concentrations of greenhouse gases are already far above the upper bound of natural concentrations over the past 650,000 years. Many believe that we must aggressively pursue restorative solutions, where not only do we stop increasing the concentrations, but we start reducing the concentrations through tree planting, soil restoration and other means of sequestration. Many scientists believe that we are already seeing the impacts of climate disruption, and due to the time delay in the system, we are bound to see more in the coming decades because of concentrations already in the atmosphere. There is a compelling case for becoming climate positive as quickly as possible.

Extended Planning

Background on the Issue

The Office of Sustainability was created several years ago to guide Auburn University in decreasing their environmental impact and becoming leaders in a program to implement sustainable practices in Alabama and the Southeast. Now, they are charged with the implementation of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. This is a national program started by university presidents in 2006 and President Gogue committed as well in 2008. Though the Office of Sustainability is familiar with these issues, the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment will give them the chance to use this national initiative to raise more awareness on campus and in the community.

The on-set and growth of global climate change is an immediate problem of the twenty-first century. There is potential for large-scale, adverse, health, economic, social and ecological effects that can threaten resources for future generations. According to the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment the scientific consensus is that society must reduce the global emission of greenhouse gases by at least 80 percent by mid-century at the latest, in order to avert the worst impacts of global climate change and to reestablish the more stable climatic conditions that have made human progress over the last 10,000 years possible. The Climate Action Plan’s goal is to achieve climate neutrality, this mean reducing net greenhouse gas emission or eliminating them all together.

Though there is some dispute whether global climate change is occurring, research shows that most Americans are not concerned about global climate change and do not feel like it impacts them personally. Many believe that it is an issue affecting other countries or plants and animals. Despite attention from mass media and people having knowledge of how to help slow climate change, no individual action is being taken. Americans waver between believing global climate change is an issue and if human activities are the actual cause. Public opinion about global climate change and opinion leaders for global climate change, including scientist, is falling and people are starting to believe that it will not happen.

The Office of Sustainability is working with several different groups within the Climate Action Plan. There are 10 working groups that represent the university’s campus community. Each group will use their specialty to complete their part of the Climate Action Plan to complete one comprehensive plan to present to President Gogue.

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Consequences of the Situation

Auburn University’s president signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which specifically designates its mission as reducing the university’s carbon emissions by a specific future date. This goal signifies the university’s Climate Action Plan as an integral step in achieving this mission.

Although the Climate Action Plan does not directly relate to the mission statement of Auburn University, it is a goal of Auburn’s to lead the citizens of the state through challenges of the global economy such as global climate change.

The University will serve the citizens of the State through its instructional, research and outreach programs and prepare Alabamians to respond successfully to the challenges of a global economy. The University will provide traditional and non-traditional students broad access to the institution’s educational resources. –Auburn University’s mission statement

The effects of global climate change, although debatable, have speculative future long term repercussions such as mass flooding of coastal regions. Auburn University recognizes the significance of these potential dangers and joins other leading educators around the nation in working toward reducing carbon emissions.

Auburn University’s Climate Action Plan was created to not only reduce the present state of carbon emissions, but to change the waste habits of future students, faculty and staff members. To fully implement this goal, the plan has been given a 40 year time span. However, if successful, the plan will have an effect that will last through generations.

The Climate Action Plan is centered on the students, faculty and staff of the university. The plan will work to augment individual actions of the publics to make sustainable habits that will allow the university to operate in a carbon neutral fashion.

The idea of sustainable actions and the national trend of “going green” is a growing trend in popular culture. Although some embrace the idea of altering daily habits to benefit the environment, others discount the significance of the science supporting the issue. It is unknown whether the dissent on the political issue of global climate change will affect the desired outcome of the Climate Action Plan’s mission.

Inherently related to the reduction of carbon emissions is the reduction of energy use. The reduction in power and water consumption will have a direct effect on the utility bills of the university and its individual colleges. It is believed that reductions in utilities may provide space in the budgets of the individual colleges to support more infrastructures on campus such as jobs.

The climate situation at hand, and its derivative action plan, is a tremendous opportunity for Auburn University to lead other educational institutions to alter operations to carbon neutral. If successful, Auburn could lead the nation in sustainable operations.

Resolution of the Situation

The type of information and how it is distributed to the public is a very important component to the campaign. As discussed earlier, the issue of global climate change could be a problem when trying to create awareness of the Climate Action Plan. There is a political debate about the validity of global climate change which could cause some to not listen to our message. Considering this, the campaign will focus not on global climate change but will instead focus on individual actions to both help the environment and save money. Since this campaign is happening during a time of economic recession, our message is much more likely to be heard if it is focusing

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on saving the potential audience’s money rather than trying to take on the politics of global climate change.

The campaign will stress the mutual benefits of everyone involved. The Office of Sustainability holds the Climate Action Plan as a top priority. While they understand that there might be short-term challenges associated with this effort, they believe that there will be great short, medium and long-term economic, health, social and environmental benefits, including achieving neutrality for Auburn University as quickly as possible. By joining the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which Auburn University President Jay Gogue signed in fall 2008, he committed Auburn University to significantly reducing its carbon footprint. The first step, initiating the development of a comprehensive plan to achieve climate neutrality as soon as possible, has been taken. This shows the commitment of President Gogue. Because achieving the goal of neutrality for Auburn University will have to be a collective effort, our campaign will focus on bringing the students, faculty and staff to the same level of commitment shown by the Office of Sustainability and President Gogue.

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Research Summary  Purpose  

In order to plan a campaign for the Climate Action Plan, current attitudes and beliefs of the audience would need to be measured. Since this is a new initiative in colleges and universities across the country, there is little data to reference. These results let us know the facts and misconceptions among students and how to create one clear message. Information needs to be derived from the key publics that help reinforce, assure and clarify knowledge about energy conservation and global climate change. Design 

For the pre-survey, we chose to survey students. Since they account for the highest numbers, they have the highest probability of making a change in their behavior. Through two stages we were able to gather our information.

First, a pre-survey was done, asking general questions about global climate change and energy conservation, as well as basic conservative habits and demographic information. Questions in the survey ranged from the basic question of “do you recycle?” to more challenging questions such as, “global climate change and climate change are the same thing.” A mixture of Likert-type questions, ranking, and yes/no questions were used. Likert-type questions are used to measure the strength of attitudes, while the ranking questions are used to see how people make decisions and the yes/no are used to collect facts from the participants. This information shows what they know and don’t about global climate change.

The information from the pre-survey was used to make the final survey. More demographic questions were added to the survey before it was put online using Surveymonkey.com. This site allows users to make their survey and distribute it by Web link through e-mail. Surveymonkey.com also collects and analyzes the results received. By sending the survey through e-mail, this allowed for a wide variety of students, faculty and staff could be reached and diverse answers could be obtained. Questions were Likert-type, yes/no and ranking, to once again gauge attitudes, behaviors and awareness. Participants  

For the pre-survey, we questioned students in the campus library. The pre-survey was created on paper and passed out by hand, then returned. The pre-survey was compiled of students only, and from that a final survey was sent to students, faculty and staff in different departments on campus. This was beneficial because questions were able to be narrowed down before making the final survey. By sending the final survey throughout the different departments, a range of answers were able to be gathered from different people.  

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Procedure Pre-Survey 

For the pre-survey, the questions were basic and tested general knowledge about energy conservation and global climate change. These questions were derived from researching news articles and scientific journals that explain common misconceptions versus fact and current trends and behaviors. Then 40 random students were sampled from the campus library to get our results. The results were complied onto a excel spread sheet and then turned into graphs.

Final Survey 

After analyzing the information from the pre-survey, adjustments were made to create the final survey. The survey has 10 questions, five of which consisted of demographic questions, and the rest were Likert-type and yes/no questions. The surveys were made online and sent out in a mass e-mail to different departments on campus. The Web or e-mail survey is still a relatively new avenue to use. Since Auburn University’s official form of communication is e-mail, this presented the most advantageous way to collect responses. E-mail surveys have a higher response rate, “more than half of those responding will do so shortly after receiving the questionnaire,” (Bobbitt.) This way we would reach the diverse ends of our public. The online survey calculated the responses and then gave us the final results to be used in the campaign.

Results 

For a complete list of results and charts please see appendix C, D, E and F.

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Foot-in-the-Door Theory

For this campaign the Foot-in-the-Door theory was chosen. This theory states works by first convincing a participant to agree to one small step and then asking for subsequent smaller steps.

“The principle involved is that a small agreement creates a bond between the requester and the requestee. The other person has to justify their agreement to themselves. They cannot use the first request as something significant, so they have to convince themselves that it is because they are nice and like the requester or that they actually are interested in the item being requested. In a future request, they then feel obliged to act consistently with their internal explanation they have built.Freedman and Fraser (1966) asked people to either sign a petition or place a small card in a window in their home or car about keeping California beautiful or supporting safe driving. About two weeks later, the same people were asked by a second person to put a large sign advocating safe driving in their front yard. Many people who agreed to the first request now complied with the second, far more intrusive request,” (Foot In The Door (FITD).)

The campaign begins with a Foot-in-the-Door technique is used for some portions of the campaign by encouraging Auburn University students, faculty and staff to compete against rival University of Alabama with energy saving behavior. The Auburn University family is more likely to be open minded to the idea of changing a few sustainability habits for their good and the good of the university. Also, students will likely put in an extra effort during the AU vs. Bama Sustainability Event to capture a win over the University of Alabama.

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Effective CommunicationMessage SourceBasic Planning

For this campaign, there will be three people who will serve as spokespeople for the Climate Action Plan. President Jay Gogue, Miss Auburn University and Aubie will all serve different roles in relating our message to the public.

President Gogue is a very credible source. Since he is the president of Auburn University students, faculty and staff will be familiar with him as an authority figure. He has control over what will be implemented in the campaign and therefore will automatically become a proponent for what he signs into action.

Miss Auburn University, currently Lindsay Tosch, would be a credible spokesperson. The Miss Auburn University Scholarship Program is the strongest community-based scholarship competition of its kind in the state, lending it and the winner much credibility. The current Miss Auburn University has expressed interest in the Climate Action Plan and is willing to serve as a spokesperson.

Aubie, Auburn University’s costumed Tiger mascot, is in his 29th season as a spirit leader and goodwill ambassador for Auburn University. His charisma and prominent role in the Auburn University community makes Aubie a great spokesperson for the Climate Action Plan. Though he cannot speak, Aubie is photographed often and could wear t-shirts advocating the cause. He would also be a good addition to any event held.

Expanded Planning

Each of the chosen spokespeople has strengths in varying areas. President Gogue’s strongest quality lies with credibility, Aubie’s charisma is ever-present and Miss Auburn University possesses some control.

President Gogue personally signed the Climate Action Plan and would have the most knowledge about procedures and protocol. As the president of Auburn University, he is highly respected by his peers, faculty, staff, student body and the community. Being in the realm of academia for over 24 years, Gogue is not a novice in the art of convincing public speaking. His credentials alone command respect, but his speaking style also conveys enthusiasm of topics to others. Gogue has also offered full support of the Climate Action Plan and its impending progress.

As the beloved mascot of Auburn University, Aubie resonates with most of the community in some way. Aubie has been a staple at many campus and community events over the years, creating a favorable relationship with the nationally recognized mascot. His disposition is always great, creating an upbeat and exciting environment wherever he appears.

Miss Auburn University is the title held by one diligent and lucky woman each year from Auburn, AL. Lindsay Tosch is the recipient of the crown for 2010 and she is eager to help others during her time as Miss Auburn University. Although she may not be able to enforce punishment on those who chose not to comply with the Climate Action Plan, she is a prominent figure in the area and she is willing to use her status for the betterment of this project.

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Message AppealBasic Planning

We would like the key message of the Auburn University Climate Action Plan to be “Go Green. Save Green.” The topic of energy conservation has been historically linked with political views, so to by pass this possible problem we have decided to link energy conservation with money conservation. We are trying to reach Auburn University students, faculty and staff by showing them that they can save money by reducing their individual carbon waste. In today’s economy everyone can benefit from having more expendable funds. We anticipate that by linking the connection of “going green” with saving money that more of the Auburn family will be open to improving their daily waste habits.

This message uses a rational appeal by linking saving money, something a majority of individuals find appealing, to easy energy efficient tasks. We want to show students, faculty and staff that by doing simple acts of reducing energy waste, such as riding the Tiger Transit instead of driving to campus, they will save X amount of money. By keeping the difficulty of requests to a minimum, we feel members of the Auburn family will find it logical to take part in individual energy efficient tasks if it is going to save them money.

Expanded Planning

The predominant appeal of “Go Green. Save Green.” is rational. The message directly correlates making environmentally conscious decisions, “going green,” with a general want people have to save money. The declaratory combination of these two commands insinuates to the audience that going green has the effect of saving money.

The proposition places a monetary value on environmentally conscious decision making. The value is exemplified by the direct correlation of the paired statements. The repetition and simplicity of the message denotes a memorable cause and effect relationship conservative energy use has on expenses.

The analogy created by linking “Go Green.” to “Save Green.” plays on the audience’s self interest in saving money and suggests going “green” as causal behavior to achieving that interest. The visual and auditory presentation of the two words is also appealing to audiences because of the message’s auditory and semantic symmetry.

Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

Message Structure

When formulating our message, we presented two of the most common opposing view points our target public has toward global climate change. These view points, found through our research, are that global climate change is not an immediate threat and that ‘going green’ is financially difficult. The message first presents the opposing view that global climate change is not an immediate threat then progresses into why it is a immediate threat and the importance of awareness. The argument concludes with the overall benefits and the individual benefits respectively. When talking about the individual benefits we addressed long-run finical benefits of becoming more energy conscious and emphasize how easy it is to become more energy conscious. Though this started the message with serious information, it ends with a message that has personal interest and value.

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Language and Word Usage

The message is formulated to deliver a clear, concise and consistent message to increase clarity. Our audience is a mix of higher education students and educators and staff at Auburn University. Though variations in education level between students, faculty and staff exist, the message will have a Fog Index between nine and ten. This is a slightly higher index than recommended because global climate change is a scientific topic with many of it messages made for an educated audience or peers in the world of science. The higher index should not interfere with the clarity since the audience is a university community. The message can’t be too simple that educated persons dismiss it as inferior or to difficult that people are unable to understand it and ignore it.

To have a memorable impact with our audiences, we used the slogan “Go Green. Save Green.” This slogan is included in all verbal and nonverbal messages. All of the language used truthfully represents the situation and what we wish to accomplish with the program. Since the subject of global climate change has developed conflicting messages over the years, the best way to correct these errors is to present a clear message with honest, factual language.

Nonverbal Communication

The Climate Action Plan has a logo, but it is not very visible. We plan to use this logo with the “Go Green. Save Green.” slogan so people will associate the campaign with the Climate Action Plan initiative. President Gogue signed the Climate Action Plan initiative along with more than 600 other colleges and universities. This is a symbolic message because it shows that this movement is supported by President Gogue and peer institutions. A symbolic color used is green; green represents earth and new life as well as money. Within the context of this campaign, this will help people associate saving the earth with saving money. Another symbolic message used within the tactics is a poster with an allusion to WWII propaganda, “If you ride alone you ride with Hitler.” This was used to encourage people to carpool when resources were low during the depression. For the purpose of this campaign we would not use it for propaganda, but use the symbol of patriotism and loyalty to apply to Auburn University. The poster would instead say “If you ride alone you ride with Saban” to make it current and relevant to the Auburn University community.

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Goals and Objectives

Basic PlanningThe goal of the Climate Action Plan is to reduce carbon emissions with an ultimate long-term goal of carbon neutrality at Auburn University through individual actions. The campaign will help accomplish this by creating awareness of the Climate Action Plan among students, faculty and staff.

The specific objectives include elements of awareness, acceptance and action in each one. The objective for students is to create awareness of the Climate Action Plan with the effect of reducing carbon emissions through altering energy use in residential habits and actions. The objective for faculty is to create awareness of the Climate Action Plan with the effect of reducing carbon emissions through altering energy use habits and actions in classrooms and offices. Lastly, the objective for the staff of Auburn University is to create awareness of the Climate Action Plan with the effect of reducing carbon emissions through altering energy use habits and actions in classrooms and offices. All three objectives involve creating awareness, acceptance and action.

A time period is not included because this is a long-term project that does not have a specific end date.

Expanded PlanningGoals

Auburn University’s Climate Action Plan is a campus-wide initiative for students, faculty and staff to significantly reduce their carbon emissions over the next 40 years. The main reputation goal of the Climate Action Plan is to have Auburn University be one of the first institutions to fully implement a plan of this kind. In doing so, another goal is to have other universities use the plan as a stepping stone in their own objective of reducing emissions.

To be able to achieve these goals, the final plan must be first approved and given a budget by President Gogue. After this goal is complete, finding ways to get the student body, faculty and staff to accept the necessary changes to reduce emissions must take place. This is another task goal of the Climate Action Plan. The ultimate task goal is to get these groups of Auburn individuals to incorporate reducing energy waste into their daily habits.

The reputation and task goals work together to help the Climate Action Plan reach its ultimate goal of one day reducing carbon emissions on campus to zero. The goal that takes the highest priority is that of getting the Auburn family involved and dedicated to the plan’s mission. Without participation from this group, the Climate Action Plan will be nothing but an abundance of ideas.

One of the allies of the Climate Action Plan is the abundance of resources associated with it. The plan has been given the duration of 40 years to be fully implemented and tested. This is an ample amount of time to find out whether the efforts being made are making a substantial impact, as well as if students, faculty and employees are making habits that are helping to reduce carbon emissions. Auburn University has approximately 24,000 students a year, add faculty and employees, and the Climate Action Plan has a vast amount of human resources. The financial resources given to the plan are yet to be decided by President Gogue.

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The Climate Action Plan and the committees supporting it are exceedingly determined to reach these goals in order to reach the ultimate goal of zero carbon emissions.

Position

As the Office of Sustainability begins to enact the Climate Action Plan, the targeted key publics include the faculty, staff and student body of Auburn University. The Climate Action Plan was created after President Gogue committed Auburn University to the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. In this agreement, the president agrees to specific terms addressing Auburn University’s future carbon footprint. Terms in the agreement include completing an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, creating and implementing a climate plan and eventually eliminating Auburn University’s net greenhouse emissions.

As the Office of Sustainability begins to engage the public in the Climate Action Plan, the public must understand the stance of the client. According to the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, climate neutrality is defined as having no net greenhouse gas emissions. This is to be achieved by eliminating net green house gas emissions or by minimizing green house gas emissions as much as possible and using carbon offsets or other measures to mitigate the remaining emissions.

The client aspires for the selected publics to view the Climate Action Plan as a positive move and become engaged in the progress of the program. The position the client wishes to take is that of sustainability being a benefit. It is a benefit to the three publics being targeted because it will save them money in the short-term and save the environment in the long-term, which is what we will focus our strategies and the subsequent tactics on. This position is appropriate for the goals and objectives of the client. The client also seeks to inform the aforementioned publics about the plan and other sustainability efforts, create awareness about the current environmental states and evoke a response of action within the Auburn University community.

Moreover, the client would like the publics to understand the mission of the Office of Sustainability, which states:

In keeping with the university’s land-grant tradition, the Sustainability Office provides tools and resources to help people learn to work and live sustainably: to reduce their impact on the environment while enjoying a full lifestyle. Instruction, in the broadest sense, is the first mission of the office. Through curriculum development, and a minor in sustainability studies, the office will foster formal classroom instruction in sustainability. Through workshops, symposia and guest speakers we will enable the entire community to educate itself in the wide range of issues related to sustainability. And through our campus-as-laboratory work to create a sustainable campus, we plan to motivate students, faculty, staff and campus visitors by example.

Our second mission is to assume a lead role in creating a sustainably-functioning campus. Through the promotion of energy-efficient design, alternative modes of transportation, recycling and waste minimization, green purchasing and other programs, we will create a model of sustainability for the campus, community and region.

Through regular workshops, symposia and informal gatherings, the office acts as a facilitator for multi-disciplinary research across campus and inspiration for incorporating sustainability into all aspects of the activities of the university community. More broadly, the office will serve as a regional center for information on sustainability by offering information, referrals and workshops. The office collaborates with other units on campus, with extension activities and with city-and state-wide programs. In particular, our Website will be a resource for campus and

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regional use.

Our inter-disciplinary focus is regional, national and global. The office strives to emphasize the triple bottom line of sustainability-to-benefit people, to enable profits to be realized from doing so and to preserve the planet as a hospitable place for both people and profit.

In essence, to educate about sustainability, to promote sustainable practices both on and off campus and to provide resources and support for people who wish to incorporate sustainable practices into their work and life.

Two forms of competition that may arise in the future are environmental activists and those who oppose the work of the environmentally aware. The position of the activists is to help reduce carbon footprints, but the position of those who disagree with environmental work is to create dissonance in the work of others.

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Objectives

The objectives of the campaign are as follows:

1. To create awareness of the Climate Action Plan among students with the effect of reducing carbon emissions through altering energy use in residential habits and actions.

2. To create awareness of the Climate Action Plan among faculty with the effect of reducing carbon emissions through altering energy use habits and actions in classrooms and offices.

3. To create awareness of the Climate Action Plan among staff with the effect of reducing carbon emissions through altering energy use habits and actions in building maintenance.

When looking at the overall objectives, each has elements of awareness, acceptance and action. The three objectives spilt up into their awareness, acceptance and action components are as follows:

Awareness objectives:

Students: To create awareness about the Climate Action Plan among students. To increase awareness about specific individual actions that can effectively reduce energy consumption.

Faculty: To create awareness about the Climate Action Plan among faculty. To increase awareness about specific individual actions that can effectively reduce carbon emissions of the university.

Staff: To create awareness about the Climate Action Plan among staff. To increase awareness about specific individual actions that can effectively reduce carbon emissions of the university.

These objectives are tightly linked to the Climate Action Plans mission to reduce carbon emissions. Because the Climate Action Plan is new, these objectives are proactively responding to lack of awareness and integrating viable behavior recommendations to further facilitate the Climate Action Plan’s mission.

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Acceptance objectives:

Students: To increase acceptance of the benefits of conserving energy in residential life.

This objective is responsive to the potential resistance to attitude change in the student public by aiming to portray the benefits of individual energy conserving actions. This objective will be challenging due to people’s resistance to change and any potential political deference to the benefits of energy conservation.

Faculty: To increase acceptance of the benefits of conserving energy in university facilities.

This objective is directly linked to the Climate Action Plan’s mission to reduce carbon emissions on campus.This objective is responsive to any deference to the practice of conserving energy by creating acceptance of benefits conserving energy in faculty as reinforcement to belief and action.

Staff: To increase acceptance of the benefits energy saving individual actions can have on the reducing the university’s carbon emissions.

This objective is directly linked to the Climate Action Plan’s mission to reduce carbon emissions on campus and is responsive to the goal of encouraging individual action because if staff accepts the benefits their individual actions can have then they are more likely to engage in those actions.

Action Objectives:

Students: To encourage students to practice energy conserving habits.

Faculty: To encourage faculty to practice energy conserving habits.

Staff: To encourage staff to practice energy conserving habits.

These objectives are directly linked to the Climate Action Plan’s goal to decrease carbon emissions at Auburn University through individual actions. This objective directly focuses on creating target behavior change in students with the effect of reducing energy use and ultimately reducing carbon emissions. Each objective directly focuses on a specific public.

In conclusion, the campaign’s three objectives contain elements of awareness, action and acceptance. These objectives will be used to design a strategy and subsequent tactics to reach the campaign’s goal.

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Tactics

Objective 1: To create awareness of the Climate Action Plan among students with the effect of reducing carbon emissions by encouraging conservative energy use in residential habits and actions.

Strategy: Educate students about the financial benefits that can result from specific individual actions of energy conservation.

Rationale: Changing behavior to conserve energy use may be viewed as more of a cost to an individual in the short term than a benefit to society. This is why we aim to portray the immediate costs of current energy use habits, and educate students on ways specific alternative behavior can save money. We feel targeting student’s finances is the most compelling way to get them involved in reducing energy use.

Tactics:

1. Develop the “Go Green. Save Green.” Theme: We created a theme that linked conservative energy use with saving money – something that is very important to college students. We worked this underlying theme into all tactics.

2. Tiger Transit Promotion Poster: A poster reminiscent of a WWII propaganda that warns students, “If you ride alone you ride with SABAN! Save some gas money and ride the Auburn University Tiger Transit.” This poster will appear in a multitude of places including the side of the Tiger Transit and in C - Zone lots.

3. News Release: We will send a news release to all campus media including The Plainsman, Eagle Eye and WEGL 91.1. It will explain the Climate Action Plan further. A subsequent news release will be sent out giving students tips on how to be more energy conscious.

4. “Go Green. Save Green.” Brochure: This will be distributed to students and include tips on how being more energy conscious can save them money.

5. CAP Facebook Fan Page: A fan page will be made for the Auburn Climate Action Plan that will explain more about what it entails and will provide tips on how to go green and save green.

6. “Lights Out!” Vinyl Sticker for Light Switch: Every Auburn University classroom’s light switch will have a “Go Green. Save Green.” vinyl sticker reminding people to turn off the lights when they leave the room.

7. AU vs. Bama Sustainability Event: Auburn University will challenge Alabama (or if they are unavailable then possibly Georgia) to a sustainability competition. The winner will be decided by which university has the largest decrease in energy usage on campus. It will last for three months.

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Objective 2: To create awareness of the Climate Action Plan among faculty with the effect of reducing carbon emissions through altering energy use habits and actions in classrooms and offices.

Strategy: Encourage department leaders in each college to promote energy saving practices among faculty.

Rationale: “The Psychology of Climate Change Communication,” produced by the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions, suggests that focusing on multiple identities and creating a sense of affiliation among audiences is the most effective way to cause people to engage in climate mitigating activities. The extensive amount of bureaucracy in the hierarchy of the academic departments on campus can be used as an advantage if energy practices are recommended from the top down. This way the majority of faculty at the lower level of the hierarchy of leadership will be encouraged to practice conservative energy habits in a universal fashion among their colleagues. If we can create a sense of affiliation with energy conservation in the faculty’s individual identities as teachers they will be more likely to willingly engage these practices.

Tactics:

1. News Release to AU Daily: A news release giving details about the Auburn Climate Action Plan will be sent to AU Daily to be distributed to all faculty members.

2. Fact Sheet for professors: A fact sheet providing tips on how to be more energy efficient in classrooms and offices will be given to all faculty members. It will also provide tips to be presented to students by their professor.

3. “Lights Out!” Vinyl Sticker for Light Switch: Every Auburn University classroom’s light switch will have a “Go Green. Save Green.” vinyl sticker reminding people to turn off the lights when they leave the room.

4. AU vs. Bama Sustainability Event: Auburn University will challenge Alabama (or if they are too afraid then possibly Georgia) to a sustainability competition. The winner will be decided by which university has the largest decrease in energy usage on campus. It will last for 3 months.

Objective 3: To create awareness of the Climate Action Plan among staff with the effect of reducing carbon emissions through altering energy use habits and actions in building maintenance.

Strategy 1: Motivate staff to routinely incorporate energy saving actions into building maintenance.

Rationale: Staff associated with building maintenance will often be the last people in buildings on campus at the end of the day, which makes them a key public to reach about conserving energy use. If we

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can incorporate energy saving actions into the staff’s daily routine, then they will be more likely to exercise energy saving actions in the long term out of habit and obligation to their duty and function within the university.

Strategy 2: Inform staff on a regular basis about energy use in individual buildings.

Rationale: Research shows people are more likely to engage in energy saving activities when they are presented with statistics on their actual energy use. By showing staff the rates of energy consumption associated with their individual locations they will be able to observe the positive effects of conservative actions and any fluctuations of energy use in the building.

Tactics:

1. Bulletin Board in Staff Break-rooms: A bulletin board will be posted in all staff break-rooms across campus where tips on how to be more energy efficient while on the job. Also energy use print-offs will be posted on the board to show how much energy is wasted.

2. Campus-wide Staff Competition: Auburn buildings’ staff members will compete against each other to see which building can produce the least amount of energy waste in a 2-3 month period. The winner will have a fully catered lunch provide for the building.

3. “Lights Out!” Vinyl Sticker for Light Switch: Every Auburn University classroom’s light switch will have a “Go Green. Save Green.” vinyl sticker reminding people to turn off the lights when they leave the room.

4. AU vs. Bama Sustainability Event: Auburn University will challenge Alabama (or if they are unavailable then possibly Georgia) to a sustainability competition. The winner will be decided by which university has the largest decrease in energy usage on campus. It will last for three months.

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Limitations

There are some limitations encountered in the creation of this campaign and limitations that may arise during its implementation. The first limitation is budget. Auburn University’s budget is limited, so competition arises over which groups and programs receive funds. To address this, we included tactics that were low in cost or in some cases, such as the Facebook fan page, free. Also, implementation may need resources the group does not have, so we suggest hiring 5-6 interns. This will save time and money.

Another consideration is the politics that are associated with sustainability efforts. Our tactics do not mention anything political so as not to anger or offend anyone. Instead, our tactics focus on individual actions and how they can benefit the target publics.

One regulator is the president of the university. If he leaves his position before the plan is approved then there is no guarantee that the next president will continue the initiative. Finally, there is the board of trustees. The plan needs to be approved by them before finally being enacted.

During the preparation campaign, a limitation was reaching the staff of Auburn University. Having had problems getting the surveys to them and them getting them back to us, there is a possible communication limitation. This was taken into consideration when designing the tactics for this public. The campaign includes putting message boards in staff break rooms, which we found would be the best way to reach them.

The Office of Sustainability does not have a strong reputation on the campus; some people are unaware that a sustainability effort is occurring. Their service is not widely visible because they are still in the planning phase. Over the last three years, the reputation has improved, but there is room for more improvement. The leaders of the organization would like a way to improve this reputation by raising awareness and changing behaviors.

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Tactics Evaluations

Objective 1: To create awareness of the Climate Action Plan among students with the effect of reducing carbon emissions by encouraging conservative energy use in residential habits and actions.

Tactic

Develop the “Go Green. Save Green.” Theme: We created a theme that linked conservative energy use with saving money—something that is very important to college students. We worked this underlying theme into all tactics.

Evaluation

Because the “Go Green. Save Green.” theme is incorporated in all the tactics, the effectiveness of the theme will be evaluated by the overall awareness and acceptance of the campaign.

Tactic

Tiger Transit Promotion Poster: A poster reminiscent of a WWII propaganda that warns students, “If you ride alone you ride with SABAN! Save some gas money and ride the Auburn University Tiger Transit.” This poster will appear in a multitude of places including the side of the Tiger Transit and in C - Zone lots.

Evaluation

There will be five signs on the Tiger Transit busses for two months during the Auburn versus Bama sustainability event. In addition to the transit signs, 25 posters will be put in C-zone parking lot to encourage people to ride the transit. To measure the effectiveness of the signs, the number of riders can be measured before, during and after the two months period.

Tactic

News Release: We will send a news release to all campus media including The Plainsman, Eagle Eye and WEGL 91.1. It will explain the Climate Action Plan further. A subsequent news release will be sent out giving students tips on how to be more energy conscious.

Evaluation

To measure the effectiveness, the number of news releases initially sent can be counted and compared to the number of publications t print them. This can be measured through media clippings and environmental scanning. The number of media impressions can be measured by counting the circulation of each publication.

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Tactic“Go Green. Save Green.” Brochure: This will be distributed to students and include tips on how being more energy conscious can save them money.

EvaluationWe recommend making 10,000 brochures, half of which are to be distributed on the concourse to all passing by students. The other half will be available in buildings around campus such as the new student center and Haley. The brochure will include tips on how students can save money by being more energy efficient. The acceptance of the brochure can be measured by how many brochures are effectively distributed.

Tactic

CAP Facebook Fan Page: A fan page will be made for the Auburn Climate Action Plan that will explain more about what it entails and will provide tips on how to go green and save green.

Evaluation

A Facebook Fan Page will be made in order to be able to provide students with daily tips as well as forming intimate relationships with the Auburn Family. The number of fans the page generates can measure the acceptance of this tactic. Facebook provides a weekly update of fan count, page views and wall posts via e-mail to the page’s administrators.

Tactic

“Lights Out!” vinyl sticker for light switch: Every Auburn University classroom’s light switch will have a “Go Green. Save Green.” vinyl sticker reminding people to turn off the lights when they leave the room.

Evaluation

We recommend creating 1,000 4X4 stickers for two switch plates and 1,000 2X4 for one-switch plates to be put in all rooms around campus without automatic motion sensors, except for personal offices and closets. A way to measure acceptance is to keep track of monthly power bills after the stickers have been distributed.

Tactic

AU vs. Bama Sustainability Event: Auburn University will challenge Alabama (or if they are unavailable then possibly Georgia) to a sustainability competition. The winner will be decided by which university has the largest decrease in energy usage on campus. It will last for three months.

Evaluation

In order to get students enthusiastic and driven about saving energy, we recommend a sustainability event against Auburn University’s biggest rival, Alabama. For the event, carbon emissions will be measured and compared between schools. The effectiveness will be measured by the raw data collected during the competition. Continued energy saving practices by students, faculty and staff will be an effective way to judge behavior change after the competition’s completion.

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Objective 2: To create awareness of the Climate Action Plan among faculty with the effect of reducing carbon emissions through altering energy use habits and actions in classrooms and offices.

Tactic

News Release to AU Daily: A news release giving details about the Auburn Climate Action Plan will be sent to AU Daily to be distributed to all faculty members.

Evaluation

The news release to AU Daily will focus on energy tips for faculty’s personal use as well as to share with their students. The acceptance can be measured by how many faculty members receive the AU Daily e-mail. Students will also have access to this news release on their AU Access.

Tactic

Fact Sheet for professors: A fact sheet providing tips on how to be more energy efficient in classrooms and offices will be given to all faculty members. It will also provide tips to be presented to students by their professor.

Evaluation

A fact sheet is an easy and time-efficient way for faculty and students to get daily energy saving tips. The awareness of this tactic may be measured by how many faculty members and students receive the fact sheet.

Objective 3: To create awareness of the Climate Action Plan among staff with the effect of reducing carbon emissions through altering energy use habits and actions in building maintenance.

Tactic

Bulletin Board in Staff Break-rooms: A bulletin board will be posted in all staff break-rooms across campus where tips on how to be more energy efficient while on the job. Also energy use print-offs will be posted on the board to show how much energy is wasted.

Evaluation

Staff members will be provided with daily energy saving tips and read-outs of current energy use in each individual building via a bulletin board in all staff break rooms. The number of bulletin boards updated on a regular basis can measure the awareness. The acceptance can be measured by a focus group or a survey asking staff members about how they took the information on the bulletin board into account while on campus.

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Tactic

Campus-Wide Staff Competition: Auburn University buildings’ staff members will compete against each other to see which building can produce the least amount of energy waste in a 2-3 month period. The winner will have a fully catered lunch provided for the building.

Evaluation

In order to get staff members enthusiastic and driven about saving energy, we recommend a campus-wide competition among the different building’s staff members. Evaluation of this competition can be measured by comparing the buildings energy use before and after the 2-3 months period. The behavior change can be measured by monitoring energy use in the months following the completion of the competition.

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Bibliography

Bobbitt, R, & Sullivan, R. (2009). Developing The Public Relations Campaign. Pearson Education Inc..

“Climate and Energy Truths: Our Common Future.” ecoAmerica. ecoAmerica, April 2009. Web. 13 Apr 2010. <http://ecoamerica.net/sites/default/files/press/ecoAm_Climate_Energy_Truths.pdf>.

“Developing and Assessing the Impact of a Socio-Technological Resource-Use Feedback System for Improving the Environmental Performance of Buildings and Institutions.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Oberlin College, 31 Aug. 2006. Web. 14 Apr 2010. <http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/display.abstractDetail/abstract/7816/report/0>.

“Foot In The Door (FITD).” ChangingMinds.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr 2010. <http:/changingminds.org/techniques/general/sequential/fitd.htm>.

Shome, Debika, and Sabine Marx. “The Psychology of Climate Change Communication.” Center for Research on Environmental Decisions. Columbia University, Oct. 2009. Web. 13 Apr 2010. <http://cred.columbia.edu/guide/>.

The College Sustainability Report Card. (n.d.). Retrieved from <http://www.greenreportcard.org/report-card-2009/schools/auburn-university>.

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Conclusion

The Presidents’ Climate Action Plan is a commitment to integrating sustainable practices into daily life on Auburn University’s campus with the overall goal of achieving carbon neutrality in 50 years. Our campaigns function within that goal is to encourage beneficial individual actions among students, faculty and staff to help the plan meet its goal.

Our tactics encourage conservative energy use through competition, education and personal benefit. Our overall theme, “Go Green. Save Green,” creates parity between the individual actions we suggest and the self-benefiting result of saving money. Research done by ecoAmerica in “Climate and Energy Truths: Our Common Future,” suggests that messages tied to self-sufficiency are strong motivators for people and are effective in communicating environmental objectives.

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Contact Information

Catlin DeForest Alyssa Ramos-Herrera cnd0002@auburn.edu ramosaa@auburn.edu (256) 899-3439 (256) 698-1978 Terri Knight’s contact

Stephen Kelly Kristin Keller kellyst@auburn.edu kellekl@auburn.edu (205) 541-3077 (251) 533-7620 Matt William’s (Client) contact

Melinda Bowens bowenmk@auburn.edu (344) 201-2035

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BudgetTactic Vendor Price Projected Number Total Cost

Tiger Transit Promotion Poster

C Zone Poster 18’ x 24’ McQuick Full Color 25 $375

Trasit Banner

Auburn University OCM

$250/Sign $50/Add’l Month per Sign

5 Signs for 2 Months $1,425

Brochure Tri-Fold Brochure 8’ x

11’ McQuick Full Color 10,000 $750

Light Switch Sticker 4’ x 4’ Static Cling

Labels McQuick Full Color 1,000 $536 2’ x 4’ Static Cling

Labels McQuick Full Color 1,000 $445

Facebook Page

Creation Facebook $0 N/A $0

Maintenance Facebook $0 N/A $0

AU v. Bama Event

Event Supplies $300 $300

Poster/Flyer 8’ x 11’ McQuickUncoated Full Color 450 $270

Office Supplies $500.00 $500.00

Estimated Total Cost: $4,601.00

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44

Pre-Survey

Please answer the following questions truthfully, choose the response that best represents your feelings. Circle the answers, unless otherwise specified at the end of the question.

Sex: Male Female

1.) Rank these aspects of sustainability that interests you most: (1-4: 1=most interesting 4= least)

___ Economic savings

___ Environmental issues

___ Health issues

___ Social justice

2.) I know at least a few actions I can take to be more conservative with energy use.

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree

3.) I use these actions to become more conservative with energy use:

Always Sometimes Never

4.) Do you recycle?

Yes No

5.) If YES how often do you recycle?

Always Sometimes Never

6.) I know there is a movement to become more sustainable at Auburn University.

Yes No

7.) It is easy to become more sustainable/energy efficient.

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree

8.) Becoming more sustainable/energy efficient can save me money.

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree

45

9.) I receive information about Global climate change from: (circle all that apply)

News sources

Scientist

Peers

Professors

None of the above

10.) I Believe Global climate change is an immediate threat.

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree

11.) The science of global climate change is too uncertain to believe.

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree

12.) Global climate change and Climate Change is the same thing.

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree

13.) Global climate change will stop if the Hole in the O-zone layer is fixed.

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree

14.) I believe Global climate change is less of a problem then activists, such as Al Gore, make it out to be.

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree

15.) I want to become more sustainable/energy efficient, but am finically unable to.

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree

16.) I Consider myself to be: (circle one)

Liberal

Moderate

Conservative

Other

46

Pre-Survey

47

SurveyPlease answer the following questions truthfully, choose the response that best represents your feelings. Circle the answers, unless otherwise specified at the end of the question.

1.) Please indicate your affiliation with Auburn University

___ Student

___ Faculty

___ Staff

2.) I know there is a movement to become more sustainable at Auburn University.

Yes No

3.) I know at least a few actions I can take to be more conservative with energy use.

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree

4.) Becoming more sustainable/energy efficient can save me money.

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree

5.) It is easy to become more sustainable/energy efficient.

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree

6.) The science of global climate change is too uncertain to believe.

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree

7.) Rank these aspects of sustainability that interests you most: (1-4: 1=most interesting 4= least)

___ Economic savings

___ Environmental issues

___ Health issues

___ Social justice

48

8.) I Consider myself to be: (circle one)

Liberal

Moderate

Conservative

Other

9.) Gender:

___ Male

___ Female

___ Other

10.) Ethnicity Age

___ White/Caucasian ___ 17-23

___ African Amercan ___ 24-30

___ Hispanic/Latino ___ 30-40

___ Asian/Pacific Islander ___ 40-50

___ Native American ___ 50-60

___ Othere ___ 60+

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Survey Results

50

51

\

Rank these aspects of sustainability that interests you most:

(1-4: 1=most interesting, 4=least interesting)

1 2 3 4 Rating Avg.

Economic Savings 37.80% 16.20% 13.50% 32.40% 2.41

Environmental Issues 47.40% 23.70% 18.40% 10.50% 1.92

Health Issues 20.90% 39.50% 18.60% 20.90% 2.40

Social Justice 5% 22.50% 47.50% 25% 2.93

52

Auburn UniversityOffice of Sustainability

200 Langdon AnnexAuburn UniversityAuburn, AL 36849

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACTMarch 11, 2010 Matt Williams

Office of Sustainability 334-644-777

Miwilliams@auburn.edu

President Signs Initiative to Reduce Green House Gas Emissions at Auburn

Auburn, Ala. – In fall 2008 President Jay Gogue signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. The Office of Sustainability has been charged with developing the Climate Action Plan for Auburn University.

The American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment is an effort to address global climate disruption by using a network of colleges and universities that have made commitments to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from certain campus operations and to promote research and educational efforts to help society to re-stabilize the earth’s climate.

“The push for President Gogue to sign the ACUPCC came from students on campus who really wanted to see the best future for Auburn. With the Climate Action Planning process on campus we’ve seen so much interest, creativity, and willingness to work from Auburn students, staff, faculty, and administration. The Office of Sustainability has been really proud to be part of the process by helping to coordinate all these members of the Auburn community as they put together their vision for Auburn as a leader in dealing with climate change,” said Matt Williams, program manager of the Office of Sustainability.

Its mission is to achieve climate neutrality (zero emissions) and sustainability by using higher education to educate students, create solutions and provide leadership-by-example for the rest of society.

By joining this national project, President Gogue committed Auburn University to significantly reducing its carbon footprint along with more than 600 other colleges and universities. The campus community will decide how to do it and what a reasonable target goal and date will be for Auburn. The Climate Action Plan is a campus-wide, inclusive process made of 10 working groups from the different colleges at the university. Each group has 10 to 15 members with a chair who will serve on the Climate Action Plan task force and will summarize the working group recommendations in a final report to President Gogue and the board of trustees.For more information about the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment and the Climate Action Plan visit www.auburn.edu/sustainability.

###

53

FACT SHEETOffice of Sustainability 200 Langdon AnnexAuburn UniversityAuburn, AL 36849For Immediate Release

Be Sustainable In and Out of the Classroom

In correlation with the Climate Action Plan, we are urging faculty at Auburn University to become more sustainable in and out of the classroom. We also encourage you to teach your students to do the same. Below is a list of ways to be more energy efficient in the classroom and office.

Set Computers to Sleep and Hibernate:• Enable the “sleep mode” feature on your computer, allowing it to use less power during periods of

inactivity. In Windows, the power management settings are found on your Control Panel. Mac users, look for energy saving settings under System Preferences in the Apple menu.

• Configure your computer to “hibernate” automatically after 30 minutes or so of inactivity. The “hibernate mode” turns the computer off in a way that doesn’t require you to reload everything when you switch it back on. Allowing your computer to hibernate saves energy and is more time-efficient than shutting down and restarting your computer from scratch. When you’re done for the day, shut down.

Turn Out the Lights:• Don’t forget to flick the switch when you leave a room.

• Remember this at the office, too. Turn out or dim the lights in unused conference rooms, and when you step out for lunch. Work by daylight when possible. A typical commercial building uses more energy for lighting than anything else.

Printing:

• Turn on printer when you are ready to print documents and turn it off when you are done.

• Network/share printers where possible.

• Print on recycled-content paper.

• Use double-sided printing functions.

• E-mail communications as an alternative to paper memos and fax documents.

Please encourage your fellow co-workers and students to be more energy efficient in and out of the classroom. With everyone’s increased participation, we can reduce costs at Auburn University and at home, while at the same time, conserving our valuable natural resources.

For more information: Contact the Office of Sustainability at (334) 844-7777 or via e-mail at sustain@auburn.edu.

###

Contact the Office of Sustainability: Office: (334)844-7777

E-mail: sustain@auburn.edu

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