Awareness and education will be key in helping Buckeyes reduce OSU’s negative environmental impact during No Impact Week, which begins Monday.

The purpose of the week is to inform students about how they can help reduce the university’s negative effect on the environment, said Brett Mayo, director of Energy Management and Sustainability in the Office of Student Life.

A variety of green initiatives are already in place on campus and have been increasing since Scarlet, Gray and Green, OSU’s sustainability initiative, began in 2008.

The Campus Area Bus Service uses bio-diesel fuel and there are energy-saving showerheads and increased energy efficiency in the residence halls, according to the Scarlet, Gray and Green website.

OSU is installing geothermal wells on South Campus and keeping sustainability in mind as it begins South Campus renovations. There is also a farmers’ market in the Wexner Center Plaza on Thursday evenings until Oct. 28 to encourage students to buy locally.

Mayo and others in his department are working to get recycling bins in every dorm on campus. Furthering the campus recycling system has increased last year’s recycling numbers 138 percent from previous years, Mayo said.

During No Impact Week, students can sign up for events that range from getting a backstage look at how food is made in the Ohio Union to touring the Rumpke recycling plant. Students can also attend information sessions about environmental friendliness on campus.

The idea for No Impact Week began when the Buckeye Book Community, a book club all first-year students must participate in, chose “No Impact Man” by Colin Beavan.

Buckeye Book Community selects books to start discussions about important issues.

Beavan’s book is about his commitment to eliminate his, his wife’s and his daughter’s impact on the environment in 2007 for an entire year.

He accomplished his year in stages: local eating (within 250 miles), no fossil-fueled transportation, turning off the electricity, and the giving-back phase, during which he volunteered to plant trees or pick up trash.

While Beavan was on campus last week lecturing to freshmen who read his book, he encouraged students to show him that they care about the world.

“Give me one true word of love for this world,” Beavan said. “If all you can do is bicker over who’s running it, then … our planet will be killed.”

Drawing from Beavan’s experiences, each day of No Impact Week will have a different focus. Monday is trash, Tuesday is transportation, Wednesday is food, Thursday is energy, Friday is water, Saturday is giving back and Sunday is the Eco-Sabbath. Each day will incorporate activities and information related to the area of focus.

Joseph Laverty, a first-year in economics, said he signed up for No Impact Week to see what he could accomplish.

“If you get 50 people to do a little thing, that amounts to a big thing,” Laverty said. “You make a bigger impact than you think.”

Mayo said the university is lucky to have support from President E. Gordon Gee.

“It’s really unprecedented, the amount of work that’s being put in from the top,” Mayo said.

Gee said he understands that it takes time and collaboration to move forward OSU’s sustainability initiatives.

“It takes a long time to get yourself in a good place,” Gee said to The Lantern staff Wednesday.

Students were primed for No Impact Week on Friday with the Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair. Environmentally friendly organizations and companies from around Columbus set up booths on the South Oval to educate students about how they could be green now and in the future.

Students can sign up for No Impact Week activities at fye.osu.edu/no-impact-week.html.