ANDREW SHORTALL | staff writer
Azusa Pacific University recently approved an environmental initiative that aims at cutting back on utilities and luxuries on campus in hope of sustaining the lives of others abroad.
The Scraps initiative was approved by APU on Friday, Feb. 13 after being introduced at the president’s board meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
From March 1 to April 10 APU students and faculty are encouraged to conserve their utilities as much as possible, using only what is necessary. The money saved will be donated to Life Water International, an organization dedicated to constructing freshwater wells overseas.
“The concept of Scraps is to take whatever APU has budgeted out for one month of utilities and motivate the entire student body, faculty and staff to conserve,” junior English major Daniel Baker said. “However far we come underneath that, we take the difference and use it to build freshwater wells overseas.”
Baker envisioned Scraps and brought it here to APU.
“It has been an idea of mine for a while, but I did not really tell anyone or do anything about it until a week before we got into school this semester,” Baker said.
The whole idea started with the concept of food waste for Baker. He wondered what would happen if someone really could ship their leftover food overseas to needy people.
Although Scraps was Baker’s idea, there have been a large number of students who helped shape and enact his vision. Only a few months after Baker vocalized his idea, Scraps gained 30 to 40 active members who consistently attend meetings and help out on campus.
Senior psychology major Everson Marsh is of the three student leaders for Scraps who helped Baker pitch the idea at the president’s board meeting.
“As Christians, we are trying to set an example of being good stewards of this earth, and we need to be doing all that we can toward that,” Marsh said. “I think that Scraps is a perfect opportunity to be able to bring awareness.”
One of Scraps’ biggest allies on campus has been ASB. They have expressed their support for Scraps, not only for this year, but also for future years.
Freshman business administration major and member of ASB Vincent Lehigh expressed his excitement for the initiative.
“APU is sponsoring [Scraps], but it is a student activity, which I think is the best part about it,” Lehigh said. “ASB is at its best when we are empowering students to do work on campus. It is tangible. You can see these resources moving overseas, and you will see results.”
According to freshman political science major David Bernal, ASB supported Scraps because it not only empowered students, but was a fair representation of the cornerstones and mission statement APU seeks to follow.
“It is service, it is conservation, and it is sacrificing something of yourself to help your fellow man,” Bernal said. “It is something that APU, ASB, and I think every APU student should care about.”
The results APU sees from its conservation within the upcoming month will have a lot of bearing on the future of Scraps.
APU President, Jon Wallace has expressed interest in making Scraps not only an annual event, but also a fixture for each semester.
Scraps’ ability to save the institution money was the biggest selling point they had, according to Baker.
“It puts its power in the hands of students, to look at how their utilities are being used and say, ‘What can we do to reduce these costs?’” Baker said.
The Scraps team will be looking to motivate faculty and staff in as many ways as possible, in hope of reducing costs. One way Baker proposed to go about this is through what he calls “air-conditioning reform.”
He suggests the air conditioning on West Campus and in campus offices be set to 77 or 78 degrees, instead of 70, which is the norm. According to Baker, this could save the university thousands of dollars.
Scraps set a goal for the upcoming period of conservation. Marsh reports $20,000 is the cost for Life Water International to build a well. This is the minimum amount Scraps leaders want to be able to raise.
Scraps has already been looking to take their program outside of APU, and Baker reports students at Biola have expressed a desire to host a similar event.
The better it does at APU, the more confidence the leaders of Scraps will have to take their vision outside of APU.
