Mobilize Your U for Earth Day 2012

As 2012 begins, people all over the world are making New Year’s resolutions for a better life. As college students, we all know the drill: hit the gym, get better grades, keep in touch with family and friends. This year, why not add some green—and I’m not talking about salad for that diet you’re starting. I’m talking about the Earth!

This year, I promised myself that I would do more for the environment. That’s why I signed up to intern with Earth Day Network’s new initiative, MobilizeU, an international competition between colleges and universities that calls upon students to mobilize their campus communities around four weeks of environmental activism surrounding Earth Day 2012 (March 29 - April 29). College students have long been at the front of the environmental movement and I think that with MobilizeU we’ll have the perfect platform to unite our activism efforts and amplify them on the international scale.

With Earth Day 2012 just around the corner, I am calling out to college and university students across the globe to join me and the MobilizeU team as we set out to create a movement of student environmental activists around the world.

MobilizeU is a fun and easy way to make your college’s environmental efforts have a greater impact than ever before. Joining the movement is simple. First, register your school for the competition and sign up as either a school coordinator or regional coordinator. Once your school is registered, start planning what environmental projects you’ll be working on between March 29 and April 29. These projects will be quantified as what we are calling “acts of green”, meaning any action that either educates someone about the environment or reduces an individual’s carbon footprint. Then when the competition starts we’ll ask you to report back to us weekly, letting us know how many acts of green your environmental initiatives have generated during the week, and posting a creative video or photo documenting your efforts to the MobilizeU Facebook Page.  

My first act of green was to start using a reusable aluminum water bottle instead of plastic ones. Although I’m still getting used to the metal taste, I know that my act of green will go a long way! One of the best parts about MobilizeU is that every act of green generated by students across the world will contribute to Earth Day Network’s global Billion Acts of Green initiative which will be presented to world leaders as a call to action at the Rio+20 Earth Summit on Sustainable Development this June.

As college students, we are the future leaders, parents, and citizens of this world. This is our time to join forces and create a better place to live, and MobilizeU is the perfect place to start.

Join the MobilizeU movement today as a regional coordinator or a school coordinator. 

For more information, contact MobilizeU@earthday.org.

Jamie Bennett

MobilizeU Team Intern

American University ‘13