Creative Campaign Ideas

To get your campaign to stand out from all the other activities going on at your campus, make yours as creative and exciting as possible! Here are just a few thoughts to get your ideas flowing

"Go Cold Turkey" Day

This is an easy event to pull off with relatively little preparation. Just encourage students to "Go Cold Turkey" over Thanksgiving break - by turning off lights, computers, heat, and other appliances. To publicize the campaign, get students to sign pledges a day or two before they leave for break so that they're more likely to remember. This event is very big at Harvard - for more details see www.greencampus.harvard.edu/coldturkey/

Visual energy display

Find out (perhaps by doing a survey of people in your dorm) what appliances people have and roughly how long they are on for each day. Then you can figure out how much coal/oil each student personally burns each day - this can make a great visual, as well as generating some interesting press.

Light's Out Night

Go around one night and shut off all the empty classroom lights in buildings to make a statement about our ubiquitous energy consumption and how easy it is to conserve. Get a team of 4-6 people and divide up into groups of two. Have each pair of two people go to different buildings and turn off lights. Write an editorial or hang up posters the day before or the day after to briefly explain the purpose behind what you did and to encourage people to contact you to help with your local effort to curb your school's dirty energy consumption. (Caution: some schools are touchy about this - make sure it's ok for students to turn off lights in academic buildings. Check with Facilities).

Field Trip!

It can be quite eye-opening to see first-hand where most of your region's energy comes from. If possible, arrange a field trip to a nearby wind farm or anything energy related (eg. a hydropower dam). Try to work through a professor (perhaps in mechanical or civil engineering) to arrange to get a tour of the facility; the facility may nott be too responsive to a group of students interested in a tour.

Cartoon contest

Challenge students to create cartoons on the theme of energy conservation. This is a fun way to educate students about how much energy is used on campus and to get them thinking about how much energy students waste.

T-shirt sale

Sell t-shirts (printed on organic cotton of course!) with a catchy slogan about renewable energy or conservation. This can help get your campaign's message seen across campus. Organic cotton t-shirt companies include T.S. Designs, Shirt Magic, and Cafe Press.

Benefit concert

This is primarily a fundraising venture, but it's also a great way to publicize your campaign on campus. Campus bands are always looking for venues, so you can probably recruit a few for your event. Ask for donations at the door; most people will be willing to contribute to your cause.

Student Government Resolution

Work with your student government to pass a resolution supporting the university's purchase of renewable power or whatever the goal of your campaign is. Student governments have a lot of power; a resolution indicates to the administration that you are serious, and that the student body is behind you. For a sample resolution that you can use, see Clean Energy Resolution.

Host a Speaker

A good speaker will raise awareness of energy issues on your campus as well as getting the people who are directly involved in your campaign re-energized. Invite your target in the administration to the talk; this will both educate the administration and demonstrate that there is significant student concern over this issue. Click here for tips on the logistical details of organizing this event.

Have a party

In fact, have several parties! Parties get people excited about the issue, provide opportunities to involve new people, and are fun.

Go back