Free Press

Issue date: 1/28/08 Section: News

PHOTO BY BRANDON MCKENY Representing PIRG, the Maine Student Public Interest Research Group, sophomore Eric Favreau will bring a petition before the Board of Trustees to express support for using wind energy on campus. To get involved or give your signature contact Favreau at eric.favreau@maine.edu.

It's 8 a.m., and Eric Favreau glides silently into a chair. He smiles when I thank him for agreeing to meet me, and softly speaks a few polite words. He speaks them slowly, without rushing a single syllable, and then quickly falls quiet again, giving the impression that he hadn't spoken at all.

I think for a moment that I've met him too early in the morning.

We converse a while longer about trivial affairs in a relaxed, easy manner before the conversation shifts to wind turbines; to green energy and the university; to the environment.

It is here that Eric Favreau, member of the Maine Student Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), swells with conviction and purpose.

"Imagine for a moment," he erupts in his own composed way, "all the oil reserves, all the fields in the whole world, and imagine what that looks like. Okay? Now, the sun brings to the earth the energy equivalent of all the oil reserves in seven days."

It is here that the 19-year-old sophomore comes alive.

Favreau cites the warning of scientists that in order to stop or reverse global warming, the world must its cut carbon dioxide emissions 80 percent by 2050.

"It's a major public issue," he says, and then leans back, staring intently at perhaps the enormity of his statement before shifting his gaze to the orange sun slicing through the windows.

In order to accomplish this, PIRG has taken up the Campus Climate Challenge, an international student campaign to stop global warming, as well as the President's Climate Commitment, an effort by college presidents from around the nation to reduce their greenhouse gas consumption.

They are resolved to convert the entire University of Maine system to more sustainable power - specifically wind power.

"We are creating solutions to the commitment of our university presidents," says Favreau.

Continued...

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