Invistigative report outline

1. Me and my roommate are walking by east halls. We look up an see a room with a never stopping red light, we call it the "shroom room". I ask my roomate how much energy do you think that room alone is going to waste this semester, then multiply that by all rooms in east, then in campus. That's a lot of energy being wasted...(develop more on that scene).

2. "holy shit that's a lot of wasted energy, that can't be good for the enviorment".

3. Energy consumption is a huge issue that no one is talking about

• Huge campus if nothing is done huge toll on the environment
  
• everyone is going green now a days and so is the campus
• A big problem no one seems to care about
• Easy to follow a few simple steps that will help to reduce consumption
• Penn States cost for energy is increasing at an absurd rate

4. The United States consumes a ton of energy per year, most of which comes from fossil fuels. It's now more important then ever to conserve because the planet is running out and everyone can play a role in saving the environment. Penn State is a huge campus with over 40,000 students if everyone is not aware of what can be done to solve the problem then nothing will ever get solved.

5. Students around campus that i talk to seem to have no interest in the subject or do not care. During interviews the majority of kids said they don't care and that they always leave their lights and TV on when they leave the room. A few pledged to me that they will make a change and they will play a role in fixing the problem. Intresting points that really got my point across to these students is that n the 2008/ 09 year Penn State campuses consumed 75,000 tons of coal. This amount of coal is enough to fill Beaver Stadium once every five years! Everyone knows that coal is a fossil fuel and we need as much of it as we can and this is a waste. (more facts on that, student's, and RA's opinions)

6. Penn State as a whole Penn State University campuses consume a combined 300 million (kWh) of electricity annually. This is the equivalent of the amount of electricity used by over 23,000 homes per year. Penn State is also spending $2million a month and is spending $49 million per year on electricity. Penn State is doing a lot to combat the problem like winter break shutdowns. Also their buildings are now going to be more green friendly. (expand on this).

7. What can be done. More quotes by students pledging to change. Students can create power management profile on your computer. U.S. college students could save more than 2.3 billion kilowatt hours per year of electricity by enabling power saving features on their desktop PCs. (green psu). Also things like turn of appliances, don't leave water running, shorter showers.

8. Conclude by asking people to take a stand and join the fight. Convince people that it's easy and that it is the right thing to do. Use a couple more interesting hard hitting facts to drive home my point, and then have a good concluding sentence that makes people think about what there gonna do the next time they leave the room.

Invistigative report

For my investigative report i am looking at the energy consumption at Penn State. Everyone knows that Penn State is a huge institution that has many buildings and residence halls, but how many people actually think of the amount of energy that is being used to keep all of these building running smoothly. Last year as a whole Penn State consumed 300million kilowatt-hours which is equivalent to 23,000 homes per year. A year Penn State spends 49Million dollars on energy alone. Now imagine if every student living at Penn State was aware of this and turned off their lights while leaving the room, turn off the TV, don't leave the water running. Not only will they help prevent things like global warming but it also will allow the university to spend money on more important things to help further our education. Energy is being used all over campus and now the key is to teach the students about the effects on the environment and for everyone to take charge and do what ever they can to play their part. John Paul a freshman at Penn State says
"I never realized how big of a problem energy consumption really is, I'm gonna make sure to do my part". Ryan Carrie an RA for Sproul halls says "I am going to start enforcing rules on my floor that will make sure people do their part to combat the problem. Ben Hofstutter another freshman at Penn State says "I will make sure to do my part and get all my friends to help!".
One interesting fact is that Penn State consumed 300million kilowatt-hours which is equivalent to 23,000 homes per year. (Green.psu.edu). My second fact is that the University has invested $40 million towards recommissioning and retrofitting existing buildings at University Park and several Commonwealth campuses (Green.psu.edu). My third fact is that Penn State’s electricity bill totals $2 million each month (Green.psu.edu). My final fact is that in the 2008/ 09 fiscal year Penn State campuses consumed 560,000 million cubic feet of natural gas and 75,000 tons of coal. This amount of coal is enough to fill Beaver Stadium once every five years (Green.psu.edu). Two areas that i might want to further my research in are water consumption, and recycling. That way i can change my paper into not only energy consumption but Penn States overall goal to get greener.

Journal Four

The speaker defines the issue of underage drinking perfectly so that the entire time listening to audio podcast the audience knows exactly what the speaker is talking about it. The reason that the issue of underage drinking at Penn State needs to be investigated is that at this point they were voted the number one party school in the nation and it is a good example of all college towns. The audio does show how the issue affects different groups who have an interest or connection to underage drinking. The audio gives us all different perspectives of the issue from the students, to the police, to the people in the neighboring town who live next to the frats. The person doing the audiotape speaks and gets quotes from all of the important people who make up state college. They have audio of the president, the students, people living in the town, and even the police force. The specific conclusion that the speaker wants the audience to reach is that underage drinking and high risk drinking is a big problem in Penn State and throughout all colleges. I liked this audio speech a lot it shows the side of Penn State that all of the students know exists but no one else really does. I liked a lot how the people came to the college during a football weekend and interviewed people and just went around the town to see what happens late at night on the weekends. I didn't like how they make it seem like every single person in state college drinks and makes us seem like we are the worst college out there and that we are so reckless. I would like to hear more about what the students do and what they think of the problem and less of adults complaining and saying how bad all the students were. This was a really interesting audiotape so much so that it made me want to listen to the whole thing instead of just skimming through. Its interesting to hear some of the facts and hear the 3/4 of all students drink on the weekend. It makes me wonder if all colleges are like this or are we just are own little enterprise living differently from anywhere else in the world. All i know is that Penn State is like no where else in the world and that we are very lucky to be on this ride and to be able to experience the in and outs of every single weekend. Alcohol may be a problem but as I go out on the weekends i can see that the police have defiantly stepped up their came and have cracked up on all the problems that were discussed during that radio show. What really interested me was the idea of can anything really be done to stop the problem. Everyone drinks and everyone drinks underage at college so no matter what the faculty tries and teaches the students you really wonder what can Graham Spaniar really do?

Journal 3

After reading "Shitty First Drafts" by Anne Lamott i realized that everyone goes through the same issues that I do. When i start writing i sit down at my computer and have no idea what's about to happen. I just type away not worrying what i say praying that what I am saying will eventually make sense. At first when i was young and used to do this i would always get worried that my writing would suck and i would never be able to fix it. But just like Lamott said "you learn to trust the process". It took a while before i realized that i go through the same thing every time i try to write so it eventually will all work out. This is the same thing that happened to me while writing my personal memoir. I started by having trouble thinking of a topic. I went through my life and was trying to pick a moment in my life that was not only important to me but also that people would not be bored of when reading. When i finally picked my topic i had to think of every little detail of that moment. When i first wrote i was putting in pointless ideas that no one would want to read and that would make my paper way to long. Just like Lamott i went back through the paper and took out the things that would not make any sense and that were pointless to put in the paper. My story got better and better after i went through it and fixed it up. But just like Lamott i felt awful after writing it all day. I was worrying that my first college essay ever would be shitty and it would start a terrible trend where i can not write anything. I realize now that everyone goes through the same thing no one can just write off the top of their head and produce an A paper. I always thought like Lamott said that all of these famous writers were able to just write and write and everything would make sense and it would be a hit. Now i know that even the famous authors need to write drafts and everything does not make sense the first time you write it. Even when seeing everyone peer edit in school i know that everyone in our class went through the same thing. Not one person in the class turned in a rough draft that did not need one correction. This is because writing is not an easy thing to do. Everyone has these great ideas in their head and want to write about them but once they sit down to write nothing comes out like they want it to. All i know is that from now on when i am about to write a paper i am going to change my process. I will sit down and write as much as i can even the little pointless details and then go back and take them out. It is always better to have to long of a paper with a lot of detail then to short of one with no detail at all.