BY VICTORIA YU

TIGER TV ONLINE REPORTER

The Pew Center on Global Climate, based in Arlington, VA, will host Make an Impact on Thursday in collaboration with Entergy, the American Wetland Foundation and the University.  

“Pew is a climate and energy change policy group,” said Colleen Kredell, project coordinator for Make an Impact at Pew. “We work with government and business leaders and decision makers at large to address climate change and energy policy.” 

Entergy contacted Pew to help reduce their impact on the environment, she said.

The partnership was launched in August of 2009, said Kredell.

Pew has been working with companies willing to develop greener policies since 1998.

The event on Thursday will offer students a chance to ask questions, win a free bike and eat free food.

“Speakers and a panel will talk about the connection with climate change and energy use and the policies that surround it with a focus on individual solutions we can all make,” Kredell said.

Students and young people of this generation will lead issues surrounding global impact, she said.

Butler Murrell, manager of the Bicycle Shop on Highland Road, said bicycles are the best way to avoid green house gases.

“The more people we have on a bike, the better off our grandchildren will be,” he said.

Murrell said The Bicycle Shop is working with Baton Rouge Advocates for Safe Streets to make the city more accessible to bikers.

“Cyclists need a place to park their bike if they’re going to businesses or municipal facilities,” he said.

Murrell said the best way to reduce an individual’s impact is through primary recycling.

“If I get a good box I’ll hold onto it and use it again rather than sending it to be processed because I don’t know how much of that stuff gets in a landfill,” he said.

He also recommends riding bikes everyday as a mode of transportation.

Murrell said the Bicycle Shop donated a bike because they were asked to.

 Make an Impact’s Web site offers individual’s a chance to calculate their carbon foot print.

“If you take 10 minutes to get personalized recommendations to reducing energies we’ll tell you how much you’d save per year,” Kredell said.

Kredell said simple steps like unplugging cell phone chargers while not in use can add up over time.

“Those simple steps that take a minute to remember can actually add up over time,” she said. “Small things we can start doing now and changing the way we think about energy use and the more involved we get, the more of an impact we can have.” 

To calculate your carbon footprint, click here.