CSU's green guy revealed

Campus mag: Cam the ram, look out

By: Erik Myers

Posted: 8/27/08

Since making his shirtless debut on banners around campus last spring, the green-bodied green man has caught on as a new mascot for CSU, and he's bumping the bighorn from center stage -- while Cam will be taking his usual trot in the homecoming parade this fall, university officials say the green man will be grandmaster.

The up-and-coming figure is the invention of Mark Minor, vice president of public affairs, and the university's team of marketers who saw the early version of their character in football fans covered in green body paint.

"We were helping athletics with some ads, and we had some guys that had painted themselves green for a football game, screaming their heads off in the stands," Minor said. "We started talking about that and somehow that morphed into 'Wouldn't it be cool if we could use something using that kind of an image?'

"When you think about how you advertise in a way that students aren't going to just make fun of, it's so hard to do. We were just kind of casting around for something whimsical and fun. We landed on (the green man) as the vehicle and it too has been very successful; people have been very receptive, people are always asking 'Who is the green man?'"

Good luck looking for an answer; Minor won't divulge the identity of the green man (except to say that he is a CSU student).

While his real name may never be known, it's no mystery that he is the poster child of CSU's recent "Green University" movement.

Since the summer of 2007, the administration has pushed to create a university where the campus is self-sustaining and the students are prepared to enter a workforce where alternative energy is in high demand. CSU has also announced the development of a School of Global Environmental Sustainability, expected to open by 2010.

The school will be dedicated to housing environmental classes on campus. According to the Associated Press, $350,000 will be spent to kick-off the program with a goal to raise $100 million during the next 10 years.

College Avenue writer Erik Myers can be reached at csumag@lamar.colostate.edu. Pick up a copy of College Avenue today to read the complete story.

GET THE GREEN FACTS

Green Man to be grandmaster of the homecoming parade - beside Cam the Ram

$194,984 on advertising campaign locally and nationally

CSU failed to make Green Rating Honor Roll from the Princeton Review. For the 2007-2008 school year, CSU rated at 89, 10 points shy of a perfect score. CU scored 88. Only 11 out of 534 colleges and universities made the honor roll. Those schools had a perfect score of 99.

Energy consumption of main campus: Comparing fiscal year 2007 - 1998, the university has seen a 248,850 kilowatt-per-hour increase in annual kilowatt per hour consumption.
Comparing the same fiscal years for consumption of heating fuel on main campus, the university has seen an increase of 86,488 decatherms per year. A decatherm is a measurement of heat equivalent to one million BTU. A BTU is a British Thermal Unit.

Lowered annual water consumption on main campus over past 9 years. From fiscal year 1998 to fiscal year 2007, water consumption dropped by 96,106 gallons per year