Making the green's list

Ask any student on a college campus where the "green crowd" hangs out, and she will be able to tell you.

At the University of Pennsylvania, she might point you to the aspiring poets of the Kelly Writers House, the artistic students in the Furness Library, or maybe the earthy adolescents at the Lovers & Madmen Coffee Lounge down the street.

One might not guess that Sean Pitt, dressed in blue and red Penn attire with a sporty backpack, is actually part of the growing "green crowd."

But he sure has their mentality.

"If I can do little things to reduce my negative impact on the environment, then there is no reason for me not to do so," said Pitt, 22, who tries to reduce his water consumption and uses eco-friendly cleaning products in his dorm.

Pitt earned a degree in anthropology and political science and opted to work on campus one more summer. For the last four years, he also has worked at reducing his carbon footprint.

Many in his generation are doing the same thing. This year, companies specializing in decorating dorm rooms are finding a surge in students' interest in limiting their impact on the environment.

Rather than collecting quarters for laundry, students are looking for drying racks. Forget massive crates of plastic water bottles. Young dorm dwellers are looking for water filtration pitchers so they can fill up their own aluminum containers. Why use a backpack when a reusable Whole Foods bag works just as well?

"It made perfect sense to add eco-friendly products to our collections," said Sarah Lynam, a spokeswoman for PBteen, a line of furniture and accessories geared to teenagers.

This season, PBteen is featuring 100 percent organic sheets, duvet covers, quilts, and towels in classic and fun patterns for students heading to college.

Depending on how the product is made, eco-friendly items may be more expensive than more traditional items. Lynam says this is not always the case, and PBteen strives to offer environmentally friendly products to consumers without their having to sacrifice style and design. The company's 5 percent organic cotton zebra-print and dottie sheet sets are examples of making eco-friendly more chic for consumers.

In a 2009 survey, Miller Zell, a retail consulting firm in Atlanta, found that 62 percent of Generation Y shoppers were willing to pay more for green, and just under 40 percent of shoppers in their teens and early 20s thought more green information could be provided by stores.

As for eco-friendly organizing, the Container Store has students covered. The chain sells a bamboo lattice hamper and bamboo garment rack, and features items like a recycled melamine dry-erase board.

The Container Store sells dorm products knowing students want their rooms to look good, said spokeswoman Elaine Luce. One of her favorites is the Garbino Can, a trashcan made of biodegradable plastic and reprocessed polypropylene.

"It's eye-catching because it is green," she said. "It shouts, 'Hey this is an eco-product!' "

Bed Bath & Beyond is advertising products that are not necessarily made of green materials, but that help conserve energy and what students often lack - cash.

The drying rack, Brita water filtration pitcher, CFL lightbulbs, and reusable dryer balls are a few of the products promoted.

"The drying rack and dryer ball are cool items people might not think about," said spokeswoman Catherine Gentile. "Buying the pitcher and a water bottle versus buying a whole bunch of water bottles is another way to go a bit greener."

All of these retailers and others like Target usually set their eco-friendly products apart in the store and categorize them for online sale. For example, consumers have the option to "Shop Eco-Friendly Products" on www.target.com or look for the tiny leaf symbol on www.pbteen.com.

Sean Pitt, raised by parents who respected the environment, has learned some tricks of the "green" trade. He uses products like the water-filter pitcher and usually buys eco-friendly cleaning agents and towels made of recycled paper. He also uses a drying rack instead of a dryer - more out of concern for his clothes, but it saves energy, too.

According to Pitt, Penn has done part of the work. The university allows students to trade regular lightbulbs in for more efficient CFL ones, which saved 131,000 kilowatt hours of electricity in 2008. Penn is also installing environmentally friendly showerheads and more energy-efficient laundry machines and toilets. The Penn Bookstore sets apart eco-friendly dorm products as well.

Other area schools have taken similar steps. Drexel University plans to open a new residence hall near 34th Street and Powelton Avenue this fall that will reduce water use with low-flow toilets and showerheads.

Most university programs and eco-friendly retail advertising campaigns are geared toward underclassmen.

"I think the newer students are probably much more aware of the availability of things such as bamboo sheets or eco-friendly cleaners, and would probably use them more readily," Pitt said.

New Penn students in the Class of 2013 living in Hill College House will be able to view their rooms before even setting foot on campus. This year Penn has partnered with a new site, www.designyourdorm.com, that enables students to see 3-D renderings of their room so they can plan them. On the site students can choose dorm products, place them in the room, and purchase them. They can even coordinate with future roommates.

"It's like one-stop shopping," said Penn Housing spokeswoman Barbara Lea-Kruger.

Design Your Dorm, which also promotes going green, will help prevent roommates from purchasing the same things or bringing too much. The site just introduced an "Eco-Friendly" category with products students can order. Spokeswoman Courtney Kephart says items are constantly being added to the category.

The site will also ship products straight to the university, cutting the cost of shipping twice and the waste of energy and shipping materials.

Pitt doesn't know much about the new freshman program, because he will soon be leaving Penn's campus to begin graduate studies at Oxford University in England. But he likes the idea.

"I think respecting the environment is important not only because it's simply the right thing to do, but also because we have to work if we are to preserve the quality of life we enjoy now," Pitt said. "I think our generation and that of our children will really be the first people to suffer from widespread and serious environmental degradation."

But Pitt's dorm room won't be to blame.