Starting this semester, you may have noticed Iowa State has gone green. It’s the new Live Green! initiative formed out of the president’s advisory committee on energy conservation and global climate change.

The committee hopes to educate students on conserving energy and water while also building new LEED registered facilities. Basically, it’s a very organized and publicized effort to address the growing concern of global climate change and rising energy costs.

We think this is a great idea and we have from the beginning. But, what we like even more is when students take the Live Green! initiative to heart.

The Des Moines Register recently reported on the ISU Biobus organization, a student group with the goal of bringing a weekly 55 gallons of vegetable oil-based biodiesel to CyRide buses. This is enough fuel to run two CyRide buses a week. It’s a small start but a great one. That’s right, you could be riding to your classes on a bus fueled by old oil used to fry burgers and fries.

But there’s a hitch.

The group needs to find a steady supply of waste oil and a facility to convert it. So they initially turned to a major user of vegetable oil on campus — ISU Dining. But, their request was denied because ISU Dining already has a contract in place to remove the oil.

This is understandable. But we still have a problem with it, ISU Dining.

For an organization that is aggressively pursuing locally grown food for its menus and cutting back food waste it comes as a surprise to why they don’t want to contribute their waste to a local cause. A contract is a contract but when a faculty-advised student group comes forward with a serious plan on providing renewable energy to a service thousands of students use everyday, it’s time to pay attention.

Wake up, ISU Dining, and reconsider.

The group has an alternate plan to find a source of oil in Campustown businesses, but the need for a facility to convert it still needs to be found.

We’ll use a familiar Iowa cliché: “Build it and they will come.” In other words, when the oil comes in, a facility can’t be too far off.

Support this group, Iowa State, because they offer a viable opportunity to make this campus a little greener, and they’re not doing it with fliers and pins.

Remember, actions speak louder than banners, err … words.