With the arrival of April and the beginning of "Earth Month," students at Chico State University are being asked to pressure the statewide university system to be more "green."

Thursday was officially dubbed the "National Day of Action," and at Chico State, Annie Sherman, the Associated Students commissioner of environmental affairs, was out trying to drum up support for more "sustainability" in the California State University system.

"Sustainability" is shorthand for being environmentally friendly to energy conservation, use of renewable energy sources, and on campus to construction of "green" buildings.

"We are demanding some better policy-making on the chancellor's side," Sherman told a geography class Thursday.

"We can create a better CSU, powered by modern, efficient, renewable energy systems," stated a document Sherman distributed.

As commissioner of environmental affairs, Sherman is supposed to take the lead when it comes to ecological concerns on campus.

She and other members of the student Environmental Affairs Council, which Sherman chairs, are circulating a petition calling for attention to three specific areas.

"We want the CSU to commit to reducing energy consumption, based on 2004 data, 20 percent by 2014, and 40 percent by 2024," stated the document she handed out.

"We want the CSU to purchase 15 percent of its total energy load from renewable resources by 2014, and 50 percent by 2024," according to the flier.

The third goal of the petition drive is to get the 23-campus system to construct all future buildings based on the "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)" guidelines.

LEED is the brain child of the U.S. Green Building Council, a coalition of environmental groups. A LEED-certified building is one that conforms to high standards of energy efficiency, the use of recycled materials, water conservation, even the avoidance of "light pollution" from exterior lighting, among other things.

Sherman LEED buildings are certified from a most basic level, through bronze, silver, gold and platinum standards.

The petition she is circulating calls for the CSU to conform to the LEED silver standard.

Last September Chico State was honored as the first CSU campus to have a LEED-certified building project. The Student Services Center, which will be constructed near West Second and Hazel streets, was so certified.

Besides circulating the petition, Sherman is also seeking student support for the creation of a "Campus Center for Applied Technology" at Chico State.

The center would be patterned after one at Humboldt State University. The Humboldt facility was an aging home that had been earmarked for demolition. However, students convinced the campus leadership to use it as a practical laboratory for a whole range of environmental projects.

The building that now houses a rotating group of students, includes composting projects, a greenhouse designed to help heat the structure, appliances that are either powered directly by human energy by way of a bicycle-like contraption or appliances run on electricity produced on a pedal-powered generator, uses of solar power, rainwater collectors to provide water for the toilets, and a whole range of other technologies.

She said the Chico State Environmental Affairs Council has been trying to rally support for such a local demonstration project on this campus.

Throughout the rest of April the campus will mark other Earth Month activities including composting demonstration, knitting and yoga workshops, lectures and theatrical performances.