AS ALL OF YOU might know, there was an energy awareness carnival of sorts that took place on campus last week. The games, food, prizes and a lovable Wally Watt turned what some would probably consider to be a bore into a fun event that hopefully lifted awareness on campus about this issue.

But consider the matter of energy on our campus, just in case you did not get a full helping of it last week. Consider the fact that the annual energy bill for Fresno State is roughly $5 million.

Imagine the effect that we could have on that price tag if we all increased our awareness of the problem. With energy costs rising at every single turn of the corner, that price tag per year will only grow, and with the rising costs of tuition around the CSU system, I would rather not give anyone another reason to make me a little less rich, and a lot poorer.

The simplest solution is to turn off the lights when you leave a room. But that is not the only solution that we have. Walking around campus daily as most of you do, you will notice so many things up and running that simply do not need to be on.

Computers can be put into sleep mode when not being used. Air conditioning should not be used right now at all — the weather is perfect.

The neon signs in the Bucket do not have to be on at eight in the morning. These are just a few of the things that can be done to conserve and hopefully keep down the costs that we face.

While it seems like a huge pain putting up the solar paneling on the south side of campus because of parking restrictions, think about the money saved when this project is completed.

While it seems an impossible task to conserve anything at all half the time, we should all try and make an impact.

I do not want to pay anymore than I have too to finish my degree here, and neither should any of you.

So during your time at Fresno State, do your part to ensure that future generations do not get hit with the higher bills. Do your part to ensure that you do not get hit with higher bills, because at the end of the day, our college lives revolve around money, or lack thereof.

So let̢۪s embrace Wally Watt and his message. Let̢۪s add Wally to our MySpace accounts and try and spread the word of Mr. Watt to others in our network.

Let̢۪s all do our part to keep Fresno State great, and cheap. I challenge you all to try it; things might actually be fun in the dark.