[00:00.00]Narrator:Listen to a conversation between a student and a facilities director.[00:10.22]Mike:Hello, Ms. Miller. My name is Mike Johnson and I represent the students who live in Oak Tree dormitory.[00:17.43]Ms. Miller:Nice to meet you. I understand that you have a proposal for me.[00:21.98]Mike:Yes, a couple of them, actually[00:24.14]Ms. Miller:Okay. I’m all ears. What’s your first one?[00:28.10]Mike:We’re concerned about the new parking garage that the school is building next to our dorm.[00:33.27]Ms. Miller:Yes, the new campus parking garage.[00:36.13]Mike:Those of us who have rooms on that side of the dorm used to have a view of the fields with trees and grass but now it’s all dirt and concrete.[00:45.07] And when the structure is completed, there will be no view at all. All we’ll be able to see is an ugly parking garage.[00:52.97]Ms. Miller:Well, we’ve worked long and hard to figure out how best to ease the strain on parking here on campus.[00:59.92]Mike:Of course, and it will be very convenient for us since it’s close. It’s just… Well, no one wants to look out their window at a parking garage.[01:09.73]Ms. Miller:But, what would you like me to do about this?[01:12.89]Mike:We hope you’d consider planting some trees in the area between the dorm and the garage.[01:19.10]Ms. Miller:Trees.[01:20.49]Mike:Yeah, I mean, first of all, it will improve the view. It will be nicer to see a bunch of trees than a concrete garage.[01:28.19]Ms. Miller:Okay.[01:29.23]Mike:And beyond that, it will replace all the trees that were cut down to build the garage. It’s one way to lower our university’s carbon footprint and be more eco-friendly.[01:40.55]Ms. Miller:That is a very good idea. And actually, just the other day I was talking with the head groundskeeper about planting more sage trees on campus. [01:50.79]I asked him to come up with a plan that I can present at our next facilities department meeting. I’ll ask him to consider your request if he comes up with this plan.[02:02.24]Mike:That’s great. Thanks. Our other requests involve insulation.[02:07.03]Ms. Miller:Insulation.[02:08.60]Mike:Yes, the dorm is really loud. You can always hear people talking in the hallways, their music, their phone conversations, everything. Worse than that, it gets really cold in the winter, so we’d like to have more insulation installed in the dormitory.[02:24.74]Ms. Miller:That would be expensive.[02:26.95]Mike:We’ve considered that. One of our residents, Tommy Reynolds, whose major course of study is architectural engineering, worked it out. He thinks that installing insulation in our dorm will actually save the university money.[02:40.82]Ms. Miller:How so?[02:42.94]Mike:Well, it will cost less to heat the dorm in the winter and less to cool it in the warmer months. Those savings will more than pay for the initial expenses of installing the insulation after just a few years.[02:55.85]Ms. Miller:Here’s the thing, Mike. I can bring this up at our facilities department meeting as well. If Tommy’s figures hold up under scrutiny, we might even be open to considering the undertaking.[03:08.06] But a lot of planning would have to be done before something of this nature has begun so I’m not sure if the current dorm residents would see the end results.