An energy conservation group opened up the stage at the Downing University Center auditorium to spread their message Tuesday night.

Mary Boothe, PowerSave intern, said they thought the event would be a great way to reach out to students, and get them involved by allowing them to share their thoughts and opinions.

“A lot of our communications are us talking to them, and we’d like to give them a chance,” she said.

PowerSave Campus, a group that encourages saving energy on campus,  organized an open mic night for people to share their talents — and their own messages.

The group is also trying to reach a particular group of students.

“What we’re trying to do is target humanities and creative individuals who’d like to express their thoughts about global sustainability,” Boothe said.

Christian Ryan-Downing, WKU Sustainability Coordinator, said many of the energy conservation methods the group is encouraging are simple ones.

“We think we can reduce up to 30 percent of our energy use on campus just through conservation strategies — simple behavior changes like being conscientious about turning off lights and turning off computers at the end of the day,” she said.

Franklin senior Seth Pedigo walked up and sang a protest song at the open mic. He feels particularly strong about mountaintop mining in the Appalachian region.

“I think it’s because it’s right here in our own state,” he said. “We have the Appalachian Mountains that are providing, supposedly, energy for this whole state, but we see a lot of it being shipped off too.”

While Pedigo was happy to see others who believed in more sustainable energy and conservation, he said he wanted to see a bigger turnout. Around 10 people came to the event.

“I’m glad that there’s other people that are aware of such things and want to promote sustainability,” he said.

He did mention, however, that getting people together would help bring about change.

“Once you have a movement of people that say, ‘There’s other ways to live,’ I think that’s when we see a massive change going on,” he said.