DURHAM - After a summer interning with the North Carolina Sierra Club, Duke center Matt Rumsey can explain not only how to block a stretch play but also how the city of Greensboro is pulling methane gas from its landfills to use as alternative fuel.

Rumsey researched and wrote a report for the Sierra Club on what North Carolina cities in the national "Cool Cities" program, are doing to fight global warming.

"It was great; it was something I'd never done before," said Rumsey, a senior and three-year starter on the Duke offensive line. "The final product was not entirely what I gave them. It went through a graphic designer and proofings. But it was just nice to know I contributed in some way."

The report is available at nc.sierraclub.org. Released Friday, it also will be presented at the League of Municipalities Conference in Fayetteville in two weeks.

"It's something we wouldn't have been able to do, with the resources on our staff, without Matt," said Tom Jensen, who directs the Cool Cities program in North Carolina.

Rumsey was hired for the internship through the Stanback Internship Program at Duke, which funds internships for Duke students with nonprofit organizations. Rumsey, a political science major, wanted the experience of working for a nonprofit.

Rumsey spent most of the workweek at his computer, figuring out whom to talk to about energy-saving practices, what each city was doing and trying to understand the technical aspects of each effort.

Rumsey also organized a social event -- the Sierra Club Raleigh Bar Night for more than 100 people -- which Jensen said helped the N.C. chapter encourage Raleigh to become a "Cool City." A week after the event, Raleigh signed on.

Jensen and the N.C. Sierra Club hope to have the fourth-most Cool Cities in the United States. North Carolina currently has 25, which ranks eighth nationally.

Rumsey said he didn't consider himself an environmentalist before he started the internship. He has changed a few habits since.

"I don't want to come off like a hypocrite," he said. "I drive a truck, not a hybrid; but there are a ton of things anyone can do with within their own means."

Rumsey works harder to put his recyclables in the blue bins that the city of Durham provides, and uses energy-efficient light bulbs when the old ones need to be replaced.

"I'm not a scientist nor do I pretend to be one," Rumsey said. "But it's a situation where you ask yourself, 'Is it really worth it to be on the wrong end of it?' If it's going to make a lot of lives better, why not?"

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