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News from the CU Environmental Center March 2007
Campus Environmental Awardees Announced | Take Real Action! Celebrate Earth Day by Volunteering | Earth Day Events Kick off This Weekend | Director's Corner | Recycling Update | Energy Update | What's Happening: Upcoming Events | Green Living Tip

Enjoy the monthly update from the CU Environmental Center.  Please let us know if you have ideas, input, feedback or news.

Campus Env. Awardees Announced  

Awards Ceremony to be held Friday, April 20

The University of Colorado will recognize the significant achievements and extraordinary efforts of outstanding individuals and departments at the annual environmental awards ceremony. The luncheon ceremony will be held on Friday, April 20, 2007, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in UMC 235. Vice Chancellors Paul Tabolt and Ron Stump will present the 2007 Campus Environmental Awards to:

Amin Gheysar – Individual Achievement – Waste Reduction and Recycling

Carrie Gibadlo – Student Achievement – Environmentally-Responsible Products

Mike Hannigan – Green Faculty

Housing and Dining Services – Departmental Achievement – Energy and Water Conservation

Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson – Climate Leadership

Moe Tabrizi – Sustainability Leadership

Paul Weissmann – Outstanding Alumni

Amy Harris – Honorable Mention – Student Achievement

Sigma Pi Fraternity – Honorable Mention – Recycling

The awardees exemplify CU’s continuing efforts to become a sustainable institution and set the example for environmental stewardship and responsibility. Some of the awardees have made groundbreaking efforts that will change the overall way CU operates, and others make an impact on the community and campus environment with their everyday actions. Outstanding efforts such as these make CU’s successful and challenging approaches to attaining sustainability possible. All in all, the campus community is contributing toward a sustainable future.

Additional information on each of the 2007 awardees is available at http://ecenter.colorado.edu/greening_cu/index.html#awards.

To attend the ceremony, RSVP to ecenter@colorado.edu or 303-492-8308 by Tuesday, April 17. This event is sponsored by the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Vice Chancellor for Administration, and the UCSU Environmental Center.

Celebrate Earth Day by Volunteering  

VCH’s Better Boulder Better World to Offer Several Opportunities

Celebrate Earth Day while making a difference – Volunteer! On April 22, the CU Volunteer Clearing House (VCH) will host the second annual “Better Boulder Better World”, a collection of exciting volunteer projects for the campus community. The VCH will provide breakfast, lunch, transportation and t-shirts to students, staff and faculty who sign up to participate. Here’s a list of the different projects in which you can get involved:

• Tortoise Scaping – landscape natural tortoise and turtle habitats with the Colorado Reptile Humane Society

• Birds of Prey Spring Cleanup – spring cleaning with the Birds of Prey Foundation

• Global Response – environmental letter writing campaign in Boulder

• Boulder Creek Cleanup

• Growing Gardens – help prepare Boulder’s community gardens for spring programs and plantings
  

For more information, visit http://www.colorado.edu/vch/BBBW.html.

In addition to these volunteer opportunities, several others will be available through Boulder’s Volunteer Connection. Visit http://www.volunteerconnection.net to find out more.

Earth Day Events Kick off This Weekend  

Step It Up Boulder to show nationwide unity on carbon emissions reductions

In celebration of Earth Day 2007, Boulder County, and the cities within, will team up with the University of Colorado to coordinate a series of events designed to introduce county residents to new tools and programs aimed at reducing energy use and protecting the environment. The celebration starts this weekend with Step It Up Boulder and continues over the next two weeks. Here’s a list of events coming up soon:

Step It Up Boulder – Saturday, April 14

Boulder residents will join thousands of people across the United States to take part in Step It Up, a nationwide global warming protest rally. The rally will be just one of hundreds of actions that will be taken that day throughout the country. The larger organizing effort is being spearheaded by Bill McKibben (www.stepitup2007.org) with the express purpose of drawing attention to the global warming issue and to demand that carbon emissions are reduced by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. The walk will begin at Scott Carpenter Park (30th and Arapahoe) at 11 a.m.

For more info and to RSVP, visit http://events.stepitup2007.org/events/show/586.

Arctic Warming: The Fight to Save a Refuge and the Latest on Northern Climate Change” – Monday, April 16

Through spectacular video and slides, renowned author and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge conservationist Jon Waterman will document the startling effects of global warming and address the on-going battle over oil drilling rights in his presentation, “Arctic Warming: The Fight to Save a Refuge and the Latest on Northern Climate Change.” As a veteran of a half-dozen trips into the Refuge and author of the book Where Mountains are Nameless, Waterman tells an educational and insightful story about the potential cultural and environmental impacts of drilling for oil. The issue is contrasted with the economic benefits of oil development and further complicated by global warming. Waterman’s unforgettable trek brings us face-to-face with perhaps the most sought after patch of American soil and those who have made it their life’s work to preserve it. Waterman’s presentation will begin at 7 p.m. in room 235 of CU-Boulder’s University Memorial Center. The event is free and open to the public and will be preceded by a book signing at the University of Colorado Museum from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

EarthDance: The Short-Attention-Span Environmental Film Festival – Thursday, April 19

EarthDance is a juried compilation of documentaries, mockumentaries, animations, high adventures, and dramas that invite you to celebrate and explore your relationship with the natural world. Can’t handle another hit of bad environmental news - global warming, melting glaciers, marching penguins? Then check out the 2007 EarthDance Short-Attention-Span Environmental Film Festival for a dose of humor and hope. Experience this edutaining selection of independent, alternative films that promote environmental awareness and action through humor, creativity and intelligence. Each film is 30 seconds to 30 minutes long. EarthDance will begin at 7 p.m. in room W100 of the Museum Collections in the Bruce Curtis Building. The event is free and open to the public.

The 5th Annual Wild Oats Earth Day 4K Run/Walk and Expo – Sunday, April 22

Sponsored by the Center for Resource Conservation, the race will begin at 9 a.m. on 29th St., just south of Walnut. The Expo will run later in the day at the 29th St. Plaza from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Register for the race online at www.Active.com. For more information, visit http://www.conservationcenter.org/events.htm#CRCEvents.

Several other exciting events will be taking place in Boulder and the surrounding area as Earth Day approaches. To find out more, click here.

Director's Corner  

Earth Day is special at the Environmental Center because it’s also our birthday. The Environmental Center was born on the first Earth Day -- April 22, 1970 -- 37 years ago.  

The E-Center’s first directors, Sunni Eckhart and Carl Lehrburger, still live in Boulder. Sunni’s still working on environmental and workers’ rights issues and Carl founded a renewable energy technology company. I’ve had the pleasure of talking with them and getting perspective on the E-Center over the years.  

It’s interesting that, in a way, we’ve come full circle. Carl started the recycling program here—the first in the nation, and Sunni and other students were working hard on social justice issues that plagued (and still do) migrant workers, custodial workers, and so forth.

These days, we are doing much of the same work; albeit on a different scale. Recycling has morphed into materials management, carbon emissions mitigation and pathways to zero waste. 

Social justice has become a part of our strategic plan—and is the central question we are asking as we look at everything we do. How can we design environmental programs so that they deliver a social benefit? We’ve come to learn that the effectiveness of environmental initiatives is significantly enhanced if they also deliver a social benefit to people in need today. 

So, with Earth Day 2007 upon us, the E-Center is approaching 40 years old and we realize we are expected to bring a maturity born of years of experience and perspective to environmental advocacy. Fortunately, it seems the environmental community and our nation’s collective wisdom are maturing too. 

For instance, April brings the rollout of the Step It Up campaign to 50 states. Indeed, over 1,300 major demonstrations around the nation will be aimed at making it very clear that We The People want action on climate change NOW. This is a demonstration of Americans’ strongly held beliefs and desires that we as a nation are about to make some noise—and a difference—about climate change.  

The original 1970 Earth Day spawned a similar sense, began the “environmental movement,” and delivered positive change on scores of important environmental issues. Now we’ve come full circle and are escalating our advocacy as our sense of the world matures. Helping people and fighting climate change are the issues of our time—and will be for the foreseeable future. 

This month’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report confirmed what Sunni Eckhart was working on 37 years ago: People and the planet are connected. The IPCC report detailed how climate change will negatively impact the world’s poorest nations and peoples first and most harshly. This emerging awareness of “climate justice” includes what Sunni was working on then—and where the E-Center must go in the future if we are to continue to be effective. 

So, as we enjoy our birthday and the increased awareness of the environmental community’s pivotal role in protecting people and the planet, let’s remember and thank Sunni, Carl and our many predecessors who had it right then, and we need to get it right now.  Fortunately, we have more allies, resources, and momentum now—and we are on the cusp of greatness. 

Happy b’earthday to the Environmental Center, and happy Earth Day to all.

Recycling Update  

“We as humans are so short-sighted in our ability to show love and compassion for people we do not see… especially for those of future generations. Recycling is an easy way to do so.”

- CU sophomore Mark Arnoldy, winner of the “Catch the Mania” contest

CU Recycling is happy to report that this spring CU remained among the top-30 best recycling schools in the nation out of the 202 colleges and universities participating in RecycleMania 2007. For our final placement in the 10-week competition, visit www.recyclemaniacs.com.

Our competition was strong this year, but since RecycleMania is really about encouraging everyone to recycle for the good of the planet, CU Recycling would like to congratulate the winning school, Cal State San Marcos, for their outstanding recycling effort. They have shown the nation that it is possible to divert 59 percent of their waste stream from the landfills by recycling.

It was a blast to develop our Dr. Seuss theme into creative sayings, fliers, and events that made recycling at CU fun and memorable for the entire campus community. Contests between our own community members and residence halls provided friendly rivalry and encouraged everyone to think more about where they tossed their waste and why. The “Catch the Mania” contest produced some fantastic responses to recycling-related questions. Mark Arnoldy’s answer (above) to the question, “What motivates you to recycle?” brings about the importance of considering future generations in our consumption of resources today. Other first place winners of this year’s contest were Chad Murray and Julie Hayes. For a complete list of winners and their responses, visit http://recycling.colorado.edu/rm07/contests.php.

It looks like the winner of the “Who Recycles More?” residence hall recycling competition is going to be Aden, with a current recycling rate of 19.7 lbs/person. For their great efforts, the residents of Aden Hall will have an ice cream party sponsored by Ben and Jerry’s. So far, the runners up are Libby and Brackett/Cockerell, with recycling rates of 12.47 and 11.63 lbs/person, respectively. Encouraging recycling in the residence halls is imperative because it not only contributes substantially to the overall campus diversion rate, and thus placement in RecycleMania, but it also helps shape the habit of recycling among incoming freshman who will support our school’s positive environmental reputation for years to come. These students will take their recycling habits with them when they graduate, thus perpetuating recycling across the nation.

As RecycleMania comes to a close, CU Recycling is gearing up for freshman move out. Each year, the CU Recycling Outreach Team facilitates the collection of reusable items, which freshman who are moving out of the residence halls would otherwise throw in the garbage. Our partner, the Epilepsy Foundation, will use their own trucks to collect the mountains of clothing, toiletries, electronics, furniture, non-perishable food, and school supplies that the freshman leave behind and will sell them to Savers. Not only will reusable items be diverted from the landfill, but the Epilepsy Foundation will raise funds for their non-profit organization and people in need will receive the items at low cost. To make this process go smoothly, freshmen are asked to separate out their reusable items and take them to the collection bins located in the lobby of their residence hall.

Energy Update  

Everyone’s talking about global warming these days. And lots of people are taking action to slow it down. You can too! Check out the energy program’s new Web pages on global warming, and simple ways you can make an impact on global warming.

What's Happening: Upcoming Events  

• April 14 – Step It Up 2007: Walk for a Change. Stop Global Warming -
  11 a.m.-2 p.m., walkers will meet at Scott Carpenter Park (30th and Arapahoe) in Boulder.

• April 16 – “Arctic Warming: The Fight to Save a Refuge and the Latest on Northern Climate Change” – 7 p.m., University Memorial Center 235, CU-Boulder

• April 19 - EarthDance: The Short-Attention- Span Environmental Film Festival - 7 p.m., Museum Collections, Rm. W100, CU-Boulder

• April 20 - Campus Environmental Awards - 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., University Memorial Center, Rm. 235, CU-Boulder. To attend the ceremony, RSVP to ecenter@colorado.edu or 303-492-8308 by Tuesday, April 17.

• April 21 – Volunteer for Earth Day – various times and locations, Boulder County

• April 22 – The 5th Annual Wild Oats Earth Day 4K Run/Walk and Expo – 9 a.m., race starts at 29th St., south of Walnut, Boulder.

• April 27 – Campus Sustainability Roundtable – 10 a.m.-Noon. Followed by lunch discussion, UMC 245, CU-Boulder.

To view the complete events calendar, click here.

  Green Living Tip

Washing your clothes in cold water not only saves you money, but it also is better for the environment and it works just as well as using hot water. Here are some of the benefits:

• It saves energy - 80-90 percent of the energy used to do laundry goes to heating the water.

• It saves cash - $61 per year per household on average can be saved by forgoing the hot for the cold.

• Cleaner air (not just clothes) - In a year, each household that switches keeps 1,281 lbs of CO2 from entering the air.

• Hotter colors with cold - Cold water keeps your clothes looking newer longer than hot water washing.

So, stay cool when doing your laundry. Your clothes and the Earth will thank you!

(source: idealbite.com)

Enjoy the monthly update from the CU Environmental Center. Please let us know if you have ideas, input, feedback or news.

Contact the CU Environmental Center

email: ecenter@colorado.edu phone: 303-492-8308 web: http://ecenter.colorado.edu
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