Wesleyan University's Environmental Organizers Network

Cool Recycled Art!

2009-12-09T10:16:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone,
I stumbled across this and thought it was neat. It's some fabulous artwork, all created from recycled materials!

If you're interested in doing projects like these, but on a much smaller scale, check out WesRUM (Wesleyan Students ReUsing Materials)! Email Alex Provo (aprovo at wesleyan.edu) for more information!
Happy Holidays and good luck with finals!
~Hannah~

EON Constitution Proposal

2009-05-10T22:20:00.008-04:00

Mission:

EON is a network of students that work together both to raise awareness of and implement working solutions to environmental issues both within and beyond the Wesleyan community.

Purposes:

1. Provide a network for sharing information and collaborating among environmental groups and campaigns on campus.
2. Provide an accessible environmentalist community that acts as a hub for recruitment.
3. Provide the space and resources for members to work together on unified, large-scale campaigns.

Structure:

1. EON holds monthly meetings that are facilitated by two Coordinators.
a. Meetings take place on Monday nights at 9:00pm. The Coordinators decide on the specific dates at the beginning of each semester.
b. The purpose of these meetings is primarily to coordinate among the several environmental groups and campaigns on campus.
c. Meetings also provide the opportunity for EON members to select particular issues or campaigns to collectively focus on.
2. EON consists of standing committees, ad hoc committees, and independent groups.
a. Standing committees have at least one chair or contact person who holds the central responsibility for coordinating the committee’s interaction with the larger group.
i. Each committee keeps an updated list of active members, and all such lists are given to the EON Secretary.
b. Ad hoc committees are created and dissolved as necessary to plan for one-time events and campaigns.
c. All groups with an environmental focus, including those that wish to remain organizationally independent from EON, are encouraged to designate members to attend EON meetings, with the objective of forming close and lasting partnerships.

Leadership Roles:

1. All EON leaders are nominated and democratically elected during the first meeting of each semester. If a leader cannot come to an EON meeting, ze is responsible for designating someone else to fill hir role.
a. Two Coordinators
i. Organize and facilitate monthly meetings.
ii. Take charge of student recruitment.
iii. Check and respond to emails sent to weseon@gmail.com.
iv. Assist and guide committees when necessary.
b. Treasurer
i. Keeps track of all EON funds.
ii. Acts as the group contact for the SBC.
1. All committees should make requests to the SBC through EON rather than on their own.
c. Secretary
i. Takes minutes at all meetings.
ii. Sends out email updates to the EON community.
d. Administrative Liaison
i. Facilitates communication between students and university administrators.
e. Social Coordinator
i. Organizes informal social events.

Standing Committees (subject to change):

- Energy
- Compost/Waste
- Awareness
- Landscaping

Ad Hoc Committees (subject to change):

- Earth Day
- Focus the Nation
- Dining
- Procurement

Independent Groups (subject to change):

- SAGES
- WSA
- Long Lane Farm
- Farmers Market
- Bike Co-op
- Earth House
- Outing Club
- WesDems

Spanish Lit and Alternative Energy...in one comic?

2009-04-27T06:09:00.005-04:00

Possibly my dream come true.
I realize it's been months, and that in all likelihood no one is still reading, but as long as I'm around this blog will never completely expire. And anyway, this was just too good not to share:

(via xkcd)

Plastic art

2009-01-05T20:41:00.011-05:00

I've mentioned things like this before, but somehow it never gets old: art made of plastic bottles! Check out this design sponge post on Gülnur Özdağlar. My favorites are his bowls (see left).

Court Sides with Greenpeace

2008-12-14T17:31:00.006-05:00

Last year, six Greenpeace activists attempted to shut down a coal-fired power plant in Britain by climbing the chimney and painting the Prime Minister's name down the side. The defendants pleaded not guilty and focused their defense on 'lawful excuse' (we have the 'necessity defense' in the U.S.), which excuses those who break the law when it serves a necessary greater good. The jury recently accepted the defendants claim that they shut down the plant in order to defend from the global impact of climate change and they have been acquitted of all charges.

Aramark Study on Trayless Dining

2008-12-14T16:44:00.005-05:00

The Aramark food service company recently released the results from an extensive study on trayless dining that involved 186,000 meals at 25 colleges and universities. Their findings showed a 25-30% reduction in food waste per person on trayless days, which in some schools added up to more than a 50 pound reduction in food waste per person over the course of the year! Might traylessness be in Wesleyan's future?

EON Week!

2008-12-02T11:33:00.001-05:00

Here's the schedule of events/activities for this week!

Waste Awareness: Trayless Week at Usdan
ALL WEEK, 12/1-12/6 [Due to some difficulties, look for this sometime later in the week]
lunch and dinner, Usdan Marketplace
Currently, we throw away 150 lbs of food waste every day at lunch. Food waste will be collected and measured at each meal during the week of 12/1-12/6. Let’s see how much waste we can reduce by not using trays! *trays will be available for those who absolutely require them.

Film Series: Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest
TUESDAY, 12/2, 8 pm
PAC 002
Fern Gully is a childhood classic not to miss. With such talent as Tim Curry, Robin Williams, and Christian Slater, Fern Gully just might be the cutest and most hilarious representation of deforestation and pollution out there.

Film Series: Double Feature: “Is God Green?” And “Gimme Green”
WEDNESDAY, 12/3, 8 pm
PAC 002
“Is God Green?” is part of the PBS series Moyers on America. It “explores how a serious split among conservative evangelicals over the environment and global warming could reshape American politics.”
“Gimme Green” is a short documentary “that examines the American obsession with the residential lawn.”

What is Sustainability at Wesleyan? Dinner and Discussion
TUESDAY, 12/2, 5:30 pm
Usdan 108
A dinner and conversation about the current state and future of sustainability efforts at Wesleyan. Bill Nelligan, Director of Environmental Health, Safety, and Sustainability will give a presentation on Wesleyan’s Green House Gas Report. Discussion and brainstorm to follow.

Flower installation in Usdan
THURSDAY, 12/4
lunch and dinner, Usdan ground level table
Learn about a proposal we’re writing to replace grassy areas on campus with native plants.

Pi Café cups interactive art installation
SUNDAY, 12/7
afternoon, Pi Café
Experience how many cups we use each week at Pi Café. Reusable mugs will be available and there will be a discount for those who purchase drinks with a reusable mug.

We hope to see you there!

Event: A Photographic Window on Causes of Climate Change

2008-11-04T14:14:00.004-05:00

A Feet to the Fire-related photography exhibition is opening tomorrow (Wednesday) at the Van Vleck Observatory. The exhibition is put on by students in an astronomy class this semester (Seminar on Astronomical Pedagogy) and is "a visual documentary exhibiting waste and carbon use excesses on campus." After the opening, there will be a viewing session through the observatory telescopes.

Event: Photo exhibition

Date: 11/5/08

Time: 7:30 pm

Location: Van Vleck Observatory

More about this and other Feet to the Fire events can be found here.

Inigenous Activist Leo Cerda To Speak Thursday!

2008-10-28T21:04:00.002-04:00

SDS and EON bring you Leo Cerda!

Leo Cerda is an indigenous human rights and environmental activist from Ecuador. He was born in the Amazon region of Ecuador, and his activism has focused on that area. Since he was 14 years old he has been fighting oil exploitation in the Amazon region of Ecuador, speaking in indigenous villages across Ecuador about the costs and consequences of the oil industry. These costs range from the destruction of the local environment to global climate change. He has also worked to support sustainable alternatives to oil for indigenous communities, including organic products cooperatives.

He will be speaking about the destruction he has seen and experienced in the Ecuadorian Amazon, what local groups are doing to resist this destruction, and what we, as American college students, can do to help.

He will speak Thursday October 30th at 6pm in Exely 150.

Energy in the Elections

2008-10-20T09:00:00.003-04:00

"The presidential race grabs the headlines, but it is hardly the only contest that matters for the future of energy and climate policy." -Kate Galbraith, New York Times

Check out the the New York Times' list of energy-related races here.

Climate Justice Workshop, Tuesday October 21st

2008-10-16T22:59:00.004-04:00

On Tuesday October 21st, activist and musician Evan Greer will be facilitating a workshop called "Connecting the Dots of Climate Justice: Community Autonomy and Sustainability." The workshop starts at 4 30pm and it will take place in the WestCo Cafe. It will be followed (after a break) by a concert in the Cafe at 9pm with Evan Greer, Broadcast Live and Crocodiles.

Below is a description of the workshop and a link to the flyer!

hope to see you there!
Connecting the Dots of Climate Justice
Workshop / Strategy Session
with Evan Greer of the Riot-Folk! Collective & Rising Tide

This popular-education workshop weaves together music, stories, guided discussion, images, and games to help groups to identify and understand the root causes of climate change and the related systems attacking our planet and our communities. With this knowledge, we will brainstorm creative responses that everyone can take part in.

Climate Change is too often framed as simply an issue of too much carbon in the atmosphere. Climate Justice is about seeing climate change as the product of hundreds of years of colonialism and other forms of injustice, and recognizing that the communities who will be most affected by climate change are the same communities who are already oppressed by this society.

Everyone has something to bring to the discussion, and we will cover topics and ideas ranging from gender liberation to community gardening. The focus will be on identifying ways to strengthen local organizing and connect with other social movements in our area.

Facilitator Evan Greer is a twenty-three year old activist, educator, and musician from Massachusetts. He tours internationally as a political songwriter and is a founding member of the Riot-Folk! Collective, a group of 9 musicians who work together to use their music to support grassroots justice organizing. Evan has spent time as a relief worker in New Orleans, a street medic at the G8 Protests in Scotland, and a youth and community organizer in Boston, where he currently lives. His deep involvement in movements for social and ecological justice gives him a unique perspective on the many ways that we can address the problems facing our planet and our communities.

[formatting edits: alex, 10/19]

Things that are happening in the near future

2008-10-16T16:18:00.003-04:00

The near future being this weekend...

Green Corps Info Session TODAY (Thursday) at 7 pm in PAC 002
Where on Earth are We Going? Seminar, Saturday 8:30-12
Table under the Festival on Foss Hill tent this Saturday from 12-3

Film Series: The End of Suburbia

2008-10-13T20:52:00.007-04:00

The EON film series presents

What: a film about oil
When: TOMORROW, Tuesday 10/14 at 8 pm
Where: PAC 002

Composting with Green Machines

2008-10-12T17:43:00.007-04:00

You may have all noticed some strange, green plastic barrels around campus. They look something like this:

Well, they aren't just any plastic barrels, my friends; they're green machines! And they are just waiting to be filled with your food scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags and wilted flowers! All you have to do is put in your compost, give the barrel a spin and you will have done your part in composting at Wesleyan.

The only rules are:
1. No meat, dairy, or large amounts of grease (protein takes longer to break down) and no plastic, paper or metal. Everything else organic goes in to decompose!
2. When you're done turning the barrel, please leave it lid down so that unwanted liquid can drain out.

The compost, when broken down, will be driven out to Long Lane Farm to help the vegetables there or will substitute fertilizer on beds around campus.
If you live near a green machine (look for them on Fountain, Lawn, by WestCo, near Fauver, at Mocon Circle, near Low Rise, at the Wash. Houses, in front of Usdan and in the Butts Courtyard), you can just use an old yogurt container, pot or bowl (with a lid) to store your compost until you have time to walk it out to the green machine to empty it.
Thank you for composting- the worms and I love you for it.

For more info on compost:
http://vegweb.com/composting/
http://compostguide.com/
If your green machine is full or smells horrible, e-mail compost@wesleyan.edu!

Article: Is immigration an ecoissue?

2008-10-11T11:46:00.012-04:00

I came across this article while cruising through online news this morning.

It brings a lot to the table and could make for quite the discussion.... I'd like to hear what people think.

[This is a world map showing carbon emissions from 2000. Check out all the different ways you can see the world @ worldmapper.org]

On a similar note, I'm reading an amazing book right now called Hope's Edge, which is Frances Moore Lappé's follow-up from Diet for a Small Planet. In Hope's Edge, Lappé and her daughter travel around the globe meeting with a variety of people who are trend-bending in the face of so much that's wrong with the world. The book's a few inches thick but an easy, enjoyable read, so if anyone wants to borrow it when I'm done, let me know. It's for sale at Broad Street, too. If your optimism and hope ever need a boost, this is the book for you!

[formatting edits: alex, 10/12]

Photo of the Week

2008-10-07T23:27:00.003-04:00

(tree on a beach in niantic, ct)

Environmental Symposium on October 18th

2008-10-06T23:28:00.003-04:00

Check out this article in the Wesleyan Connection about the upcoming Environmental Symposium, to be held Saturday, October 18th in Science Center 150. There's more information on the website of the Environmental Studies Certificate Program. Speakers will include Wesleyan's very own climate change celebrity, Gary Yohe (pictured above), William Blakemore '65 of ABC News, and Richard Houghton of the Woods Hole Research Center.

CAKE

2008-10-03T20:08:00.000-04:00

(This is John McCrea, the lead singer of Cake. After one concert, I managed to catch him out back and somhow spluttered, of all questions, "do you like Kurt Vonnegut?" Why I asked that, I don't know. For the record, he said yes).

Cake has been my favorite band for a hugely long time. Once, in high school, I drove three hours and went through the giant pain that was booking a hotel room as a minor (it involved some calls from my mom) because I wanted to see them so badly. My favorite game is "guess the Cake song" (mostly because I get it right pretty much every time). Needless to say, I'm obsessed.
Part of the reason I keep coming back to Cake is that not only is their music amazing, but they are a band that actively cares about things. A glance at their news page quickly reveals that issues like big oil, global warming, and Washington politics are important to them. They definitely have strong opinions and aren't bashful about being upfront about them, but they're not just talk...they actually do things, like encourage concert-goers to carpool, give away trees at concerts, and install solar panels on their studio. Here's a video about their solar panel installation:

Pretty cool, yeah? I'll leave you with one of my favorite songs (predictably, it's impossible for me to choose just one). Enjoy!

Toxic: Garbage Island

2008-10-02T00:43:00.003-04:00

I heard about this web series last semester in my student forum, and finally got around to watching it at the beginning of this year. It's a 12-part series of web episodes chronicling the travels of three VICE magazine reporters as they journey to the Pacific Gyre, the location of the elusive "Pacific Garbage Patch." The result is hilarious, hip (there's a lot of American Apparel), and even a little raunchy (there's some kissy kissy at one point). The level of plastic contamination in the ocean is driven home with visuals of the samples they collect along the way and interviews with the captain and researcher on board. The basic deal is that there are TONS of tiny bits of plastic in the ocean (which happen to collect at this point in the Pacific Ocean where four major currents intersect). The plastic bits come from everything from regular trash to industrial waste (especially common and terrible are the pellets leftover from the manufacture of plastic items). Lots of the plastic is bisphenol-A, a pretty nasty chemical.

Anyway, there's lots more (much more than I can summarize here) in the videos, so check that out. Also read this article written by Thomas Morton (the guy from the web series) about his frustrations with environmentalist types and also an interview with Michael Shellenberger (author of The Death of Environmentalism). He's all about focusing on industry and the development of that instead of trying to limit or "just use less." Personally, I'm for reducing and using less, though I do think it would be most productive to work on both fronts (encourage industry along with trying to foster a cultural shift to a less consumption-obsessed society). But I also still need to actually read the Death of Environmentalism, so who knows, maybe that'll impact my opinion.

Photo of the Week

2008-09-30T15:02:00.003-04:00

Look how breath-taking our world is!
(I took this from an airplane, flying over Mexico this summer. It strikes me how the urban sprawl looks like its crawling over every spot of green. This view of the earth makes me want to go hug some trees and help conserve it even more. )
-Aurora

Tonight's collective action: Green Jobs Now

2008-09-29T12:04:00.004-04:00

(students at wes declare their readiness for green jobs)

Green Jobs Now action day was a success! We collected upwards of 70 signatures and took some sweet photos (see above). If you missed us in Usdan, it's okay: you can still sign the petition (you just don't get to take a snazzy picture with the sign).

At least we're not in the five that fail?

2008-09-16T18:41:00.003-04:00

Check out Sierra Club's "Cool Schools" roundup of the top ten eco-minded colleges and universities. We're not on the list...yet! There's also a list of "green reads" that looks sweet...hypothetically speaking, since who has time to read a book outside of class?? (Power to you if you do).

I just posted this on Wesleying, but...

2008-09-12T16:44:00.000-04:00

...the Ginger Ninjas are coming to Wesleyan TOMORROW! The concert is in conjunction with a ResLife BBQ (which means food is only for Hi Rise/Lo Rise and T-Square residents) but the music is free for all.

In 2007, the Ninjas became the first band in the history of rock and roll to tour by bicycle, unsupported by automobile. On a 5,000 mile odyssey from their home in Northern California to the pyramids of southern Mexico, they promoted transportation cycling while also exploring the frontiers of pedal-generated electricity, using their own bikes to power a hyper-efficient sound system. (Sounds pretty much amazing to me). They call their style "mind shaking love groove folk funk roots rock explosive international pedal powered mountain music for a pleasant revolution."

See this video for more:

See also:
-myspace
-website

What: Ginger Ninjas epic bike-powered concert
When: Saturday, 9/13 at 1:30
Where: High rise/Low rise courtyard

Tree Removal on Campus

2008-09-11T00:58:00.002-04:00

(Maple from Lot U...which is by Freeman??)

Justin at Wesleying just posted a great thing about tree removal on campus. Apparently, Physical Plant keeps a photo log of every felled tree (plus a little more)...

Links:
Wesleying post on the subject
Physical Plant grounds website

Creative pursuits + climate change

2008-09-05T13:21:00.004-04:00

UCS (The Union of Concerned Scientists) and Penguin Classics (the book publisher) are compiling an anthology titled Thoreau's Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming...and you could be in it!

From the website:

"The Union of Concerned Scientists and Penguin Classics—along with bookstores across the country—are encouraging all aspiring writers and photographers to submit their personal stories and images about global warming for publication in a new online book to be published in 2009, Thoreau's Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming.

The submission process is open to anyone in the United States through November 15, 2008. A panel of judges will select the top essays and photographs to be included in the book. Writers and photographers whose submissions are selected for publication will receive a limited edition printed copy of the book and will be invited to participate in book promotion activities."

More at the website.

Winona LaDuke lecture

2008-09-03T21:12:00.003-04:00

Winona LaDuke gave a talk today entitled "Indigenous Thinking about a Post Carbon, Post Empire Economy." It would have been better if I'd posted that before the talk...oops. Anyway, she was a powerful speaker and a very inspiring woman. She advocated for a cyclical worldview rather than the linear one we currently ascribe to, arguing thinking in cycles is the way to sustainability. I highly recommend her book All our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. I read it freshman year and I'm really glad to have been reminded of it today because it represents an important perspective on our relationship with the natural environment. During her talk, LaDuke detailed actions her community (the White Earth Reservation) has taken to grow local foods, install solar panels, and concentrate jobs on the reservation so people don't have to commute to off-reservation jobs. She said that if her community could do it, so could we. This really inspires me to continue working for change here at Wesleyan--I hope it does the same for you.

Waste Not! Tag Sale

2008-08-30T10:27:00.002-04:00

Waste Not! is finally here!!! YAY!

When: September 1, 3-5 pm (come early!)
Where: 190 High St and the corner of Church and High

BRITA + recycling?

2008-08-25T13:08:00.007-04:00

(image via Take Back the Filter)

Last year, I emailed BRITA about recycling my water filter. Yes, I'm one of those people. They responded with a speech about how much BRITA cares about the environment, etc, but that the filters are not recyclable because they contain heavy metals. After that, I pretty much gave up and decided plain old tap water was easier anyway.

Today, however, this Ideal Bite tip brought back memories of those bygone efforts. Apparently, you can recycle BRITA filters in Europe! Now there's a petition you can sign about getting them refilled/recycled in the US. You can also write a letter to Clorox execs and/or send your used filters to the Take Back the Filter campaign. Since most of us preferred filtered water in EON's bottled water taste test last year, this might be something to do.

Links:

Take Back the Filter Petition
Take Back the Filter Letter Form
Take Back the Filter Website
Fake Plastic Fish (a blog about reducing the use of plastic products, run by the creator of Take Back the Filter)

Dorm Guide: Laundry

2008-08-25T02:58:00.004-04:00

(cartoon by Dave Walker)

However frequently you do laundry (I realize this post may be theoretical for some, but bear with me), there are many ways to do it.

Machines
The washing machines at Wes are high efficiency machines. All you need is two tablespoons of detergent (that's about to line one of the detergent cap). In general, it's a good idea to do a large load of laundry rather than a small one. Just make sure not to overload the machine or your clothes will stay dirty.

Also, it's best to wash with cold water (whether you're washing whites or colors). If you have a nasty stain (...), you might want to do warm or hot...but for most of your washing cold is good (that's the "Bright Colors" setting on the washers).

In terms of dryers, it's better to use a drying rack. If you're using the dryer, though, you can take your clothes out early to save energy. The dryers run on 60 minute cycles and you don't need all of that time to dry your stuff.

Detergents and Fabric Softeners
Go for a phosphate-free detergent (phosphates cause algae blooms in waterways). There isn't really a concensus as to which is better: liquid or powder detergents. Some say powdered detergents are better for mud and related stains and that liquid is better for oily, food-type stains. I'm more interested in powdered detergent right now (well, as interested as I can be in that type of thing), because powdered detergent doesn't include water and you know, I'm trying not to waste that stuff. Treehugger also likes powdered detergent.

Dropps: I haven't tried these yet, but I like the idea. They're little half-ounce packets of detergent that dissolve in the machine. They come in a pouch (not a bottle or a box).
Ecover: this is what I currently use (detergent and fabric softener). The bottle and cap are both #1 plastic (which means they're recyclable in CT). They're good about disclosing all ingredients, but some are still vague (perfume...um, what kind of perfume?). Hmm. These products are available at the It's Only Natural Market on Main Street (herein referred to as ION).
Soap Nuts: these are not detergent--they're nuts! Really. Buy some here online or I think I've seen them at ION. Here's a post on GroovyGreen about them. Bonus: you can compost them!
Oxygen Bleaches: if you're going to bleach things, this is an alternative to chlorine bleach products. This website is extremely informative.

For more, see the ION website.

Sodium Lauryl Suflate
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is a foaming agent present in lots of cleaners. Dangerous or not dangerous? According to Tom's (the toothpaste company now owned by Colgate) and the American Cancer Society, the answer is no. It's not cancer-causing, but it is a skin irritant. Still, there are a bunch of people out there who advocate against it. I think it's pretty hard to find a cleaner without it (it's what makes stuff sudsy). Note that when a product says a cleaning agent is "coconut derived" that probably means it's SLS (because SLS is derived from coconut oil).

Links:
Treehugger's Laundry How-To
It's Only Natural Market

Dorm Guide: Sleeping

2008-08-24T08:49:00.003-04:00

(This is my room from freshman year. Though it may not look like it, this is my room in it's cleanest state)

Alrighty. This is the first in a series of posts about some of your options when it comes to living the green life at Wes. Whether you're arriving for the first time or the fourth, this should help you discover some alternative products and practices.

So, sleeping. Eco-friendly bedding is difficult to come by; you'll probably have to order it online. Also, it's expensive--not usually under $100. I've included mostly items that come in Twin XL (the size of the beds at school, which is 39x80 inches) with a couple of exceptions.

With that said, the Waste Not! Tag Sale is happening one week from today! You can get bedding there for super cheap. Otherwise, organic cotton and wool are good things to look for. Just so you know, modal, which is made from beech tree fibers, seems eco-friendly but is actually very chemically processed.

Sheets

Hemstitch lace sheets from Lifekind
ABC carpet and home (this place appears to stock organic sheets and such, but not online...the stores are in New York).
Simply Organic sheets at Bed Bath and Beyond (not Twin XL, but cheaper)
Organic Sheet set from Target (not Twin XL, but again, cheaper than most)
Coyuchi Organic Percale Twin XL (there are also sateen, flannel, and lace percale styles available in Twin XL)
Bamboo Twin XL sheets
Clean Air Natural Twin XL sheet set (halfway down page; lots more stuff on this website).

Mattress pads

Dax stores carries mattress pads made from wool and/or cotton.

Pillows

Dax stores also has pillows (cotton, wool, buckwheat...doesn't a buckwheat pillow sound like fun?)

Blankets

Dax stores carries a variety of organic cotton blankets.
Heart of Vermont also stocks blankets and comforters made of organic wool and cotton.

Futons

Heart of Vermont has an entire section devoted to futons.

DIY
Heart of Vermont has some DIY supplies (fabric, batting, pillow kits) so if you want to make your own bedding, you can!

DIY bedding supplies

Here are some other guides to (relatively) earth-friendly fabrics you could use to make your own bedding:

Green Guide's fabric breakdown
Aurora Silk
Near Sea Naturals
Organic cotton at JoAnn Fabrics (there's one in Cromwell)

Links:
Dax Stores
The Green Guide (put out by National Geographic; this guide is indispensable)

CT Food Producers Student Forum

2008-08-23T12:47:00.003-04:00

Ellie and Tressa are leading a student forum this semester on CT food producers:

In this forum, we will learn about food growers and producers in CT. We will take weekly fieldtrips to visit farms, dairies, restaurants, bakeries, and factories to develop an understanding and appreciation of Connecticut made foods and the processes in which they are produced. There will be readings each week relating to the places we visit and workshops about making bread, cheese, preserved foods, etc. The site visits and workshops will be a practical application of the assigned readings. Participants will also be required to help organize and run the weekly Wesleyan Farmers Market.

If you're interested, contact teaton at wesleyan.edu.

Pocket Shopping Guides

2008-08-18T19:45:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to point you in the direction of this Ideal Bite tip about pocket guides to help you make more informed shopping choices. Very handy for those of us who need something written down if there's going to be any hope of remembering it (me).

Google's commitment to the environment

2008-08-11T03:14:00.003-04:00

I knew Google was green or whatever, but hadn't looked into what that actually means until very recently. Here are some highlights:

RechargeIT: Google has been keeping track of how many MPG its fleet of hybrids and electric cars get and publishing the results. One goal is to demonstrate how plug-in hybrids work. Here's an excellent video on just that.
Solar Panels: the campus in Mountain View sports a 1.6 megawatt solar panel installation, apparently one of the largest corporate installations in the US (see here).

Links:
Google's green initiatives
Google.org (Google's philanthropic arm)

EDIT: This week, at the National Clean Energy Summit, Google announced its plans to finance research into EDS (Enhanced Geothermal Systems). It's touted as a reliable, consistent, global energy source (as compared to wind, which is intermittent and available in fewer places). Anyway, here's a Dot Earth post on the subject.

Website Review: Treehugger

2008-08-04T12:07:00.000-04:00

(image from the Treehugger about page)

Treehugger (affiliated with the Discovery Channel and Planet Green) is an enormous resource for pretty much everything related to the environment. It can get extremely overwhelming (so much so that in the About section, there's a 12-step program to help you most effectively use the site...), but it's possible to narrow down the content with categories like Design + Architecture, Food + Health, Science + Technology, etc under the "Get Informed" section at the top. If your attention span is fully charged, this is a great resource for information from How to Green your Sex Life to the latest on ocean acidification. They also have a separate website called Hugg, which is a blog of "user-submitted green news."

I'll leave you with picture of Bill Nye the Science Guy (because we all know I think he's bomb):Here's an interview with him on Treehugger.

Ludacris vs. Tommy Lee

2008-08-02T17:30:00.005-04:00

(image via Treehugger)

This August, TLC is showing reruns of the Planet Green (Discovery Channel's eco-network) show Battleground Earth, in which Ludacris and Tommy Lee "battle against the toxic forces destroying Mother Earth as they travel across the country on a 10-episode tour." Here is a not so glowing review of the show, but maybe it'll be one of those so bad I have to keep watching it shows. In any case, it airs every Thursday at 8 and 11 pm on TLC. According to Ecorazzi, Planet Green has said that the show is supposed to be entertaining and not preachy. I'm interested to see if this is an effective way of involving people who usually don't care, or if it trivializes/waters down the issues too much. I'd like to check out other shows on Planet Green, like Stuff Happens (which stars Bill Nye, because seriously, who doesn't have a soft spot for that guy??)

Links:
TLC's Battleground Earth airing schedule
Planet Green Website

The Princeton Review's Green Ratings have been unveiled

2008-07-31T01:49:00.004-04:00

And we got a 92 out of 99. Cool! Here's the methodology behind the rating and here's the list of schools who scored a 99.

Blog: Tiny Choices

2008-07-30T00:38:00.004-04:00

Tiny Choices is a great blog run by Karina Tipton and Jenn Sturiale. It's just what the name implies: a blog about the small choices we make in our daily lives and how those choices can be made with the environment in mind. They have a sweet weekly roundup for those of us who need our information in small portions (uh, hi) as well as other regular features like the Easy Peasy Tip and the Tiny Choices Survey (filled out by readers). The blog is very readable and the posts are relatively concise (does anyone else find themselves tuning out halfway through a long article or blog post? What's happening to my attention span?! Perhaps part of the answer lies here). Anyway, the blog is full of interesting tidbits. Maybe I'm weird, but I'd never heard of a shampoo bar before...I may have to try that out.

Wesleyan Magazine writes us up

2008-07-29T03:07:00.003-04:00

Just a heads up that Wesleyan Magazine (a publication my parents thoroughly enjoy) has an article about us (well, sustainability in general) in the most recent issue (which you can't access online just yet). My personal favorite quotes are

1) "The EON membership has been remarkably effective in..using research and information as their tools to co-opt the administration." (what now)
and
2) "There's still the search for an alternative path, though the talk now is of 'non-hierarchical' structures rather than non-patriarchical ones and of 'environmental bonding' (doing it in the dark)." (hahaha...clearly someone has been reading the blog, since both of those phrases are straight from the description.)

On the topic of doing it in the dark, someone told me last year that Tufts gives out glow-in-the-dark condoms as part of their "Do it in the Dark" energy competition. Um, we should definitely steal that idea, yes?

Oberlin builds green

2008-07-29T01:27:00.001-04:00

(Photo by Barney Taxel via the AJLC website)

Earlier this month, Inhabitat posted about Oberlin's Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies. Not just a place to learn in, the building is meant to be a place to learn from. One of the great elements of the building is the Living Machine, a water and waste purification system modelled on wetland ecosystems. According to David W. Orr (Professor and Director of Oberlin's Environmental Studies Program),

"We intended to create not just a place for classes but rather a building that would help to redefine the relationship between humankind and the environment."

Speaking of "green" campus constructions, work on the MLSB (to be designed to LEED Silver Standards) seems to be more or less humming along. Check out some plans that are to be presented in mid-August (of particular interest are the Site Plan and Lawn Avenue Concept). It looks like the new building will be placed flush against Exley, with several senior woodframes sacrificed to make room for it and a terraced lawn. Documents relating to the project can be found on your Blackboard.

Links:
List of William McDonough + Partners other academic projects
AJLC Website
Payette Website (architects doing Wesleyan's MLSB Building. We made it onto the College and University Clients PDF list..)

Freeganism

2008-07-28T12:00:00.001-04:00

Jean over at CollegeOTR (who also dreamed up Waste Not!) recently posted on a movement called "freeganism," which is a lifestyle that "employ[s] alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources." (from here). It seems to me like an impossibility to live completely out of our economic system, but it's an interesting idea and I'm a fan of the dumpster diving/recycling of usable items/saving things part (you know that first hand if you're lucky enough to belong to the EON listserv). Anyway, the website is full of info, and some of it is useful (even if you're not interested in going to the most extreme end of the freeganism spectrum).

Green Universities compete for rankings

2008-07-27T22:27:00.004-04:00

There's an interesting NYT article about the recent rush to green university campuses and to become "the greenest" school. I think the article echos concerns we've had as we've pushed for Wesleyan to become more sustainable over the past year: we want to make sure that we're making real change and not settling for "low-hanging fruit."

“It’s important that we focus on the significant rather than the symbolic, or at least recognize the symbolic for what it is,” says Sarah Hammond Creighton, the sustainability coordinator at Tufts. “I think the commitments are generally real, but I worry that the translation into the depth of the challenge hasn’t hit people.”

Along these lines, I think it's important that we recognize that this is a big project we're taking on. Though it's easy to become overwhelmed with all that still needs to be done, we should applaud ourselves for the progress we have made, however slow or small it seems. We're heading in the right direction. Still, we have to make sure that Wesleyan as an institution is not

...focused on where [it] stand[s] rather than on making substantial changes that will reduce [its] carbon footprint. “They can lose sight of the fact that it’s more important to think about where we need to go and what it’s going to take to get us there than about what our peer school is doing,” she says [Jennifer Andres of Clean Air-Cool Planet].

Anyway, I guess I'm trying to say that we've got our work cut out for us, but I think things are going well and that we're on the path to meaningful change. Virtual pat on the back for us. If you haven't checked it out yet, please do take a look at the Green Report. That's where we've been; the big task for this coming year is to plan where we're going.

Powervote!

2008-07-14T12:40:00.005-04:00

Hey all,
Hope you are all having great summers and enjoying the sunshine outdoors. If, however, you somehow find yourself indoors and by a computer (like right now! unless you're outside on a laptop), I have a suggestion.

There is a group called the Energy Action Coalition (Youth United for Clean and Just Energy) that has set up an online pledge to urge the government to create green jobs and stop relying on dirty energy. The movement is supposed to be youth driven, but at the moment the number of signatories on the pledge is, well, sad.

Being (arguably) youth, and being (ostensibly) concerned with the environment, Let's make this plegde less sad, aka more awesome, aka take like two minutes to sign an online document espousing some really cool ideas.

The pledge is here:
http://www.powervote.org/

The main webpage is here:
http://energyactioncoalition.org/

Yea! Wind energy n' stuff!!!
Ok that's all.

Trackable Bananas

2008-07-13T23:58:00.007-04:00

(check out the animation featuring the above banana)

So the other day I was eating a banana (my mom's on an all veggies/fruit/beans diet so suddenly I'm faced with a bounty of healthy things to eat) and I was surprised to discover that I had the option of virtually visiting the farm on which it was produced. Each banana has a sticker with the number of its farm of origin, and you can go online to view a webpage full of info including the farm's organic certifications. There's also an option to view the farm on Google Earth (perhaps slightly creepy, but also kindof cool). My banana was from Hacienda Pérez Quiñonez, located the province of El Oro in Ecuador. (see link)

Anyway, I know that's way more than you probably ever wanted to know about my eating habits, but I thought it was really cool. Usually, finding out where your food comes from requires extensive investigation, and it was nice to be handed that information with the food for a change. At first I was a little skeptical (given the dirty history of big fruit companies and that I'm generally suspicious from reading No Logo) but then I realized that I was confusing United Fruit (now Chiquita) with Standard Fruit (now Dole). Maybe I'm wrong, but I think Standard Fruit has a less violent history than United Fruit's history (which includes a banana massacre). Anyway, this Wikipedia article was pretty informative and brought back hazy memories of the Foreign Policy class I took in high school, so that was fun.

Some things:
-Dole Organics Website
-Banana Wars (you can read portions on google books...)

WALL-E

2008-06-30T00:31:00.003-04:00

I was going to do a post on bananas (don't worry, it'll happen), but I saw WALL-E tonight and had to share. Let's just say I cried...multiple times*, both because it was adorable/touching and dealt with ecological themes. Basically, people consume and throw away so much stuff that Earth becomes uninhabitable and they have to escape in a spaceship. They're only supposed to be gone for five years while the mega-company that controls everything is cleaning everything up. Of course, they can't, and the spaceship remains in exile for 700 years. All the people on the ship are sedentary, glued to phones or TVs, and don't interact face to face. Being 700 years removed from Earth, they have no idea what farming or dancing are. Without ruining the whole thing, I'll just say that a lot of things I think about constantly were in this movie. If you have the chance, definitely go see it.

*probably not typical.

Wesleying loves the Everglades

2008-06-25T00:44:00.006-04:00

So I totally didn't know about this, but thankfully Wesleying is around to keep us updated. Apparently, Florida made a deal with U.S. Sugar to buy their land and restore marshes, etc. Yay! Read the Wesleying post here (regarding the kegger, I guess we'll have to postpone it for a few months; meanwhile, I urge you to celebrate heartily in your respective homes/summer residences).

Also:
Associated Press article

And an alligator:

"Bones" on compost

2008-06-25T00:23:00.005-04:00

Last night I had some free time and nothing to do (ahhh, it felt so wonderful), so I decided to watch Bones (a CSI-type show on Fox). Much to my amusement, the episode last night was about a murder involving compost. Needless to say, it was excellent.

Most interesting to me, though, were the stereotypes perpetuated by the show. If TV shows reflect as well as shape culture, maybe this show is a good example of how some people perceive what it is to be "green" (and by some people I mean skeptics/non-believers). David Boreanaz's character (Booth), is decidedly anti-green. Other characters (like Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan, from whom the show takes its name) advocate environmentally-friendly practices but don't really do a good job arguing for them. Characters also say painfully ignorant things about the environment. Booth and Bones have a conversation in the car in which Booth actually says something to the effect of "if pesticides are so bad why do we put them on our food?" as an argument for them, to which Bones responds with some weak objections before citing a study about alligators in pesticide-contaminated waters having tiny testicles. The main suspects in the case are chilled out organic farmer types who go on yoga retreats and drink a lot of tea.

Before ruining it any further, I'll just say that I enjoyed the episode. You can, too, because the episode is online and there's also a synopsis on the show website.

"Green Noise"

2008-06-17T02:44:00.005-04:00

hey, i took this picture! it's a plant that resides in one of the music buildings in the cfa. i'm sure it was kindof weird that the first and probably only time i've walked in there, i took pictures of their potted plants. oh well!

Oooooopsies, it's been a month! Rest assured, this blog will not fade (also known as I refuse to let it die, haha). Anyway, after a brief hiatus, we/I/you have returned.

Though I don't want to make it a habit to just repost stuff I've read elsewhere, I wanted to point you in the direction of this NYT article and this Dot Earth post. Both are about information overload and its effect on interest in enviromental issues. I've definitely felt the effects of too much information about environmental issues (particularly all that stuff about what I should do to have the least impact), and probably contributed to other peoples' disinterest by being too forceful or whatever with my messages. Anyway, I thought it was an interesting article that really resonated with my experiences.

Also, as I was looking for a graphic for this post (because really, a pretty picture makes the thing ten times better), I found this blog post about dealing with green noise. Here are the three Green Noise Reduction Principles put forth in the post:

Principle one: Do it as simply as possible. The idea: Green doesn’t necessarily have to be a new car; you can get pretty far with a new mindset.
Principle two: Some is better than none. The idea: Green is something that anyone can do by being proactive and becoming aware of their impact on the planet.
Principle three: More is better than less. The idea: Green can be incremental; if you’ve got one earth saving principle down why not add another. Baby steps add up.

As always, thoughts are welcome.

Waste Not! (formerly known as Westuff, formerly known as Dump-and-Run)

2008-05-13T20:50:00.005-04:00

If you read the EON blog chances are you already know about Waste Not, but here's one version of the flyer for posterity:If you click on the image, you might actually be able to read it..! Anyway, spread the word if you haven't already, or leave a suggestion to improve the program if you have one.

Just in case you're interested, here's the website and here's the facebook group.

Feet to the Fire!!

2008-05-09T12:43:00.001-04:00

Here's the schedule of events:

Sky Stage
12noon-12:30pm Electric Junkyard Gamelan
12:45-1:15pm Tom Callinan
1:30-2pm Middletown High School Jazz Ensemble
2:15-2:45pm Mixashawn
3-3:30pm Noah Baerman Trio
3:45-4:15pm Sirius Coyote
4:30-5pm Toussaint Liberator

Earth Stage
12:15-12:45pm Geoff Kaufman
12:45-1pm Independent Day School Poetry--Poems for Two Voices
1-1:30pm Adam Tinkle
1:30-1:45pm Independent Day School Poetry--Poems for Two Voices
1:45-2:15pm Mattabesset Pickers Collective
2:15-2:30pm Independent Day School Poetry--Poems for Two Voices
2:50-3:15pm Poetry Readings by Stephanie Elliot and Colin Haskins
3:30-4pm Being Collective
4:15-4:50pm Collective Implosions

Water Stage
12:30-1:30pm "RJ" and the On-the-Spot Jug Band
2-2:20pm The BX Is Burning (Green Street Arts Center and Oddfellows Playhouse)
2:30-3:30pm ARTFARM's Circus for a Fragile Planet
3:45-4pm Kalimba Liberian Dance and Drum (CANCELLED)

Vendor/Exhibitor Tent
1:15-1:30pm Middletuners
2-2:15pm Middletuners

Video Tent
12noon-5pm Video Exhibition

There will also be a sculpture garden (which features installation works by local artists as well as Wesleyan students!) Also, there will be yummy food...and a GIANT inflatable Earth (I'm pumped about that).

The festival is taking place at Veterans Memorial Park. Where's that, you ask? The google answer:
Hmm, hopefully you can tell that the park is really close and you can totally walk. If that's not your thing, though, there will be a shuttle service and a group biking to the festival:

Transportation Alternatives Middletown will lead a family bicycle ride to the Festival, starting at Union Park (South Green) at 11:30 am.

Shuttle buses will be making stops at the following locations throughout the Festival:

Green St. Arts Center (51 Green Street, Middletown, CT 06457)
Wesleyan University Admission Office parking Lot (Lot E)
Main Street between the police station and Amici’s restaurant (100 Riverview Ctr, Middletown CT 06457). (Entrance to Riverview parking deck on Court St.)

The festival will happen rain or shine! See the website for more information/fun times.

Art and Environment (again!)

2008-05-05T00:39:00.005-04:00

miwa koizumi, plastic water bottles, 2005
installation view at sawaguzo at Redux
(see number 3 below)

Sorry for the extreme lack of posts lately, but school's winding down, blah blah blah. Anyway, in honor of this week's Feet to the Fire Festival (happening this coming Saturday, May 10), I wanted to post a few different examples of "environmental art":

Here is a Dot Earth post about poetry and photography; the post also links to some paintings about biodiversity and cartoons about global warming.
Here's a link to Chris Jordan's photographs. I've been meaning to post about his work for a while, as per requests by various people (specifically ones named Jacob). Anyway, his work is great because it allows you to see the part and the whole at the same time. It helps you to better understand statistics (usually huge numbers) that can be hard to relate to. I actually went to a workshop (a Tuesday Lab with Eiko) on understanding numbers and statistics using art, and the thing I came away with is that you really need to come up with a way to personalize numbers and experience them bodily. Eiko's example was that at a 9-11 memorial, they read all the names of those who died (something like 3000 names) and it took 2 or 3 hours (I can't remember which). Then, every time she encountered a similar statistic, she was able to divide that number by 3000 and figure out how many hours it would take to recite the names. Anyway, I think an understanding numbers and other abstract concepts (which often go along with discussions of climate change and sustainability) is important, and art can help facilitate that understanding.
Here's a link to a post about Miwa Koizumi, an NYC-based artist who makes jellyfish and other sea creatures out of plastic bottles (she calls them PETs). The post is from the blog for the student forum I co-led this semester about Environmental Artwork. I would encourage you to check it out if you're interested in ways artists have engaged with the concepts of nature, environment, and sustainability. I'm hoping to continue contributing to the blog, but hey, obviously I'm not that great at updating.
If you're not too swamped with finals (or are staying around for Senior Week and have some free time...?) I strongly encourage you to check out Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art. I went last weekend and it was really great. It's at the Joseloff Gallery at the University of Hartford. The exhibition will be up until June 10. Also, fun fact: the exhibition announcement doubles as a pot for starter seeds...like, you can fold it up and grow some stuff in it. Free Soil's F.R.U.I.T. project is on display; it's an urban education campaign of sorts. Using fruit wrappers that explain where foods come from, "for Beyond Green, Free Soil will use oranges as a vehicle to explore the complex relationships that make up the worlds Food Systems." (that's from their website). My other favorite piece was a video by Allora & Calzadilla, called "Under Discussion." You can find it here. In it, a man rides a table with a motor affixed to it through various bays/other watery areas near Puerto Rico. The other video shown was of a man riding a motorcycle with a trumpet attached to the exhaust pipe. Though the situations sound somewhat ridiculous now that I've typed them, they're really lovely to watch. Both take the viewer on a journey through the Puerto Rican landscape and highlight (subtly) different aspects of the place. Anyway, I hope you get a chance to check it out.

This is late, but:

2008-04-26T02:08:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow/today (Saturday) is the "Where on Earth are We Going?" Environmental symposium. It goes from 8:30-12:30 and it's in Exley 150. Afterward, there will be tables set up to have people call their reps and senators about climate change legislation (maybe more on exactly what legislation later).

What: Where on Earth are We Going symposium
When: 4/25 (Saturday, aka today), 8:30-12:30
Where: Exley 150

Why Bother?

2008-04-22T11:54:00.003-04:00

Last month, Alexa Jay wrote a Wespeak questioning the value of doing the "little things" in our everyday lives to help minimize waste and energy consumption and reduce our carbon footprints. Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma (he's speaking at Yale on Wednesday), asks these same questions in a New York Times Magazine piece called "Why Bother?" But ultimately, he argues, it is very necessary to bother. Here's a segment:

For us to wait for legislation or technology to solve the problem of how we’re living our lives suggests we’re not really serious about changing — something our politicians cannot fail to notice. They will not move until we do. Indeed, to look to leaders and experts, to laws and money and grand schemes, to save us from our predicament represents precisely the sort of thinking — passive, delegated, dependent for solutions on specialists — that helped get us into this mess in the first place. It’s hard to believe that the same sort of thinking could now get us out of it.

Take a look, and if you know her, forward it on to Alexa.

Wesfest Events!

2008-04-16T11:13:00.005-04:00

These are listed on the calendar (at the bottom of this page/also on the website), but here's what's happening this weekend. Prefrosh (and any other interested parties) very welcome:

Thursday:

10-11am:
Environmental Sustainability Panel
Grace, Elisa, and Barry Chernoff will talk about sustainability initiatives and environmentalism at Wesleyan.
Where: Shanklin 107

Friday:

11:30-1:30(ish):
EON at the Student Activities Fair
We'll have a table! Yay. You can come ask questions/probably do some other things like a bottled water taste test (maybe, I'm not sure if this is actually happening). Just come.
Where: The bottom of Foss Hill

2-3pm:
Environmental Sustainability Panel
Nate, Dana, and Bill Nelligan will talk about sustainability initiatives and environmentalism at Wesleyan.
Where: PAC 001

Saturday:

11am-4pm:
TAG SALEEEE
There will be a tag sale at Earth House. Before the tag sale, you can drop off stuff in the vestibule inside the front door. See the facebook event for more details. Also, there will be some information about EON's Waste Not! Program, which collects all your crap at the end of the year and holds a giant sale the following fall (see the Waste Not! website for more info).
Where: Earth House (corner of High and Lawn)

Water (Ab)Use

2008-04-09T17:15:00.006-04:00

As a good little environmentalist I was brought up knowing that wasting water was a very bad thing. My mom even had a song she sang with the lyrics "you are wasting water, water, running down the drain." It was very catchy and has stuck with me through life. With this little tune in my head as I conscientiously turn off the tap while I brush my teeth, I was pretty certain I was using very little water in my daily life.

This video changed that for me and made me realize how wasteful we are with water as an American culture. The global water crisis is very real and needs urgent attention. I urge you to watch this clip and benefit from a little reality check.

Trayless Tuesday is TODAY!

2008-04-08T10:59:00.003-04:00

In an effort to encourage students to waste less food, there will be no trays available today in Usdan (except for those who absolutely need them). Yippee!

First Friday 5/4: Parks and fun

2008-04-03T18:57:00.004-04:00

GET OUT!

Outdoors, that is. Spring is coming, we think! Learn about the natural resources that surround us and how you can enjoy them.

Come talk with Jim Little from the CT Forest and Park Association and Oriana Korol from Wesleyan's Outing Club

When: Friday, April 4 @ 4:30 pm
Where: Center for Community Partnerships (corner of Church and High)

Friday event at Earth House: Patching workshop

2008-03-31T23:14:00.003-04:00

So you definitely don't have to patch your jeans with a fiery crack, but you know, I guess it's a possible option if you're into that. But seriously, this seems really cool. Patching clothing (not just jeans) is a great way to get the most out of your garmets, which is the more earth-friendly thing to do. Sure, eventually you'll have to buy another pair of pants, but perhaps over the course of your lifetime you will buy one less pair of pants (since you kept this one pair for longer). I mean, that's what I tell myself at least. Annnyway.

What: Patching workshop
When: Friday, April 4, 4 pm
Where: Earth House

Dirt Lecture: "Made from the Dirt: The Place of Humans in Creation"

2008-03-31T23:11:00.002-04:00

John Hall, Director of the Jonah Center for Earth and Art and Minister at First Church of Christ, Congregational, will offer some thoughts to spark a conversation about human nature, including our tendencies to form tribes, innovate, cheat, aspire to ideals, and feel compassion. What are the prospects for successful adaptation to the human-caused ecological crisis? What is the basis for hope?

What: Dirt Lecture
When: Thursday, April 3 at 7 pm
Where: Earth House

Take a Bag, Leave a Bag rack at Weshop

2008-03-31T23:02:00.003-04:00

From Tressa, our dining committee liason:

Everyone should go check out the new Take a Bag, Leave a Bag rack (it's an old nytimes rack in disguise) outside of Weshop.

Go and recycle those paper bags you have hanging around in your room so they can be reused and spread the word about this program. The goal is to really reduce the number of paper bags Weshop has to order each month.

Plastic Recycling Symbols

2008-03-27T15:23:00.003-04:00

Ever wonder what the plastic recycling symbols mean?

Here you go:

recycle

also the wikipedia page here

Earth Hour

2008-03-27T13:26:00.005-04:00

EARTH HOUR: U.S. CITIES TO DIM LAMPS, ILLUMINATE CLIMATE-CHANGE
Twenty-five cities around the world will participate in the World Wildlife Fund campaign.
By Amanda Paulson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the March 28, 2008 edition
CHICAGO - When Brian Becharas sits down to dinner with his sweetheart Saturday night, they'll eat by candlelight.

Guests at the Inn of Chicago on the city's Magnificent Mile will walk into a darkened, candle-lit lobby. And when they look out at the iconic skyline, it will look different: the Sears Tower, the Hancock Building, the Ferris wheel on Navy Pier, and some 200 downtown buildings plan to turn out the lights at 8 p.m.

It's all part of "Earth Hour," an international climate-change awareness campaign that started last year in Sydney, Australia and that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is taking global this year. Starting in New Zealand, and rolling out through dozens of cities, including Bangkok, Thailand; Dublin, Ireland; and Tel Aviv; the campaign is urging individuals, businesses, and landmarks to go dark between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.

READ MORE ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN IN THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE.

Earth Hour 2008

2008-03-25T22:07:00.004-04:00

What: A global initiative to turn off the lights for an hour
When: 8pm this Saturday March 29th
Who: 200,000 people, 24 cities, and us!
Why: Energy awareness
Where: Everywhere
More info here!

Website Launched!

2008-03-17T22:47:00.003-04:00

I love break. Antoine and I finished enough of the website to make it public--take a look and tell us what you think! The website image is the Muir Woods in Northern CA (also above). If you have a picture of some Connecticut scenery, I think that might be more appropriate. I also changed the header for the blog (like, 12 times), so feedback on that is also welcome.

Windbelt, Cheap Generator Alternative

2008-03-06T12:13:00.003-05:00

Here is an interesting new form of wind energy generator. The device is cheap, scalable, and incredibly efficient.

Company Page

Popular Mechanics

Wiki

Wind Power Commercial

2008-03-06T11:28:00.003-05:00

Ben sent the listserve a link to this great ad for wind power. I did not understand at all that the main guy is a personification of wind until the end of the commercial, but yeah, it's pretty clever.

Wespeak: Missing the Forest

2008-03-05T20:26:00.005-05:00

Check out this Wespeak written by Alexa Jay. It's pretty much hilarious. I agree with her that the real solution to climate change/consumerism is a huge restructuring of society, but of course end up frustrated whenever I go down that chain of thought because like her, "I have no idea how that restructuring can happen and don’t pretend to." Well, maybe sometimes I like to pretend to know. Anyway, take a look.

EDIT: hmm, yeah, I don't really know what to think about this. If you have a strong opinion, comment.

Sustainability website

2008-03-05T20:23:00.006-05:00

(image of the button, shamelessly stolen from the Wesleyan homepage.)

Just wanted to let you know that there is a prominent link to the Sustainability website on the Wesleyan front page. It's in the bottom right.

Aurora's Kleenex-busting campaign

2008-03-05T20:02:00.007-05:00

Sorry, bad title. But yay Aurora, who is working hard to rid our campus of Kimberly Clark products. In case you didn't know, the manufacturer of Kleenex tissues, "the Kimberly-Clark corporation, has been unwilling to improve its practices, continuing to rely on paper and pulp made from clearcut ancient forest including Canada’s Boreal forest." (that's from Kleercut.net) This is bad.
Here's the deal so far:

So far, Gina Yeomans and I wrote a proposal for Intro to Environmental Studies about divesting from K-C, submitted it to Weshop, and they are so cooperative - when we got back from break they were gone! We have alternative products, and we did before anyway. Next step : I am currently in touch with a Greenpeace rep, and she helped me find companies that make alternative products for replacing our public facilities and dormitories' paper products! I am meeting with purchasing and waste committee representatives (the facilities managers are on waste) about this. Today I gave them info on K-C's sustainable and unsustainable practices, policies, etc. There is a CNN Money article "Chain of Lies" about K-C misleading the public, etc. We have a contract with K-C, and I haven't heard back about when it expires.. but Jeff Miller upgraded our products, although still K-C, to those with the highest recycled fiber content. I also interviewed with some random online reporter/journalist for Inside Higher Ed about the work on campus. I keep getting random calls from people like that and students at other universities - Berkeley this week - for advice and alternative products.

I couldn't find the CNN article, but here is an Argus article about Aurora and Gina's work, here's a Greenpeace blog entry about it, and here's a blurb on the Kleercut website.

Also, here's a video of undercover Greenpeace reps sabotaging a Kleenex commercial. It's from last March (we posted about it but I really like embedding videos so I'm putting it here, too).

If you're interested in this issue, want to get involved, whatever, email weseon@gmail.com.

EDIT: here's the CNN article (from 2006, which is TWO YEARS AGO?! what.)

EON Argus Column Debuts

2008-03-01T11:02:00.001-05:00

Compost article in the Argus!

Dream House!

2008-02-29T13:13:00.005-05:00

Casa OS is GREEN. It features reduced energy and intelligent use of water. My favorite part is the sod roof -- similar to the new California Academy of Sciences building. The best part? The architects at Nolaster weren't even aiming to create an especially green home. It just kinda happened.

Read more about Casa OS at gliving.tv.

Re-Shirt.

2008-02-28T17:46:00.003-05:00

Austria-based Re-Shirt sells used and cleaned t-shirts with a story behind them -- on their website, a photo of each tee is posted along with a great memory that the former owner had with it (ex: made out with my hot crush, big job promotion, got accepted to med school, etc). Re-Shirt provides a way for the new owner to carry on the memory and create their own with it, continuing to post their experiences on the site using the shirt's ID number and give it back when or if they choose to.

Essentially: Like vintage, but interactive! From an environmental standpoint, the company also does a great job by supporting reuse rather than buying new clothing.

From their site:

"'Re-Shirts clearly represent a whole new way of managing resources. With the comparatively low amount of energy needed to wash, print and deliver the Re-Shirts it is possible to keep existing cotton resources in circulation. The fact that the stories of the previous owners are of central importance for the Re-Shirts can also be seen as a âsocial upgradeâ. Re-Shirts are a concrete example of how we can come to understand circular flow economy. A model that we should most certainly also consider for other resources and products.'

Facts and Figures about Conventional T-Shirt Production:

Cotton production and processing is organized globally : Each year more than 20 million tons of cotton are produced.
Extremely large amounts of water are used in the cotton production process. On average, 20,000 liters of water are needed to produce 1 kilogram of raw cotton.
The extreme amounts of water needed for growing cotton have resulted among other things in the drying up of the Aral Sea, one of the biggest environmental catastrophes of our time.
On top of that are the use of pesticides and the high energy consumption: approximately 10% of the pesticides produced world-wide are used in cotton growing.
Environmentally safe cotton growing is a viable alternative. Intelligent watering can reduce the amount of water needed by two thirds. That is of course only possible if the total production amounts do not continue to increase.
Approx. 30 megajoule (or 8.3 kWh) are needed to produce 1 kilogram of raw cotton fibers. In Germany alone, the average cotton consumption per person and year is 11 kilograms."

Link: Re-Shirt Story Store.
To donate: Re-Shirt Donations.

More about "greenness" and culture

2008-02-22T22:06:00.004-05:00

First of all, "greenness" is probably the strangest looking word I've come across recently. Just take a look at it.

Anyway, here's a Wespeak in response to Andrew's Wespeak from Tuesday.

Bottled Water Film Contest

2008-02-22T17:54:00.004-05:00

From an email sent to the listserve:
Food & Water Watch recently launched a student video contest, where college students are invited to make and submit videos about the bottled water issue. The winning film maker will be awarded $1,500, and their video will be posted on the FWW website for all to see. The contest should be a fun way to build some buzz around the issue and hopefully generate some cool new videos, plus we've got some great judges deciding the winner, including Alec Baldwin (actor), and Joseph Bastianich (food and wine guru). More info here.

Campus Sustainability Jobs

2008-02-22T17:41:00.005-05:00

Hmmm...interesting article about sustainability coordinator positions in universities and businesses. Some quotes:

"There's been a real blossoming of these types of programs," said Julian Dautremont-Smith, associate director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. "It's really great seeing college campuses take the lead on this kind of stuff. It's an important role for them to play."

"You wouldn't think of not having accountants in the accounting office, right?" said Christopher Wells, an assistant professor of environmental studies at Macalester. "This is the same thing."

"It's important to have an advocate [on campus] for this kind of change," Goodnough said. "This position is a seat around the table. Someone to ask the questions, do the homework and find ways we can do things better."

As of now at Wes we have a Sustainability Committee but no position devoted solely to issues of sustainability on campus.

Could green destroy culture? Maybe...but maybe not.

2008-02-20T23:53:00.006-05:00

On the subject of Abu Dhabi's new green city (also see the Dot Earth blog post about sustainable cities), here is a link to one of yesterday's Wespeaks, entitled "Could green destroy culture?"

I thought this was a really interesting opinion. The author notes "While the environmental advantages of promoting and constructing green cities are clear, such planning may also accelerate the homogenization of, and even destruction of, cultures around the world." He points to the dominance of Western economic and cultural practices as a major culprit in a worldwide decline in cultural diversity.

I find myself agreeing that there is a danger of cultural homogenization that accompanies the rise of super cities...and that "industrialization, global capitalism and technological innovations that facilitate communication and transportation" are "all features of a modernization process and mindset that has accelerated the homogenization of cultures around the world." I definitely see that the dominance of a Western model isn't helping the "climate crisis"--particularly in regards to consumption patterns elsewhere in the world(there's that whole mindset of "why should we cut our emissions when you won't do anything about your own? if you can live that way, why not us?" which to me is pretty understandable).

However, I want to point out that there is another sector of the "green" movement that is not about large, potentially homogenizing technological advances. Maybe I'm exaggerating this, because I don't know how big it actually is, but there definitely exists a movement championing all things local. Recently there has been a push to grow and eat food locally, to encourage biking and other forms of alternative transportation, and to make communities more conducive for walking (New Urbanism). The key to this movement is diversity--diversity of transportation, of food, of options. I believe cultural diversity fits in here, too. To me, to advocate for the local is also to advocate for multiple and varied ways of living--for different patterns of living.

Personally, I've been grappling with the huge question "how much do we give up to be green?" (I'm pretty sure I've alluded to this crisis in other posts, somewhere in this blog). Becoming a greener person means giving up or modifying significantly certain elements of our existence. My example is paper. I love the feel of paper, especially books...and in particular owning my own books. Paper products hold meaning to me beyond just their functional use--they are imbued with some sort of romantic quality I have a hard time defining. Great...but one of the things you do as an environmentally conscious person is to cut down on your paper usage. And while I'm definitely not going paperless any time soon, the eco-part of me is constantly nagging and pushing for the rest of me to give it up and read my course pack or whatever online. The point I'm trying to make is that yes, the green movement does have the potential to destroy or cut down culture (whether on the grand, global scale of cities or in the minutiae of my life and maybe yours), but the local aspect of the movement has the potential to do the opposite.

Okay, props to you if you actually read that. I just went on a major rant instead of rewriting an art history paper that I really need to fix. Hahaha...(in case you can't tell that was one of those "I'm laughing because I'm really screwed and actually I'm crying" laughs). Anyway, what do you think?

Climate Counts

2008-02-20T23:31:00.005-05:00

Emilie sent me an email about this website called Climate Counts (yay Emilie!). It's basically a rating service that assesses "how serious companies are about stopping climate change."

Climate Counts use a 0-to-100 point scale and 22 criteria to determine if companies have:
MEASURED their climate "footprint"
REDUCED their impact on global warming
SUPPORTED (or suggest intent to block) progressive climate legislation
Publicly DISCLOSED their climate actions clearly and comprehensively

Seems cool. They have info for 60 companies at this point. I was confused at first because this seems like a relatively small number--but once you take into account the fact that most of the companies listed are mega-corporations and that therefore lots of well-known products fall under them...it's a pretty decent list. Each company's info page features a list of "representative brands" (for example, Odwalla is owned by Coca-Cola so it's listed there). I also found this interesting list of what media companies own (like General Electric owns Universal Pictures...?). Actually, now that I'm getting on a tangent, if you're interested in corporate issues i've been reading a book called No Logo by Naomi Klein for like, a year (I think I actually left it at home this semester because I really just don't have time to read it). But from what I've read I would recommend the book. Aaaanyway, back to Climate Counts: they have a nice pocket-sized shopping guide, if you're into that.

EON appears in Wikipedia!

2008-02-19T00:08:00.002-05:00

Sarah just informed us (the listserve) that we're on Wikipedia. Hell to the yeah.

"There are a wide variety of other clubs and organizations, including departmental organizations and other interest groups. A prominent one of recent years has been the Environmental Organizers' Network (EON), which has helped to bring discussions about climate change and environmental sustainability to the forefront of campus dialogue."

The United Arab Emirates Plans Sustainable City

2008-02-18T23:47:00.004-05:00

Check out this link, but don't be fooled by the movie trailer production. Stay critical!

Will you green my valentine?

2008-02-13T23:53:00.004-05:00

(image from inhabitat)

I just got an email from Live Earth directing me to a nice blog post about organic chocolate and flowers. There are some interesting bits of information (like "A 2 lb. shipment of flowers can end up emitting 3 times that measure of greenhouse gas emissions"), so that post might be worth a read. My favorite part of the email, though, was a tip on recycling valentines:

CLIMATE CRISIS TIP: Recycle your Valentines!
Don't throw away that candy box! Decorate those heart-shaped boxes left over when the chocolate's gone and use as picture frames, earring holders, or backpacks for dolls. Use Valentine's wrapping paper, ribbon, and leftover lace as decorations.

I'm sorry, but backpacks for dolls? What? If you make a doll backpack out of your recycled valentines, please let me know--I would love to see that. No, I need to see that.

"Reducing your carbon footprint just got a whole lot tastier!"

2008-02-13T23:28:00.004-05:00

Climate Change Chocolate wrapper (with tips)

Over winter break I spent a decent amount of time at Borders (it's my very not-guilty pleasure to peruse the art history section there and pretend I know what I'm looking at). Anyway, you know how they always have a bunch of crap at the front, designed to seduce really impulsive shoppers (basically, me)? Well, they really got me with Climate Change Chocolate. When you buy a chocolate bar, made by Bloomsberry & Co, terrapass purchases 133 lbs of carbon offsets (which is equivalent to an average person's CO2 output per day). At first I was like hey, okay, fine...but chocolate is imported, and that eats up a bunch of fossil fuels blah blah blah...except that the website says "the carbon emissions associated with the production and distribution of the chocolate bar has been balanced out." Hmm! Perhaps this is an example of a way we can maintain certain aspects of our lifestyle while still being eco-friendly. As much as I'm a huge proponent of eating locally, I realize that most people (including myself) would be more than a little reluctant to give up chocolate (btw, Climate Change Chocolate really is tasty). But then again, it doesn't seem like this product is a big seller (it was 50% off when I bought it, which makes me feel like Borders wanted to get rid of them). I'm pretty sure you can get it at Whole Foods, just FYI.

I put my new shoes on and suddenly everything is right

2008-02-12T00:06:00.000-05:00

Via Nau:

Non-Stop Shoes (NSS) from Camper and Emil Padòs harness the energy you use daily just by walking around. After a day of wear, your steps have charged a battery which can power small appliances such as iPods. Exciting! Too bad I'm not really into the mustard/ketchup color combo.

Wespeak: Obama's for the Environment

2008-02-05T23:07:00.001-05:00

Check out Bekka's Wespeak endorsing Obama.

SIGG water bottles

2008-02-05T15:50:00.001-05:00

Just a heads up that Broad Street sells SIGG water bottles. They have the design pictured in blue and red, a blue yin-yang design, and a camouflage bottle.

Siggs are touted as better for your health (due to leaching that happens with Nalgenes and other plastic bottles). According to the My Sigg website, "Due to SIGG's special, proprietary internal coating, these high-tech bottles are resistant to fruit juice acids, energy drinks, alcohol and virtually any consumable beverage. Because the liners are taste and scent neutral, you can enjoy any beverage you'd like – without any lingering smell or taste of the last beverage you drank. The composition of the liner also reduces the chances of bacteria build-up. And because the liner is virtually baked into the inner walls of the bottle, it will not flake or chip even if dented on the outside.
Recently, there has been a lot of press concerning Lexan plastic water bottles (Polycarbonate #7) leaching harmful chemicals into the container's ingredients[maybe they meant contents]. It's extremely important to note that SIGG bottles exceed FDA requirements and have been thoroughly tested to ensure 0.0% leaching – so they are 100% safe."

Anyway. I promise I'm not working for Sigg...I just really don't want to do my reading right now.

Political Environment

2008-02-04T19:36:00.001-05:00

Nate sent the listserv this NYT opinion article on Bush's (in)actions regarding global warming with the exhortation that we contemplate the topic as we head to the polls tomorrow. Speaking of which, in case you missed it, here's a link to Grist's candidate chart and my attempt to make sense of what the hell "cap and trade" actually means.

Focus the Nation

2008-02-02T11:51:00.000-05:00

We did iiiiiiit!!!! Thanks to everyone who participated this past week. It was a really fantastic event (er...events). Thursday was great and the party was a success--we made tons and tons of money for some awesome charities. Have a look at this Argus article for a recap.

Contact Your US Representative About Climate Change

2008-01-29T20:00:00.001-05:00

In the spirit of the change that Focus the Nation is ultimately trying to bring about, please click here to tell your Congressional Representative that climate change should be a legislative priority.

A new geologic age is upon us

2008-01-28T18:56:00.001-05:00

Just imagine another little section on top in which we're wearing clothes and depleting every natural resource we can get our hands on. Yippee!

From Dot Earth:

Some earth scientists are pushing to enshrine officially a decades-old idea — that Earth is now in a biogeochemical era of our own making that should be distinguished from the Holocene, the epoch that began with the end of the last ice age.

It'll be called the Anthropocene (you know, "anthro" meaning "human" and "pocene" meaning...um, yeah).

Andrew Revkin (author of Dot Earth) on the subject (also yoinked from his blog post):

"...The challenge now is to find a way to act that will make geologists of the future look upon this age as a remarkable time, a time in which a species began to take into account the long-term impact of its actions. The alternative will be to leave a legacy of irresponsibility and neglect that will manifest itself in the fossil record as just one more mass extinction — like the record of bones and empty footprints left behind by the dinosaurs.”

I really love the description of our actions being manifested in the fossil record...I mean, I don't love that it'll be a manifestation of something kindof awful, but it's sortof a neat image/description that I definitely hadn't thought about before.

Connecticut and Global Warming

2008-01-28T00:13:00.002-05:00

In the spirit of this week's monumental EON event happening on Thursday (see below), check out this amazing film/video called "The Connecticut Plan to Fight Global Warming" below (or here). It's made by the CT Fund for the Environment. They visited EON last semester and are awesome. It's 21 minutes long-ish and certainly worth your time.

FOCUS THE NATION + party!

2008-01-28T00:10:00.002-05:00

FOCUS THE NATION is finally happening!

Brought to you by EON, the Environmental Studies Program, Long Lane Farm, the Sustainability Advisory Committee, and the Feet to the Fire Project, Focus the Nation is a teach-in day about climate change solutions. The day includes many amazing things like discussions in classes, a keynote speaker, a bunch of panels on the different facets of climate change (such as policy responses, corporate and institutional responses, and social justice) as well as a circus. Yes, a circus.

What: Focus the Nation
When: Thursday, January 31st,
Where: see the nifty schedule for all the day's events

Okay, the other thing I wanted to say is that we're having a PARTY PARTY PARTY (called Hot Spot) at Psi U on Friday (which would be February 1st). Here comes my cheesy line that I'm really proud of: climate change is real...and while not all locations on earth will experience warming, I guarantee that temperatures in Psi U are going to be on the rise this Friday (it actually does get hot in there sometimes, right?). Tickets go on sale TOMORROW in Usdan and will be available for cheaper outside of Focus the Nation events.

The lineup:
10:00 DJ HARRISON SCHAAF
11:30 THE EBB AND THE FLOW
12:30 THE KINKY SPIGOTS

Tickets are:
$ 2 for FTN event attendees
$3 in advance
$4 at the door

Proceeds go to Oxfam America and Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice! Fun fact (kindof): Chris McCandless donated all his savings to Oxfam before he went on his adventure...into the wild. Alllllrighty.

What: Hot Spot Partay
Where: Psi U
When: 10 pm on Friday, Feb. 1st
Entry Fee: $2-$4

Double-sided printing!

2008-01-23T17:47:00.001-05:00

Good news for being green at Wes!

Lab computers are now FINALLY (due to a loving collaboration between EON and ITS) set to print double sided by default for ALL lab printers. (Color printers will still be single sided printing only.)

THIS SAVES YOU MONEY! It costs you 7¢ to print one sheet with two sides, but 5¢ for each single sided page. Therefore, you save 3¢ for every two pages you print. For every 200 pages, you save $3. AND sooo many trees. Ohhh the savings!

There are directions next to EACH computer explaining how to turn the function off, in case you need to (which you don't).

Please print double sided whenever you can!

Art+Environment

2008-01-18T20:53:00.001-05:00

Check it ouuuuuut:

From the CFA website:
Festival 2008
Saturday, May 10, 12-5pm
Veteran’s Park: Located just off Newfield Street (Route 3)
Middletown, CT
Free admission

Copresented by Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts and Environmental Studies Program, the Jonah Center for Earth and Art and the City of Middletown

Feet to the Fire will assemble a diverse array of artists (you), scientists and other thinkers to address the environmental challenges that face us today on a global scale and in our own communities. Enjoy performances, art and music by campus and regional artists, while learning about the impact of climate change on our world. Award-winning choreographer Ann Carlson will premiere a new site-specific work commissioned by the Festival. The Festival also features interactive displays and exhibits on energy conservation and sustainability by environmental scientists and a farmer’s market with local organic food vendors.

If you're interested, download the artist submission form. You can also go to the CFA website and get it from there (you have to scroll down about halfway to find the blurb).

Student Forum
There's also a student forum related to the festival. It's called Environmental Art: Artistic Responses to Global and Local Environmental Issues. It'll basically be a study of visual and movement-based artworks relating to the environment (including earthworks and more socially conscious projects), along with whatever the people in the class want to study. The end project is a piece for the festival that you get credit for...! Email me (aprovo@wes) for more info.

More about the Election

2008-01-16T12:48:00.000-05:00

I'm slowly discovering that Save Our Environment is sortof an impossible website to navigate. They DO have a campaign going on now (it's just hard to find-I found out about it in an email they sent to me). They're running a petition to urge news reporters to ask more questions about global warming when they interview the presidential candidates (out of 2275 questions, 3 were about global warming). The informational video is above and the petition is here.

Donate your clothes

2008-01-15T15:19:00.001-05:00

Keep clothes out of the landfill! Okay, that was my attempt to connect this to environmental concerns. I know you probably aren't about to just throw away clothes. In all seriousness, though, if you don't wear something anymore (in my case, jeans that I'm finally accepting as too small for me), it would be nice to donate it to someone who actually will wear it. Keep clothes in circulation or whatnot instead of molding in your closet. So anyway, before you return to campus, dig around for jeans or old prom-type dresses and accessories. You can bring them back to school and donate to these projects:

1. Teens for Jeans

Email me (aprovo@wesleyan.edu) if you want to participate or have questions. I'll probably put a box somewhere once we get back to campus. If you don't want to go through me, you can also take the jeans there yourself (you get 20% off toward a new pair of jeans).

2. Princess Project (see here and here for official websites)
From Anna Pratt '08:

From January 20th-Mid February, I'll be collecting dress and accessory donations to give to an organization based out of San Francisco called the Princess Project. They collect old prom dresses and accessories and give them to high school students who can't afford to buy their own.

I'll be sending the dresses to their branch in Windsor (near Hartford) so that area students can have them.

So, if you'd like to donate, gather up all of your old dresses (they accept formal gowns, cocktail dress, bridesmaids dresses, and anything that's nice) and accessories (purses,jewelry, wraps, shawls) and I can pick them up once you get back to Wesleyan or you can give them to me at Fauver apts 307.

There are a few guidelines for the dresses that the organization has in order to ensure they're in good condition:

They must be in good condition (no rips, stains, etc)
They must be dry-cleaned
They should be from 2002 or after (so that they're not really out of style)

Contact me with any questions: ajcpratt@gmail.com

Taking Action

2008-01-14T02:47:00.000-05:00

I keep seeing this book around called The Lazy Environmentalist. I haven't actually read it but I don't think I agree with the message, which is basically that you don't have to sacrifice any of your lifestyle to be green (you can decide for yourself by checking out the website). Anyway, the point of my bringing that up was that the title pretty much describes me a lot of the time (as much as I hate to admit it).

One fairly important facet of environmentalism is political lobbying. For most of us, that means calling or emailing state representatives. If I had to figure out how to do that myself, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't get done (sometimes I'm an ideas person and not really an action person). Lucky for my conscience, there are a bunch of websites that set it up for you by providing convenient "take action" buttons and prefab letters (which you can customize, of course). Just as a warning, you will get emails often if you sign up for some of these lists.

Union of Concerned Scientists: This group sends action alerts fairly frequently if you subscribe to the UCS Action Network. They also include a personalized email in the action emails they send you (so all you have to do is click "Take Action" and you can send an email to whatever representative or official needs to be contacted for that campaign). They run a lot of campaigns ranging from food safety to energy issues. There are also some newsletters you can subscribe to (a digest specifically about food and one entitled "green tips"
Sierra Club: This website has too many actions to count (see, I told you I was lazy). Once you become a registered user, you get personalized actions as well as an action history (cool). There are actions under such categories as "America's Wild Legacy," "Safe and Healthy Communities," and "Smart Energy Solutions"
Environment America: This organization is a federation of 23 state environmental groups whose focus is "to build support for federal legislation." It's a pretty easy site to navigate--there are sections for each issue (New Energy Future, Stopping Global Warming, Healthy Oceans, Clean Air, etc) and on most pages there is a "take today's e-action" box. Here's the Environment Connecticut website.
Save Our Environment: Like the Sierra Club website, this one has a personalized actions and action history profile type thing. It's harder to tell if some of these actions are up to date, but hey. The fact is, they're partnered with Ben & Jerry's to create a website called Lick Global Warming, which includes a Global Warming Game called "Ben & Jerry's Eco-Mission." Definitely worth a look.
Clean Water Action: This is a more specific website about...water-related issues. Okay. They offer national campaigns as well as state-by-state listings of petitions and such. Right now there's a campaign underway regarding the Clean Water Act ("The Bush Administration is attempting to redefine what waters would be protected under the Clean Water Act by issuing a series of policies that offer "no protection" for our critical water resources"). They're accepting public comments until January 21st, so that's something you could do now if you're interested.

If you know of any other helpful websites or whatever, leave a comment!

Eco Blogs

2008-01-08T19:27:00.001-05:00

Winter break is good for blogging (you know, during commerical breaks of the Top Model marathon). In addition to our blog (which I know you read avidly, right?), you might want to check out these blogs for some other perspectives:

Dot Earth: this blog is a New York Times blog about global warming. "In Dot Earth, reporter Andrew C. Revkin examines efforts to balance human affairs with the planet’s limits. Supported in part by a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, Mr. Revkin tracks relevant news from suburbia to Siberia, and conducts an interactive exploration of trends and ideas with readers and experts."
RealClimate: this is basically a blog (I don't think they explicitly call it one, but hey) run by scientists. "RealClimate is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists. We aim to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary. The discussion here is restricted to scientific topics and will not get involved in any political or economic implications of the science."
No Impact Man: this blog is a guy's record of a project begun in November, 2006. New York City resident No Impact Man (plus his wife, toddler, and dog) seek to have no net impact on the environment during their one-year experiment. I guess it's still going because he's still updating the blog...
Save Your Trash: "Because there is no such thing as away..." I found out about this story a few days ago on the news. Basically, this guy from Berkeley (Ari Derfel) saved ALL of his trash for a year. Here's the original news article about it (he also has some links to news videos about the project on his blog).

How Green is Your Candidate?

2008-01-08T18:41:00.001-05:00

Since today is the day of the New Hampshire Primary, I added a green candidates widget to the blog (it's underneath the "Beyond Wes" links section). Check it out! Grist has a really great section on their website about each of the candidates (My favorite part is the chart).

As I was exploring the chart, I realized that I definitely didn't understand what the deal is with the cap-and-trade system and the carbon tax. Well, now what I understand is this:

First of all, there are different types of cap-and-trade. One is called grandfathering, in which carbon credits are basically given to corporations for free. The other is auctioned cap and trade, in which credits are auctioned (duh, I know, but bear with me). Anyway, the difference is a question of who keeps the revenue (with grandfathering, the companies hold on to it). With both the auctioned cap and trade and the carbon tax the government keeps the money.
A big point of difference between the cap and trade system and the carbon tax thing is that the carbon tax provides price certainty (the price of carbon is set) whereas the cap and trade system provides certainty about the actual emissions reductions (all that is from this article, which I found through this article (also informative), which I found through Grist).

There was a lot of back-and-forth about the issue on Grist in early 2007, so if you're interested in reading more, here's a list of some relevant articles.

Gary Yohe's position is in favor of a carbon tax. Here's an excerpt from a Scientific American article that appeared in November:

SA: What is a good policy solution?

GY: I prefer a carbon tax for lots of reasons. I think that it would be easier to administer. There are a few thousand points of entry for carbon in the U.S. economy and a few tens of millions points of entry for carbon into the atmosphere. The revenue from a tax could be used for lots of smart things, like technology research and development or reducing the regressivity of the climate tax by lowering the income tax. You could also pay to reduce the vulnerability of people who work in sectors particularly hard hit by climate policy. Or the carbon tax could be used to underwrite carbon mitigation options; you could, for example, buy back the carbon if someone has taken the initiative to develop a way to capture and store it.
I don't prefer cap and trade in the case of carbon dioxide, even though it worked for sulfur dioxide in this country. Unlike acid rain damage, which depends on current sulfur emissions, all you need in the case of carbon is for the average emissions to fall in a predictable trajectory so their sum over 100 years falls below a desired target. Whether it's high or low in one particular year doesn't matter. It is most economically efficient to allow emissions to bounce around an average as they move along a lowering trajectory. A tax allows that, cap and trade doesn't.

Bottled Water Results

2008-01-05T22:53:00.001-05:00

Way back when (by which I mean a couple months ago) we held a bottled water challenge at the farmer's market. Finally, the results are in!*

Out of 172 total participants, the following preferred:

Filtered: 74 or 43%
Tap: 37 or 22%
Bottled: 39 or 23%
No preference: 22 or 13%

Alright, so tap and bottled were pretty close (I'm going to come right out and say that I was really hoping tap water would win). But whatever, I'm going to console myself by providing you with a link to this National Geographic article about how bottled water isn't your best option. And this link that demonstrates how pretty Sigg water bottles are.

*Which means I finally remembered where I wrote them down.

New Year Ushers New Laws Regarding the Environment

2008-01-04T20:22:00.001-05:00

New Year's Day brought much more than 2008. Several new state laws and local ordinances regarding the environment also took effect on January 1. Some of the new laws as of Tuesday include:

-Maine retailers must accept used cell phones for recycling
-North Carolina businesses that sell alcohol must recycle beverage containers
-Oregon is including fuel-saving guidelines in its drivers manual, which will be included on future tests for new drivers
-The city of Chicago sales tax on bottled water increased by five cents
-Illinois mandated energy-efficient light bulbs in buildings larger than 1,000 square feet
-Minnesota banned mercury in everything from new stoves and barometers to over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and toiletries

New Laws for Connecticut after Jan. 1 include:

-Expanding a temporary state sales tax exemption for passenger cars that get at least 40 miles per gallon to all passenger trucks and vans with the same fuel efficiency. The exemption runs from Jan. 1 of this year to July 1, 2010.

-The state's secretary of the Office of Policy and Management must prepare a plan to encourage the use of biodiesel heating oil blends in state buildings and facilities.

-A new rebate program will be established for residential electric customers who replace their old air conditioners with ones that meet federal Energy Star efficiency standards. The rebates range from $25 to $100 for room air conditioners, depending on the cost, and at least $500 for residents who replace a central air unit. The program runs until Sept. 1, 2008.

-Each car or light-duty truck in the state's fleet must have a fuel efficiency rating in the top third of vehicles in its class. And between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2009, at least 50 percent of the state's purchased vehicles must be alternative-fueled, hybrid, electric or plug-in electric vehicles. It must be 100 percent starting Jan. 1, 2010.

Middletown High School to Run on Fuel Cell in Fall

2008-01-04T20:08:00.000-05:00

By the fall of 2008, Middletown High School will install a fuel cell thanks to a state grant of $800,000. The fuel cell is expected to generate about 20 percent of the school's total electrical load at a cost less than buying the electricity off the power grid.

What’s Your Consumption Factor?

2008-01-02T02:00:00.001-05:00

Interesting Op-Ed in the Times by Jared Diamond (author of Guns, Germs, and Steel) about the exorbitant—and woefully unsustainable—levels of consumption in the developed world, especially the United States.

Also, here's a good Times editorial about the environmental agendas of the presidential candidates. Thankfully, these issues have garnered much more attention than they ever did in 2000 or 2004, but will widespread environmental concern just be a passing fad like it seems to have been in the 70s? Maybe the realities of global warming will make this time around very different.