Sustainability Bulletin January/ February 2016
4 RecycleMania 6 Trashion Fashion 8 Sustainability Speaker Series 10 #UAlbanyGivingTuesday 12 Around Town
What s Happening on Campus January 22nd at 3PM Farewell Party for Mary Alexis University Hall Atrium January 27th at 2:45PM Power Dialog and Clean Power Plan Humanities 20 February 7th through April 2nd RecycleMania Competition February 15th at 7PM Connected by Coffee Film The Madison Theater February 23rd at 7PM "After Paris, The World Needs New York: The Next Step to Save the Future" Campus Center Assembly Hall March 29th Trashion Fashion MyInvolvement Submission Deadline April 5th April 6th April 7th Power Dialog Campus Center Ballroom Trashion Fashion Dress Rehearsal Campus Center Ballroom Trashion Fashion Show Campus Center Ballroom For a full event calendar, click here.
2016 marks UAlbany s ninth year competing in RecycleMania, a friendly national competition among over 400 colleges and universities to see who can recycle the most. During the course of eight weeks beginning on Feb. 7th, schools across the United States and Canada report data on their recycling and trash, which then is used to designate rankings based on who recycles the most on a per capita basis, as well as which schools have the best recycling rate as a percentage of total waste and which schools generate the least amount of combined trash and recycling. Here at UAlbany, recycling is made easy. Our university offers a comprehensive, single-stream recycling program, which means that you can toss cardboard, paper, cans, bottles, and plastics in one bin. Your recyclables travel from that bin to the Recycling Center, where they are sorted so they can move on to a second life. For some items, such as bulk cardboard and paper from offices, we choose to send this to a separate recycler because they are more valuable. Have a break today? Check out this Ted Talk titled We Can Recycle Plastic. In ten short minutes, you will gain a new outlook on the stuff in your life.
"Reduce" means using fewer resources in the first place. This is the most effective of the three R's and the place to begin. One easy way to reduce use less paper is to only print when you need to, and when you do, print double sided. Before you recycle or dispose of anything, consider whether it has life left in it. Reusing keeps new resources from being used for a while longer, and old resources from entering the waste stream. Water bottle refilling stations are placed across campus to make it easier to use your water bottle. Recycling is the "R" that has caught on the best. Here at UAlbany, we have commingled recycling, which means you can put all your recyclables in the same bin!
Save the date for UAlbany s Third Annual Trashion Fashion Show! The show is a creative and fun event for students to showcase their artistic side, while raising and practicing environmental awareness. Students, faculty, and staff are challenged to create an outfit made up of recycled or upcycled materials. The submission categorizes are: Student Group, Quad, Greek Life, Individual, LLC, and Campus Office. The winners for each student category will be awarded with cash! The best faculty or campus office design will win a free breakfast! This is an official call for volunteers to serve on the Trashion Fashion Committee! Please email gogreen@albany.edu if you would like to help out with planning the show, designing the set, or if you are interested in performing or being an emcee.
Important Dates To Remember: March 29th Trashion Fashion MyInvolvement Submission Deadline April 6th Trashion Fashion Dress Rehearsal Campus Center Ballroom April 7th Trashion Fashion Show Campus Center Ballroom
In April 2016, more than ten thousand students across the country will speak their truth about power. The Power Dialog is organizing nationwide meetings between college, graduate, and high school students with their state officials in charge of implementing the EPA s Clean Power Plan. Under the EPA Plan, states are required to reduce global warming pollution from the electric power sector -- 32% by 2030. In accordance with the national event, the University at Albany will be hosting the New York State Power Dialog on April 5th, 2016. On Wednesday, January Director of the Bard Ce Policy on Power Dialog University at Albany abo the Clean Power Plan. T place at 2:45 The University at Albany Spring 2016 that aligns w Judge Eleanor Stein will b Power Dialogue: Convers Energy and the Environm
January 27 th 2:45PM in Humanities 20 What is the Power Dialog and Clean Power Plan? Eban Goodstein, Director of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy on Power Dialog February 23 rd 7PM in Assembly Hall After Paris, The World Needs New York: The Next Step to Save the Future Hunter Lovins, Founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute March 22 nd Time and Place TBD Professor Tomislav Friscic from McGill University on Green Chemistry April 5 th 6PM in Campus Center Ballroom The Power Dialog Richard Kaufman, Chairman of Energy and Finance for NY (tentative) Jared Snyder, Assistant Commissioner, Office of Air Resources, Climate Change and Energy, DEC 27th, Eban Goodstein, the nter for Environmental, will be speaking to the ut the Power Dialog and he presentation will take pm in HU 020. created a course for ith the Power Dialog. e instructing POS204: ations on Climate Change, ent. This course explores the current scientific and social understanding of climate change and responses to it, both locally and globally. It culminates with the Power Dialog, an organized public meeting including top state government officials discussing how to meet the goals of the Paris agreement, the national Clean Power Plan and New York s commitment to clean energy. To get involved or attend this event please fill out this survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/ r/8sykdfy
Thank you for your generosity to the UAlbany Sustainability Fund on Giving Tuesday! We d like to extend our sincerest thank you to all of those who donated to the Sustainability Fund to help us meet our goal on Giving Tuesday! The Office of Environmental Sustainability worked with the UAlbany Fund to set a $2,000 goal, and an anonymous donor matched each gift! The support of the UAlbany Sustainability Fund is crucial in assisting the Office of Environmental Sustainability build a culture of environmental consciousness on campus and provide programming. This spring, the UAlbany Sustainability Fund will support the Power Dialog, which will allow students from across New York State to engage in a face-to-face dialogue with state-level regulators about implementing the Clean Power Plan. This initiative would not be possible without your support!
Ch Ch Ch Changes This spring, we ll be saying goodbye to the Office of Environmental Sustainability Program Assistant Mary Alexis Leciejewski who has been with us for the last three years. Join us as we say goodbye to her on Friday, January 22nd from 3PM- 5PM in the University Hall Atrium. Cassidy Drasser will be filling Mary Alexis s shoes for the spring semester. You ve probably seen Cassidy around the office or during sustainability programs as she s been working with Mary Ellen since she was a freshman. Now she is finishing up her Master s degree in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Policy and is ready to take the reigns as the spring Program Assistant.
Summer Intern Summary Peregrine Falcons Return Almost Full Moon Hike On February 6th at 1PM, the Audubon Society of the Capital Region presents Peregrine Falcons Return. Mathew Perry of the Utica Peregrine Falcon Project will share a fascinating presentation on his work fostering the first and second pairs of Peregrine falcons to nest and fledge young in downtown Utica, NY. The presentation will be held at Mabee Farm Historic Site. Enjoy the Pine Bush at night with a hike under the full moon. Plan to walk 1.4 miles over rolling topography stopping intermittently to look at the night sky and for night vision and sound observations. Meet at the Discovery Center on Friday, January 22nd at 6:30PM and then caravan to the Blueberry Hill west trailhead (# 5). Participants must provide their own transportation.
Bike Share Cooking with Oddball Grains How to Do It: Identifying Trees in Winter Does Honest Weight s Bulk Department make you dizzy with choices you re not quite sure how to pronounce, let alone cook? Leyla and Levi will guide you through preparation methods for some of our nutritious and delicious, if a little unusual, grains in this oft-requested class. Class begins at 2PM on Saturday, January 23rd at the Teaching Kitchen at Honest Weight Food Coop. Tree identification can be tricky. We often start by looking at the leaves on trees. But what do we do in winter when there are none? Practice identifying deciduous trees with the Winter Tree Finder and conifers with the Tree Finder as our guides. If you have your own finders, bring them along. We will have several for loan for the program at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center on Saturday, January 30th at 2PM.
Decolonizing Sustainability Film Series