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Tuesday, October 11, 2011
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Showers 70% chance of rain HIGH LOW 67 58
Issue 37 I N D E P E N D E N T
Vol. 118 S T U D E N T
PUBLISHED SINCE 1906
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SPEAK commences Sustainability Week Members emphasize little changes to effect greater environmental sustainability Jasmine Jensen Staff Writer Getting involved and making small changes in your daily habits can have a large impact on the environment. Common tasks such as recycling are enabled with the placement of bins in each student’s dorm room. Students Promoting Environmental Action in Knoxville (SPEAK) has kicked off Sustainability Week in an effort to increase awareness on campus. “It (going green) is a step by the university to keep up with this changing era of environmental consciousness towards making the world a better place,” Justin Lawrence, an undecided freshman and SPEAK member, said. Lawrence’s motivation to get involved has also been a driving force for many other students on campus, including Maria Rosales, a senior in interdisciplinary studies. “I got involved in SPEAK because they drive most of the environmental campaigns on campus,” Rosales said. “It is a great organization where students can work to make a difference towards making UT and the community more sustainable.” Students who feel unsure of where to start in the transition of going green need only to look on campus for a host of activities aimed at promoting environmental sustainability. The students of SPEAK are reminding all students of the small things they can do to help. The mug project giveaway will be held on Oct. 12 on the Pedestrian Mall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Reusable, USA-manufactured mugs will be given away and can be used at campus Volunteer Dining facilities with the offer of 99-cent coffee or soda or 15 percent off specialty coffees. According to organizers, this is a step to reduce the amount of disposable cups used on campus while offering an incentive to do so. Students can also participate in the light bulb exchange on Oct. 12. Students wishing to participate must bring incandescent bulbs down to the lobby of any residence hall and exchange them for CFL bulbs. Exchanging CFL bulbs for energy-efficient incandescent bulbs can greatly reduce the amount of energy consumed by dormitories with an easy fix. One event on Sustainability Week’s agenda that has caught the attention of some is the Coal Kills Flash Mob. The flash mob
will be held at 12:15 p.m. Thursday on the Pedestrian Mall. The students of SPEAK are demanding to move towards more clean energy and to step away from coal for good. At the sound of a blow horn in the middle of a class change, students will drop dead and shout out a fact about coal and its harmful effects. After the flash mob, those wishing to participate will carry signs and posters and march to the chancellor’s office and demand that UT clean up its act and start going green. “First, we want to use this event as a kick off to our campaign to move UT towards 100 percent clean energy,” Rosales said. “We want the chancellor, students, faculty and the community to know that students will be the driving force towards change. We want to give the chancellor a letter, request a meeting with him and over the course of the semester we will be collecting petitions.” This action is only one of many national events sponsored by the Energy Action Coalition, where students are uniting 100 actions across cities and campuses to more clean energy solutions. Aside from these activities, there is plenty students can do alone or with others to get involved and make the environment a better place to live in. Logan Nester, also an undecided freshman, said his efforts in going green included recycling and watching his water consumption. Both freshmen have decided that they could do more research to check out other resources offered to them when it comes to actively making decisions about being green. Neither of these freshman has opted to participate in the Coal Kills Flash Mob taking place Thursday, but Nester said, “I would definitely love to see it.” To conclude the week, SPEAK will be hosting a free vegetarian cookout. Veggie burgers and dogs will be provided and the cookout will be joined by Beardsley Farm and Food Not Bombs. Just by watching water consumption and using the recycling bins all over campus, students are already making a huge difference in a change that would affect all people. With always more to be done, students are encouraged to go online, do research and figure out the other efforts going on to move towards healthier living and cleaner energy usage.
Wade Rackley • The Daily Beacon
Tiffany Booker, senior in forestry, recycles her copy of The Daily Beacon in between classes on Monday, Aug. 23, 2010. This month marks UT Office of Sustainability’s annual POWER Challenge, which aims to help those around the university increase their recycling and lower their impact on the environment.
Author urges female pique in football Lauren Kittrell Student Life Editor
Tara Sripunvoraskul • The Daily Beacon
Savanah Cacace, sophomore focusing on pre-med, prepares to set the ball for a teammate during a pickup game of volleyball on the outdoor court between Dunford, Greve and Henson Hall on Thursday, Oct. 6.
Christie Leigh Mueller was born in the heart of Dixie and now strives to make the SEC an important part of her professional and personal life through her writing and lifestyle. “Gridiron Belles: A Guide to Saturdays” in Dixie was written after Mueller found that her love of SEC football was not commonly found among the women of the Southeast. When her sisters in Kappa Delta failed to comprehend her passionate disappointment over a pass interference call, Mueller realized the need for an appeal to the women of the SEC. Though Mueller said she was not always interested in being a writer, her time at Rhodes College prepared her for the work she does now. “I went to school at Rhodes over in Memphis and I thought that every Southern belle understood football like I did,” Mueller said. “I thought it was one of those things we were all supposed to know and we all did know, but it turns out that’s not the case!” The idea originated after a sorority sister asked for help with her football knowledge and sparked after Mueller made a small scrapbook on SEC football for her friend. After seeing the success of her small scrapbook, she realized the potential her idea held. Mueller realized that football was considered a predominately male interest and spent many years writing and researching to end this misconception. She saw the need to change the mindset of a region through her writing. “There’s such a feminine side and such an important feminine role in football,” Mueller said. “Think about tailgating. That’s just a glorified hosting: It’s just being a hostess outside. The ideas are the same of wanting to invite people to be together and to really entertain people and make them feel welcome. That’s the ‘belle’ side of football and we enjoy it. Women are competitive and we have that fire in our gut where we really want a place to let it out. Football is a great place for that.” While growing up in the Southeast clearly influenced Mueller’s interest in SEC football, her family environment held the greatest impact on her passion. The women who instilled the idea of the feminine role in football were the women around her from her youth. “My grandfather played football, but it was really my grandmothers that taught me how to be a fan and to be supportive around the team,” Mueller said. “My grandmother taught me about seven men on the line and she
taught me pass interference and she was always calling me about new quarterbacks.” Mueller said even though she went to a school outside the SEC, she felt the pull of the SEC as she wrote. The SEC held everything that she loved about football. “Southern football has always just been fascinating,” Mueller said. “It’s always been bigger than life. That’s what I love. It’s something bigger than ourselves and it’s something where we can escape reality for one day, 12 Saturdays a year. We get to be in a different world. We get to be in the middle of SEC football, and there’s nothing better.” A business etiquette consultant, Mueller sees the importance of women in the workplace being able to have sports-related conversations. “You need to know. You need to know about football,” Mueller said. “You need to be able to have conversations, you need to be able to know what’s going on. A lot of small talk even in business down the road is about what’s going on in current events and athletics. People get involved, and for women to not know anything about football almost sets them behind in the business world once they get out into the real world.” Much like Mueller, Lindsey NeSmith, a junior in sports journalism, said women being involved in SEC sports creates a more balanced business environment. She said women taking an interest in SEC sports is necessary because it’s such an important part of Southeastern culture that cannot be left entirely to one gender. “To me it’s extremely important that woman take an interest in SEC sports,” NeSmith said. “By women taking an interest, this creates a more balanced environment, more opportunities and more variety in the sporting world. Take Pat Summitt, for example. She has changed the face of women’s basketball and has widened the horizons and success for the university. By having women interested in SEC sports, we as women expand our opportunities and create balance across the country.” Mueller already has two projects in the works. The sequel to “Gridiron Belles” will contain more personal stories from women in and around the SEC, and she will also be releasing a recipe book specifically geared towards tailgating. “The next one will be a cookbook and then there will be a sequel to this where it gets more into personal stories and the different tradition,” Mueller said. To share a personal story for Mueller’s sequel, go to gridironbelles.com or contact christie@gridironbelles.com.