OCTOBER 2013 STUDENT OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY Monthly Newsletter • OCTOBER 2013
HISTORY OF THE
STUDENT OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY BY MARIAH E. DORNER The SOS is the progeny organization of an earlier prototype known as The Environmental Endeavors Commission (EEC), which functioned just from 2009-2010 as a commission of Student Senate. The organization was assembled in response to a student referendum in 2008 which voted to invest approximately 8$ per student of student segregated fees every semester into an environmental responsibility account. Upon approval by the board of regents, this fund is now known as the Green Fund. Due to a lack of project oversight and proper procedural implementation, the EEC was transformed into the Student Office of Sustainability in 2011. Still a Commission of Student Senate, the structure of the SOS now revolves around the proper allocation of our school’s Green Fund. Because student investment in the Green Fund depends on the enrollment of students each semester, the Green Fund has been capped at $200,000 per year to ensure financial stability. The collaborative model of the SOS serves to allocate these funds to support sustainable projects and initiatives on our campus, research and assess environmental issues, and provide recommendations for sustainable infrastructure. We are devised of one faculty advisor and a body of students organized as director, interns, and board members, who colaborate at varying levels to create, discuss, and vote to pass initiatives which create a more sustainable environment here at the UW-Eau Claire.
Seymour’s Sustainable LIFESTYLE TIPS:
REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE • BRING YOUR OWN REUSABLE CONTAINERS TO RESTAURANTS FOR LEFTOVERS
•USE SPONGES AND TOWELS IN LIEU OF DISPOSABLE PAPER TOWELS. •USE STALE BREAD FOR CRUTONS, FRENCH TOAST, OR STUFFING •BRING YOUR OWN TRAVEL MUG TO COFFEE SHOPS •BORROW INSTEAD OF BUY ITEMS WHEN POSSIBLE, SUCH AS BOOKS, MOVIES, APPLIANCES, POWER TOOLS, ETC.
DID
The beverage industry used 46% less packaging in 2006 than in 1990, even with a 24 percent increase in beverage sales during that time.
YOU
Because microbes in compost can degrade some toxic organic compounds, including petroleum, compost is often used to restore oil-contaminated soils.
KNOW?
A typical grocery store trash compactor full of waste destined for a landfill is composed of 35% organic matter. This includes breads, dairy, fruits, and vegetables.
Incinerators are inefficient at generating electricity from burning waste. By recycling and composting, we canconserve three to five times more energy than what would be produced by incinerating our waste. This makes the amount of energy wasted in the U.S. by not recycling equal to the output of 15 medium-sized power plants. This month’s facts taken from The Clean Air Council at http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html
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OCTOBER 2013
Student Office of Sustainability • October 2013 • Monthly Newsletter
A SUSTAINABLE SUMMER:
BEE-hind the scenes BY MARIAH E. DORNER WITH ELLEN SORENSON
The SOS regularly employs summer interns to keep up the progress of our different projects and initiatives. However, this was the first summer during which students held positions as Eco-Reps during these months. Eco-Reps, as hired by the SOS, serve as student ambassadors on our campus to target specific appointed duties. This could involve the upkeep of a veteran project system, or even the trial of a brand new sustainability project. Former SOS director, Ellen Sorenson fulfilled the Eco-Rep position of beekeeper this past summer. The UW-Eau Claire houses a colony of honey bees near the gardens across the street from Phillips Hall. I asked Ellen for some input on her experiences: Over the summer I worked as the UWEC beekeeper. We installed our seven hives over Easter. As you can remember, it was snowing at that time and, we lost two hives due to the cold weather. The SOS only has enough supplies to maintain five hives so I borrowed some equipment from Dr. Joe Hupy. Because of this loss, I picked up queen rearing (the process of raising new
queen bees and subsequently mating them) to make up for the number of hives we lost. I was able to rear one queen and start a new colony, bringing the numbers back up to six hives. We lost two more hives to the sacbrood disease. We currently have four hives on campus. (Sacbrood disease is a viral infection targeting the larvae of honey bees, resulting in failure to pupate and death.) We need honey bees, they are dying and they need our help to provide healthy environments. Honey bees pollinate one third of the fruits and vegetables that we eat; without them we would not have a colorful bouquet of produce to consume. Educating students about the importance of honey bees is extremely important. Students need to know not only what honey bees do for the environment but also what they look like so they can identify the difference between honey bees, bumblebees, wasps and hornets. Having an apiary on campus where students can go to the hive and see inside provides the best learning environment.
$CORE Energy Program BY ERIK AMUNDSON
With over 10,000 students, and a growing number choosing to live in off campus housing, the desire for students attending University Wisconsin Eau-Claire to save money on their rental costs is high. One way for renters to do so is to sign up for $CORE. Started by the Student Office of Sustainability and funded by Xcel Energy, $CORE provides basic energy conservation education. Student renters are taught simple and effective ways to save on their energy bill, and are also provided with conservation materials like CFL light bulbs, low-flow sink and shower heads, window film, and weather stripping. A team of $CORE Energy Educators come to the home of whoever signs up to provide this education, install these materials, and to show students that creating a sustainable Eau Claire really isn’t all that difficult. As if things couldn’t get better with the $CORE program, it’s free! Signing up for $CORE is easy, just go to the Student and Community Outreach on Rental Efficiency ($CORE) sign up page. It can be found within the Student Office of Sustainability page under Student Senate Commissions. The program will run on a first come first serve basis, and a goal of 80 audits is planned for the shortened October through December schedule. Developing lifelong energy saving habits for future home owners is critical. What better way to do this than with a program that has saved a total of roughly $15,000 annually for student renters in Eau Claire? For more information, questions, or concerns contact me: Erik Amundson, Director of $CORE and Student Office of Sustainability board member, at amundsed@uwec.edu NEWSLETTER DESIGN, SERENA S. WAGNER
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OCTOBER 2013
Student Office of Sustainability • October 2013 • Monthly Newsletter
UW-Eau Claire’s Best Kept Secret Garden BY ZOE CLEMMONS, SOS BOARD MEMBER There are two words that ring a satisfying bell associated with the frugality of your typical UWEC student. Nothing is more appealing and comforting to know that somewhere out there lies free food. I’m talking about food that literally lies on the ground beneath your feet… If you don’t know what I’m talking about it’s the community garden in the center of Phillips Hall! Take a break from the books and walk, bike, or blade on over to immerse yourself in one of the luckiest finds UWEC has to offer. Browse through the beds of heirloom varieties of cucumbers, squash, corn, kale, basil, beans, chives, tomatoes, lettuce, and more at the tips of your fingers. So why exactly is a community garden sustainable? With essentially no food miles present (the miles it takes your food to travel from production to fork) you are doing the Earth and yourself a wonderful service by taking a bite out of something truly amazing. Because the food does not have to travel by truck, plane, or train to your plate means you are getting the freshest, emission free food on campus. The best part of the garden in Phillips is that it is free to all students! Thanks to SOS a portion of our Green Fund is used to fund the garden, meaning you can drop by at your leisure and select whatever veggies your heart desires. So your excuse is you don’t have time to cook? Consider going to a Foodlums meeting in Phillips 105 on Thursdays at 5 p.m. where you can learn how to cook items from the garden and gain some other foodie knowledge. We take trips to farms and learn how our food is connected to us directly. So hurry before the winter sets in and stock up on lots of goods, they are waiting to be picked right here on campus. You can contact the Foodlums at: foodlums@uwec.edu and check out their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/foodlums
impact on the environment and make UW-Eau Claire a more sustainable campus. The SOS allocates funding to projects addressing the various sustainability areas of transportation, energy, waste, climate change, food systems, campus ecology, environmental ethics, and outreach.
CONTAC T
MISSION
The SOS provides funding for projects that reduce UW-Eau Claire’s negative
STUDENT OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY MEETINGS: Tuesdays, 5 PM DIRECTOR: Greg Nelson stusen65@uwec.edu
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