Eco U goes apparel! Alumni Christine Engler ’10 designed this cool Eco U shirt. Maybe it’ll show up at the Super Swap?

It’s a Clothing and Household Swap!

Think green and recycle your unused and unwanted items by swapping with other students and employees at UW-Green Bay. Bring your clean clothing in good to excellent condition (all sizes, including children), smaller, working household items such as kitchen or decoration items, smaller sports- or toy- related items, or anything else that can be transported by foot or car back to the new owner’s home.

Clean out your closets and bring your clean stuff in good shape to Phoenix A and B from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11. Then come back from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, to pick out stuff to take home. All items must be removed by 4 p.m. on Thursday. Sponsored by Pride Center and SGA.

Source: Log e-news, Vol. 46, No. 73, Jan. 20, 2015

USDA soil scientist will join us for ‘Dirt! The Movie’
The iPat environmental film series resumes with “Dirt! The Movie” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2, in the Christie Theatre. The filmlooks at man’s relationship with dirt, and the connection that has been lost over time. After the screening, guest speaker Phil Meyer, area resource soil scientist for USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, will lead the discussion. The iPat Film Series (impact = population * affluence * technology) is sponsored by PEAC, The Center for Public Affairs, and the Department of Public and Environmental Affairs. All showings are free and open to the public, with free popcorn, to boot.

Find more information on Sustainability events here: http://www.uwgb.edu/sustainability/participate/event-schedule.asp

Our friends at Enterprise have extended the membership offer and discounted hourly rate! Register today and drive away with savings. Promo Code: Fall2014_2

Welcome back to returning students and welcome to our incoming freshman and transfer students! Over the summer our sustainability team was working on updating our campus sustainability website. It’s now ‘gone live’ and you can check it out for yourselves – a one-stop shop for finding information on: sustainability efforts on campus; info on degrees, classes and faculty working in the field; events with a green tinge; and, much more! Check it out HERE.

Your first opportunity to learn more about being green is checking out the documentary “Disruption”, Sunday, Sept. 7, 7 p.m., University Union, Christie Theatre.

We look forward to a great academic year and working together across campus – students, faculty and staff – to keep our campus moving towards enhancing and improving our sustainability efforts.

It’s not the holiday season just yet, but the Computing & Information Technology (CIT) elves were busy over the summer replacing 567 (yes, really!) total pieces of computer hardware – desktops, laptops and monitors. When you have purchased a computer for yourself, you may remember the copious amounts of packing materials. Cardboard boxes, Styrofoam around everything, plastic bags around cords, connectors and installation DVDs – it adds up to a lot of materials. Now magnify your one purchase by 567 and you’ll get an idea of the volume of ‘stuff’ CIT was generating with their unpacking.

Although the cardboard has been recycled for many years, this is the first year that the plastic bags, plastic film and Styrofoam went to a recycler instead of the landfill. With the new plastic film recycling program started in Spring 2014, and with help from the Environmental Management and Business Institute’s John Arendt to find a home for the hallway of Styrofoam, this year the vast majority of the packaging was recycled! “I never realized how much waste we produced from computer packaging until we put it all in one place,” said Ryan Ledvina, computer inventory and allocations manager.

ACH Foam of Fond du Lac made the trip up to campus to collect the Styrofoam and helped us keep the material out of the landfill. The recycling process at ACH Foam either grinds the material to be reused in new expanded polystyrene (EPS) materials or it is processed into a resin for making products such as garden furniture, coat hangers and crown molding.

Just in case you wondered where the replaced computers and monitors end up, they are either used to upgrade existing public and student workstations or made available to purchase through our on-campus surplus program. You can get an HP desktop with Windows 7 for $100 (2010 models) or $150 (2011 models), as well as 2011 21.5” iMacs ($400) and Gateway 19” widescreen monitors ($15). Visit the Surplus website to learn more and keep the recycling and reuse going strong!

Big shout out to the CIT staff for taking the initiative to collect and manage the packaging waste for recycling!

Now’s the time to get a membership with Enterprise CarShare – join and you’ll be ready to roll when you come back to campus in just a few more weeks! Go HERE to join!

Being introduced to incoming students and their parents at FOCUS this year, but also available to all students, faculty and staff is the opportunity to join Enterprise CarShare. Two cars will be available in the Main Housing parking lot in late August for hourly, daily and overnight rental. Supported by the campus Sustainability Committee, the program is being offered as an alternative transportation option to encourage students who may only need to use a car every once in a while to leave their car at home and it also provide options to students who don’t have a car, as well as to faculty/staff who may need a car for a quick trip in town.

In order to participate you must become a member of the program. Note that this is a personal membership and for personal use. A yearly membership fee is charged, along with hourly rental charges. Enterprise is currently running a promotional program that allow you to join for $10 and receive $35 in driving credits (expires 8/1/14). Use Promo code:  CAMPUS2014. All the details of how the program works can be found at:   http://www.enterprisecarshare.com/car-sharing/program/uwgb . Enterprise will also be funding a paid student internship position beginning in the Fall to help market the program and maintain the cars. More information on the position and an application can be found here:  https://us-erac.icims.com/jobs/112168/enterprise-carshare-intern-%28brand-ambassador%29—uw-green-bay-%28fall-2014%29/job

On Monday, June 2, it was announced that Dr. Gary Miller would become the next Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay. Dr. Miller brings an ecologist’s mindset to the University which means a great ability to apply systems thinking to a complex organization. In initial interviews with the media, Dr. Miller has expressed that UWGB’s strong environmental and sustainability efforts were very attractive to him and his wife, Georgia, as they contemplated making the move to Green Bay. We look forward to working with Dr. Miller in revisioning and revitalizing an already strong environmental perspective to more deeply embed sustainability into the operating culture and the classroom instruction at UWGB.

Welcome Dr. and Mrs. Miller!

Check out these great opportunities to ‘green-up’ for Spring (and every season!)

Student organizations across campus are working hard to bring you important information, opportunities to participate and have some sustainable fun. Visit one of the booths during the week, get a ticket, enter your ticket to be eligible to win prizes (awarded at the end of the week). Check out these happenings and plan to attend a few to increase your Eco U knowledge!

Monday, April 21: Reducing Waste, Recycling and Composting, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Union booth by Phoenix Club

Tuesday, April 22: EARTH DAY! Myles Coyne and the Rusty Nickel Band, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.; Local food lunch (FREE), 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. – Student Services Plaza or Phoenix Club (if raining), sponsored by PEAC

Wednesday, April 23: Conservation and Biodiversity – learn about invasive species and biodiversity. Union booth across from the Credit Union.

Wednesday, April 23: Ducks Unlimited student chapter is sponsoring a presentation by Steve Stoinski, US Fish and Wildlife Service Agent, 6-8 p.m. in the Christie Theater; Focus will be on conservation and federal law enforcement

Wednesday, April 23: Movie @ Mauthe – 7 p.m., “GMO – OMG”, sponsored by SLO

Thursday, April 24: H2O World – 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Library booth near elevators

Friday, April 25: Energy Conservation and Divestment Issues, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., booth by Garden Café

Saturday, April 26: Round River Alliance is spearheading a Campus Clean-up from 9 a.m. – noon. Meet at Communiversity Park to get your cleaning info.

Monday, April 28: Presentation and discussion featuring Torbjörn Lahti, international Eco-Municipality expert, 9 a.m – 10:30 a.m., Alumni Rooms A & B

And remember that you can make every day and week on the UWGB campus an ‘Earth’ day/week by recycling, reducing and reusing whenever you can!

Thanks to PEAC, Eco-Reps, SLO, Round River Alliance, SGA Environmental Affairs, DU UWGB Student Chapter for all their hard work pulling together these events!

By Russell McLendon

Source:  Mother Nature Network

Posted Feb. 12, 2014

“Winter is getting weirder, and a coalition of Olympic athletes has seen enough. As Sochie’s Winter Olympics threaten to become the warmest in history, more than 100 Olympians have signed a petitions urging world leaders to take action against climate change.

Sochi is just the latest in a string of summery Winter Games, and the athletes say their sports are in danger unless an Olympic-style effort is launched to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. Although climate change can also promote wild winter weather like a recent spate of U.S. snowstorms, those unusual outbursts do little to offset the long global slog toward warmth, especially in winter-sports hotspots like Vancouver or Sochi.

‘Snow conditions are becoming much more inconsistent, weather patterns are more erratic, and what was once a topic for discussion is now reality and fact,’ U.S. cross-country skier Andrew Newell says in a statement released this week by the U.S.-based Protect Our Winters campaign. ‘Our climate is changing and we are losing are winters.’

At least 105 Olympians from 10 different countries have signed the petition so far, including 85 Americans. They want world leaders to carry on their Olympic spirit from Sochi to Paris, where a major U.N. climate summit will be held in 2015.

‘For the next two weeks, I’ll be in Sochi giving it my all on the ski course, just like thousand of Olympic athletes from around the world, putting politics, religion, all of our differences aside,’ Newell says. ‘Coming together for something that is bigger than one individual, or even one country. Next year in Paris, world leaders will also have that chance. Previous climate conferences have ended with nothing to show for it, but Paris needs to be different. We can’t risk inaction any longer and we’re asking our world leaders to come together in the spirit of something bigger than just our individual goals.’

Temperatures in Sochi have already topped 60 degrees Fahrenheit this week, creating slushy conditions that have frustrated many skiers and snowboarders. But the problem goes far beyond Sochi, as highlighted in a recent study led by University of Waterloo researcher Daniel Scott. Of the 19 cities that have previously hosted a Winter Olympics, as few as 10 may still be cold enough by 2050 to host again, according to the study.”

For the rest of the article and a nifty infographic on The Winter Olympics in a Warming World go HERE.