Welcome Back to Eco U!

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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.

Earth Week is Here!

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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!

It’s Recyclemania Time!

Recyclemania is Back!! The goal, of course, is to both reduce the amount of ‘stuff’ we throw out in the trash by thinking before we buy AND if we do need to discard something AND it is recyclable, to put it in the appropriate recycling bin.

Recyclemania is a friendly yearly competition with other colleges and universities in North America and Canada to see who can do the best job of reducing, reusing and recycling. During the eight weeks of February 3 – March 30, we’ll be having our waste hauler record the amount of waste and recycling removed from ALL our campus dumpsters. That volume is converted to weights and entered in the RecycleMania database for all to see … and compare our progress against other schools!

In Wisconsin, the following schools are competing in RecycleMania: Carroll University, College of the Menominee Nation, Lawrence University, Saint Norbert College, UW – Madison, UW – Milwaukee, UW – Oshkosh, UW – Plattville, UW – River Falls, UW – Stout, UW – Whitewater, and Western Technical College. How will we fare against this competition?? That depends on you and your buying/recycling habits!

Stay tuned for events happening the week of March 3rd and check back here for updates on our progress and status.

Preparing for New Blooms on the Student Services Plaza

With the completion of construction on the Student Services Roof Plaza, the new planters are ready for planting….except, well, it’s the end of November! Not to be deterred, several student organizations gathered together to provide planting power for flower bulbs purchased by Facilities. On a chilly Thursday, the team from the SGA Environmental Affairs Committee, PEAC and SLO tucked in several hundred tulip and daffodils bulbs for their long winter nap. Come next spring, the triangular area under the small pergola will be the brightest spot on the Plaza.

Additional plants and landscaping will occur in late Spring in all the planters when the soil and air has warmed enough to support their establishment. In addition, SLO will be using several of the planters in the middle of the Plaza for their annual campus organic garden.  Tables and seating will also be added in the Spring helping to make this a new go-to spot for enjoying the nice spring and summer days outside.

Build Your Own Time Capsule!

 

Send a message to future UW – Green Bay faculty, staff and students by leaving a message in a bottle during the week of Sept. 17 -21. In October, the new planters being installed on the Student Services Plaza will be filled with soil. But, some of the planters are deeper than the plants will need to live a healthy and long life. So, as many gardeners do when they have a really big pot,  we’ll be using a ‘filler’ – bottles that have been recycled on campus – to take up some of that unneeded space. This saves money on soil we don’t have to purchase and reuses bottles already present on campus.

To make the whole process more fun, everyone on campus has the opportunity to build their own time capsule to be used in the planters. With plastic bottles lasting an estimated 450 years in a landfill (that’s why it’s important to recycle them!!), take a few minutes to send your message to a future generation of students and employees. Here’s how you can participate:

Do-it-Yourself

  • Save a rigid plastic soda or water bottle and save the cap!
  • Wash and dry the bottle – set the rinsed bottle in a sunny place for a day or so to evaporate the leftover water inside
  • Write your message – is it a wish, hope, dream, thought, comment, drawing? Include a little demographic info such as your name, age, etc. so future UWGB historians will know something about you
  • Place it inside the bottle and put on the cap
  • Bring your bottle to campus the week of Sept. 17 – 21 and deposit it in one of the specially marked containers located at-
    • MAC Hall – top of the hallway ramp, next to the recycling/trash collection station
    • Cofrin Library – collection station closest to the Garden Cafe
    • Rose Hall – to the right of the collection station closest to Wood Hall
    • Theater Hall – next to the collection station
    • Instructional Services – next to the GAC Lab, to the left of the collection station
    • Environmental Sciences – just outside of ES114 lecture hall, next to the collection station

 Less Do-it-Yourself

  • Come to the Message-in-a-Bottle booth staffed by SGA, PEAC and SLO members. Booths and times are:
    • Monday, Sept. 17, MAC Hall, top of stairs by the Biodiversity Center; 11:30-1:00
    • Tuesday, Sept. 18, Union, across from the bookstore; 11:30 – 1:00
    • Friday, Sept. 21, Cofrin Library, across from Garden Cafe; 11:30 – 1:00
  • Pick up a bottle (limited quantity available, first-come/first-serve), paper and pen.
  • Contemplate and write your message.
  • Deposit it in the time capsule bin.

Who knows how valuable your signature or message will be in 40 – 50 years when the roof again needs replacement!

 

New Bike Shelter on Campus!

 A new covered bike shelter sprouted in the last few days on the triangle-shaped patch of ground between MAC Hall, the Library and ES. The first fully funded project from the student-approved Sustainability fee assessed to students each semester, the covered shelter was determined by the SGA environmental affairs committee to be both a visible and practical first project. With a covered shelter, in a central location, the hope is that it will encourage students, staff and faculty to forgo driving to campus (even on a day where there might be predicted rain) and take a bike instead. Not only is choosing a bike ride over a car ride better for the environment, it’s also better for personal health and wellness. The campus Sustainability Committee also helped with the project cost by providing funding for the concrete pad.

UW-Green Bay Holds 3rd Place in International MobilizeU Competition

When the call went out for colleges and universities to participate in the Earth Day Network’s MobilizeU campaign, Jeff Cook, PEAC’s president and SGA Environmental Affairs delegate, signed up the UWGB campus. Halfway through the competition, UWGB is in third place out of 260 participating schools across the globe. MobilizeU is an international movement of concerned and active college students competing and uniting around environmental action in support of a sustainable future and supports the Earth Day Network’s global effort to Mobilize the EarthTM .

The competition encourages students to engage their campus communities in four weeks of environmental activism surrounding Earth Day 2012 (March 29 – April 29). Students work to generate as many “acts of green” – actions that either educate someone about the environment or reduce an individual’s carbon footprint – as possible. Acts of green are quantified by the number of people educated at an event or the number of service hours donated during a community project.

Some of the efforts undertaken by students during the month include wildflower and tree plantings, fight for your food film festival, canvassing the dorms to raise awareness about energy conservation for the Energy conservation competition, an e-waste collection drive, and promoting awareness about Earth Week Events in the 4th Estate newspaper.

For more information visit the Earth Day Nework.

Test Your IQ in the Eco-Challenge – Win an iPad! NEW NEWS: The order is in for an iPad 3!

Go to http://www.NewEraOnline.org/Sustainability and take the Eco-Challenge quiz! You’ll automatically be entered to win an iPad when you complete the challenge! The challenge runs from March 5 – March 26 – good luck!

Schedule of Events: RecycleMania Week

RECYCLEMANIA WEEK!

Pick up your FREE Reusable Bag (limited quantity available)

When:  February 27 – March 2

Where: Cloud Commons, University Union

What:

  • All Week
    Reusable Bag Giveway – 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
    Pledge wall – make a pledge, be entered to win a bike!
    Information & Displays
  • Monday, February 27
    Sustainable Rides Information – 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m
  • Tuesday, February 28 
    Featured Recycling Activity – 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
  • Wednesday, February 29
    Sustainable Rides Information – 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m
    Featured Recycling Activity – 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
    Food Vendor Booths – free samples! – 11 a.m – 1 p.m.
  • Thursday, March 1
     Featured Recycling Activity – 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
  • Friday, March 2
    Sustainable Rides Information – 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m
    Featured Recycling Activity – 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Check it out! Get a free reusable bag, try a craft, stack some caps, make a pledge, and recycle more!