Student Government Funding "Green" Clause

Back in the summer, we talked about working on a requirement to have sustainable practices at any event held with SGFC money. Any RSO looking to hold an event with SGFC money would only get the total amount of requested money if they worked to provide the most environmentally friendly event possible. Such an endeavor would include recycling, composting, biodegradable utensils, and paperless advertising. If an RSO wasn't willing to adopt such easy steps, then they wouldn't get all the money requested.

Well that was then. This is the new proposal.

Additions to the document "UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO STUDENT GOVERNMENT FINANCE COMMITTEE GUIDELINES" (Section IV, or perhaps a separate section):

To build a more sustainable campus, we advise that at the event your RSO:

Use paper plates, recycled napkins, and biodegradable utensils obtained through Green Campus Initiative or separately

Compost all organic waste (plates napkins, biodegradable utensils, and leftover food). This can be done by contacting the manager of any dining hall, and setting up a drop off time.

Ensure recycling by setting aside one receptacle for recyclables (trash can, box, or bin) for each trash can provided

Much thanks to Tara, Class of 2012 Representative, for proposing this. She was elected last year on a green campaign and has the support of GCI behind her.

Some things you may have noticed. We are not planning to require RSOs to practice sustainability at SGFC sponsored events. Because SGFC considers all funding proposals equally, giving preference to those who promise sustainable practices would go against their values. Furthermore, the problem lies more in RSOs not knowing about how they can be more sustainable.

So that's how we got here. I would like to argue for this clause to be added in a new section to highlight sustainability. The steps an RSO can take are not difficult. And if the problem is knowing, not reluctance to act sustainably, then visibility is everything. Those reading the SGFC guidelines would pay more attention to sustainability if it were its own section.

We still have some small issues to work out, such as how will RSOs obtain recycling bins.

I should mention that our ultimate goal is for RSOs to not need any prodding to hold events that acknowledge little steps we can do to help the environment. It should be an established practice that all events have recycling, composting, and biodegradable utensils. That's what we're working for, and I believe this addition to the SGFC guideline is one step in that direction.

Liking fried shrimp chips,

Willy

Battle of the Bulbs Plan

Here is our some ideas for Battle of the Bulbs. Comment on what you like, what you want, what you suggest, what you find awesome and not awesome! We want your input!

If you're interested in helping out and making all of this happen, e-mail me at wgu@uchicago.edu

Sweeeeeet!

Battle of the Bulbs

Opening and Closing Ceremonies (must do)

We have $429 for the opening ceremony and $384 for the closing ceremony. We can be creative. Remember that our friend Brandon has a projector he's willing to lend. If the ceremonies had something to do with lights, that would make sense. Fireworks? Sparklers? Fire? Blacklights? Rave? Don't forget food, too.

Meet with Chris Keating and see if he can help us again this year (must do)

He's the one who gave us weekly readings of the meters. Thus, he is pretty important. We should set up a meeting with him and work out more details.

Set up Big Easels (must do)

We put up big tables of weekly results on easels in all the dining halls and other public places. We have the easels. We need to design a table (we can use last year's). Also, we need to start looking at printing options (Kodak's or others) and find the cheapest. Next, we need to contact dining hall building managers and just make sure with them it's okay to put up easels. Do we have enough easels, too?

Get the trophy back from Breckinridge (must do)

Breckinridge won last year and they ear before. We need to get the trophy back from them for this year's competition.

Figure out how to remind people in dorms (must do)

This competition is mainly about the dorms. What's the best way to remind people in the dorms about this competition? E-mails on a listhost? Posters and flyers inside the dorms? Other creativity?

Bringing in the apartments (must do)

One easy way to do this. Whenever we put out our propaganda about turning off lights, turning off appliances, etc., we don't specifically address dorm residents. We emphasize other aspects such as saving money or prolonging appliance life, aspects that apartment dwellers have to deal with. We can also look into Cub Energy Saver which we learned about at the ISEC concert.

Get Free CFLs to hand out (must do)

In previous years we've gotten free CFLs. We should look into if we can get them again.

Report on how the system actually works

• What power plant do we get our energy from?
• How much of our energy do we get from renewable sources?
• How are our dorms heated?
• What are the differences in efficiency of the dorms?
• Does lowering one's thermostat also lower energy consumption?
• What's the process from turning off lights or appliances all the way to the power plant generating electricity?

All we need to do is to e-mail Chris Keating ckeating@uchicago.edu and ask him these questions. He's Director of Facilities & Business Operations, Residence Halls & Commons. He's the one who has helped us with Battle of the Bulbs by giving us the meter readings.

Set up a website or other internet presence

We have bulbs.uchicago.edu which relocates to a blog. Can we or should we do more with the internet?

Study in a place that's not your dorm

If we have an outdoor athletic activity extravaganza, we should appeal to those non-athletic types. One idea would be to think of an incentive to get people to study in a public space like the library, Hutch, a coffee shop, or anywhere that's not your dorm. How about this. You enter the library and get a card with a timestamp. After studying or socializing for a set amount of time, you come out. You are then eligible to win a prize! Another idea. For every person who enters or studies in the Reg at night, somebody (corporation, school, us maybe?) donates money to a charity. They're not amazing ideas, but they are ideas. I think we should still explore this concept.

Prizes for the Winners

Whichever dorm wins, we can give the houses in that dorm a cash prize. We can also look into giving the residents in those houses individual coupons or gift cards so that individuals have an incentive to participate in BotB. While the winner trophy is pretty awesome, some monetary incentives might increase competition. After all, people respond to incentives, right?

Advertising Battle of the Bulbs through House Meetings

Colleges against cancer does this for their relay for life. We just need to figure out when the meetings are and have vocal volunteers. If we can offer incentives for winning dorms/houses, then all the better. This specifically targets those who will be participating in the competition.

Outdoor Movie

This event is geared towards getting people outside and not using lights. Movie can be decided later as well as refreshments. It'd be like Bollywood on the Quads or the giant movie about Chicago they show during O-week.

Using Videos to Market Battle of the Bulbs

Videos can be very useful, if done well. This would be on the creativity and the awesomeness of whoever wants to make the video. They'd be short ones showing how to save energy, talking about the competition in general, and other environmental initiatives. Again, this all depends on how good the video maker is.

Outdoor Athletic Activity Extravaganza

To encourage students to get out of their dorms at night and thereby turning off their lights, we will try hosting an outdoor sports extravaganza. We can look into booking Stagg and organizing flag football, ultimate, soccer, red rover, or anything else than can be played on a large field. We can also go the low-cost route and organize a massive Capture the Flag on the quads. I know somebody did this (was it Scav?) last year, and there have been broken bones and stuff in the past, too. At this stage, we need somebody to look into the possibility of organizing such an event. Who can we work with? Is it worth it? Will it be successful?

General Environmental Ideas that Could Go on During Earth Week or Battle of the Bulbs

T-shirt and Cloth Bag Decoration

This happened last year. Basically, we set up a table in the main quad in the middle of the day. We present decorating materials (sharpies, paints, glitter and glue, stickers?) and have t-shirts and cloth bags to sell. People are more than welcome to bring their own old t-shirts to redesign or their own generic cloth bags. We can also bring back the tie-dye. Some issues to consider. Should we sell t-shirts and cloth bags there? What decorating materials should we have?

Build-a-Bin

People complain about not having blue, labelled, plastic recycle bins. Why do you need them? A cardboard box labelled "recycling" by your imagination is the same thing. We will have to find cardboard boxes and decorating materials. Cardboard boxes can be found from local businesses, dining halls, anywhere really.

Environmental Disaster Movie Week (or Environmental Documentary Week)

Kind of like Shark Week. Right now, it seems like we might only be able to get one film with Doc. That could be the "crowning" achievement. We will have to decide on how to show the other films, either once a week or every day of 1 week. There are other things to consider. It's $45 for a sound system every time we use it. We have a projector. 4 days of movies in McCormick Tribune would be $180. We could charge for admission or for food/refreshments or ask for donations. We should consider the price, effectiveness, and potential attendance.

Renewable Energy Expo

We have a wind turbine parked somewhere in a physics building. We can bring it out as part of a renewable energy event. It would be cool if we also could bring in low-cost demonstrations of other technologies (solar, hydro, geothermal). Science-y things are kind of rare at our school :(

Super Garage Sale

Send out a call for donations of extra stuff. We will store it, set up a large place, and hold a giant garage sale. Whatever we don't sell we will donate. We'll probably have to impose a size limit on items donated. Another issue to consider is where are we going to store the items? The actual garage sale will probably be outdoors, so we could have people bring stuff as they come to shop. This event promotes thriftiness and decreasing consumption.

Clothing Swap

To glorify reuse, we will organize a clothing swap. Any clothing is welcome. For every piece of clothing you bring, you can take away as many. We just need space and lots of advertising.

Massive Cleanup of a Park or Beach

This would be a schoolwide effort. We'd probably partner with some non-profits who have done this before like Sierra Club. It would also serve as a spark to get GAIA going again.

Organizing a Sports Tournament

We would set up brackets, find space, and organize any sports tournament. Dodgeball or pickup basketball or any others. There would be a fee to enter into the tournament. We can then decide whether the winners get money or if all the money goes to a nonprofit.

In the future I am devoting my weekends to just reading and writing. Nothing else!

Drinking lots of water,

Willy

Movie Night Debriefing

On January 12th, 2010, we had our first Movie Night of the year. We showed Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground and episodes of Captain Planet. Props to Emily and Linda for organizing the event.

Over winter break, we worked on a smaller event in accordance with our plan to hold smaller events for the quarter in preparation of Battle of the Bulbs. After narrowing down a list (Inconvenient Truth, 11th Hour, Planet in Peril, Planet Earth, Blue Earth, Home, Earth Days, No Impact Man, WaterLife, Collapse, The Cove, Wall-E, Whale Wars, Captain Planet, Who Killed the Electric Car, Houston We Have a Problem, Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground, The Antarctica Challenge: A Global Warming, Coal Country, Food, Inc., Tapped, Arctic Tale, and March of the Penguins) of possible movies we came up with those mentioned above.

This event was geared towards recruitment. While I am more than satisfied with our current members, it's important that we continue looking for more. One day, we will all graduate and leave this wondrous place. But because we prepared and brought in new members, when we leave GCI for bigger and better things, there will be still be people around to keep things running.

At the actual event, we noticed that most people left after we showed Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground. This was actually contrary to our predictions, as we thought that something more "popular" like Captain Planet would get people out. Apparently not. Makes sense, as people would use their homework time for something worthwhile like a good documentary. Duly noted, guys!

I think there are talks of another Movie Night later in the quarter. We have the abridged version of Coal Country, so be on the lookout for that!

Gonna go watch the Mavs game now,

Willy

Minutes from 1/20 and 1/21 Meeting

Yo!

Here they are. Last week's minutes! Enjoy! They are scrumptious.

Minutes from 1/20 and 1/21 Meeting

Emily Stuart from Citizen Action Illinois

• Clean air campaign to fight diesel pollution, dirtiest kind of pollution
• focus on rail yard cleanup
• current ordinance for clean construction and special pollution eliminating mufflers proposed by an alderman
• out of our ward's two alderman, one supports the ordinance and one doesn't. Leslie Hairston is the one who doesn't.
• what we need to do is to tell her that a significant part of her ward's residents want her to pass this ordinance. We do this through letters, phone calls, petitions, and banding with the non-university community
• they will introduce this ordinance in April, which will be our goal to convince Alderwoman Hairston
• definitely an ECO project

Working with UC Dems on an event. Two main ideas right now

• a film screening with a discussion afterwards. interesting movie, of course
• a panel discussion with professors at our school. interesting topic of discussion, of course
• if you're interested in making this event happen, please email me wgu@uchicago.edu

Went through a list of BotB/Earth Month ideas and things to do that aim to promote energy reduction and the environment. Here are the ones that made the cut.

• figure out and report back on how we actually get energy. investigate the intricacies of how the energy comes to us. also look at differences between dorms. this was an issue in a Maroon article wrote on BotB last year. does turning off the heat go towards the electric measurement? this would be very easy to do- come up with questions and email the Facilities people.
• outdoor sports extravangaza. or CTF on the quads. it's to get people to spend time outside instead of indoors to conserve energy
• outdoor activities. bonfires, sports, flashlight tag, s'mores. Tex from Texas Club talked about a massive outdoor grill at the beginning of the year. We can team up with him and offer more sustainable food options. we can also help promote Meatless Mondays
• decorate your own bags or shirts, outdoors. We can make a return of the tie-dye
• environmental disaster movie week like Shark Week. Doc hasn't planned out their spring schedule, so we can work with them. Shola is in Doc.
• Opening and Closing Ceremonies. we have money from Annual Allocations for these two events. Bring in Lakesigns and other musical groups. Maybe talk to the Astronomical Society about calling for a mass turning off of lights. Use fireworks or sparklers maybe?
• encourage people to study in public spaces and not the dorm. maybe some sort of charity event where if we fill the Reg to capacity some foundation gets lots of money? we need to appeal to the bookish types AND the sportsish types
• cooperate more with the farmer's market, because it is spring after all.
• bicycle powering lights competition. we need more details, but it's something to look into
• super garage sale. we would collect people's stuff, organize it and sell it, and then donate the rest. a more feasible idea would be a massive clothing swap.
• find the blender bike and park it on campus as a demonstration
• bring out the wind turbine. tie it into a bigger renewable energy demonstration or expo. talk about hydropower, geothermal, solar, wind, etc.
• must do. Contact Kinko's and talk about posters for showing weekly results for BotB
• see if those who did an urban ag workshop want to do another one during the spring
• somehow bring in the apartments. maybe pay the bills of whichever apartment reduces the most energy in a month? also in our tips to save energy, don't focus as much on dorms but bring in the apartments, too.
• cash prizes for the houses in the dorm. whichever dorm wins, the houses in that dorm get money. we can also have events that need attendance where the biggest house participants wins cash.
• work with IHC for house meetings
• must do how are we going to get out tips and reminders to turn off lights and conserve energy.
• a visual demonstration of how much money you can save by turning off lights or other environmental measures. like if you are more watchful of energy, you can save $10 a month which translates to so many beers!
• must do talk to facilities and work with them, let them know we're doing this event again.
• outdoor movies to get people outside and not use lights indoors. have hot chocolates and s'mores and other goodies. Movie on the quads
• use the video medium to help publicize BotB. this all depends on how good we can make the videos. if they're funny and short, people will love it and hopefully will love us, too
• look into Cub Energy Saver, which we learned about at ISEC conference.
• look into how we got free CFLs and get them again
• do a massive clean up of a park or beach. we should probably partner with other NGOs like Sierra Club or Washington Park Conservancy

Craving Red Lobster,

Willy

Not goodbye, just a see you later!

Hey y'all!

So if you haven't heard from me personally or on the listhost, I have taken a leave of absence. I am now at home in Plano, TX. However, this does not mean I will be less involved with GCI. Perhaps this could be a blessing in disguise, as I can now devote time I would've spent on schoolwork onto GCI. Granted I actually won't be there on the ground, but... We'll see how this works out.

Over winter break, I was diagnosed with aplastic anemia. Basically, I don't have many bone marrow cells so I'm not producing enough red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Low RBCs means fatigue. Low WBCs means more risk of infection. And low platelets means easier bleeding.

The first sign was back in October when I tried to donate blood. They told me my hemoglobin count was really low (11.5, I think?) I thought "dang! well, I guess it's because I cut out red meat over summer". So I started eating more red meat. And then I tried donating blood again the Thursday of finals week, and my count was right at the limit (12.5). Still though, I came back home and had more complete blood tests. They also did a bone marrow biopsy to rule out other diseases like leukemia. However, the doctors in Chicago showed us that the sample was sub-optimal, so I will probably end up going through another one. It really isn't that bad! Just that I'd rather not haha

I don't have a severe case, so at the moment, I don't even feel unhealthy. I sure don't look unhealthy! I kid, I kid. That was from last year. But people tell me I don't look unhealthy.

So for unsevere cases, the Western approach is a "wait and see" look. I felt that going through the stress of school and drinking Asian medicine wasn't going to get me better. And I really, really want to get better. It stinks not playing ultimate, having to take extra precautions so I don't get sick, and avoiding contact sports. So I decided to go all out, take a leave of absence to get rest, and look at treatment options.

Treatment involves immunosuppresion (suppression of immune system). That way, my T cells will stop attacking the bone marrow cells and give them a chance to grow back. Of course, there are no guarantees. There is also varying recovery time from 3 months to 1 year. There's also an increased risk of cancers later in life like leukemia. It also means I'd be avoiding public places until I got better and I'd need somebody to take care of me. That's why I gotta get away from school and come back home to my parents. Going to see the doctor on Thursday. We'll see what he says.

So yeah, I'm at home now. Lots of free time. Lots of things to do, like learn Chinese, Arabic, Cantonese, Korean, and how to play the guitar! Catching up on TV shows, watching movies I downloaded over the summer, reading, and writing will also constitute my activities. Please send me any book recommendations. I've even started a tumblr account to document everything I do with my time. And that includes everything. It's more for me to keep a record and look back on than to appease readers. Y'all are important though :) It's just that I don't mind at all if nobody follows me. So, give it a look! http://willygu.tumblr.com/ I'll also be linking posts to facebook.

As for GCI? That's what makes leaving really sucky. I so want to be with y'all, on the ground, calling and e-mailing, organizing meetings, running here and there. And I can't. :( Julie will be in charge, and I have no qualms about her capabilities as a leader.

Ha! Did I get you thinking I wasn't going to do anything else for GCI? I will do EVERYTHING I can to help out. That includes e-mails I can send (if they want to see me in person, I will tell them I'm busy), ideas I can think, facebook and blogs I can manage, phone calls I can conference over, and meetings I can attend via webcam and internet. It's my obligation and pleasure to continue working. So you will still see me around. Just on the interwebs.

See ya around,

Willy

Things that are happening

I believe this is the second in this series. An irregular blogpost about environmental events occuring at our school and in Chicago. The last one was here. Enjoy! yummmmm

There will be a Sustainability Jobs & Green Careers event held by CAPS. January 25th from 6-7:30 PM in Ida Noyes East Lounge. Cool.

Emily Stuart will also be coming this Wednesday the 20th to talk about the Illinois Campaign to Clea Up Diesel Pollution at the GCI meeting! 6 PM in 002A of the Reynold's Club. Sweet.

Sustainability Council Meeting on January 21st. Admin Building 417 from 3:30-5. Anybody is welcome! Yay.

On Wednesday from 5:30-8:30 pm, there will be the Second Annual Race-Class-Environment Roundtable called "GRAY VS GREEN: Why Urban Renewal Didn't & The Green Economy Must". "Candid conversation, stimulating ideas, engaging practices, and take-away tools! Join leading thinkers and everyday neighbors in a dialogue for healing, honoring, educating, and advancing ourselves and our villages". rsvp@blacksingreen.org or 773.678.9541. Interesting.

That's all I got for now. I haven't been on google reader lately, so I may have missed some evens in greater Chicago. Google reader is great, if you don't use it! Thumbs up.

Working on study abroad now,
Willy

We Composted at the the 2010 CUSA Show "Xiang"

I think for the first time since forever, I'm typing up a post with a subject that happened within 24 hours! Methinks it's the coming of good times.

Yesterday we tried a pilot program to ensure the numerous culture shows at our campus are as sustainable as possible. Basically, we wanted to make sure there was recycling, biodegradeable utensils, and composting.

For the CUSA show, there was recycling and composting, but no biodegradeable utensils. We weren't able to get the utensils because of time constraints. There were already recycling bins there (the multi-slitted variety). Our major impact was composting.

With a crew of enthusiastic volunteers (Homaira, Steven, Julie, Michael, Emily, Linda, Jefferson, and me), we positioned ourselves next to all the trash cans in Hutch with trash bags. As people came to throw away "trash", we politely directed them to divert their organic waste (napkins and leftover food) into our compost bags. They were then free to throw away the styrofoam plates, chopsticks, and non-recylable plastic utensils and cups.

We helped decrease the 23% of trash that is compostable. We gathered the bags, which were surprisingly heavy, left it outside overnight, and brought them to Bartlett the next morning. Easy as ABC!

It says "don't take" on the sign.

We're looking to do the same thing for the International Food Festival and future culture shows. KSO is coming up next and I've already been in contact with their director. Hopefully by starting early we can work out a deal so that there will be biodegradeable utensils. Although the best option may just be to resue older utensils, if they have them. Reduce > recycle, of course.

So some things we noticed and want to improve. There weren't recycle bins next to every trash room, so either some cans didn't get recycled or we had to stack them on top of the trash can. Even if it's a box, let's try to get a recycle bin for every trash can.

In the future, GCI is going to keep on providing the volunteers for the event. It's a great way to help other RSOs by staffing the event and let the public know GCI's efforts in really making our campus more sustainable at the personal level. That said, we will need to make sure our volunteers walk that fine line of ensuring composting and not pissing people off due to the inconvenience.

It would also help if we had some big diagrams telling people what they can compost. We could do with a name for this program. Something cool and catchy. Open to any suggestions!

Thirsty,
Willy

Minutes from 1/13 and 1/14 Meeting

Hello!

Sorry I haven't done any real blog posts recently. I hope this 3-day weekend I can get in some good ones. And I promise that I will keep them shorter. I should've started doing that early as I too do not like reading long blocks of texts. And it'll be an exercise in good, concise writing, ya?

Here are the minutes from this week's meetings.

Minutes from 1/13 and 1/14 Meeting

Movie Night Wrap-up

• more people wanted to see Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground than Captain Planet. if people are going to take time out of their homework regimen, then they want to see something substantive
• our goal was to recruit some new members and I believe we have.
• pizza was gone. popcorn was kind of gone. we still have iced tea and hot chocolate mix for future events

CUSA Show

• we didn't have enough time to work out a deal to have biodegradeable utensils at the event
• we will have have volunteers stand next to trash cans to ensure people compost, talk about composting at our school, and explain what GCI does
• Emily, Steven, Linda, Jefferson, Julie, Michael, Rahul, and Juan will be there. 1 hour shifts starting at 5:30. 4 per shift

International Food Festival

• we want to make sure they recycle, compost, and have biodegradeable utensils. Jefferson's pod is in charge of this
• a box of 1000 utensils is about $12 more than regular utensils. we can subsidize them?
• will contact Sarah, a GCI member on COUP, who can help
  

Next small event- Health Foods vs. Brownies

• 5th week, most likely
• we will book both tables in Cobb and sell healthy foods on one side and all sorts of brownies (regular, fudge, triple chocolate, white chocolate, cookies in brownies, brownie batter, etc.)
• the two sides will "fight" and heckle each other
• we can also make it more relevant to the environment by introducing sustainable vs. unsustainable ideas, organic vs. inorganic, carbon footprints. think about it!

Build-a-bin

• to prepare for Spring quarter, we're going to test try this Build-a-Bin.
• we'll advertise it is a "Get a free recycle bin", which will end up getting a box which you can decorate on the spot in the Reynold's Club
• we need to gather boxes (Bartlett, mailing rooms, any other ideas? local stores perhaps?)
• we also need to get decorating material (no glitter but maybe glitter glue?)
• later in the quarter, probably 6th or 7th week
  

Relay for Life

• Michael came and talked to us about it. it's an all night long race where one person from every group must be on the track walking/jogging/running.
  
• I say we raise the money and register as a team
• kick-off event on February 5th
• actual relay May 21-22 6 PM - 6 AM

Discussion on some sort of sustainable event seal sponsored by GCI

• if an event wants to be sustainable, they can get this certification
• in order for that to be successful, GCI needs to be seen as a legitimate RSO devoted to sustainability on campus so this certification actually means something
• some requirements for the certificate- recycling, composting, sustainable food options, paperless advertising
• will RSOs seek this seal? do we need to provide incentives like subsidizing utensils so that the other RSOs will save money?
  

If you're not in a pod want to be in one, e-mail me! It's the quickest and easiest way to get on board and work on real, tangible projects.

Cheers,
Willy

Minutes from 1/6 and 1/7 Meeting

Back at school now! Yay? Or nay? Not really sure right now. Hopefully will figure it out soon.

Here are the minutes from this week's meetings. If you're new and interested in meeting, Green Campus Initiative meets every Wednesday and Thursday 6 PM in the 002A of the Reynold's Club's basement. Come out and join us!

So here are the minutes!

Present: Jefferson, Julie, Sandy, Emily, Linda, Rahul, Alba, Linxi, Joe, Willy, Willy's friends from Texas

Pods

• If you're not in a pod and want to join one, e-mail me!
• Pods are comprised of 3-4 people with a leader. Each pod works on separate issues with concrete, achievable goals. That way, when a pod is done with one project they can move on to another.
• Willy wants to meet with pod leaders soon

Winter Quarter Plan

• really make ECO and GAIA bigger on campus
• prepare for Battle of the Bulbs and Earth week, all in the Spring
• use the pod system to really accomplish and change things (decreasing plastic bottle usage at school events, improving recycling in the dorms, etc.)

Battle of the Bulb general plan

• use Earth Week as the 1st week, a kickoff thing.
• PGE student-run conference serves as a guest speaker event
• Evan Greer and Anne Feeney, Generations of Resistance music tour
• http://riotfolk.org/files/evangreer/press_kit/generations_of_resistance_smaller.pdf
• musical act and social justice workshops
• will cost $3000, so we're looking to work with other RSOs to fundraise as the workshops appeal to many groups
• BotB would continue after earth week

• this year, we're going to try to make it more than just a dorm-wide energy reduction competition and make it more of an environmental awareness and action month.
• some ideas to get people outdoors and not using their lights
• sports activities at night
• camping on the quads
• bonfire at the point
• incentives to get people to study in public places and not their rooms
• other environmental activities somewhat related to Battle of the Bulbs
• something with bioluminescence? we could then do something with animal conservation
• provide paints and materials for people to decorate their own t-shirts or canvas bags
• we need to appeal to bookish types AND athletic types. try to set up events that appeal to all sorts of people to reduce energy

Movie Night Recruitment

• Tuesday January 12 8-10:30 PM
• we're going to close voting on the movie today. please vote! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BBM76HS
• using this as a recruitment event. hopefully people who have more open winter quarters will come out and check us out
• popcorn and drinks will be served. MAYBE pizza
• we'll need people to be there to talk to those interested in joining and to staff the event

Making money

• with the $500 we've won from the MAC t-shirt design competition, we're going to invest $400 of it to make more money. that money will go to prizes for BotB and making that and Earth Week
• ideas that we came up with to make more money
• bake sales
• t-shirt sales (let's see if people like the polar bear shirt. we can order more from a cheaper website and get rid of the MAC logo)
• obtain a blender and make smoothies
• sell food (pizza or others. college students are always hungry)
• host a sports tournament (it'd be a lot of work)
• set up a poker tournament with the buy-in going to a nonprofit (us) and the winner getting a prize that's not money (ipod, hot air balloon ride for two, etc.)
• people auction
• sell hot potatoes for the cold weather. it's hot and you can eat it!
• gather people's junk and auction it off or hold a massive garage sale (this would probably have to occur during the Spring)

Bananas!

Willy

When Lester Brown came to Chicago

Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute came to our school on November 17th and gave us a lecture/talk/presentation (what exactly do you call these events?). The room was fairly packed. Somebody said that this was going to be on C-SPAN or something. There were several large, professional looking video cameras and operators. Thanks to the Program on the Global Environment for putting on the event! And here goes another post based off of notes and memories.

He talked extensively about the food problem that has quietly come to the forefront of environmental problems. This is compounded by the ever increasing population of humans. He discussed rising food prices and how water-intensive it is to produce food. Furthermore, not only do our farming methods waste water, we have been overpumping water aquifers and not giving them a chance to refill.

And then I admit I dozed off. Sorry, Mr. Brown. It was a long day, but I snapped out of it! These are what my notes say during that time period, if you can decipher them.

America, N. dakota, Kansas, TX have enough harnassabl e wind to power all energy needs

cut emissions 80% by 2020

address transportation issues, most electrify everything

electric motors more efficient

attractive economic principles

Mr. Brown then talks about his views on Cap and Trade. He opposes it. Instead, he proposes a tax restructuring where you raise a carbon tax but lower an income tax. The amount taxed doesn't change as there are new incentives for decreasing your carbon footprint. He then claims this is the most rapid way to change the economy to promote sustainability and environmental stewardship.

And echoing Thomas Friedman in Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Mr. Brown calls on America to mobilize quickly, as if we were in another world war. After Pearl Harbor, the government banned production of private automobiles so that we could use those resources to create fighting machines. This is the effort we need now. Furthermore, the generation 70 years ago showed that it can be done. We just need the willpower.

The next section in the talk examines how best to achieve such change. Something that stuck out- international climate agreements are obsolete. Two main reasons. First, minimalism (?). No country wants to do more than anyone else as everybody is a realist. Nobody is an idealist. Second, they take too much time. What does he suggest instead?

Us! More political grassroots action. He brings up the case of how the Sierra Club has pretty much stopped the building of any new coal-fired power plants. This was through concerned citizens organizing and rallying behind a common barrier. There was no law that had to pass through both Senate and House of Representatives. It was direct change. Students, soccer moms, cubicle employees, nannies. Anybody with any concern for the environment can also have the biggest impact. Sure John Kerry or Barbara Boxer or Henry Waxman understand the impacts of global warming, but they are so powerful that they're handicapped by those just as powerful. I think this is what Mr. Brown was trying to tell us.

And now, here are my own thoughts. I totally agree about his call for more action from ordinary folks like you and me. The way I see it, many of us out there are aware of these problems that we face. Many of us out there understand the implications and consequences of inaction. Yet, we have not done much about it outside of our personal lives. Whether this is a problem of fear, embarrassment, lack of knowledge of opportunities, or whatever, I have no idea. But for us to succeed, it IS going to take more than just recycling or composting in your backyard. And it'll probably start small, like sharing an environmental link on facebook you found pretty cool or reminding a friend to recycle. And gradually, it might snowball into directing a campaign to ban plastic water bottles on a campus. Something major like that.

I hope everybody had a great winter break! I had a lot of stuff planned out to do for GCI and I must admit I did not complete all of them. Not too guilty though, as it was break and all. Start working again now! Big things to come :)

Happy New Years!

Willy