Bill to Force Keystone Approval a Giveaway to Oil Companies

May 22- The U.S. House is set to vote this week on a bill by Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) to shut down the review process and public comment, override protections for clean air and water, and force approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Despite more than 1 million comments from Americans asking the State Department to say no to Keystone XL, the bill is expected to pass by a wide margin.

“It’s the wrong approach to put a foreign energy company ahead of more than 1 million Americans who have expressed concern for our nation’s wildlife, energy security and public health,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “This bill is nothing more than an effort to run roughshod over protections for landowners, wildlife and drinking water supplies so that TransCanada can get oil to Gulf coast refineries for export to China and other countries.”

Read more about the Keystone XL pipeline here.

National Sportsman’s Group Urges Gulf Restoration Council to Prioritize Ecosystem Projects

May 22- Today, more than 350 hunting and fishing businesses and organizations sent a letter to the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, asking that the Council prioritize restoration of the Gulf ecosystem in order to also achieve economic restoration in the region.

The Restoration Council is a multi-state, multi-agency group that has been tasked with developing a comprehensive ecosystem restoration plan for the Gulf. The Council is currently developing the plan, with a draft due for public comment this spring.

Vanishing Paradise drafted the letter, which illustrated that hunting and fishing are major economic drivers in the Gulf and are supported by habitat restoration and wildlife conservation. In 2011, in the five Gulf states alone, nearly 8.5 million hunters and anglers spent $15.7 billion on their outdoor pursuits. This spending supports more than 255,000 jobs and generates $3.3 billion in federal, state and local taxes.

Read the letter here.

National Wildlife Federation names Maureen P. Smith Head of Marketing and Communications

May 21- The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has hired longtime entertainment industry executive and former conservation organization president, Maureen P. Smith, as its new Vice President of Marketing and Communications. In this role, Smith will be part of NWF’s executive leadership team and play a key role in a wide variety of areas throughout the organization and its programs, including: the global marketing and branding of NWF and its cherished mascot, Ranger Rick; internal and external communications; children’s publishing; digital products and online integration; consumer insight; and video and multi-media productions.

As the former top executive at Animal Planet, Fox Kids Network and Fox Family Channel, as well as at the non-profit Jane Goodall Institute, Smith brings to NWF years of experience in all aspects of communication and engagement; fundraising; developing and managing new revenue streams; and bringing the wonders and needs of the natural world to life – across a variety of media platforms and other consumer touchpoints.

“Bringing Maureen aboard is not only strategic, it is truly symbolic of NWF’s commitment to remaining the leading wildlife conservation-focused organization in America and to maximizing the impact of our voice and the voice of our members and affiliates – especially during these critical times for our environment,” said Jaime Matyas, NWF’s Chief Operating Officer.

National Wildlife Federation and National Aquarium Announce Plan to Certify Baltimore as the Largest Community Wildlife Habitat Along the Chesapeake Bay

May 20- For years, Baltimore has been known as “Birdland” and now, thanks to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and the National Aquarium, it’s official. Today, First Lady of Maryland Katie O’Malley joined leaders from NWF, National Aquarium and city officials to launch a program aimed at greening city streets, backyards, schools and places of worship.

“We believe that your backyard can be a place for exploring and unleashing children’s curiosity,” said Hilary Harp Falk, Regional Executive Director for National Wildlife Federation. “Baltimore has always been a city for the birds, and we intend to work with partners in the City to create beautiful places which will offer opportunities to learn about and connect with the outdoors.”

By greening the city for birds, butterflies and other wildlife, residents of Baltimore will also help to improve both air and water quality for humans. The more native plantings that are used to attract wildlife, the greater potential the city has of reaching its Healthy Harbor goals and helping to clean the Chesapeake Bay.

And now here are highlights from NWF in the news:

• NASDAQ:  National Wildlife Federation Rings The NASDAQ Stock Market Closing Bell
• Times-Picayune: Coastal restoration is the focus of “Coastal Conversations” series in French Quarter
• CBS Denver: Udall seeks feedback on proposed monument
• Billings Gazette: Guest opinion: Good FWP planning can help resolve bison battles
• Deseret News: Lessons from the garden: Growing great kids, relationships

For more visit www.nwf.org/news

Many move-out programs rely on volunteers. Top: CCU volunteers with a few random finds from Campus Salvage (image courtesy Sustainability Initiative of CCU). Bottom: Skidmore College volunteers help with 7th annual Give+Go (image courtesy of Riley Neugebauer, Sustainable Skidmore).

• Coastal Carolina University, Conway, South Carolina:  Campus Salvage. In its fifth year, Campus Salvage collects just about anything, including clothing, furniture, mini fridges, cleaning products, school supplies and non-perishable food. The purpose of the program is to collect unwanted, good items from the 3,000 students moving out from campus and save it from going into the landfill. There are five locations of PODS setup throughout the residence halls during move-out week. Items are either donated to local charities (men’s and women’s shelters, animal shelters, food banks, etc.) or sold at the Community Sale. The Campus Salvage Community Sale is open to the public a week after collection and includes between 12 to 15 PODS full of donated items from students. Most items are $1 each, with the exception of high ticket items such as mini fridges and microwaves. A lot of the people that come to the sale include public school teachers and parents with children heading to college in the fall. Campus Salvage grows more popular every year and it’s very rewarding to be able to keep all these items out of our local landfill!–description thanks to Jennifer Sellers, Sustainability Coordinator at Coastal Carolina University

• Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY:  Give+Go. Skidmore College recently launched the seventh annual “Give+Go,” a two-week program that collects and donates items left behind by students at the end of each academic year. The program prevents thousands of pounds of usable items from going into the landfill by donating them to organizations that support individuals and families in need, including the NY/NJ Chapter of Goodwill and Backstretch Employee Service Team (B.E.S.T.), a local organization that supports over one thousand racetrack workers in Saratoga Springs, NY.  In order to collect unwanted items, Sustainable Skidmore partners with the college’s waste hauler and Goodwill. These organizations provide collection bins for each residence hall and apartment building on campus. Goodwill and B.E.S.T. also assist in collecting donations during two of the busiest move-out dates. Volunteers provide the majority of the labor required to make Give+Go possible each year. Over the two-week collection period, Skidmore staff, faculty, and students volunteer time during lunch and on weekends to collect items from the campus residence halls. Nearly 20 volunteers came to campus on Saturday May 11th, to sort through and collect items for B.E.S.T. and Goodwill. The final collection day for this year’s Give+Go is the day after commencement.–description thanks to Rachel Willis, Sustainability Fellow at Skidmore College

In addition to the help these types of move-out programs provide to the community, some programs save students money and eliminate the need to buy new by hosting back-to-school yard sales. In addition, student-run move-out programs build valuable skills in leadership and event management!

• Northland College, Ashland, Wisconsin: SCRAM! Sustain. Conserve. Recycle. And. Move-out. SCRAM! is the move-out theme at Northland College. The Sustainability Office figured a clever acronym and a recognizable mascot (Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch) would attract more attention from the students and encourage residents to be thoughtful about their move-out habits. In an attempt to limit waste, Northland College is boosting opportunities for single-stream recycling and donations. SCRAM! runs in the final week before dorms close. As part of the program, each residential building is equipped with two side-by-side 12 yard dumpsters. One is for trash, one is for recycling. Each building also has a designated indoor space for donations (clothing, linens, furniture, housewares, etc). The donation sites are located in convenient, well-traveled locations (namely 1st floor lobbies and lounges), to increase participation. The majority of the donated items are added to the inventory of the ReUse Room. The ReUse Room is located on campus and is set up as a secondhand store – the only difference is that everything is free! If and when the ReUse Room reaches capacity, the rest of the goods are donated directly to the community.–description thanks to Sarah Christofferson, Sustainaibility Fellow at Northland College

• University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH:  Trash 2 Treasure. Approximately half of the 13,000 undergraduates attending the University of New Hampshire live on campus; each month they throw away about 25 tons of trash. However in May, that number rises dramatically to 120 tons due to move-out waste. In 2010, UNH had 13 extra 30-yard dumpsters delivered to campus just to handle move-out waste. The mission of the Trash 2 Treasure (T2T) program, started by the UNH Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC),  is to reduce this move-out waste and reduce UNH’s overall contribution to landfills. Each May, T2T collects all of the usable stuff that students donate or throw away (all T2T members are official dumpster divers!), store and clean it over the summer, and then hold a 3-day yard sale during move-in weekend, selling it all back at reasonable rates to incoming and returning students. The income generated from the yard sale is used to pay for the costs of running the program over the next year. This model makes T2T the first student-run, self-sustaining program of its kind. T2T’s founder Alex Freid, and other T2T leaders are now working with students at other campuses to build similar, self-sustaining programs and the overall movement of students committed to waste reduction as part of the Post-Landfill Action Network (PLAN).–description adapted from “About UNH T2T;” additional information thanks to Alex Freid, Founder and Executive Director, PLAN

Tell us how YOUR campus reduced waste during move-out 2013. Share photos on our facebook wall or comment below.

Related Reading:

• Find out how to bring PLAN to your campus: http://www.postlandfill.org/
• Graduate with zero carbon debt! NWF and CarbonFund.org partnership to bring your campus premium-priced carbon offset opportunities.
• Like Campus Ecology on facebook, and follow @CampusEcology and @YouthforClimate on twitter.

May 16- Late last evening, the House Committee on Agriculture passed its version of the 2013 farm bill.

“We commend Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-MN) for crafting a bipartisan reauthorization of the farm bill,” said Julie Sibbing, director of Agriculture and Forestry Programs, National Wildlife Federation. “While we appreciate the difficult task of drafting a bill to achieve deficit reductions, the committee missed important opportunities to save taxpayer dollars through commonsense conservation measures for soil, water and wildlife.”

Notably absent in the House Committee bill was a provision included in the Senate committee bill that would link soil and wetlands protection to crop insurance premium subsidies. Major agricultural and conservation groups recently joined with Senate lawmakers to support reasonable soil and wetland protection requirements crafted to work better for producers.

NWF: McCarthy Deserves Clean Vote

May 16- Gina McCarthy’s nomination as Environmental Protection Agency administrator now moves to the full Senate after the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today approved her. Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said today:

“Gina McCarthy has already been approved once by the Senate and since then has only strengthened her record as a non-partisan voice for sensible reductions in pollution to protect America’s wildlife, clean air and water, and public health. The full Senate should give her a clean vote as soon as possible. We’ve already wasted enough time watching polluter allies play political games with her confirmation process.

• Take action and tell your senators you support Gina McCarthy to serve as America’s next Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

Shortsighted Senate Water Bill Will Damage Rivers and Wildlife, Fleece Taxpayers

May 15-  Today, the Senate voted 83-14 to pass the Water Resources Development Act of 2013, S.601.

Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said in response:

“This shortsighted bill will leave Americans at greater risk of flooding, damage our rivers and wildlife, and fleece taxpayers. Apparently, all it takes is a classic Washington pig roast to break the gridlock in the Senate.

It would cost an estimated $60 billion to build all the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects currently on the books. Today, the Senate has added to the backlog while undermining the process that identifies which projects provide real value. Time and time again, commonsense environmental reviews have shed light on expensive, damaging proposals that are not in our national interest.The Water Resources Development Act is vital for helping to restore national treasures like the Everglades and the Mississippi River Delta. Unfortunately, language in this bill undermines the bedrock environmental principle that the federal government should look before it leaps. For example, this bill will allow the Army Corps to fine other federal agencies up to $20,000 a week if they aren’t able to meet the new rushed deadlines for environmental review.”

• Read more about the Water Resources Development Act and how it effects wildlife.

National Wildlife Federation’s Be Out There Movement Announces Partnership With The American Camp Association

May 14- NWF  is pleased to announce a new partnership with the American Camp Association (ACA). Through this partnership, NWF and ACA will promote the importance of reconnecting families with the outdoors, particularly through Be Out There’s Great American Backyard Campout, which encourages families across the nation to gather outdoors and camp on June 22, 2013.

“NWF and ACA are committed to getting millions more children to play outdoors on a regular basis. This relationship is a win for American kids, because together we will help families raise healthier and happier children who have a lifelong commitment to protecting wildlife and the natural world,” said Meri-Margaret Deoudes, vice president of Be Out There at NWF. “Through this new partnership, ACA will help NWF’s Be Out There movement share resources that inspire parents to make nature a part of their family’s everyday lives.”

Senate Farm Bill Protects Soil, Water, Wildlife

May 14-The National Wildlife Federation commends Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-MS) for their leadership in crafting and moving out of committee a strong, bipartisan reauthorization of the farm bill.

“The Senate farm bill includes an historic agreement between agriculture and conservation organizations to ensure that basic soil and wetland protection requirements were extended to apply to crop insurance premium subsidies,” said Julie Sibbing, director of Agriculture and Forestry Programs, National Wildlife Federation.

“NWF thanks the Committee members for their support of the agreement, especially Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), who successfully offered an amendment to attach these provisions to crop insurance on the Senate floor last year and who stood up for the agreement in committee today.”

• Take action and ensure that worthy Farm Bill conservation programs are reauthorized at appropriate levels, structured to achieve maximum wildlife and environmental benefits, and fully funded during the annual appropriations process.

Senate Water Bill Expensive, Damaging

May 13- On Monday, spokespeople representing three very different backgrounds and perspectives offered up their opinions of the Water Resources Development Act (S.601).

• Download the audio of the telepresser here.

 And now here are highlights from NWF in the news:

• Los Angeles Times- Senate approves bill that would benefit L.A. port
• Parents Magazine- Raise a Nature Lover
• Politico- Morning Transportation: Senate passes WRDA
• Miami Herald- Senate overwhelmingly approves water infrastructure bill
• Florida Today- Senate authorizes Port Canaveral widening
• Billings Gazette- Guest opinion: Good FWP planning can help resolve bison battles
• The Shreveport Times- Vitter says water bill will help Louisiana
• CNBC.com- Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths

For more visit www.nwf.org/news

Van Jones gets the crowd excited about creating a green collar economy.

NWF Campus Ecology’s Julian Keniry and I hosted a workshop related to NWF Campus Ecology’s forthcoming student conservation leadership recognition program, sharing our observations and perspective on the current and future needs of students, and gaining even more insight on these and other topics from the fine folks who attended our session.

It’s interesting to me that campus sustainability leaders, in general, express similar frustrations and obstacles at initiating campus projects and pushing forward climate-smart policies. Fortunately, at our workshop and throughout the conference, we heard a ton of innovative solutions to integrate concepts of ecology and environmental responsibility into the curriculum, as well as campus-wide policy and planning decisions with great importance to reducing the college and university footprint:

• At the University of Maryland, for example, faculty can attend the Chesapeake Project, a two-day workshop ”to integrate broad issues of sustainability into diverse courses.” Since 2009, over 111 courses, representing all 12 of UMD’s colleges, have been revised to include lessons or assignments about sustainability. Many of the professors help students draw the connection between local environmental issues and their studies, increasing their connection to the Chesapeake.
• Eastern Connecticut State University addresses the problem of low student attendance at campus-sponsored events by awarding involved students “priority points.” The points help boost a student’s housing lottery number, offering them first dibs on the most coveted campus housing. We of course were curious about students getting the points and then leaving halfway through a guest lecture or film, but it sounds like for the most part, the opportunity for points gets students to the event, but the content is interesting enough that they stay! Our workshop team suggested this point system could undergo some “greening” by asking resident assistants to host sustainably-themed events several times year, and increasing environmental programming overall.

We were also happy to host an exhibit booth displaying our resources to help campuses become even smarter and more sustainable. It was a pleasure to talk to so many people who are so enthusiastic and working in so many ways to reduce the ecological impact of their colleges and universities and to increase environmental literacy among students, faculty, staff and administrators. If you missed us, you can download and view NWF Campus Ecology resources here. See below for other ways to keep in touch with NWF Campus Ecology through email and social media.

Keynote speakers included Van Jones and Colin Beavan (aka “No Impact Man“) who both had encouraging, inspiring messages to share. I’ve seen Van Jones a fair amount of times (and by “fair amount of times” I mean 5), and he always has something new and motivating to say–this time, he pointed out that the last really big cultural environmental revolution here in America happened in a span of ten years. Ten years! There is hope for our immediate future, folks! Having done my fair share of blogging over the past several months, I was especially enthused to hear advice on communicating about climate and the need for climate action (or really just effective communication techniques regardless of topic) from Colin Beavan–I appreciated his reminder to inspire readers or listeners to action, rather than lay down a lot of facts in an effort to persuade. At the core of his message, Colin Beavan encouraged us to tell the stories of the everyday climate heroes–people who are leading or supporting projects for a specific, personal reason, in ways that might encourage others to step up and jump in, too.

It turns out that the conference proved valuable not only as an idea share for all sorts of campus folks, but resonated with the hotel management and staff where the conference was located–at the request of the event planners, attendees of the conference enjoyed locally sourced foods and carried their own mugs. The hotel chef has begun a local foods dinner once weekly, and the event staff will request that all future conference attendees also bring their own mugs to reduce glassware use!

Many thanks to the University of Maryland and all the fine folks who organized the 8th annual Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference!

• View the slide presentation from the NWF Campus Ecology workshop, “Certified National Student Conservation Leaders for Sustainable Communities:  How You and Your Students Can Benefit” (under the “Monday Morning Workshops, 8:40-10 AM” heading)
• Learn more about the annual Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference
• Like NWF Campus Ecology on facebook, and follow @CampusEcology and @YouthforClimate on twitter
• Sign up for the NWF Campus Ecology e-newsletter for news on the upcoming student leadership program and more!

National Wildlife Federation Announces Young Reporters for the Environment USA Winners

May 3- The National Wildlife Federation (NWF), the U.S. host of the international Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) program, announces the 2013 middle and high school winners of the Young Reporters for the Environment USA (YRE USA) competition. The YRE USA competition had a prestigious jury panel of professionals possessing expertise in the fields of environmental conservation, sustainable development, journalism, photography, videography, and education.

The Young Reporters for the Environment USA program is part of a rapidly-growing international network of international youth engaged in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). It is coordinated by the Foundation for Environmental Education and currently operates in 27 countries.

Click on the article link above for more information on this year’s winners.

For more information on Young Reporters for the Environment, please go to: www.yre-usa.org.

To Protect Great Lakes from Ballast Water Invaders National Wildlife Federation Asks for Restraining Order

May 2- The National Wildlife Federation is asking a federal judge to stop the EPA from implementing a rule that would prohibit the State of New York from strengthening protections against non-native species introduced by ballast water discharges.

The motion was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

“The people, businesses and communities that have paid a steep price from aquatic invasive species deserve strong protections that shut the door on ballast water invaders once and for all,” said Marc Smith, senior policy manager at the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center. “Our action today seeks to stop the EPA from blocking efforts to get the State of New York to do enough to prevent the introduction of more aquatic invasive species.”

The stakes are high in the effort to protect the Great Lakes. Ballast water invaders have altered the Great Lakes ecosystem from top to bottom and cause at least $200 million per year in damages and control costs.

National Wildlife Federation Announces 2013 Results for the Campus Conservation Nationals Competition

May 1- The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) in partnership with Lucid Design Group, the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the Alliance to Save Energy, announces the 2013 results for the Campus Conservation Nationals Competition (CCN), the largest nationwide electricity and water reduction competition on college and university campuses.

From February 4 through April 26, 2013, students, faculty and staff switched off unused electronics, took shorter showers, and turned off lights in common areas, all to see who could save the most. Participants organized events, utilized social media, and launched creative marketing campaigns to motivate their peers to take personal actions and encourage changes in building operations. Through thousands of direct actions and collective effort, CCN participants demonstrated that personal actions can significantly reduce energy use and advance the sustainability of their schools.

To learn more about the results of the competition, visit CompeteToReduce.org/results

May Is Garden For Wildlife Month

April 29- From bird watchers to butterfly lovers, people across the country are transforming their gardens into havens for wildlife in celebration of National Wildlife Federation’s Garden for Wildlife Month and its Certified Wildlife Habitat™ program.

“May is a wonderful time to get gardening and a great time to attract some of nature’s most beautiful creatures to your yard,” said David Mizejewski, Naturalist and Personality for the National Wildlife Federation. “Taking simple steps in your garden to encourage wildlife is not only personally rewarding it also provides myriad benefits to animals and ecosystems.”

This year’s Garden for Wildlife Month’s feature species is thehummingbird, which was the winner of a recent online survey to select this year’s feature animal. Hummingbirds are a prime example of the beauty one can expect to see as a result of careful planting. 

For more information about Garden for Wildlife Month, gardening tips, resources, and certifying a Wildlife Habitat with NWF, please go to: www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife.

New Report: Heavy Rain Exacerbating Farm Runoff, Worsening Toxic Algae Blooms In Lake Erie

April 29 – As the Great Lakes region experiences massive flooding due to weeks of heavy rain, a new report from the National Wildlife Federation examines how intense rain events are exacerbating farm runoff and contributing to record toxic algal blooms in Lake Erie that impact public health, drinking water supplies and wildlife. The report warns that the storms driving harmful algal blooms will only become more common due to global warming.

“Lake Erie is experiencing a one-two punch of heavy rains and farm run-off that is influencing the magnitude of toxic algal blooms,” said report author Melinda Koslow, regional program manager at the National Wildlife Federation’ Great Lakes Regional Center. “Global warming will only exacerbate this urgent problem. Thankfully, there are solutions to help farmers and communities protect our Lakes, environment and economy.”

 Read the report at: www.nwf.org/TakenByStorm

New Radio Ad Thanks Sen. Collins for Saying No to Dirty Air Budget Proposals, Voting for a Clean Budget

April 29- The National Wildlife Federation launched a new ad in Maine today thanking Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) for her opposition to dirty air budget proposals, which would have gutted Environmental Protection Agency clean air standards that protect the health of Americans.

The ads will be accompanied by a “takeover” of the Bangor Daily News website Monday through Wednesday, and the Portland Press Herald website on Thursday. They express thanks for Sen. Collins’ opposition to cynical anti Clean Air Act amendments during Senate budget debates in March that would have blocked the EPA’s historic Carbon Pollution Standard, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS), as well as other clean air standards and public health protections.

“We are thanking Senator Collins for putting wildlife and public health ahead of corporate polluters’ profits,” said Jim Lyon, vice president for conservation policy at the National Wildlife Federation. “America’s sportsmen want our members of Congress to stand strong for our air, water, wildlife and public lands. Congress shouldn’t ever use the budget process to replace important clean air and water protections with dangerous, dirty and deadly pollution.”

Listen to the ad here.

And now here are highlights from NWF in the news:

• Bloomberg News: Enbridge Expansion Could Turn Into Keystone-Like Fight
• Forbes.com: The Price Of Investing In Sin
• The Journal Sentinel :  Wildlife Federation sues to let New York State toughen ballast standards
• NorthJersey.com: May is National Wildlife Federation’s “Garden for Wildlife” month
• Equities.com: 300,000 Students Compete in Campus Conservation Nationals 2013 and Save Over Two Million kWh of Electricity and 1.6 Million Gallons of Water
• Denver Post: Creek spill an overdue wakeup call

 For more visit www.nwf.org/news

As part of Campus Conservation Nationals 2013, NWF Campus Ecology hosted a video contest encouraging students to creatively showcase their energy and water-saving initiatives.

In 2013, the 300,000 student competitors saved 2,114,844 kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough to power 187 U.S. homes for a year, and equivalent to 2,426,040 pounds of CO2! Students were also able to save 1,681,241 gallons of water, equivalent to 11,208 shower hours. That’s almost 31 years of taking a one-hour shower every day–and nearly a 100 shower-hour increase over the 2012 water savings!

CCN gives students a common voice and motivation to hundreds of thousands of students, all working together to reduce consumption and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Upon registering for CCN, colleges and universities tailored the contest to their specific preferences–choosing to pit on-campus residences against each other, or to rally the entire campus to save more than other schools in their region or state. Schools in New York, California, Kentucky competed in small groups to see which could take the top prize. In California, the Alliance to Save Energy hosted a PowerSave Green Campus competition. California State University Chico won, having reduced electricity use 12.8%, beating out nine other CSU and UC school to take home the prize.

NWF’s Campus Ecology program hosted a CCN video contest, offering a $1,000 grand prize to the school with the best video documenting students taking positive actions on their campus. Earlham College in Indiana won best video, featuring strategies to reduce energy and water usage on campus with more than 500 votes from CCN participants. Watch the 2013 CCN video program featuring campuses competing this spring below, or visit the Campus Ecology facebook page.

Celebrate CCN 2013 by watching the CCN video program! Click the image to watch on YouTube.

“The video submissions this year were really tremendous,” said Kristy Jones, senior manager, Campus Ecology. “The videos are inspiring documentation of the kind of creative actions students are taking to address climate change and improve the sustainability of their universities.”

Congratulations to the 9 video contest entrants, and to all the resource-saving winners who participated in Campus Conservation Nationals 2013! Stay tuned for updates and get ready for CCN 2014!

NWF’s Campus Ecology Program has been a lead partner on Campus Conservation Nationals since 2011. Before 2011, NWF hosted its own green campus competition, Chill Out, showcasing students, faculty and staff taking action for the environment. NWF’s Campus Ecology Program works with more than half of the nation’s 4,100 colleges and universities to advance climate action and sustainability on campus and in the community.

Further Reading:

• Learn more about the results of CCN 2013, please visit: CompeteToReduce.org/results
• Learn more about the NWF Campus Ecology program at www.CampusEcology.org
• Like Campus Ecology on facebook and follow @CampusEcology and @YouthforClimate on twitter

Why higher education leadership for the environment in Virginia is important

“NWF started the Campus Ecology Program back in 1989, Mr. Lyon explained, because NWF knew higher education needs to lead the solutions to the conservation and wildlife challenges we are facing and to ensure that the graduates of today are prepared to lead the solutions of tomorrow.”

Colleges and universities, he explained, are places where people from all walks of life expect to see solutions demonstrated in practice, whether wind turbines, solar panels or electric recharge stations. Hands-on conservation and sustainability go hand-in-hand with the curriculum.

Campuses, clean economy and healthy wildlife connections in Virginia

“It is no longer business as usual for protecting wildlife, explained Lyon. We can’t simply set aside land and water, or regulate for clean air and clean water, although all of that is critical. We also have to look upstream to the impacts on wildlife and habitats- and there we can see that it is our building choices, our energy choices, our transportation choices and all of those need to be overhauled for a clean, safe, 21st Century.”

Reducing carbon pollution to zero within the lifetimes of Virginia college students today

“The challenge to society is to reduce carbon pollution to nearly zero before 2050, or within the lifetimes of most college students today,” Lyon explained. “This means that we are not talking here about being trained to recycle aluminum cans, although that is certainly a part of the solution. We are talking here about a much larger shift- educating students to scale solutions to the scope of the problem.”

“While this can be a daunting challenge,” admitted Jim, “it is the conservation fight of a lifetime.  The fact is 99% of scientists overwhelming agree human reliance on fossil fuels is destabilizing the climate. Is this the legacy we want to leave our children or even the current generations of students today?”

How Virginia colleges and other universities are leading

Jim highlighted several examples of higher education leadership in Virginia, including:

• Dabney S. Lancaster Community College’s Wind Turbine Service Technology program prepares individuals for career entry and advancement opportunities in the advanced technology applications of wind energy technologies.
• Randolph College has an organic garden & orchard, an extensive recycling center that accepts CFLs, electronics, CDs, DVDs, in addition to glass, plastic, aluminum and cardboard. Through NWF’s partner, the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), Randolph has commitment to reduce the campus’s carbon footprint through energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other strategies.
• George Mason University’s (GMU) Board of Visitors, in 2007, pledged that the university would build all new construction to a higher environmental standard, specifically, LEED Silver certification level. In addition to two certified National Wildlife Habitats, GMU has purchases 10% of its annual electricity through wind powered Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), avoiding over 17 million pounds of CO2 emissions, which is like taking almost 1,500 cars off the road for a year or like powering 963 homes for a year!
• Northern Virginia Community College is committed to green building. NVCC’s newly-opened Student Services Building on the Annandale campus recently received their LEED certification award (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design); the student services building is the first LEED Certified building at NVCC. More of NVCC’s campuses will feature LEED buildings soon – Manassas, Woodbridge campuses, etc.
• Thomas Nelson Community College installed two solar panels to power the lights, ventilation and battery chargers for its motorcycle storage containers used for the campus’s motorcycle safety courses) that are located adjacent to a campus parking lot.

Virginia students gain some greener career insights

These kinds of programs help students prepare for a growing array of greener career opportunities throughout Virginia, he noted.  Drawing on labor market studies developed through the Greenforce Initiative (a partnership with Jobs for the Future and National Wildlife Federation sponsored by the Bank of America Charitable Trust at 100 community colleges in six states), Lyon highlighted some of the Virginia specific job trends of relevance to students.

For example, some of the top green jobs by category in Virginia, include pollution reduction, removal & remediation (with 3402 postings), energy efficiency (with 2148 postings), and natural resource conservation (with 1859 postings). Among the top 10 green skills in Virginia, Lyon explained, are scheduling, HVAC, and inspection, while the leading green certifications in Virginia, include professional engineers, certified safety professionals and certified energy managers.

“We’ll need solar financers, project managers and installers and an array of other renewable energy technologies in Virginia,” explained Lyon, including offshore wind. We’ll also need people skilled in climate mitigation and adaptation,  restoring habitat and protecting biodiversity for people and wildlife.”

***

Congratulations to the Class of 2013 for graduating with zero carbon debt!! Image via Microsoft Clip Art.

As an aside, I thought I was really clever and came up with the term carbon debt all on my own but then I googled it and…Oxford, the world’s most trusted dictionaries, even has a definition. Carbon debt is a thing! Just to make sure that you, Oxford and I are on the same page, carbon debt is “the imbalance between the carbon footprint of a particular country, group, person, etc., and any carbon offsetting that has been agreed or undertaken to counteract this.” In simpler terms, if you have carbon debt, you and your lifestyle choices produce more CO2 than your environment uses.

But don’t get upset! Don’t get discouraged! Carbon debt is easily relieved! You can drive less, eat local and lower on the food chain and plant some trees. And, you can invest in carbon offsets!

NWF Campus Ecology and Carbonfund.org Foundation are partnering to offer premium pricing to campuses looking to offset their carbon emissions. Click the photo to visit the NWF Carbonfund.org page.

1. Help your campus achieve carbon neutrality
2. Finance climate projects in three different categories
   1. Renewable energy and methane
   2. Energy efficiency and carbon credits
   3. Reforestation and avoided deforestation
3. Support NWF Campus Ecology programming

If carbon offsets make you feel like that vegetarian who eats bacon in secret, rest assured that all Carbonfund.org offset projects are third-party verified, certified and audited. Carbon offsets are the perfect way to account for emissions resulting from events (sports games and, ahem, graduation ceremonies) and travel, and can be a bridge between the present and your campus’s self-supplying energy future as it builds that infrastructure. Investing in Carbonfund.org’s innovative offset projects–landfill methane gas-to-energy conversion operations in the northeast, reforestation along the banks of the Mississippi River and truck stop electrification across the country– is something your campus can do while continuing to increase energy efficiency and building its own, on-site renewable energy portfolio.

So here’s an idea for that graduation check from your great-uncle Harry:  how about you invest it (or at least part of it, because let’s be real, graduating from college requires a bit of cash in the “celebration” fund) in a climate action project so you can graduate knowing that the CO2 emitted throughout your college career is being absorbed by climate-smart projects throughout the country and even the world. Better yet, pay a visit to the Commencement Committee, and ask them to look into offsetting your graduation ceremony.

If you have questions about Carbonfund.org offsets on your campus, email NWF Campus Ecology’s resident carbon offset expert, Kristy Jones at jonesk@nwf.org.

And most of all, HAPPY GRADUATION!! We wish we could sign all of your yearbooks personally with our soy ink pens, but just know that we have loved working with you! Best of all, this isn’t goodbye! Be sure to stay in touch by joining the NWF Emerging Leaders Initiative, which supports recent grads and young professionals (that’s you!) as they embark on careers in the environmental and conservation fields. The Emerging Leaders Initiative offers opportunities such as fellowships, leadership skills and professional development training, networking and more!

Keep in touch!

Love,

The NWF Campus Ecology Team

Related Reading:

• Find out more about the NWF Emerging Leaders Initiatve at www.nwf.org/emergingleaders and on facebook at facebook.com/nwfleaders
• Learn more about the NWF Campus Ecology partnership with the Carbonfund.org Foundation.
• Like NWF Campus Ecology on facebook, and follow @CampusEcology and @YouthforClimate on twitter.
• Sign up for the NWF Campus Ecology e-newsletter.

Although many students are also ramping up for exams and summer internships, all across the country student activists hosted earth day events and actions to honor this planet and bring more people into the fight to protect it. In Michigan it looks like it was also a nice opportunity to spend some time outside, appreciating nature and good friends:

Photo from Connor Meston, MSU student.

And of course, Earth Day isn’t the only day students are hosting awesome events and taking action to make our world a more sustainable one. Most of these students are engaged in campaigns that work every day to undertake important sustainability goals on campus, like ending the sale of bottled water, transitioning to renewable energy, and divesting from fossil fuels. Stand in solidarity with these students by taking action today too! Take a minute to prevent oil spills in the Great Lakes by voicing your opposition to Enbridge’s tar sands pipelines. 

The opening session on Tuesday featured key note addresses by Leo W. Gerard from the United Steelworkers (USW) and Dr. David Danielson from the U.S. Department of Energy. The following panel featured Bryan Walsh from TIME magazine, Kevin J. Anton from Alcoa, Kevin Knobloch from the Union of Concerned Scientists, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse from Rhode Island, as well as Mr. Gerard from the USW. The discussion focused on bringing climate change to the national agenda, a few highlights include:

• Kevin J. Anton from Alcoa – “If you want to go fast, go by yourself; if you want to go strong, go together.” The goal of making climate change a national issue, of getting Congress to address it needs to be a collective effort – all the groups gathered here today, the USW, Sierra Club, General Motors, Kaiser Aluminum, and others need to work together.
• U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse – Two things prompt legislative action – 1) disasters (like Super Storm Sandy), and 2) Executive action that forces the issue. This needs to change.

And the closing speaker for the morning was Jacqueline Patterson from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); Jacqueline had many words of wisdom, inspiration, and hope for the future of the U.S. and greener, healthier jobs, but one thing she said stuck the longest and strongest: “We need to get money out of politics.” It’s true, but how?

My next stop during the day was a session under Tools for the Clean Economy on offshore wind, called “Build Here, Build Now: The Case for an American Offshore Wind Energy Industry.” Offshore wind is very important to me for a couple of reasons. I live in Virginia, we are a coastal state, and currently we have no wind energy – on land, or offshore. But we do have wind! Last fall, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Dominion Power a $4 million grant for an offshore wind energy test project. So wind is a real opportunity for Virginia, and other coastal states, as well as the Great Lakes.

This session featured future plans for developing offshore wind in the U.S., including a new project that will be launched soon in New Bedford, Massachusetts, “New Bedford Will Host Marine Commercial Terminal to Support Offshore Wind,” and also spotlighted existing offshore wind installations in Germany. We look to Europe for the expertise on offshore wind – Germany, Scotland, and others. Dirk Scheelje from the Ministry of Science and Research, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, talked about existing installations, future projects, and highlighted the point that this was an opportunity for the workforce not only on the coast, but throughout the country. Many of the presenters had great photos to share of offshore wind installations and components, but they were all from overseas, hopefully soon we will have some photos of our own to share. New Bedford should soon.

I also discovered a great new resource at the GJGJ conference, www.ChemHAT.org. ChemHAT — the Chemical Hazard and Alternatives Toolbox — is a new internet database designed to offer up easy-to-use information that can help protect individual workers, their families and co-workers against the harm that chemicals can cause; “ChemHAT is based on the simple idea that when we know how a chemical can hurt us we can take protective action.” You simply go to the website and enter in the chemical you want to learn about. I also learned some very unsettling facts about chemical management and effects:
• Our workforce is exposed to 10,000 different chemicals;
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) manages 16 of them;
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires a listing of about 200 others;
• 40,000 workers have died because exposure to toxins; and
• Women working in the auto manufacturing or plastics industries are 5 times more likely to get breast cancer.

The Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conferences was a great experience. It highlighted all the great work that is being done, but also revealed all the important work that still needs to be done.