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.”

***

Robert Johnson joined NOVA in October 2012 as the College’s first Environmental Sustainability Officer.  He is focused on developing a Sustainability Strategy for the College, completing its first greenhouse gas inventory, implementing projects to reduce the College’s carbon footprint, and educating future generations about environmental sustainability. He was most recently a Department of Defense contractor in the DC area focused on air and missile defense analysis for the U.S. Navy.  Prior to that, he served in the Navy for 5 years.  As a graduate student intern and research assistant, he assisted George Mason’s Office of Sustainability in completing their first Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Climate Action Plan.  He has a breadth of experience in project management, data analysis, modeling and simulation, environmental education, and sustainability initiatives.  He holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics from the United States Naval Academy and a Master’s of Science in Environmental Science and Policy from George Mason University.

“Do you practice what you preach?”

That was one of the questions from the audience at Northern Virginia Community College’s (NOVA’s) 5^th Annual Climate Change Symposium.  Held this year on Earth Day, it was my first such symposium.  I am the College’s 1^st Environmental Sustainability Officer, (I started last October) and was happy to see that this, among others, was a recurring event.

(from left to right) Joe Witte, Bonnie, Ram, Joan Rohlfs, and Jim Lyon address questions at NOVA’s Climate Change Symposium
Photo Credit: Rob Johnson

We had four speakers from the area:

- Joe Witte, an accomplished meteorologist

- Jim Lyon, National  Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) Vice President of Conservation Policy

- Joan Rohlfs, Environmental Resources Program Director, Metropolitan Washington Council on Governments (MWCOG), and

- Bonnie Ram, President of Ram Power, LLC and Associate Director & Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Carbon-Free Power Integration (UDEL)

Keeping with the local theme, each spent a few minutes talking about climate change within their areas of expertise and how it would impact the local, DC-Baltimore metro region. They highlighted sea-level rise; more rapid warming because of ice-melt; species, habitat, and biodiversity loss; increasingly catastrophic weather events; and public health issues all caused or significantly influenced by changing climate. Despite a dire outlook, they were hopeful that the understanding of climate science and development of science-based technology solutions would help reduce future greenhouse gas emission to them lessen or reverse the impacts of climate change.

An audience of about 125 students, staff, and faculty listened, and watched, Joe Witte talk about climate change science and human impact.  Then, Jim Lyon talked about federal policies, or lack thereof, improving land-use and building policies, and using community colleges as centers of excellence for hands-on learning, demonstrations, and training.  With Jim’s comments as intro, Joan Rohlfs addressed the role of local governments, individuals’ influence on those governments and their representatives, and the need to enact real changes on the ground, like installing electric vehicle charging stations to reduce commuting emissions.  Finally, Bonnie Ram provided ideas about how to start a social transformation and systemic overhaul to create a renewable energy future.

Joe Witte uses an inflatable globe to talk about climate science
Photo credit: Rob Johnson

Earth Day’s been around my whole life, but this is the 1^st year I can say I’m working to do what I hope Gaylord Nelson and Denis Hayes intended when they started this in 1970.  With this Symposium, and other events like it, I hope that NOVA will become a go-to source for climate change education, practical ideas for what we can do to reduce our climate impact, and a training hotbed for future solvers of climate issues especially as we continue to become more aware of our environmental impact.

“The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent NOVA’s positions, strategies or opinions.”

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.

Community members attend the Somerset Community College 2012 celebration. Photo credit Somerset Community College 2012 Earth Day Celebration.

At Somerset Community College in Somerset, Kentucky, the Earth Day celebration has grown to include over 750 college students and community members in 2012, up from just 100 participants in 2005. The 2012 celebration included a farmers market, resources about solar panels and electric vehicles, as well as free compact fluorescent light bulbs and reusable grocery bags for attendees. Somerset CC comments, “at the heart of the event is the aim to educate the community about sustainability, which includes caring for the environment and reducing the amount of energy and natural resources consumed.”

Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts challenged students to a “Top Sustainability Chef” competition as part of their Earth Week 2012 schedule. Three students crafted dishes using all organic ingredients, including the “not-so-secret clean food ingredient,” organic mushrooms, in 30 minutes for judges including a “clean food” cookbook author. “Top Sustainability Chef” participants produced Thai chicken curry, asparagus and mushrooms and raw corn and avocado soup during lunchtime in one of Bridgewater’s dining halls, thus promoting organic and local foods to over 300 passersby.

UNH SEAC will celebrate the 20th annual Solarfest, a solar-powered music and arts festival this year. Photo credit Abigail Gronberg.

And now for a personal favorite! This year, the University of New Hampshire’s Student Environmental Action Coalition will host the 20^th annual Solarfest—an all-day, solar-powered music festival in Durham, New Hampshire. Each year around Earth Day, the Sunweaver solar bus rolls up to UNH with its 800 watt solar array, providing power for nonstop music from 11 am to sunset for thousands of students and community members. Solarfest is a way for students to unwind before finals and to culminate a typically jam-packed Earth Week. The event also features local cuisine, artists and businesses, student organizations and community environmental resources.

How are YOU celebrating Earth Day? Earth Week, Earth Month, Earth Year, Earth Century…Earth Millennium?! Comment below, and share photos of your events with Campus Ecology on facebook throughout the month of April.

More Earth Day resources:

• My favorite collection of photos from across the nation on Earth Day 1970
• Watch Earth Week 1970, a CBS News special with Walter Cronkite, in 15 parts on YouTube (I promise this is just as awesome as it sounds)
• Search the NWF Campus Ecology Campus Sustainability Case Study Database for Earth Day and other “green” events at colleges and universities

Despite the difficulty for students to access the endowment information, they now know that the university [of Michigan] has almost 1 billion dollars invested in fossil fuels out of its total 8 billion dollar endowment (one of the largest endowments in the country). This 1 billion dollars from UM accounts for 5% of the total amount of fossil fuel investments from US universities. Despite UM’s large amount of funding for faculty and research dedicated to sustainability and climate change, they still support the fossil fuel industry with this significant chunk of change from their endowment.

Michigan students are certainly not alone in this effort, there are already over 200 campuses involved, and many cities as well. This divestment movement also ties in with another, larger movement, something Bill McKibben would classify as the “Fossil Fuels Resistance”. McKibben recently wrote an article in rolling stone that goes over this movement and the many reasons why people all over the globe are finding the need to stand up to these companies that are intent on destroying our climate.