Don't Forget: "The Power of One" Sustainability Forum

Come out to the SLC Wednesday, March 19 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 171 to learn more about how you can help the environment and the small efforts that each of us can make to impact our environment. Here's a brief look at each of the three panelists:

Christina Faust
University of Georgia Student and Ecology Club President
During her sophomore year, Christina organized an entire recycling initiative on her own in a campus residence hall, Soule Hall. She mobilized residents to incorporate recycling into their daily routines, and spawned attention from other residence halls and various campus organizations. Her efforts continue to influence programs and policies at UGA. She was active in the Tate II LEED Certification initiative back as plans were being drawn up for the building, and continues to promote environmental sustainability on campus.


Richard C. Field
Athens-Clarke County Environmental Coordinator
Richard C. (Dick) Field's position was created in 2003 to tackle a lack of consistency and completeness in addressing local environmental issues. Dick came to this position after a 30-year professional career split between forestry research and continuing education with the USDA Forest Service and the University of Georgia. He has a B.S. degree in forestry from the University of Michigan and a Master of Forest Resources and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. He is a registered forester in Georgia and has served on numerous local committees and boards related to planning and natural resources. Dick is a LEED Accredited Professional and served on the Board of the US Green Building Council’s Atlanta Chapter. He initiated the LEED program in Athens-Clarke County, which has two Certified buildings and seven more registered projects. He also serves on ACC’s Energy Conservation and Water Conservation Committees.


Jim Hackler
Freelance Writer on Green Living
Jim Hackler is a nationally recognized expert in communicating the benefits of green living and home construction in an accessible and understandable way. As the former head of two of the country’s leading green building initiatives, U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Homes and the Southeast’s EarthCraft House program, Jim had a first hand experience on what it means to live and go green to help the environment. Not only does Jim have experience with green building projects, but he also has spent time working for CNN, as well as a featured contributor to Green Builder, Delta Sky and Natural Home magazines, where he has written stories about corporations becoming green entities. He’s been called on to help communicate the “green” message in hundreds of other publications, television programs, national conferences and workshops.

Going Green is Just a Click Away

Procrastinating on facebook is a favorite midterm antidote, but sometimes, when I get tired of reading the same wall post again, or laboring over what a friend's status could mean, I like to look at other Internet sites. There are thousands of sites out there to explore when you are desperate to ignore your mounting pile of homework, and what better way to ease the guilt than surfing sites that are beneficial to your life? I'm talking about green sites of course, and my good friend Oprah has helped us out by compiling a list of some of the best ones in her February magazine. Check out some of these links on your next study break, and you might be inspired to do something good- rather than wanting to kill your friend for tagging that compromising picture of you.

Where to recycle:
Appliances- recycle-steel.org
Business Clothing- dressforsuccess.org
Carpets- carpetrecovery.org
Cellphones/Batteries- rbrc.org
Computers- sharetechnology.org
Electronics- mygreenelectronics.org
Eyeglasses- neweyesfortheneedy.org
Floppy disks and videotapes- greendisk.com
Formal Dresses www.operationfairydust.org
Packing Peanuts- loosefillpackaging.com
Paint- earth911.org
Tires- epa.gov/garbage/tires/live.htm

Tired of paper junk mail in your tiny apartment or dorm mailbox? Stop receiving junk mail at dmachoice.org/mps

Other sites to check out:
-greenercars.org
-40mpg.org
-greenhotels.com
-greenearthcleaning.com
-greenfeet.com
-greenhomeguide.com
-saveourenvironment.org
-green-e.org
-dsireusa.org
-preventcigarettelitter.org
-carsharing.net
-csacenter.org

Upcoming Event

With Spring Break currently going on, many of us are not thinking about the best ways to save the Earth and what needs to be done to help the environment. Instead most of us are sitting on a beach or somewhere that is not in Athens and having fun with friends having fun and enjoying the warmer weather.

But think about what the world will be like 50 years from now when a new generation is trying to go on Spring Break and enjoy Daytona or Panama City Beach. Will the beach still be there as we see it now? I would like to think so. However, if we do not learn how to help the environment now, those future college students will not have the opportunity to sit on that same beach.

That is why we are having a sustainability forum next week. The Power of One will be townhall forum-type meeting where three people who are very interested and concerned with the environment will be on hand to answer questions and help point people in a direction that can help the environment. This forum is for the benefit of everyone in the Athens and UGA community, so that we can help save the world and how eacho one of us can make an impact each day.

Come out to the SLC next Wednesday, March 19 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 171 to learn more about how you can help the environment and the small efforts taht each of us can make that will make a big impact.

Let's Get Crafty

Have you ever thought of doing something different with your recyclable items? One of the best and most creative ways to recycle is to turn old materials into craft projects. According to Craftzine.com, plastic bags serve as wonderful craft materials. The Web site offers lessons on turning your unwanted grocery bags into plastic yarn and ways in which to fuse the bags together to create reusable totes.

Try to come up with your own ways to turn "trash into treasure." You could cut up old magazines to send fun letters to friends, grow your own herbs in used plastic cups, make wind chimes out of empty soda cans or use newspapers for paper mache projects. The possibilities are endless!

Want to teach your friends about recycling? Here's a challenge: for one year, get a group of friends together and decide on giving recycled crafts as birthday gifts instead of traditional presents. This will keep every one's creative juices flowing while helping the environment and saving some dough.

Remember, as Captain Planet says, "Reduce, REUSE, Recycle!"

"Re-use it or Lose it!"

How would you like to win $5,000 just for having a green, I mean great, idea? Well now is your chance because Planet Smoothie has decided to award one lucky person $5K and free smoothies for a year to come up with the most sustainable and environmentally friendly solution to recycling or eliminating polystyrene ("re-use it or lose it") from the waste stream. It could be an alternative cup material that easily breaks down or a method of re-using polystyrene cups (insulation for arctic gear, perhaps?).

Even though Polystyrene is an excellent recycled material, it is not the easiest and most energy-efficient to recycle when you're done with it. Planet Smoothie currently uses polystyrene for its containers or offers a re-usable container, Mac Daddy Mug, to keep their products cold. However, Planet Smoothie does not like the environmental effects of polystyrene, so they've launched this contest in search of a solution.

All solutions are due by September 30, 2008.

To be considered, submissions must include the following:

1.) Name, affiliation (if applicable), mailing address, email, age (you must be at least 18), contact information

2.) 250-word description of your proposed solution and why you think it's a solution to polystyrene (without disclosing future patent secrets)

3.) A photo of you with your solution.

You can view all the contest guidelines and apply online at Planet Smoothie's official contestant Web site.

8 Days to Go Green: Sunday, Oct. 21

Screen on the Green and free food on Brumby Beach!

Join us on Brumby Beach of Raising Cane's chicken fingers and ice cream! The only fee is to bring any recyclable item. We will be showing BioDome at sundown and announcing the winners of the Dorm recycling competition and spirit contest!

8 Days to Go Green: Saturday, Oct. 20

Turn off your lights and conserve energy!

Remember to unplug cables (including your cell phone charger, computer, hair dryer, straightener, etc.) when not in use. Simply leaving these things plugged in wastes energy and will run up your electric bill (if you live in the dorm, know that the University pays about $80 per month per student).