February 2015
Sustainability Bulletin
Upcoming RecycleMania February 1– March 28
"Turn of the Gas! Reducing Carbon from Building Structures" February 10
Speaker: Jennifer Jacquet February 24
Poster Session Deadline February 27
Terra Award Deadline March 27
Trashion Fashion March 31
Earth and Wellness Day April 23
Click here for the full calendar of events.
4 RecycleMania 9 USGBC Speaker Series 10 Zipcar 11 Speaker: Jennifer Jacquet 12 Love Connections 14 Earth and Wellness Day 18 Around Town 20 Opportunities Cover Photo by Mark McCarthy
RecycleMania
2015 marks UAlbany’s eighth year competing in RecycleMania, a friendly national competition among over 400 colleges and universities to see who can recycle the most. During the course of eight weeks beginning on Feb. 1st, schools across the United States and Canada report data on their recycling and trash, which then is used to designate rankings based on who recycles the most on a per capita basis, as well as which schools have the best recycling rate as a percentage of total waste and which schools generate the least amount of combined trash and recycling. This year, UAlbany is setting the bar even high– working to collectively recycle over 120,000 pounds and beat last year’s numbers. Check out the stats on the right to understand where UAlbany’s waste ends up. Take a moment to flip through the next few pages to see all the ways to get involved in ReycleMania!
Recycle Turn green into green. Use the bottle return machine in the Campus Center, available to all faculty, staff, and students on campus. The machine is located near the entrance to the UFood Grill, in the corner by the doors that lead to 518 Market. The machine only accepts materials that can be purchased on campus. Bottle return receipts may be redeemed at the 518 market.
Trashion Fashion Show Mark your calendars for UAlbany’s second annual Trashion Fashion Show! The show challenges students and staff to create wearable works of art using recyclable or reusable materials to win the top prize in one of seven categories: individual, student group, Greek organization, LLC, quad, campus office, and fan favorite. Each of the student categories is awarded with a cash prize. The best design in the campus office competition will walk away with a complimentary breakfast celebration. Right now, we are searching for outgoing students to emcee the show! If you are interested, email gogreen@albany.edu to learn about the audition process.
Important Dates February 11: Emcee Auditions March 23rd: Deadline for design submissions through MyInvolvement March 30th: Dress Rehearsal March 31st: Trashion Fashion Show
Thursdays Feb.1stMarch 28th The Green Scene Team will be handing out prizes to as many ecoconscious individuals as they can “catch” recycling on Thursdays from Feb. 1-March 28th. If you’re “caught green-handed,” you will be entered in a drawing to win a $150 Visa gift card! This Caught Green-Handed activity is part of UAlbany’s participation in RecycleMania, the nationwide recycling and waste reduction competition universities. Sponsored by UAS.
USGBC Speaker Series Each semester the Office of Environmental Sustainability teams up with the Upstate Chapter of the US Green Building Council to bring a variety of speakers to UAlbany every second Tuesday of the month.
February 10: “Turn off the Gas! Reducing Carbon from Building Structures” Speaker: Jim D’Aloisio
Speaker series events are free for UAlbany students, staff, and faculty (outside attendees have to pay a small fee). The sessions offer a great professional networking opportunity as well as free local food to enjoy during the presentation. Attendees can earn AIA credit, for Engineering PhDs and LEED Credentialing maintenance.
March 10th: “Toxins” Speaker: Bobbi Wilding April 14th: “Green Biz Toolkit” Speakers: Krista Bentson Tom Wolcott May 12th: “Yurts and Recycling Roads” Speaker: Heather Steffek
This month our partner Zipcar is celebrating a decade and a half in business, now providing more than 10,000 shared cars in six countries and making cities and campuses easier to navigate and better places to live. To celebrate this milestone, Zipcar is offering a special gift for all university students. Existing Zipcar members, check your inbox for a special email from Zipcar containing a 15th birthday gift. If you’re not yet a member, sign up today at zipcar.com/campus with promo code UNIBDAY15 to receive an extra $15 in free driving to use in your first month.
Spring 2015 Visiting Writer Series At the end of February the New York State Writer’s Institute and the Office of Environmental Sustainability is hosting Jennifer Jacquet, a scholar in the emerging field of environmental social science, the study of how societies deal with large-scale crises such as climate change and overfishing. In her new book, Is Shame Necessary?: New Uses for an Old Tool (2015), she argues that shame, used judiciously, is a powerful force of political change and social reform. Leading psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi said in advance praise, “This book describes, in sparkling prose, how important a sense of shame is to civilized life, and provides some fascinating insights as to the role of social media in providing a new tool to moderate shameless behavior.” In advance of the event, the book will available locally at The University Bookstore and The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza. It will also be available for purchase at the speaking event.
Tuesday, February 24 Seminar: 4:15 p.m., Standish Room, Science Library Reading: 8:00 p.m., Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center
Sustainability Love Connections This Valentine’s Day, we’d like to celebrate two love connections that blossomed in the Office of Environmental Sustainability. Best of luck to the happy couples!
Congratulations to Bill Valleau and Nicole Wolodzko on their engagement on November 8, 2014. Bill and Nicole met in the Office of Environmental Sustainability. Bill was the Graduate Assistant and Nicole worked on the Sustainability Bulletin. The long hours in the Office planted the seeds and their relationship blossomed in November 2011.
Jim and Kristen Nannariello met in January 2010, when he was the Graduate Student Intern working on the gogreen website, and she had been an Administrative Assistant the previous spring remained involved with the Sustainability Office. They started dating in April 2010. Even though Jim graduated that May and Kristen still had a year left of her Master’s program, they made it work. In 2012 Kristen accepted a full-time position with Freddie Mac in McLean, Virginia, Jim moved down here also and took a position as a Marketing and Media Manager in Bethesda, Maryland. Jim popped the question on Valentine’s Day 2013, and they got married in Upstate NY on October 11, 2014.
Save the Date: Earth and Wellness Day The Office of Environmental Sustainability and the Employee Assistance Program is sponsoring the 5th annual Earth and Wellness Day on April 23, 2015. Traditionally, the university-wide event celebrates Earth Day by inviting community exhibitors to campus to connect UAlbany students, staff, and faculty with resources to that support wellness and sustainability. This year’s theme is “Our Heritage: The Root of What Sustains Us.” A variety of exhibitors will be in the LC Concourse to highlight aspects of well-being such as heritage, sustainability, family, and environmental history.
Poster Session This year, we will be adding a unique forum for students and faculty to present their research projects. The 2015 Earth and Wellness Day theme focuses on “Our Heritage: The Root of What Sustains Us,” which will represent a broad array of topics such as heritage, New York State history, and public health that position sustainability in a place-based context. We invite you to submit an abstract for the poster presentation from a variety of disciplines including, but not limited to: public health, history, biology, and social welfare. Submit proposals (200 words) to gogreen@albany.edu by Friday, February 27th. The poster session is intended to highlight the variety research and projects developing at UAlbany related to sustainability and wellness. This forum provides an opportunity to visually present research and project storyboards. There will be dedicated poster session meet & greet time during Earth and Wellness Day, but the information contained on the poster should speak for itself. Prizes will be awarded for best poster in student and faculty categories.
Earth and Wellness Day Photo Contest 1. This contest is free and open to all University at Albany 2.
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students, staff, faculty and alumni. Only photos taken with the criteria outlined in the Submission Guidelines are eligible for consideration. No exceptions. Up to three photos may be submitted per person. Photos must be submitted electronically to earthandwellness@albany.edu by midnight on Wednesday, April 7th, 2015. Photographers will retain original copyrights to their photos. Entrants grant the Earth and Wellness Day Committee permission to use photo(s) for display during, and in conjunction with, media and marketing related to the event. Only submissions that adhere to contest rules and submission guidelines are eligible to compete. All decisions by the judges are final.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES CRITERIA: Images will be judged on their effectiveness to convey the topic of heritage, seeds, roots and culture. PHOTOS: Photos taken with a digital camera must be submitted at a minimum resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels and in jpeg, bmp, png or tif format. Minor digital enhancement for cropping, red-eye removal, filters, and corrective functions are permitted, but images that have been judged to be significantly altered will be disqualified. Photographers are not permitted to place borders or frames around their images or to place watermarks, signatures, dates, or copyright notices on their images. Images MUST maintain the integrity of the subject as it was photographed. Please re-name images to include the photographer’s first and last name and a one word description of the photo separated by a period (ie. JohnDoe.stream.jpg)
SUBMISSION FORMAT: All submissions should be e-mailed to earthandwellness@albany.edu. All entrants must include the following in the body of the e-mail PER ENTRY (if submitting more than one photo, please send separate e-mails):
ENTRY FROM A STUDENT/ALUMNI: First and Last Name; Status (freshman/sophomore/ junior/senior/graduate); E-mail address; Phone number; Brief description of photo(s) submitted (ie. Squirrel in tree by State Quad) ENTRY FROM FACULTY/STAFF: First and Last Name; Department (if alumni, please list the Department retired from); E-mail address; Phone number; Brief description of photo(s) submitted (ie. Squirrel in tree by State Quad)
Climate Change: A Call to Action
Union College Seminar Series
At 7 PM on Thursday, February 12, The College of Saint Rose will host Judith Enck in the Lally Touhey forum for a discussion on environmental issues. For over five years, Judith Enck has been the administrator of Region 2 of the United states EPA. At this discussion, she will address topics such as sustainability, bomb trains, the keystone pipeline, fracking, and overpopulation.
On Wednesday, February 18th, Cheryl Charles co-founder and president and CEO Emerita of the Children & Nature Network (C&NN) will present at 7:30 in the Nott Memorial at Union College. Charles has been instrumental in developing the worldwide movement to reconnect children and nature. She is also the former founding national director of Project Learning Tree and Project WILD. To learn more about the speaker, visit the Union College website.
RSVP to Jennifer May-Reddy at may.jennifer@epa.gov or 212637-3658.
Solarize the Capital District
Full Moon Hike
Come out to Honest Weight Food Coop on Thursdays at 6PM to learn about Solarize.
Enjoy the Pine Bush at night with an hour long hike under the full moon. Meet at the Discovery Center and caravan over to Trailhead #5 (Blueberry Hill West) where we will hike 1.4 miles over rolling topography stopping intermittently to observe the lunar display.
Solarize is a bulk purchase of solar equipment and installation services. By working together with many households interested in buying solar, we can get better prices on better equipment. This process has been used successfully around the US to dramatically reduce costs and make it easier for home and business owners, because the Solarize team does a lot of the hard work for you. This increases overall demand for solar, a true win-win for all local installers, for our communities, and for the environment. If you are interested in helping make this a reality for the Albany area, or putting solar on your property, please email Dave Hochfelder at dphochfelder@gmail.com.
Hike begins at 6PM on February 3rd. Please plan to arrive at least 5-10 minutes before the start of the program to purchase your ticket.
Naturalist Internship Program DEC's environmental education centers (Five Rivers and Reinstein Woods) offer ten- to sixteen-week naturalist training internships to persons seeking professional experience in environmental education. Each intern will receive training in the mission and role of the DEC environmental education bureau, a wide variety of center programs, the operations and activities of a center, principles of environmental interpretation, and natural history of New York. Interns will assume the role of environmental education staff in carrying out the responsibilities necessary to meet the center's objectives. Opportunities for training and development of specific skills will be available depending on each intern's interests and the center's needs. The internships run for 10 to 16 weeks (depending on the center) and are held year-round. Living Arrangements Normal work days are 8:30 AM to 4:45 PM Monday through Friday. Some weekend and evening work is required with compensatory time off. Depending on availability, each center may provide housing, with a fully-equipped kitchen, furnished living room, and private bedroom. Interns receive a stipend of approximately $330 per week. Check with each center individually for exact living arrangements and exact amount of the weekly stipend. To apply to Reinstein Woods: download the Reinstein Woods NIP application (PDF) (246 KB) and return it by mail or email to the address listed in the application. To apply to Five Rivers: download the Five Rivers NIP application (PDF) (225 KB) and return it by mail or email to the address listed in the application.
Capital Roots (formerly Capital District Community Gardens) Outreach Assistant The Outreach Assistant is an integral staff position for this high-growth nonprofit organization working in the areas of community gardening and healthy food access in our urban areas. The Assistant will work collaboratively with many Capital Roots staff members to assist with program outreach and engage with the community to spread the word about the organization’s work and services.
REPORTS TO: Program Manager QUALIFICATIONS:
Friendly, enthusiastic person who is comfortable with people of all ages and backgrounds. Excellent interpersonal communication skills, self-starter, high energy. Must have strong organizational and computer skills. Successful candidate must be committed to Capital Roots mission.
RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:
Attend events to promote Capital Roots. Organize speaking opportunities for staff at neighborhood meetings, civic functions and other events. Assist community garden staff with Garden Signups. Recruit interns and volunteers at colleges, universities and other institutions. Conduct outreach to constituent communities, related organizations and service partners. Keep accurate records for all outreach activities. Solicit in-kind donations from businesses. Assist other staff with various projects as needed. Must have ability to work a flexible schedule including some weekends and evenings.
SALARY & BENEFITS:
This position is part-time, year-round position, paid on an hourly basis ($11/ hour). Paid holiday and sick leave. Flexible work environment. Send cover letter and resume to: Sharon DiLorenzo, Program Manager Capital Roots 594 River Street, Troy NY 12180 trees@capitalroots.org To learn more about Capital Roots, go to www.capitalroots.org