October 2014
Sustainability Bulletin
Energy Campaign September 3rd–November 9th
Campus Crunch Friday, October 24th
Harvest Fest Saturday, November 8th
Campus Sustainability Week November 8th-14th
Click here for the full calendar of events.
4
Campus Crunch
6
Food of the Month
8
Kale on Campus
10 Energy Campaign Update 12 People’s Climate March 14 Zipcar Competition 15 The Terra Award 16 Around Town 18 Opportunities
Take a Bite Out of That!
by Tyanni Niles
Have you ever thought about participating in a sustainable activity, but didn’t know how or where to start? Now is your chance to pledge to do something sustainable this year if you haven’t done so already. Come out and take part in the Campus Crunch! The idea originated from The Big Apple Crunch, which started in New York City in 2012. In celebration of National Food Day, participants across the country come together and bite into an apple. This year, the movement has made its way to college campuses. The New York Campus Crunch is a statewide celebration where students, staff, and faculty members will ceremoniously crunch into a local apple to show their commitment to healthy foods and New York agriculture. UAlbany has decided to join in on the pledge and take part in the New York Campus Crunch with the support of UAS. The event will be held on the podium by the Small Fountain on October 24 between 11am-1pm. At 11:30, speakers will address the crowd and then at 12pm, crunch time begins! After the crunch, peruse info tables about local food on campus and student groups that are leading the way towards a more environmentally friendly UAlbany. There will even be an apple taste testing booth! In addition to taking a bite, the Office of Environmental Sustainability will give away three $100 prizes for the student group, fraternity or sorority, and the LLC that brings the most participants. Come out and enjoy the festivities of UAlbany’s first annual Campus Crunch. If you haven’t committed to doing anything sustainable this semester, consider this your first event. To solidify your commitment, don’t forget to raise your right hand in the air, say the words “I Pledge,” and take a huge bite into a New York State apple.
Six NY Campuses have already pledged to take the crunch. Let’s make UAlbany’s crunch the largest!
Participate and WIN! We are giving away three $100 prizes for the groups that bring the most participants! You can win in the LLC, student group, or Greek organization category. We are also giving away $250 to the living area that brings the most students (Empire, Freedom, and Liberty count as the apartment area).
Apple Outreach
Farm to SUNY Project Four State University of New York campuses are getting more locally grown vegetables under a pilot project called Farm to SUNY. The goal of the Farm to SUNY initiative is to increase the procurement of fresh and minimally-processed New York-grown produce (e.g., potatoes, lettuce, leafy greens, tomatoes, squash, cabbage, and green beans) by SUNY campuses at a competitive price that provides a sustainable profit margin for farmers. It also includes an educational campaign to increase awareness among campus faculty, staff, and students on the benefits of purchasing locally grown meat, fruits, and vegetables. Farm to SUNY is funded by a $100,000 two-year grant through the American Farm Trust's Farm To Institution NYS Initiative (FINYS), a statewide partnership of agricultural, public health, and economic development partners who have come together to strengthen the state's farm and food economy while improving the health of its citizens. Currently UAlbany, Oneonta, Oswego and New Paltz are participating in the pilot program.
Photos of Apple Fest programs in the dining halls including an apple and cheese taste testing as well as an apple caramel bar. Photos provided by UAS.
Food of the Month: Apples A significant aspect of the Farm to SUNY outreach includes highlighting a seasonal and local food of the month that will be featured in the dining halls and the Patroon room. This October, UAS and Sodexo have been hard at work to show the many delicious varieties that are grown in right here in New York. Apple Fest took place during the week of October 6th. Some of the delicious dishes included: apple pumpkin soup, apple braised cabbage, apple tofu with jasmine rice, apple flatbread, apple grape cheddar sandwiches, and many, many more!
Many of the apples served on campus come from Yonder Farms, which is less than ten miles from campus!
Kale on Campus By Melissa Bala On Wednesday, October 1st, UAlbany celebrated National Kale Day. Kale, a veggie once unnoticed by the mainstream American food culture, is now one of the trendiest ways to get your daily dose of essential vitamins. Students, UAS, and Sodexo teamed up to celebrate the edible on its annual holiday. In the Patroon Room, employees sported National Kale Day buttons as their daily pieces of flare and offered a variety of meals all prepared with the hearty green. Faculty, staff, and students indulged in delectable dishes including Potato Kale Soup, Cider Braised Kale, or a Grilled Chicken, Pinto Bean and Kale Salad. The mouthwatering meals were prepared with hyper-local ingredients from Wertman Farms in Melrose, NY, which is only about twenty-two miles away from UAlbany. Members of the Student Sustainability Council, dressed to the nines in their coordinating Eat More Kale shirts, went to the Campus Center Food Court to hail the benefits of the leafy green “super food.” The team offered kale chip samples and various recipes that students could put to the test in their apartments. The reaction to the edible greenery was, well, mixed. Some UAlbany students were already kale-istas and excitedly took a moment to nibble on one of their favorite snacks and learn new preparation methods. Others needed a bit of convincing. Many brave Great Danes reluctantly chomped into their first bites of kale with surprised delight, though some remained content with leaving kale off their plates. The Kale Day tabling allowed for Student Sustainability Council members to increase their peers’ knowledge of all the benefits they could gain from eating or drinking the green. The food holiday was just one a series of campus events this year that celebrates local and healthy food.
Just one cup of raw kale‌ Contains just 33 calories Provides 134% of your daily vitamin C Provides 684% of your daily vitamin K Provides 204% of vitamin A Is an excellent source of calcium and iron
UAlbany’s Energy Campaign The eighth annual Energy Campaign kicked off on Wednesday, September 3rd! During the 10-week challenge, the entire UAlbany campus works to reduce our electricity consumption by 10%! This year, the Energy Campaign runs from September 3rd until November 9th. In 2013, we saved over a million kilowatt hours and achieved a 10.02% campuswide reduction. This equates into taking 102 cars off the road or supplying the energy for 24.5 homes or the sequestration of 402 acres of forests. You can view more equivalents at the EPA website by clicking here. Four weeks into the competition, our campus has achieved a 7% reduction! Not bad, but remember we are aiming for 10%! So far, Freedom is leading the pack of living areas with an impressive 26%, though Empire is not far behind. Indian is not bringing their A-game, only saving 4%. Check out the leaderboard to see where your living residence stands. On the academic side, five academic buildings are in the double digits of savings, with Social Sciences leading with 22%! Many buildings are stagnant in the single-digit realm, though it is absolutely possible for them to join the double-digit ranks. We have five buildings in the red, but we are confident they can bring up their numbers. Our Student Energy Team will perform extra energy checks in these buildings, ensuring that classroom lights and computers are off at the end of the day. Keep up the good work! If you have any questions, email gogreen@albany.edu Living Area
Percent Reduction
CO2 Reduction
Freedom
26%
7
Empire
23%
24
Alumni
16%
9
Colonial Dutch
12% 10%
14 11
Liberty
8%
6
State
6%
7
Indian
4%
5
Week 4’s Leaderboard See how your living residence is performing!
Academic Building
Percent Reduction
Co2 Reduction
Social Sciences
22%
7
Week 4’s Leaderboard
Education
19%
3
Physics
17%
5
Lecture Center
16%
17
See how your academic building is performing!
Earth Science
13%
5
Arts and Sciences + Computing
12%
6
SEFCU Chemistry
6% 6%
3 6
Campus Center
4%
5
Science Library PAC
4% 4%
3 1
Business Administration University Library
3% 1%
1 1
Fine Arts
1%
1
-2% -4% -5%
0 -2 -2
-8% -10%
-13 -3
University Hall Biology Downtown Campus Life Sciences Humanities
EcoChallenge: If you would like to make a personal pledge of action to lower your carbon footprint, I invite you to join the UAlbany Green Scene EcoChallenge team. Together we will collectively prove that small actions add up to real change. Participate with me from October 15 -29, 2014. You can use the following link to find out more and register to join the team.
People’s
Climate
March
Photo by Lisa A. Ford
By Kyle Plaske
A group of University at Albany students joined a crowd of nearly 400,000 in the streets of New York City on Sept. 21 to participate in the People’s Climate March, the largest gathering of climate change activists in history. The peaceful demonstration—at which 250,000 people were expected to attend—was spearheaded by 350.org, an international climate change advocacy group. The march was set to coincide with a United Nations Climate Summit scheduled for two days later, where world leaders convened to discuss actions to confront the global threat posed by an increasingly warming climate. Kathleen Horvath, a renewable energy major at the SUNY College of Nanoscale Engineering, decided to organize a bus trip to the march for Albany students after attending a protest in Washington D.C. against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in April. “After that, I knew for sure I’d be going to New York,” Horvath said. “I wanted people to have the experience of being part of something bigger than themselves.” Horvath spent two months leading the organizational and fund-raising effort, aided by representatives from several student groups including Citizen Action, Green Scene, and Students for Sustainability. Backed by a $1,200 donation from the People’s Climate March as well as an $800 subsidy provided by Green Scene, the organizers were able to rent four charter busses to shuttle people to and from the march. Students began arriving at Collins Circle at 6:00 a.m. Sunday morning under overcast skies, touting picket signs and hand painted purple and gold t-shirts. According to Horvath, 170 students and staff members from UAlbany and St. Rose attended, completely filling tow of the four tour busses. She said there were approximately 30 no-shows. While most students expressed interest in environmental issues and activism, some attended to fulfill community service obligations after Horvath and Alexis Klein, a co-coordinator and bus captain, proposed the idea to Community Outreach officials.
Something Sustainable “We had this idea that if we gave kids community service hours, lots of people would come,” Klein said. After crawling through the morning city traffic, the busses pulled to the curb at 86th and Eighth Ave. shortly after 10:00 a.m. where students moved toward the designated assembly areas adjacent to west Central Park. A long purple banner reading: “UAlbany Chooses Climate Justice” stretched across the street a helicopter circled overhead. A planned moment of silence was held to honor victims of climate change—namely indigenous peoples who have seen their homes and families torn apart resulting from increasingly violent and erratic weather—and for 30 seconds, New York City went quiet. “I can’t put a word to it,” Klein said. “But when the cheering began afterward, I have never experienced the power of people like that before.” “The air was humid and the skyscrapers were blanketed in fog when the mass of activists finally began moving forward after an hour-long standstill. The route led protestors alongside Central Park, around Columbus Circle, and down Sixth Ave. toward Bryant Park. Horvath and Klein both led chants throughout the march. “What do we want?” “Climate action,” “When do we want it?” “Now,” was frequently heard. Colorful and often creative picket signs supporting sustainable energy and agriculture could be seen throughout the crowd, interspersed with others calling for bans on hydraulic fracking and the need to enact a federal carbon tax. According to estimates released by 350.org late Sunday evening, 50,000 of those in attendance were college students. Touted as a “Weekend to Change Everything,” 2,462 events were held in 162 different countries around the world. A block party planned at the end of the route had to be scrapped due to the massive unexpected attendance numbers. “I’ve been to marches in D.C. with 5,000 people, and that was awesome,” Klein said Wednesday after the march. “But 400,000 people, I can’t put words to that.”
Put your Club in the Driver’s Seat
Have you been competing, singing, debating, or tangoing ever since that first activities fair? If so, check out Students with Drive. Zipcar and Ford have teamed up to award thousands of dollars in transportation grants to help student groups get around. Get your group in on the action by entering your organization today.
The Terra Award The Office of Sustainability is now accepting nominations for the fall 2014 Terra Awards. The new award recognizes the persistent efforts of campus community members. Each semester, one faculty member, one staff member and one student will each be awarded with a Terra for demonstrating a commitment to advancing sustainable culture at SUNY Albany. The award is named for Terra, the Roman goddess of the Earth. The distinction will be decided upon a nominee’s work within the framework of CORE. The acronym identifies the four main areas in which a person can effect change in the area of sustainability: Curriculum, Operations, Research and Engagement. The accomplishments of the Terra recipient will be linked to which category they contributed to the most. The winner can be self-nominated or nominated by another party and can choose from one of two awards: either the leaf shaped statue made from 100% recycled glass or a carbon offset purchase of home usage or commuting. The Office of Environmental Sustainability is offering the carbon offset option to assist an awardee in being one step closer to living a carbon-neutral life. Although in our society we all rely on carbonbased resources daily, an individual may compensate for their greenhouse emissions by purchasing carbon offsets alternative energy credits. Submit this nomination form to gogreen@albnay.edu by Friday, October 24th.
Annual Apple Festival Mark your calendar for the Annual Apple Festival on October 11-October 12. The event runs from 9am-5pm. Celebrating its 26th year, the Capital Region's original apple festival combines family fun, shopping, wine tasting, music, crafts and more. Rain or shine. $9. Kids under 12 free. $8 seniors and military. 1297 Brookview Station Road, Castleton. Click here for further details.
Fall Foliage Hike Changing foliage is all around. Come and join the Albany Pine Bush staff on October 18th from 11am12:30pm for two-and-onehalf mile hike while they take in the beautiful scenery of this rare ecosystem. Please remember to wear sturdy walking shoes, long pants and bring drinking water. Pre-registration is required for all events.
Focus On Nature X I I I
Albany VegFest
Join NYS Museum illustrator and curator Patricia Kernan on November 9th from 1pm-2pm for a tour of the art exhibition Focus on Nature XIII, a juried selection of cultural and natural history illustrations. The Museum initiated the Focus on Nature series in 1990, and this year s exhibition features the work of 71 artists from 14 countries. To be included, art works must represent subjects, research results, and/or scientific processes with skill, accuracy, and aesthetics. Meet at the photo gallery.
Come out for the Albany Annual Veg Fest on November 15th from 10am6pm. Albany VegFest brings together the global health benefits of green sustainable living, environmental awareness and compassion for animals and all beings. Sponsored in part by Natural Awakenings Magazine of the NY Capital District. Free admission; suggested $5 donation. Polish Community Center, Washington Ave Extension, Albany. Click here for more details.
C2C Fellowship Workshop The 2014 Fall Sustainability Leadership C2C Workshop application is now open. The workshop will be held December 5th-7th at Bard in Annandale on Hudson, NY. C2C Fellows workshops are for current students and recent graduates who want high-impact careers in sustainable business and politics. Join C2C to learn the leadership skills necessary to succeed, such as how to: raise money, tell your story, build your network, pitch your idea, and know what you’re good at. Graduates of our workshops are eligible for scholarships to become funded graduate students at Bard's Center for Environmental Policy. View a draft workshop agenda here.
Campus Life Peer Sustainability Education Roundtable On Saturday November 1, 2014, Cornell University in association with the New York State Sustainability Education Working Group are hosting the 2nd annual Campus Life Sustainability Education Roundtable. In 2013 the Roundtable brought together 100 staff, students, and faculty from across New York to share ideas and discuss programs that engaged students in campus-based experiential sustainability learning opportunities. Participants wanted more! The 2014 Roundtable will again provide a forum for an exchange of ideas, information, and best practices, but will be so much more. NEW THIS YEAR: The 2014 Roundtable will have special sessions by and for students along with sessions led by campus life and sustainability staff from around the state. In addition, there will be a poster session and an evening networking reception.
Green Genies Jobs Green Genies is a local residential and commercial cleaning service that goes above and beyond industry green standards to offer truly healthy, effective cleaning methods for getting homes or businesses healthy and clean without toxic residue. Their services are in such high demand that they are hiring individuals for full-time or part-time work that are passionate about the natural environment and natural living, have an eye for details and a strong team work ethic. Owner Michelle Boyle has formulated the Tidy Thyme line of 100 percent natural plant-based cleaning agents. Throughout the year, Green Genies brings their services free of charge to places like animal shelters, homes of cancers patients, and the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. Send resumes to mboyle@green-genies.com. For more information, call 518-8137366 or visit them on the web.
Office of Environmental Sustainability Interns The Office of Environmental Sustainability is seeking three motivated and energetic interns to assist with the publication of monthly sustainability bulletin, developing flier templates for a variety of sustainability engagement initiatives, assisting with social media management and completing other assignments as requested. The interns are expected work a minimum of 10-12 hours weekly. Internships are unpaid though students may obtain academic credit through the Communications Department. Qualifications:
Excellent writing and communication skills Working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite applications, especially Publisher Background or strong interest in environmental issues/sustainability Project-oriented with strong self-initiative Adaptable to organizational changes and new projects Positive attitude, commitment and follow-through Photography skills a plus
Deadline: Applications for the fall internship will be reviewed on a rolling basis. If interested, send a resume and letter of intent to Mary Alexis Leciejewski at mleciejewski@albany.edu. Questions about the internship can be addressed to Mary Alexis at 518-442-2592