More Money = More Floralia

This was first published in the College Voice on February 20th, 2008

Freshmen frequently don’t appreciate just how amazing Floralia is. Warm weather, just before finals, everyone outside lolling around on the library green. Musical acts and free food throughout the day. Let’s not pretend: alcohol flowing like the Thames. And then, capping it all off is the final musical act, which is usually a somewhat big name. Last year it was OK Go!, the year before that was Reel Big Fish. You get the picture.
A lot of people complain, though, that we don’t get better headlining bands for Floralia, looking at by bigger schools with bigger budgets getting amazingly popular groups. And, while we shouldn’t ignore how awesome it is to get as well-known groups as we do, it’s true that the bigger the name, the more fun for us, and the more attention Conn gets. So, getting “better” bands is good. Hands down.
The problem is money. SAC does a pretty good job for what they’re presented with, but we simply don’t have as big a budget for such things as bigger, more well-endowed schools.
Enter Tyler Dunham and his creative wonderfulness. Turns out, saving energy saves money, too. And when we use less electricity, the school has more money. Tyler worked out a program with the administration called “Concert from Conservation”, whereby a portion of the money saved by energy conservation goes into the SAC budget for Floralia. Last year it was 25% of the amount we saved compared to the average usage for the last five years. This year, the more we save, the higher percentage SAC gets. So, you want the best band for Floralia that we can get? Start saving energy.
Sometimes it’s hard to remember what you can do to use less electricity, even though you hear them all the time. But there’s a few really basic things you can do:
1.Turn off lights in unoccupied spaces – that means when you leave your room.
2.Turn off appliances and electronics when they’re not being used.
3.Be smart about temperature control – use your heater or the window, not both together.
4.Don’t leave your chargers or TV plugged in all the time, except to power strips that you turn off when you’re not using them. They use a lot of energy just by being plugged in.
5.Use Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) instead of the normal incandescents. Besides using much less energy, they last a lot longer.
So there you have it. Saving energy equals more money. More money equals more and better Floralia. It’s as simple as that. Let’s do this!

The Whole World in Our Hands

This was first published in the College Voice on February 13th, 2008

It’s important to look at problems as holistically as you can. Take the problem of creating mandatory international greenhouse gas regulations. The primary bastions of resistance to mandatory carbon caps (and incidentally also the two biggest greenhouse gas emitters), China and the United States, are in stalemate, neither desiring to commit to such restrictions until the other does.
As Prof. Frasure pointed out in the Focus the Nation panel on this topic on January 31st, there are good reasons for both sides’ resistance. Millions of people in China still live in abject poverty, and their recent explosion of development, powered by large amounts of dirty coal, is expected to trickle higher living conditions down to much of the population. Calls from the West to constrict their emissions sound to Chinese leaders as if we either don’t care about or aren’t considering their need to industrialize, or even worse, don’t want them to industrialize at all.
On the side of our own country, it’s not as simple as acting on a moral imperative, nor is it as simple as passing off the initiating of change to the Market, waiting until our political leaders feel like doing something. Yes, we have a moral imperative to do everything we can to address climate change. Yes, we also have a moral imperative to make sure that our economy does not suffer as a result. The situation isn’t purely one way or the other.
There are a few important things to think about, however. First, prominent corporate consulting firms have concluded that the US can make huge reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at small cost to the economy1. Perhaps even more persuasive are studies indicating that the cost to the economy will only increase the longer we wait before imposing restrictions2.
Prof. Frasure argued that these things may all be true, but the reality is that Congress will not vote to support any international agreement that does not include China. He knows what he’s talking about; this is likely the case. But that’s a problem that many refer to as lack of political will, and as Al Gore is so fond of saying, that is a renewable resource.
But getting politicians to act morally can be a difficult and grueling process, so what do we do while we’re waiting for our efforts to convince them? Well, it’s important that China subscribe to any climate agreement as well, as we know. But how can we help China continue its development while at the same time steering away from dirty fuel? Developing nations frequently argue that advocating for their use of renewable energy ignores the fact that all these technologies are patented in Europe and the US! So then, if we really want a global solution to this global problem, we not only have to ramp up our domestic pressure on political leaders, but also push for some technology transfer program. Only by dispensing with tunnel vision and seeing all facets of our problems can we come to a good solution.

Focus the Nation

This was first published in the College Voice on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Focus the Nation is this Thursday! In case you haven’t heard yet, it’s a national day of discussion about climate change solutions happening at approximately 1500 colleges and universities around the country. It’s really going to be a wonderful event, and all the events are free. Here’s what the schedule looks like:

Wednesday at 7:45 we’re screening the live webcast “The 2% Solution” in Bill 106. It’s called that because in order to achieve the “80% by 2050” targets for reducing carbon emissions, we need to make approximately 2% reductions each year. Anyways, the webcast’s going to be AMAZING, with a bunch of really cool climate experts (including Van Jones, who’s amazing), and then Edward Norton. There will even be text-message voting. That’s about all I know. It’s going to be really cool.

The main bulk of our events are during the day on Thursday. In each of the five standard class blocks from 9am-4pm there will be a panel discussion with faculty and some outside speakers. The topics and panelists are on the Focus the Nation facebook event, but essentially (and in order) they are: Sustainable Cities, Sustainable Food, Climate Effects on Nature, Green Building, and China & India. There are great panelists, and dedicated student moderators, as well. Come, learn some really interesting stuff, and support your classmates!

The final segment of the event is a talk co-sponsored by the Education department and the Goodwin-Niering Center, and it’s happening at 7pm Thursday night. The speaker is Dr. Greg Cajete, Director of the Native American Studies program at the University of New Mexico. He’ll be speaking on ecological education from an indigenous perspective. This event is somewhere in Blaustein, probably Ernst Common Room.

And this is just what we’ve got pinned down so far. There are a number of other initiatives that are part of the national event which we haven’t worked on for here, involving a project called Choose Your Future, where you can vote which solutions you think are best for solving the climate crisis. The results of that will be used to attempt an influence on the political discussion of environmental issues.

Finally, remember to vote in your state’s primary if you still can (that is, if you’re registered and all), or to send in your absentee ballot, whatever you’re doing. This is a crucial presidential election, and the primary’s a very big deal, in which the course of both parties’ future will be influenced one way or another. Get active! Make your voice heard! Shuffle off the apathetic coil! Our generation is really awesome, and by dropping our apathy and influencing this election we can really gain a lot of respect from our parents’ generation.

More information about Focus the Nation can be found at http://www.focusthenation.org, and this and all other environmental news from Conn is online at http://conncollgreen.wordpress.com.

Stop the flood of catalogs!

Greetings of the season! I post this in the interest of promoting a “greener” one. As a Connecticut College Building Environmental Representative and long-term member of the Environmental Modeling Committee, I’d like to share a “waste minimization” resource that I discovered through the Alix in Wonderland Blog of my subscription to National Geographic’s “Green Guide”. There is a FREE online service Web site called CATALOG CHOICE that you can use to stop the flood of unwanted catalogs that clog your mailboxes, both here and at home. Once you’ve thumbed through them all and made your holiday-gift-giving decisions, use Catalog Choice to get off those mailing lists and look forward to seeing an emptier mailbox come January. It takes up to ten weeks to cycle out of many catalog mailing lists, so do it now, and be patient. Simply go to the site and register. You then go through the alphabetized list to select the catalogs that you no longer wish to receive. Your privacy is protected. You can also assist in the effort by adding catalogs that you receive, but that are not in the database as yet.

Companies and merchants also wish to know who does not want their catalogs, as that saves them money, too. Catalog Choice is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center. It is endorsed by the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and funded by the Overbrook Foundation, the Merck Family Fund, and the Kendeda Fund. They provide all the wonderful reasons why this is so good for the Earth on the Web site. Think of the trees that will go uncut, the barrels of oil saved, the gasoline not used, and smiles on the faces of relieved mail carriers! Happy Holidays.

Turtles back in Arbo Pond

The Arboretum Pond has been refilling slowly for the past two weeks after the completion of a dredging project to deepen the northern quarter. On Friday Arbo staff noted multiple painted turtles in the water and on rocks. The water level has not yet filled the new deep area and so has not yet reached the level of the mud bottom in the rest of the pond. Time for a rain dance, this drought is slowing down the recharge.

Conn Students Return from PowerShift

This weekend, 16 students from Conn attended the PowerShift 2007 conference in Washington, DC. At the conference, we were all extremely inspired and empowered to step up our action on climate issues on our campus and in the wider world as a whole. This mobilization isn’t just something that we want to do, it’s something we have to do, and we have to do it now. It can’t just be those of us who went to the conference either, although we’re going to work our little tushies off to get stuff going.

Here are a few of the things that we are so determined to get going at Conn:

• Focus the Nation: This nationwide event on January 31st is intended to direct the attention of institutions of higher education all around the country toward thinking about climate solutions. Suggested events are panel discussions, workshops, and a synchronized webcasted address. Over 1000 institutions are signed up, but Conn is not. We want to change that.
• Committing to LEED rating in new buildings: The environmental modeling committee and Renewable Energy Club are working on getting a commitment to LEED-silver workplans onto the statement signed by President Higdon for the Presidents’ Climate Commitment. This may be really easy or it may be hard.
• Work with numerous on-campus student groups to energize the campus’ activism on issues of climate equity and green jobs.

This is just my personal memory of what we’ve talked about doing. Once the conference organize our thoughts in the next few days, we’ll have more clearly articulated goals.

Zipcar for Conn?

Would you like to see Zipcar come to Conn?

Zipcar is a car-sharing program where you can reserve a snazzy vehicle when you need it, just by signing up and paying the minimal monthly fee. You drive the car when you need to, and return it to its special parking space when you’re done. It’s way cheaper than owning a car yourself. They have a program where a university can sign up and get discounts for its students, as well as a few cars just for use by the community of that school. I’ve seen the Amherst College and Smith College cars; it’s pretty cool. Zipcar also just merged with its big West Coast competitor, Flexcar, and will now have about 180,000 members across the country.

Anyway, we might start investigating getting Zipcar at Conn. Anyone interested?

Sierra Club’s Top Ten Schools

The Sierra Club (one of the largest environmental nonprofits in the country) just produced a list of the top 10 (+8 honorable mention) colleges and universities in the United States. Conn is not on the list. What impact does this have on our administration’s and admissions office’s claims that we are a leader in environmental issues? Certainly, the Goodwin-Niering Center was one of the first of its kind, as was our proto-Environmental Studies major back in the day. But we’ve fallen far behind our peers. Let’s get back on board.

Here’s the list:

1. Oberlin College
2. Harvard University
3. Warren Wilson College
4. University of California system
5. Duke University
6. Middlebury College
7. Berea College
8. Pennsylvania State University
9. Tufts University
10. Carnegie Mellon University

Honorable Mention:

• Arizona State University
• Bowdoin College
• Carleton College
• Emory University
• Northern Arizona University
• Northwestern University
• Stanford University
• Yale University

::Grist News