CU Environmental Center

Monthly Newsletter
October 2013

Greetings! Enjoy our monthly update from the CU Environmental Center. 

Please let us know if you have ideas, input, feedback or news.

Director's Corner
Dave

Cultivate Your Voice

 

by Dave Newport

 

In the historically accurate and visually sumptuous 1987 Best Picture "The Last Emperor," Peter O'Toole played an English gentleman appointed to tutor China's young ruler in the English language.

 

If we all had English lessons as powerful as those from O'Toole's character, Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston, the sustainability movement would be much further along.

 

In a famous scene, Emperor Puyi, then a teenager, asked Sir Johnston why he, a Scotsman, didn't wear a skirt.  Johnston replied Scots didn't wear skirts, they wore kilts. He added, it was very important to get those words right.

 

"Why are these words important," the Emperor asked?

 

Sir Johnston replied, "If you cannot say what you mean, your majesty, you will never mean what you say--and a gentle man should always mean what he says."

 

I can do nothing to improve on that logic.

 

Likewise, sustainability professionals were reminded of the importance of words in one of AASHE's best plenary presentations two years ago in Pittsburgh.  Former Unity College President Mitch Thomashow asked a crowded hall of campus sustainability professionals, "What will your voice be and how will you cultivate the voices of those around you?"

 

Thomashow's presentation essentially mirrored the message of Sir Reginald Johnston. "Find how your voice is best manifest. Writing, speaking, engaging, partnering, inspiring, whatever talent you have. Cultivate that voice."

 

Say what you mean. And what do campus sustainability folks need to say?

 

Well, if you are reading this you must be somehow connected to the sustainability business; a business that is about creating change. We are all staff in The Department of Change.

 

And just what change do we wish to see?

 

Another of our favorite orators, David Orr, once set the bar on the change we need this way:

 

"The sustainability revolution will not fail because we are too radical, it will fail because we are too timid."

 

We all know the changes needed...

Click here to read the full article.

Sustainability Spotlight: Beverly Grant and Mo' Betta Green MarketPlace

Beverly Grant is an

entrepreneur, permaculturist and mother of three.

 

She is the founder and manager of "R&B's Mo' Betta Green MarketPlace," an urban farmers market in Denver's historic Five Points Neighborhood. Grant launched the farmers market in 2011 on the principles of environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and food literacy. The market strives to broaden food access, providing food and nutrition literacy, and supporting local business and the neighborhood economy.

 

Grant will also be presenting at the 2013 Front Range Bioneers ConferenceGrant joins Neambe Leadon Vita, Mikey Ward, and Ietef Hotep Viita for "Hip Hop for Food Justice: Artists Discussion." They will discuss a powerful line-up of urban food justice activists and practitioners steeped in hip hop as an art form that liberates and lifts. All of them work with youth and inspire them to eat healthy, read labels, grow their own foods, tune into their local ecologies, and adopt and transmute permaculture principles for the betterment of their communities and, in turn, the larger hip hop community. In the tradition of great Artivists, they leverage "any medium necessary" to make their world healthier.  Moderated by budding permaculturist and mother of three, Michelle Gabrieloff-Parish of the Woodbine Ecology Center. 

 

Grant founded the marketplace in order to make fresh food available in the food desert of Five Points. The twice-monthly market includes cooking demos, free tastings, live music and a DJ.  The market includes a variety of local vendors offering community resources, produce and goods, including clothes and handcrafted trinkets. Urban growers, backyard gardeners, food educators and demonstrators, health, wellness, nutrition and holistic experts, local musicians, artisans, and other cultural curators by provide fun and outdoor family activities through the summer and autumn.

 

Located at Welton St.  and 25th Ave. in Denver, Mo' Betta partners with GrowHaus to provide a community resource for education and fresh food. Earlier in 2013, the marketplace added a second location on alternating weeks at 20th Ave. and Ogden St.

 

Showcasing neighborhood arts, history, and culture, the market also works to benefit the community by shaping food policy and defining new food infrastructure and new agribusiness opportunities. The market directly impacts the top four community health disparities through interactive demonstrations and education. The market also co-creates edible and medicinal yard farms in Denver's food deserts. 

 


Scrape Your Plate Day Results
scrape yo' plate

Scrape Your Plate Results are in! Earlier this fall, CU celebratedScrape Your Plate Day, when students eating at campus dining facilities scraped their own plates at the end of the meal.

 

This semester, the total food waste for lunch and dinner was about 1630.1 lbs, nearly 400 lbs less than last year!

 

This is considerably lower per-person than when the program started back in Spring 2008 and the average was about .42 lbs. per person. This year, the average was .25 lbs of food waster per person.

 

Each semester on Scrape Your Plate Day, The Environmental Center and Housing and Dining Services team up to raise awareness about composting and sustainable food practices. During lunch and dinner service, at some CU buffet style dining halls, members of the E-center along with volunteers act as compost goalies scraping the leftover, un-eaten food from student and faculty plates into compost bins.

 

Those who composted were inducted into the clean plate club and given a sticker to wear proudly around for the rest of the day. Students and faculty were encouraged to take smaller portions and return for more if they are still hungry to avoid wasting food.

 

This brings awareness to the amount of wasted food that can be conserved at future meals, and also provides an opportunity to educate diners that their leftovers are composted, not landfilled.

 

Although composting is a regular practice behind the scenes in all the dining halls, Scrape Your Plate Day brings it to the forefront in an effort to reduce waste. When people scrape food off themselves, they realize how much they leave behind.

 

The goal of zero waste is very achievable. In CU dining halls, students are allowed to take as much as you like. But the E-Center would like to see everyone eating all that they take.

Join us next semester for Scrape Your Plate Day!

 

For more information, contact [email protected] or call 303-492-8308.

In This Issue
Upcoming Events
EJ Discussion Series
 
Flooding and Fracking in Colorado: A Double Disaster?
 
Nov. 6
1:30 PM-2:30 PM
UMC 425

 

Interested in the environmental impacts from the recent flooding disaster and fracking (hydraulic fracturing) in Colorado? Join us, CU Assembly for Sustainability and Equity, for our second discussion series.
  

While most of were busy bailing out our homes or helping out affected friends, Cliff Willmeng, a representative from East Boulder County United, was documenting the flood's impacts on some of the 50,000 oil and gas wells in Colorado. After the flood, Cliff's story and photos were featured in the most reason edition of Rolling Stone. Cliff and other representatives from East Boulder County United, a local grassroots organization, will present on the numerous inundated drilling facilities and loose tanks he found during the flood as well as the potential effects of the impacted wells on our environment.

 

Click here to learn more.

11th Annual Front Range Bioneers
 
Nov. 8-10
University of Colorado Boulder

Front Range Bioneers is back for its 11th year!

 

Front Range Bioneers is a three-day conference that brings leading scientific innovators and environmental visionaries to Boulder, offering practical solutions to the most pressing environmental and social issues of our time. The local forum for this national phenomenon connects the dots between environment, health, social justice and spirit in a unique and authentic way. The event features national Bioneers plenary broadcasts and is locally enriched with workshops, field trips, keynotes, sessions, arts, film, children's eco-activities and more.  


Gary Nabhan: Food Chain Restoration in the Face of Climate Change
 
Nov. 9 
7:00 PM-8:00 PM
Humanities 1B50


Over the next half century, climate change will dramatically affect which wild food plants can be integrated into edible landscaping and which horticultural crop varieties reach optimum quality in nearly every foodscape in North America.
By surveying the world's desert horticultural oases for such adaptations, Nabhan offers a variety of ready-to-implement acclimations to climate change that have been tested over centuries by food producers among diverse desert cultures. The strategies found through biomimicry, ecomimicry and ethnomimicry will be highlighted.
Admission is included with Bioneers registration. Limited ala carte tickets available for people not participating in other Bioneers programming.
Click here to learn more and register.

Hitch a Ride on the CU Ski Bus

The CU Ski Bus is back!

 

Tickets are now on sale for the CU Ski Bus. The CU Ski Bus is a travel service for University of Colorado at Boulder students, faculty and staff. Tickets will only be available online on this website once tickets go on sale. There are a limited number of tickets available for each trip, and trips will often sell out far in advance. There will also be standby tickets available for purchase on the morning of each trip (even sold-out trips!). Be sure to reserve early! 

 

The CU Ski Bus is a travel service for University of Colorado at Boulder students, faculty and staff.

 

Click here to learn more and purchase Ski Bus tickets.

 

Tickets are available online on the E-Center website. There are a limited number of tickets available for each trip, and trips will often sell out far in advance. There will also be standby tickets available for purchase on the morning of each trip (even sold-out trips!).

 

The Ski Bus is also on Facebook and Twitter! Become a fan and follow us to be the first to hear about special promotions and other vital information about the program.

 

HERD is a proud partner of the CU Ski Bus. 


11th Annual Front Range Bioneers Updates

 

November 8-10, 2013

University of Colorado Boulder

 

The Front Range Bioneers companion event creates community opportunities for sharing, learning and action, and brings together the region's progressive ideas, people and organizations. The event features a broadcast of the national Bioneers plenaries and is locally enriched with:  music and arts; networking, children's eco-activities; field trips, and sessions, workshops and keynotes addressing topics of regional importance and community solutions.    

  

Register today

 

Register today for Front Range Bioneers! Registration is affordable!  Free for CU-Boulder and Naropa University students.  Scholarships and volunteer opportunities available.  Advance registration will close on November 5th.  Advance registration is required to participate in any of the Friday field trips or workshop intensives. 

 

Click here to Register!

 

 

The complete Front Range Bioneers program is here!

 

The detailed program for Front Range Bioneers has arrived! The 11th annual gathering is packed with rich community resources:  60 local presenters, 32 engaging workshops and exciting workshops, and 15 national plenaries.  

 

Explore the 2013 Front Range Bioneers program!

 

 

Front Range Bioneers children's activities

 

Eaton Humanities Building

Room 145 & outdoors

 

While adults immerse themselves in Bioneers, so can kids! The Children's Programming provides exciting and interactive activities for kids to learn about the natural world! Organized by the Bioneers staff in conjunction with other local programs, students will have a memorable and educational experience! Cost is $10/day per child. Activities appropriate for ages 4-12. Advance registration is requested. Activities will take place indoors and outdoors. Bring proper attire and a sack lunch.  Check in is at the main registration booth in the morning. Capacity is limited and is first-come, first-serve. Pre-registration is requested. 

 

See full details on kids' programming here. 

 

Help spread the word!

 

Visit our media page to follow us on social media and view images, videos, press information and more!

 

CU-Boulder Expands Popular Computers To Youth Program
The University of Colorado Environmental Center, with support from a major new donor, is expanding "Computers To Youth," its innovative program to protect the environment and benefit underserved communities in Colorado.   A series of four events are scheduled on the CU Boulder Campus including Saturday, November 2 and Saturday, November 9.

 

Computers To Youth provides high school students from low-income communities around Colorado with upgraded computers and hands-on training from CU student mentors.  With surplus computer components, youth "bundle" an upgraded computer system and load the latest software to enable academic achievement toward college when they take the computer home at the end of the event.  Fourteen deserving high school students from the Family Learning Center in Boulder have been selected to participate.

 

This year, the Denver Area Telecommunications Educational Telecommunication Consortium (DAETC ) has enabled an increase in the number of participants in the program.  A total of 50 youth are expected to benefit.  DAETC values C2Y's approach to bring high schools students and college students together.

 

CU students serve as mentors with the state-wide MESA program (Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement).  Colorado MESA also refers high school students to the program.  CU-Boulder's MESA Center is housed within the Department of Pre-College Outreach Services in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement (ODECE).

 

"Not only the high school youth, but the college student mentors, felt that it was an inspiring learning experience. The fact that CU put together this program that saves resources, prevents waste and enables future scientists and engineers is completely brilliant, " said engineering student and mentor Rebecca Miller.

 

Computers to Youth addresses two pressing issues: the growing amount of waste from computers and the "digital divide" -- the relative inaccessibility to computing and communication technology.  

 

"As technology increasingly becomes a part of daily life, those without computer access risk falling further and further behind." According to Jack DeBell of CU's Environmental Center.  This consequence, known as the "digital divide," tends to affect economically-disadvantaged populations, especially youth. "With such a great amount of computer equipment being discarded by a technologically advanced campus, it only makes sense that some of this equipment be upcycled to bridge the digital divide", DeBell stated.

 

The Environmental Center has demonstrated success in this area, restoring and redistributing its first computers in 2001.  In 2005, CU received Dell's Higher Education Leadership Award and funding for a community-wide roundup.  Since then, CU has hosted numerous day-long "computer builds".  It has also demonstrated a week-long program where CU can now more fully enable aspiring first-generation high school students.

 

Learn more about Computers to Youth here.

CU educator Kelly Simmons awarded Permaculture Diploma

The University of Colorado's Sustainable Practices Program manager and permaculture educator KellySimmons has been awarded a Permaculture Diploma in education from the Permaculture Institute.

 

Founded in 1997, the Santa Fe-based Institute is the sister organization to the Permaculture Institute of Australia. The Institute promotes sustainable living skills through education, networking and demonstration projects.

 

Simmons first discovered permaculture design in 1989 as she began researching to become a farmer. Although she had to abandon her dream of becoming a farmer, she began practicing urban homesteading at her home in South Boulder, which is now an urban permaculture design demonstration site called Sunflower House.

 

"I feel honored and excited to be joining the ranks of other diploma awardees," Simmons said.

 

Simmons attributes much of her success in the field to mentoring and education from Scott Pittman, who founded the Institute and has been teaching permaculture courses across the world since 1985.

 

Simmons' permaculture design work has included teaching, outreach, and research related to sustainability.

 

 

The only other person in Boulder to earn a Permaculture Diploma is Jason Gerhardt, an Environmental Studies instructor at Naropa University.

 

Simmons says permaculture is a crucial aspect of education because it helps people realize the implications of the systems they interact with on a daily basis.

 

"We are on this a spaceship on the edge of space, but we aren't taught how the spaceship works," Simmons said. "How does it function? We don't realize what waste is. We walk around on campus and see how water coming off buildings is managed and where is water running off and where is erosion happening and don't know why."

 

She has been working with the CU Environmental Center since 1995, and she is now the manager of the CU Sustainable Practices Program. The program offers individual courses and a Professional Certificate for anyone interested in sustainability training.

 

"Kelly's skill and an educator and now as a permaculture design expert significantly strengthens the Environmental Center and the Sustainable Practices Program," said Dave Newport, Director of the CU Environmental Center. "We are fortunate to count Kelly as part of our team."

 

Beginning October 4, Simmons will be teaching a permaculture course one weekend per month for six months at the Growhaus, a nonprofit indoor farm, marketplace and educational center in Denver.

 

Part of a team of educators led by Adam Brock, Simmons will cover topics including Patterns in Nature, Permaculture Design Principles, Designing for Disaster, WasteCycling, Ecology and Ecosystems, and Natural Building. The course applies ecological principles to human communities, enabling a paradigm shift toward a sustainable lifestyle. Those who complete the course will earn a permaculture design certificate, after which they can pursue a teacher's certificate, an advanced design certificate or their own permaculture diploma.

 

To learn more about the Sustainable Practices Program, visit http://sustainable.colorado.edu/.

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