UPCOMING EVENTS
Visit our  calendar  for more information and updates. 
 
 
May 30th:

CONTACT

Lydia Vandenbergh
814-863-4893
Land and Water Research Building
University Park, PA 16802
CONNECT









 

What's up with Terracycle?    
  

Several Penn State Green Teams are continuing to collect difficult-to-recycle materials and send them to the Terracycle company where they are upcycled into useful products. Recently, the company discontinued their collection of chip bags. In the meantime, please continue to collect other materials such as cereal bags, energy/granola bar wrappers, dental product packaging, etc. and send them to the Green Teams. See the Green Teams Terracycle page for collection lists and directions. Way to go, Green Teams!

Stand up for movement in sedentary careers
  
Stemming from the "Sustainability Lives Here" Green Bag Lunch in January, the Smeal College of Business Green Team set out to promote health as individual goals for You@PSU.  

  

The result -- a lunchtime program by Penn State fitness instructors and personal trainers titled "Stand Up for Movement in Sedentary Careers." 

 

The program, created with the help of Kinesiology students, was well attended by staff and faculty. The trainers explained about the detrimental effects sitting at work can have on your health. They also demonstrated some movements the attendees could incorporate in their daily routine and provided an  activity checklist with suggestions for movements throughout the day.

 

"We received a lot of positive feedback from folks in our college who were inspired by the personal trainers to incorporate more movement into their day," said Jan Dunlap, assistant to financial officer at Smeal.
 
"I talked to several people who had no idea about the ramifications of sitting for hours at a time and are making the effort to get up and move more."
 
It seems that people have been taking these suggestions seriously. One attendee had a timer installed on her computer to remind her and her colleagues to do some of the movements on the checklist each time it goes off.
 

Engagement for the Earth   
Bee house workshop
  
In April, Penn Staters from across the Commonwealth engaged others in learning about environmental issues through movies, presentations, art and symposiums. Building on their previous presentation on pollinators, the Outreach Green Team organized a workshop to build bee houses. Following the workshop, professor Richard Alley spoke about energy productions influence on climate change.

Several Green Teams organized a screening of the film  Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch which prompted discussions about individual and collective actions to reduce plastics use and ways we can promote changes at Penn State. Already there is progress. Did you know that over 100% of Penn State's newly installed carpet will be recycled and never reach a landfill?  Changes like this depend on Penn State staff, faculty and students looking for improvement opportunities and working together to make change happen. Green Teams are leading the way.  


 
Did you know?  
                                                             Image:  Andrew Olney/Alamy
 

Although the number of people saying that they are concerned about the environment is almost two-thirds of the world population, we don't see these same people taking action. Behavioral psychologists call this a value-action gap.  

 

How can we close the gap and spur action? Product marketers have a few suggestions to consider including:  

  1. How would the action benefit the functional life of that person or someone close to them?
  2. What are the intangible feelings that the action would offer?
  3. What are the social benefits that the action would give the person?  

Examples of these and more background information on this technique can be found in an article from the Guardian.

Buying Local
 
 Image: Downtown State College Farmers Market 
 
Buying local isn't only good for your local economy, it can have a profound impact on the environment. According to the David Suzuki Foundation, the average meal travels 1,200 km from the farm to plate. That's a lot of gas consumption and carbon emitted in to the atmosphere. Therefore, food that in grown closer to home tends to have fewer emissions associated with it.
 
So what can you do? Many grocery stores have local produce selections. Additionally, most towns have farmers markets and food co-ops. In State College, the downtown farmer's market is currently open on Tuesdays and Fridays. Here is a website that can help you to find local foods in your area. 

                                                     
I mage: Trash to Treasure 

Penn State's annual spring Trash to Treasure Sale is slated for Saturday, May 30 at Beaver Stadium on the University Park campus. Volunteers are needed to sort donations and to help out on sale day. If you or your group are looking for a way to help your community -- and have some fun along the way -- lend a hand to Penn State's largest town-gown recycling effort.

 

Each year, the sale raises about $50,000 for the Centre County United Way and its partner agencies. This effort diverts an average of 68 tons of usable goods from landfills. It takes approximately 1,360 hours (56 days) of work to sort these items donated by Penn State students.

 

Volunteers (individuals and groups) are needed during morning, afternoon, and evening shifts. No previous experience is necessary, and volunteers must be 18 years or older.

 

Register here for times that fit your schedule. Shifts begin May 6. Volunteers will receive confirmation emails with parking and additional information after they register.


 
Image: Flickr






Moving can be a headache and plenty of people at Penn State are in the process right now of sorting through their office materials. Would you like to turn some of your excess office materials into gold for students? Lion Surplus manager Glenn Feagley is overjoyed when he receives binders, half-filled notebooks and file folders that can be placed into the hands of students in need.

You can help these students by sending your extra office materials to Lion Surplus for reuse or by recycling. What goes where? Check out this reuse and recycling tips list for directions.