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Monthly Newsletter
October 2016
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President Obama recognizes CU Boulder at inaugural Green Sports Day
As a leader in sustainability practices and fan engagement in athletics, CU Boulder was one of two campuses recognized at the inaugural Green Sports Day with an event in the East Room of the White House on Thursday, Oct. 6. Dave Newport, director of the
CU Environmental Center, attended.
Including remarks by President Obama, the event honored various sports teams, venues, leagues, schools and organizations around the country that are taking on new actions to tackle climate change through sports.
CU Boulder already holds zero-waste athletic events and is home to sustainably built and operated athletic facilities, among other
initiatives. Announced on Green Sports Day, CU Boulder is partnering with the
Green Sports Alliance to launch the College Sports Water Resiliency Challenge. The challenge invites college presidents, chancellors and athletic directors to pledge ambitious water-resilience goals for their campus sports programs.
In addition, the Pac-12 Conference with its member universities affirmed its continued leadership efforts to promote sustainability through college sports.
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Go Beyond Award
Kathy Ramirez-Aguilar, founder and Program Manager of the
CU Green Labs Program with Facilities Management and the Environmental Center, was presented with a Go Beyond Award for individual achievement at the 2016
International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I
2
SL) Annual Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. This award recognizes organizations, individuals, products, and projects that advance sustainable, high-performance laboratory facilities.
Kathy's Go Beyond Award recognizes her inspiring leadership in the sustainable laboratory community as well as her ongoing impact at the University of Colorado Boulder and beyond.
With unbounded enthusiasm, a wealth of new ideas, and years of practical laboratory experience, Kathy works tirelessly to reduce the environmental footprint of scientific research, particularly by engaging action on the part of laboratory members. Her work is having national impact.
She founded and leads the I2SL University Alliance Group (UAG) to work on systems changes that impacts sustainability at academic research institutions. Through her role with the I
2
SL UAG, she helped lead the organization of Greening Grants Work Sessions at the U.S. Department of Energy's Better Buildings Summit for the past two years. The Greening Grants Work Sessions brought stakeholders from federal agencies, research institutions, and non-profits together to find ways to make connections between sustainability goals and federally supported research. Kathy has also been instrumental in the development and launch of the North American Laboratory Freezer Challenge which was just announced at the I
2
SL Annual Conference and is being managed through a partnership between I2SL and My Green Lab
.
In 2009 Kathy started one of the first green labs programs in the nation with the creation of the CU Green Labs Program.
Her foresight, dedication, and leadership has helped to make CU Boulder a leader in the laboratory sustainability movement.
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Tips for an Affordable & Green
Halloween
Forget about ghouls and goblins- checking your bank account after Hallo-week is the real scare of the month. Not to mention all of the candy wrappers, costumes, and decorations that will get thrown out after all of the festivities are over. There is a lot of money that goes into making Halloween happen, and all of those purchased consumer products take a toll on not just your wallet, but the environment as well. Save yourself some money, and save the environment by taking a look at these affordable and eco-friendly ideas.
Compost those pumpkins!
- According to the USDA, the US produced 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins in 2014. After they are carved and put on display for the month, many of those pumpkins are simply thrown away and sent to landfills. Landfills do not have the proper conditions for compostable items to properly biodegrade, so a lot of the waste that could be composted or recycled ends up sitting in a landfill, taking up space on the Earth.
- Western Disposal Services offers curbside compost pickup and also has a drop off site for those that want to compost their gourds this year. For more information visit their website.
Consider Packaging
- When buying candy this year, think about the packaging. Most candy wrappers unfortunately cannot be recycled. If you're having a party, make festive homemade treats instead of buying individually wrapped pieces. Not only do they cost less, but they are usually waste free!
Don't feel like spending $20 on another costume for Halloween this year?
- Instead of purchasing a whole new outfit, go to a local thrift store, or better yet, swap clothes with a friend!
- Instead of buying cat, mouse, or bunny ears - make any kind of animal ears out of cardboard, use tape to appropriately shape them. Hint: If you want floppy bunny ears, cut them out of a paper bag and layer with cotton balls.
- Become a real like Lumberjack with any combination of: flannels, blue jeans, boots, and maybe a cowboy hat, braids, or some overalls if you have them!
- Life/Lemons: wear a white shirt, write LIFE in black sharpie, carry around lemons.
- Fruit: Wear a shirt the color of the fruit (red for strawberry, purple for grapes) and then decorate! For a strawberry, draw seeds with a black sharpie, wear green bottoms or a green hat to complete the look.
Throwing a party?
Don't go out and buy orange streamers and fake gravestones to put in your yard, I have decoration ideas that won't give you a scare when you check your bank account.
- Recycle old toilet paper and paper towel rolls by cutting out eye holes and taping or gluing a glow stick inside. Place the roll inside of a bush or in a dark spot to give the effect of somebody hiding.
- Have a lot of recyclable bottles? Make a Halloween body bag by placing recyclables inside of a trash bag and taping them together in the shape of a body.
- For a softer glow, place a tea candle in a glass mason jar, and fill with popcorn kernels.
- Milk jug ghosts are an easy decorating idea. Simply rinse out a milk jug, layer the bottom with small rocks to weigh the jug down, place a candle inside and draw a ghost face on the outside in sharpie!
For More Tips and Ideas, visit:
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CU Conference Services' "Living Wall"
by Tara Hanna, Campus Sustainability Assistant
In October of 2015, CU Conference Services decided to pursue the addition of a Living Wall to their office. The first step was to design of the wall ... Can you see the layout?!
The design was achieved by using low to medium light plants including: Yellow Pothos, Rabbit Tracks, as well as White and Pink Prayer plants. The plants were selected and sourced with the help of a local nursery, Sturtz & Copeland.
Conference Services purchased the wall from GSky Plant Systems, Inc..
They also collaborated with Way to Grow
a local business, for grow lights and custom-made Smart pots
;
these are cloth pots that contain the soil, but still allow their root system to grow through the bottom or side of the pot. From start to finish, the project had many helping hands determined to construct a unique feature in their office.
The office is also keeping data on moisture levels for every plant, in order to ensure the
entire wall is not overwatered but remains healthy and vivacious. In doing so, the wall is only watered every week and a half. The office decided to pursue the wall when they saw "no other office had a living wall on campus that [they] could find. There is a student- designed and student-built wall in the lobby of the Environmental Design building that used live plants with moss filler, but without an automated watering system." The larger intention of the office is to deepen the human relation with nature.
The Living Wall has become a symbol for the office's sustainable objective.
CU Conference Services is green office certified. The Green Office Program works in partnership with faculty and staff to recognize and implement sustainable practices in office spaces. Conference Services' is one department actively contributing to sustainability success on campus. As the living wall is not a typical office practice, it earned them innovation points in their scorecard!
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Is your Office / Department CU Green Certified?
Looking to green your office space and earn recognition for your department?
CU-Boulder's Green Office Program integrates many of CU's campus sustainability initiatives including: transportation, purchasing, recycling, and energy. The program guides campus departments and offices to best practices, many of which may already be in use. The faculty/ staff campus sustainability program can be achieved with with just a few steps: assign a liaison who completes an inventory and checklist, then we conduct a site visit and hold a workshop for staff! Each spring, certified departments are recognized at the campus sustainability awards ceremony. To get started or for more info, email [email protected] or call 303-492-8308 or visit
http://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/greening-cu/green-office-program
.
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Water for the West
At the last CU football home game, Buff fans learned about water sustainability and pledged to reduce water consumption.
The CU Environmental Center's
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Energy Outreach team built cubes to to show students that there are other ways to reduce their energy and water footprint other than taking shorter showers. The CU E-C
enter encourages students to make lifestyle changes that are within their comfort range, such as buying items secondhand, bringing a reusable water bottle, or reducing the amount of animal products in diets. The largest cube is the size of 1800 gallons of water, which is the amount of water it takes make a pair of jeans (including the amount of water it takes to grow cotton). 1800 gallons of water is also the same amount of water it takes to produce one pound of meat. The Energy Outreach team ran the numbers and found that if every CU student participated in one Meatless Monday there would be 10,000,000 more gallons of water. (This water is the amount of water it takes to create the average quantity of meat an American eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner; as compared with how much water it would take for that same person to consume a plant based meals).
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Carbon Offsets Purchasing Program
In 2012, with the leadership of student government, the Environmental Center started purchasing carbon offsets to mitigate the greenhouse gasses and climate footprint of energy used by the student-owned buildings on campus. For our previous school year, that means 11,670 metric tonnes of CO2. While we continuously work to reduce our energy use and consumption, we use carbon offsets to counteract the greenhouse gas emissions that we were not able to avoid causing.
We contracted with Native Energy that often partners with Native American tribes to initiate carbon offsets and renewable energy projects. We chose a project in Colorado that is close enough to CU Boulder for students to visit. The project captures methane that would otherwise leak out into the environment in La Plata County on the Southern Ute tribal land. We are also able to extend the contract pricing to other campus departments.
Any campus office can mitigate their environmental impact and help support innovative energy projects by purchasing high quality carbon offsets easily (and at a great rate) through the Environmental Center. People from various departments across campus have asked us how they can contribute to lowering their climate footprints and now we centralize our efforts by purchasing together. Any campus department can purchase carbon offsets for travel, conferences, day to day use, employee commuting, electronics, or large purchases. Simply fill out our online form
here
, which will serve as an
IN purchasing form
.
We will compile purchases monthly and purchase collective carbon offsets through
Native Energy
.
We have made the process easy for even first-time buyers and have vetted carbon offset vendors ensuring they are high quality, 3rd party certified offsets with social equity benefits and educational potential. We also consider cost and location. Purchasing through this system also means we can aggregate and track campus carbon offset purchasing while benefiting from a great bulk rate with Native Energy.
More about the current project: Methane Recovery Project with the Southern Ute Tribe
This year our funds to go to an innovative methane recovery project in native communities here in Colorado through Native Energy. We're happy to contribute because not only does it help mitigate some of the university's ecological impacts, it also has a strong social and community benefit. Additionally and importantly, it is a project that could not have been built without carbon offset funds.
The project captures methane seeping from natural coal seams and puts it to use. The captured gas is ultimately injected into the natural gas distribution grid and burned either for thermal energy or power generation. Because of the low volume of methane seeping near the coal outcroppings, it was not economical for the Southern Ute Tribe to install conventional coal-bed-methane (natural gas) production wells and collection piping. Funding through Carbon Offsets with Native Energy makes the project possible. The project is also unconventional in that the Southern Ute Tribe does not mine any of the coal on its lands. This is an opportunity to capture methane seeping naturally. This project will avoid 23,000 growing to 60,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually by capturing and destroying the methane gas and is verified to the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).
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Learn More about Campus Sustainability
CU Boulder is a member of the
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
. AASHE is a non-profit membership organization that empowers higher education faculty, administrators, staff and students to be effective change agents and drivers of sustainability innovation.
AASHE membership extends to everyone at our institution. As a member school, our entire campus community has access to AASHE's online resources and opportunities for networking, information sharing, collaboration and professional development.
AASHE has many member benefits, services and programs. As a first step, consider subscribing to
AASHE e-Newsletters.
AASHE Bulletin
is a weekly publication that delivers the latest in campus sustainability news, resources, opportunities, events, and jobs and internships. AASHE Announcements is a monthly publication that highlights news, events and important information about AASHE and its members. STARS Update is a periodic publication designed to keep participants up-to-date on the latest STARS technical developments, publications, deadlines, tips and tools.
If you are looking for best practices, data for a research project or curious about what other campuses are doing go to
AASHE's
Campus Sustainability Hub
- an online resource library that provides access to 6,000+ valuable resources for campus sustainability practitioners, enabling AASHE members to share and learn about all aspects of sustainability in higher education. Resources are organized by sustainability topic and content type.
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Sustainable CU: A Call for Proposals
CUSG Environmental Board funds on-campus projects incorporating renewable energy, energy efficiency, recycling and waste reduction, and other innovative projects to reduce the University of Colorado Boulder campus¹ impact on climate and environment. Applications are accepted monthly for small scale projects requesting $2,500 or less. Large grant proposals are due October 30th, 2016 and February 23, 2017.
More info
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Need to Register to Vote?
Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th
Not registered yet? No problem!
You can register to vote in Colorado online through October 31 at www.govotecolorado.com or at a Voter Service & Polling Center Oct. 24- Nov. 8
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From Carrots to Compost: Sustainable Food on Campus
Campus Dining Services continues to make great strides in advancing sustainability. Join us at this week's sustainability meetup (
Wednesday,
5pm, Hellems 267) to learn more with Nicole Grisham, Dining Safety and Resource Recovery Manager. Learn about CDS' comprehensive efforts in energy and water conservation, waste management, and food sourcing.
CDS hosts "Green Food Gatherings" - a monthly program featuring various food sustainability topics, led by industry experts. All sessions take place in the C4C Treehouse Room from
5:30-6:30pm. Upcoming gatherings:
- October 27: Eat Healthy, Eat Delicious, Eat Local
- November 17: Eat Clean and Green, Eat Organic.
Campus Dining Services (CDS) and the Environmental Center, collabor
ate each year to host Scrape Your Plate Days. On SYP days, we collect and measure food scraps left on plates during lunch and dinner to track waste. We use this data to create awareness, with the goal of seeing a reduction in food waste through the semester. This fall we will host one more SYPD on
November 10
in Center fo
r Community Dining Center. The first two SYP days this semester have shown a 33% decrease over last year's waste generation.
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Aiming for Zero: Zero Waste Events on Campus Set the Bar
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- Move Out
- The annual "Give & Go" Donation Drive during student Move Out in the Residence Halls on campus generated 26 tons of Reusable Items (clothing, bedding, fans, lamps, storage items, etc), 2,258 pounds of donated food, and 1,128 pounds of Personal Care Products, for a total of 27.7 tons of material diverted from the landfill and put back to use. Salvation Army helped collect and repurpose the reusable items and all the Food and Personal Care Products went to Emergency Family Assistance.
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- Bolder Boulder
- Being one of the largest 10K running races in the nation with over 50,000 runners participating, the 2016 BB was an impressive zero waste success, reaching an 81% diversion rate! To reach this level of waste diversion, the following materialswere collected: over 8 tons of recycling, over 4 tons of compost, and almost 6 tons of donated lunches (through Community Food Share). Only 4.4 tons of trash was sent to the landfill. Thanks to the BB staff and race participants for such a great zero waste race effort!
- Dead & Company Concert
- The return of summer concerts at Folsom Field with the Dead & Company playing a 2 night run on July 2/3 has also led to an impressive waste diversion effort, with over 85% of the total waste diverted from the landfill! 245 Staff hour and 130 volunteer hours has led to capturing 5 tons of recycling (cans/bottles) and 3.5 tons of compost. Thanks to a partnership with CU Recycling and CU Athletics, zero waste efforts at the Folsom Stadium are a success for large scale concerts!
- Ralphie's Green Stampede: Zero Waste Football
- Although we don't have any preliminarily numbers from the 2016 season, zero waste practices are in place for ALL the home football games at Folsom Stadium and we hope to beat our 2015 season average of 83%. Lots of people partner to make this a success, including CU Athletics, Facilities Management, CU Environmental Center, Levy Restaurants, and Parking and Transportation. Also, lots of volunteer groups have helped out as "Zero Waste Goalies" to stand at our waste stations and educate fans about proper zero waste practices. Special thanks go out to the following groups who have volunteers at the home football games to help make zero waste a success:
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- International English Center
- Alpha Phi Omega (APO) Service Fraternity
- CU Swim and Dive Team
- NRHH
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Meet Angie Gilbert, Zero Waste Events Coordinator
Angie recently joined the Environmental Center in the Fall of 2015 as the Zero Waste Events Coordinator. She graduated in 2002 in Environmental Biology from the University of Colorado. It was a great fit to return to Boulder as and alum to further her career in the sustainability field.
Since 2010, Angie has worked with ESPN developing programs for waste reduction, environmental education and sustainable practices in television production. Her focus has been on programs that further the message of environmental responsibility and stewardship in the sports and entertainment community. Prior events include Winter and Summer X Games, The ESPYS, College GameDay, Disney Earth Day, ESPN W Summit,
Monday Night Football, Next Superbowl Party, College Bowl Games, Little League World Series and College Football Playoffs. Each of these events has helped Angie develop unique strategies to implement sustainable practices.
As the Zero Waste Events Coordinator, she currently works closely with CU Football, CU Basketball and numerous other events on campus to continue the mission of zero waste at collegiate events. She has an knowledgeable support staff of students and professionals that support the many events to create zero waste success. She also works with the Recycling Operation Facility (ROC) which provides the avenue to process all the event collections.
When she's not sorting recycling she can be found enjoying all that Colorado has to offer such as camping, hiking and skiing. She enjoys traveling, rugby and lacrosse (CU club athlete) and of course all things that are friendly to the planet.
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Zero Waste at YOUR Event
Are you holding an event for your office, group, or for the campus community? The Environmental Center can help by working with you on the event process, from material purchasing to waste collection. Here are a few things you need to have in order to hold an actual Zero Waste Event:
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- Purchase the correct compostable and/or recyclable serving ware
- Work with any vendors to bring compostable/recyclable items
- Zero Waste training for your staff (can be quick and easy on day of event)
- Establish waste collection for the materials served (compost/recycle bins)
- Work with Environmental Center staff to set up, service, and collect waste bins and materials
We are currently in the process of developing a Zero Waste Event form and resource page on our website, so check back at the following address soon for more info:
In the mean time, contact Angie Gilbert for more zero waste event info:
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Join Ralphie's Green Stampede!
When: November 3
November 11
November 26
Join Ralphie's Green Stampede at home football games and help us keep Folsom a zero-waste stadium. Volunteers get free entrance to the game, a meal and a T-Shirt for staffing zero-waste stations throughout the stadium to educate football fans about the importance and impact of composting and recycling. Volunteers are on the front line to divert waste from the landfill, helping us get to our goal of 90 percent diversion. Come as an individual, with friends or as an organization and check out what the zero-waste excitement is all about.
There are three Buffs home games left and with record attendance, we have even more need for volunteers!
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Recent Blogs
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Eco-Engage Series
When:
Saturday's from 10 am - 4pm / 5pm
October 22: Eco-Building Design
November 12: Eco-conscious Consumption
This Eco-Engage Event is focused on sustainable building design both on-campus and in the community. Our facilitator and guide for the day is Mike White, a certified Earthship Biotect and natural builder, who will be on hand throughout the day to answer questions and more. The day will include a tour of the new CU LEED platinum certified recreational facility on campus, a visit to a local Earthship, a visit to a Tiny Home, and more!
Along the way, we'll have lively discussion about various forms of sustainable buildings, net zero, LEED buildings and keep our eyes out for interesting career paths, internships and volunteer opportunities all while having fun.
This workshop is open to enrolled CU Boulder students only. Transportation is provided. Lunch is not.
*Registration Deadline for Eco-Building Design is October 19th
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Weekly Campus Green Tours
When: Every Thursday at 4pm
Where: UMC 353 (the Environmental Center) to start.
Did you know that CU-Boulder is one of the nation's leading green schools? Find out how on a tour of main campus with the CU Environmental Center. We will explore a sampling of LEED green buildings, chemical-free landscapes, pollinator sanctuaries, zero waste and recycling programs, bike stations, renewable energy, sustainable food, and more initiatives that are helping CU-Boulder to achieve its sustainability goals.
*Wear comfortable walking shoes, weather appropriate clothing and bring a water bottle!
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Bike Clinics
Where: Folsom Bike Station
When:
Each clinic will be two parts. The first part, the "focused Clinic", will be held from 5:30pm-6:30pm, then the second part, the "Basic Bike Clinic", will be held from 6:30pm-7:30pm.
Focused Clinic Schedule:
November 1: Hubs
November 15: Replacing Broken Spokes and Wheel Truing
November 29: Open Workshop Bike Clinic
All Bike Maintenance Clinics are FREE to all students and affiliates of the University. Pre-registration is required. Anyone hoping to register can do so at
cubikestation.com or at either of the stations.
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Weekly Sustainability Meet-Up
When: Wednesdays, 4:00pm
October 19: Sustainable Food
October 26: Campus Energy Management
November 2: Campus Power: East District
Energy Plant Tour
November 9: Recycling Operations Center Tour
November 16: Integrated Pest
Management for
Healthy Buildings and Healthy
Grounds
November 30: Green Buildings:Rec Center Tour
Where: Hellems 267 (unless tour)
These public meetups will cover a campus sustainability topic or tour with a guest presenter and time for discussion and networking.
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StoryEarth
When: Wednesday, November 9, 7pm
Where: University of Colorado, Sustainability, Energy and Environment Complex Auditorium
4001 Discovery Drive, Boulder, CO
A live performance bringing Story and Science of Earth Alive!
Featuring internationally known
storyteller, Odds Bodkin, and Naturalist/Earth
Scientist, Martin Ogle.
CU Environmental Center's sponsorship allows CU Students to purchase half-price tickets. For more information and to purchase tickets,
visit
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Front Range Eco-Social Solutions: A Bioneers Network Event
When:
February 3-4, 2017
Where: CU Boulder, Sustainability, Energy and Environment Complex (SEEC)
Bioneers is the preeminent international gathering of leading innovators and visionaries who offer practical solutions to the most pressing environmental and social issues of our time. In its 26th year, Bioneers continues to uniquely and authentically articulate the relationships between environment, health, social justice and spirit. In its 14th year, Front Range Eco-Social Solutions Conference is a Bioneers Resilient Communities Network Event which offers a weekend of sharing, learning and action and is a uniquely affordable community event that brings together the progressive thinkers of this colorful region.
Call for Artists and Exhibitors underway; Program Preview and Registration in early November. More info:
www.colorado.edu/ecenter/bioneers
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