SUSTAINABILITY E-NEWSLETTER
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Over Homecoming Weekend 2018, the Center for Sustainable Communities hosted its first-ever Harvest Festival! Held in the Valders Concourse, many people came out to participate in a celebration of Sustainability at Luther. Attendees pressed apple cider, played squash bowling, and participated in yoga lessons, among other things. Watch out for a feature on the event in
Luther Chips Student Newspaper.
This event was made possible by the Center for Sustainable Communities,
Seed Savers Exchange
,
Green Iowa AmeriCorps
, Kubb Club, and Luther Wellness. Thanks to all who came out to make this event a success!
Photo Credit: Annika Vande Krol '19
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Climate Change is pretty spooky...
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Climate change can seem big and scary, but there are ways that individuals can make a difference! Click on each picture to enlarge.
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Did you miss the first opportunity to help Decorah residents with fall chores? Well you are in luck! Luther Serves will be back for one afternoon only. Due to the inclement weather on the original date, Campus Ministries has set up this additional day of service to help local residents with yard work, leaf raking, light housework, and other fall chores. On Saturday, November 3rd, Luther students are invited to dedicate three hours to help out from 1pm-4pm. There is no charge for residents to participate, but donations are accepted. This year, donations will go to support ELCA Hurricane relief for Hurricane Florence. Sign up today on the
Campus Ministries Luther Serves Google Doc!
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Cafeteria to Community Volunteers Needed
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Do you ever wonder what happens to all of the food in the Caf that goes uneaten? Food that has spoiled or has been discarded ends up in Luther’s compost piles on the Luther farm. But the rest of the food is packaged and donated to Decorah Food Pantry. Deliveries have included food such as soup, entrees, homemade pasta sauce, vegetables, and more. Since this student-initiated project began in November 2013, nearly 63,000 pounds of food have been donated to the food pantry. For this project to keep running smoothly, we need the help of volunteers like you. Luther students, faculty, staff, family, and community members are invited to lend a hand. Food is packaged twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday evenings. Each shift requires 1-3 volunteers. You can
sign up for shifts
either as an individual or as a representative for a group. Visit the
Cafeteria to Community web page
for more information.
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Nobel Soil Conference Rocked!
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Earlier this month, a delegation of Luther students, staff, and faculty attended the 54th Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College. Students that went include Susie Wold, Piper Wood, Laura Duffield, Savannah Wilson, Anila Bano, Nikita Daly, and Eliza Edlund. Staff member Sarah Forsythe as well as faculty members Jodi Enos-Berlage, David Faldet, and Laura Peterson were in attendance.
This year's theme was Living Soil: A Universe Underfoot, and the group heard from a fascinating group of speakers on topics ranging from regenerative agriculture to soil carbon sequestration and the Earth Microbiome Project. For those who couldn't attend, all of the presentations can be
viewed online
!
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Change is in the air...the weather is getting cold and winter is coming. Soon, chains will be rusted and tires deflated. How can you prevent this? Come to Winter Bike Storage on
November 14th and 15th from 3-6pm
at the Jewel-Ashmore barn (the red barn outside Baker Village)! The Center for Sustainable Communities will store your bike for the winter; the snow in Decorah makes winter biking a little difficult. Once spring rolls around we will reopen the barn and you can come get your bike back. There are only two simple steps in storing your bike. First: Register your bike at the Welcome Desk. If you already have a registration sticker you have nothing to worry about. If you don’t, head to the Welcome Desk in the Union to register and get a sticker to place on your bike. To register you need to know your bike’s make, model, and serial number, so check those out before you go to the Welcome Desk. This step is very important! If your bike is not registered before you drop it off, we will not be able to store it. Make sure to register your bike before you bring to Winter Bike Storage. The second, easiest, step is to bring your bike to the barn on either November 14th or 15th from 3-6pm We hope to see all you bikers there!
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Did you know that any and all things plugged into the wall outlets are using energy even when nothing is being charged? This spooky phenomenon is called phantom load. Phantom load accounts for a large portion of individual electricity use that could otherwise be avoided! Coffee pots, phone chargers, fan cords, etc. do not need to be plugged in at all times. This week we challenge you to unplug devices that you are not using to reduce your phantom load!
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Student Spotlight
Tea Dralle '22
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Meet one of our newest Sustainability Educators, Tea Dralle! Tea is a first-year hailing from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. They met Sustainability Educator - and soccer teammate! - Abbie Jo Madsen at ROAD, where Abbie Jo was tabling for the Center for Sustainable Communities. Upon seeing the Center’s offerings and ways to get involved on campus, Tea knew they wanted to be a part of this team. Their favorite part of working with the CSC so far is the people. Tea is comfortable with themselves and enjoying learning about the systems at place within Luther’s campus, which they find exciting! Tea is working on becoming zero waste within the next year and hopes that they can help spark change on Luther’s campus towards zero waste, as well. Ask Tea about their spirit animal sometime - it is a flatback sea turtle even though they grew up in Wisconsin, not near any oceans...
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- Friday, November 2nd, Land Care Program Hike: 4:15pm-5:15pm Sampson Hoffland First Floor. Join the Land Care Program Outreach student workers Kita and Anila for a hike through Luther's natural areas. Read more.
- Saturday, November 3rd, Luther Serves Part 2: 1pm-4pm Decorah Community. The Luther Student Congregation invites you to help serve our Decorah neighbors with fall cleaning and chores. Volunteer to help with yard work, cleaning first floor windows, light housework, and other chores as a part of Luther Serves! Read more.
- Wednesday & Thursday, November 14th and 15th: Winter Bike Storage: 3pm-6pm, Ashmore-Jewell Barn. Luther students, faculty, and staff are welcome to participate in free bike storage for the winter months! Read more.
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The Center for Sustainable Communities is always looking for ways to improve our publications. If you have any questions, concerns, general comments, or story ideas for future newsletters, please email
sustainability@luther.edu
at any time.
This newsletter is provided by the Center for Sustainable Communities, which coordinates all sustainability initiatives at Luther College. The mission of the Center is to promote sustainability and be a catalyst for change on campus and in the region. For more information on sustainability initiatives at Luther and the outreach work of the Center for Sustainable Communities, please v
isit:
www.luther.edu/sustainability
.
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