UCF Sustainability Conference

The University of Central Florida is proud to announce that registration has opened for the 2008 Campus and Community Sustainability Conference being held October 19th-21st, 2008 in Orlando, Florida. We are excited that UCF was awarded this opportunity to showcase sustainable practices this Fall and have chosen the theme of "The 3 C's of Sustainability: Communication, Community Involvement, and Campus Environment."

The conference will have over 400 leaders from around the state attending this two-day event which will showcase best practices in sustainable development in Florida and in the nation, highlight new products and innovations, and provide a forum for organizations - public and private - to explore how to best develop a "green" culture. We are e-mailing you because you attended the 2007 conference held at Florida State University.

We are also excited to announce that we have opened a "Call for Content" and look forward to your hopeful participation in this event.

Please visit http://www.sustainablefloridaconference.org/ for registration and the "Call for Content" information.

Also, I am thinking of creating a "University Sustainability Leaders"
discussion for the Wednesday morning after the conference. The goal would be to have open discussion will ALL Florida Sustainability Coordinators (for lack of a better title) on what we are doing on our campuses and developing a Florida-wide support group. I was also thinking of having a similar discussion simultaneously for the students.

What are your thoughts on this?

We look forward to welcoming you to our campus,
Alaina Bernard
The University of Central Florida
2008 Campus and Community Sustainability Conference Planning Committee Coordinator

Env. Sustainability Grant Deadline Sept. 15+

Please reveiw for applicability and comment
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=501027

Env. Justice Grant (20K) Deadline June 30, 2008

Please Review for Applicability and comment
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/grants/ej-smgrants.html

STU Environmental Law Society Plans

The STELS just met at STU, with a follow up recycling meeting.  The message was sent out to the entire student body, and only 3 students who are not regular members of STELS showed up.  Unfortunate, really.  Apparently, the 1Ls had a mandatory On Campus Interview Meeting at the same time.  We made a list of things we plan on accomplishing  for the Fall, including much of the information and ideas gathered at the Greening the University Conference:

1.  Go Green Honor Code Pledge for students:  signed at Orientation.

2.  Orientation time set aside to familiarize new students with green aspects of campus life.  This will make first semester law students feel as thought they have some control of their 1L lives, something proactive they can do.

3.  Faucet exchange:  aerated, low flow faucets on all taps.  Signs posted above each sink, informing students of impact/water saved.

4.  Possible elimination of paper towels in restrooms, swapped for hand dryers.

5.  Go Green Recycling Awareness Week, to inform and instruct students about the proper manner in which to recycle.

6.  Oh, THAT'S RIGHT!  Institute a recycling program on campus, by the Fall!

7.  Design and construct outdoor installation:  The Eternal Life of a Styrofoam Cup.

8.  Cosmic Walk for Earth Day, Organic Veggie BBQ, Organic Beer for students.  Get them involved!

So, those are our ideas for now!  The biggest obstacle is reducing the stigma we seem to have here at STU of being green as "other," and not a way of life we ALL need to live.  Any ideas?

Website for purview and comments

http://greenschools.scienceontheweb.net/

Food for thought: Website

I'm looking into long-term web hosting opportunities and options allowing more versatility.

Agilityhoster.com has free webspace with many development/design options. No advertising (unwanted pop ups and banners banned) and they are a slick host to use.

We can choose to purchase a domain name - universitygreening.org or .com; greenstudents.net; and greenuniversities.com or .net or .org; are a few thoughts, but we may wish to look down the road at a potential compact with other organizations (like corporations and utilities) and have a broader identification. For example (and this is all up for discussion) Universities Corporations Utilities Compact for ucuc.com or .net or .org or .info. (all currently available). I like the ring of the acronym and it could have a secondary impact of you see, you see?!

I envision the website to have these functions (at the least)

Discussion board/list serve
Posting powerpoints, videos, audio
Library of pertinent articles, reports, studies
Outreach mechanisms (bring in new members, announcements)
Calendar of Events
Listing Green Universities

High Performance Green Schools List

National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities
http://edfacilities.org/rl/high_performance.cfm

NCEF's resource list of links, books, and journal articles on high performance school facilities, including sustainability and green design issues, cost and funding concerns, and educational and community benefits.

Greening Universities & Resources

Ideas on projects, resources, and connections to make as we progress.

USA:
American University President's Climate Commitment http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
http://www.aashe.org/index.php
US Green Building Council (LEED) http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19
National Center for Environmental Economics (EPA)http://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/eed.nsf/webpages/homepage
MIT on Environment and Economics http://web.mit.edu/polisci/mpepp/environment_&_economy.htm
Environmental Quality Statistics http://ceq.eh.doe.gov/NEPA/reports/statistics/population.html
National Wildlife Federation http://www.nwf.org/
Focus the Nation http://www.focusthenation.org/
Union of Concerned Scientists http://www.ucsusa.org/
WorldWatch Institute http://www.worldwatch.org/

Florida:
UF Office of Sustainability http://www.sustainable.ufl.edu/
UF LEED http://www.facilities.ufl.edu/sustain/
FIU Green http://www.fiugreen.org/
MDC Earth Ethics http://www.earthethicsinstitute.org/
FGC Center for Environmental Sustainability http://www.fgcu.edu/cese/
UCF "Green Fee" http://www.gep.ucf.edu/?p=58
FAU Green Building Initiative http://www.eng.fau.edu/gogreen/
Barry & St. Thomas Universities' Center for Earth Jurisprudence http://www.barry.edu/law/aboutUs/CEJ.htm
UM Green http://www.miami.edu/staticfiles/UM/FTP/umgreen/

California:
Humboldt State University http://www.humboldt.edu/~greenhsu/cms/
Sonoma State University Green Building http://www.sonoma.edu/greenbuilding/
World Watch on UCLA http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4686
UCLA Institute of the Environment http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/leed-cert.html
Sonoma County Farm Trails http://www.farmtrails.org/
Tumbleweed Houses (minimal footprint) http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/home.htm
Arcata and Eureka Recycling Centers http://www.arcatarecycling.org/

Harvard
http://www.greencampus.harvard.edu/

Carnegie Mellon Green Practices
http://www.cmu.edu/greenpractices/

University of Vermont
http://www.uvm.edu/greening/

Duke University
http://www.duke.edu/greening/

Cottonwood Foundation

Cottonwood Foundation does not provide outright grants, but they do have partnership opportunities (translates into assistance). Their website is http://www.cottonwoodfdn.org/ This organization may be a good group to help us as we consider expanding our acitvites.

From their Executive Director:

2006 saw the Cottonwood Partner program continuing to build good will between people throughout the world, demonstrating that no matter how different our backgrounds and cultures are, we can all find a common cause in helping to create a better future. Cottonwood and its partners are helping to bring people together to address issues that are pressing at both a local and international level – and your help is the force behind this work.

As the world enters a period of rising concern about climate change and energy issues, your generous help for these partner organizations in their steady work for a better world is even more important. Actually, the activities that you have funded are empowering Cottonwood Partner organizations in a real way to address both climate and energy challenges.

In 2006, grants were awarded for projects that supported renewable energy (including solar, biomass and humanpowered), more efficient and lower carbon emission wood stoves, tree planting, reuse of materials for building and household furnishings, and other activities that are not only environmentally-friendly but also contribute to reducing climate change. In addition to those efforts that protect our global environment, your gifts have supported work that is genuinely helping to save and improve lives now – through providing clean water for communities and schools, sanitation, and local organic food production. And lives are being changed for the better for low-income families through new sources of livelihood which empower them to move out of poverty.

Patagonia Grants

Patagonia has me registered as a representative of St. Thomas University to apply for grants in their Environmentalism category. Here is their grants page with guidelines:

http://www.patagonia.com/usa/patagonia.go?assetid=2942

Awards vary from $3,000 to $8,000 Applications to the stores accepted anytime

In brief:

They fund work that:
is action-oriented
builds public involvement and support
is strategic
focuses on root causes
accomplishes specific goals and objectives
Our funding is limited to: United States, Canada, Japan, Chile, Argentina, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Luxembourg, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France, Denmark, Belgium, or Austria.

They do not fund:
organizations without 501(c)(3) status or a comparable fiscal sponsor
general environmental education efforts
land acquisition, land trusts or conservation easements
research, unless it is in direct support of a developed plan for specific action to alleviate an environmental problem
environmental conferences
endowment funds
political campaigns

EPA Grant Opportunities

Environmental Protection Agency Grant Opportunities listed for 2008 at http://es.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/

Specifically we need to look at, discuss, and propose for this grant:

2008 EPA and Other NCER Environmental Research Competitions
Broad Agency Announcement For Conferences, Workshops, And/Or Meetings - Open: December 4, 2007 - Closing Date for Cycle 1: January 7, 2008 - Closing Date for Cycle 2: June 5, 2008 - Closing Date for Cycle 3: December 9, 2008

There are other EPA opportunities, but this best fits our immediate needs. I am happy to help develop the grant proposal as well as help with logistics for the conference itself.

Participating Universities: Going Green in South Florida!

St. Thomas University School of Law

St. Thomas University

Barry University

Broward College

Florida Atlantic University

Florida Gulf Coast University

Florida International University

Florida Memorial University

Miami Dade College

University of Central Florida

University of Miami-Rosenstiel School