Holy Sh*t: Making the Most of Manure for Our Environment

Seriously, every living thing sheds pounds of waste material each day (can you imagine how much this campus puts out?). Wouldn't it be great if we could harness that pungent power and turn it into reuseable fertilizer rather than wasting valuable water resources and filling landfills? Not to mention replacing chemical fertilizers which erode and upset our eco systems? Well, that's what farmer, author, and manure advocate Gene Logsdon wants everyone to consider with his book " Holy Sh*t: Managing Manure to Save Mankind (Chelsea Green, 2010). Read more at PlanetGreen.com.

Turn Your Tan Green!

Check out these sunless tanning products that contain organic alternatives or incorporate sustainable processes...to give a year'round tan without damaging your skin. Prices range from $14.50-$48 and include a streak rating.

Cap & Trade: green legislation

So if you're not aware of what Cap & Trade is (and since we're an institution for higher learning)...check out this GreenEduVideo from Ecogeek:

Sheets to the Wind

Featured Challenge posted to the Carbonrally community:

Line-drying 4 loads of laundry can eliminate 18 lbs of Co2. Carbonrally says using the sun will significantly to dry clothing and bedding can reduce emissions and give you a chance to get outside. They've already got 2,400 rallyers in this challenge, and they've strung-up over 22 tons. Go to Carbonrally.com to find out more.

Art + Design: Renourish

The College of Fine Arts' Art & Design has another endeavor in addition to their eWaste Challenge. Eric Benson, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design is trying to 'green-ify' designer's perspectives toward sustainable production practices with his site "Renourish." It educates them on why sustainability, offers them a 'toolkit' of resources, and shows them (case studies) how other designers/firms are taking sustainability to the next design and production level.

I just read an article about electrolyzed water (used for cleaning) that I thought the rest of you might be interested in:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-magicwater23-2009feb23,0,2307567.story

Also, here's an interesting "green tip":
If you accidently drop ice cubes when filling your glass from the freezer, don't throw them in the sink. Drop them in a house plant instead.

Green Career Fair

Just a reminder that the on-campus Green Career Fair is coming up next week.

Green Career Fair
Wednesday, February 25th
ACES Library
11:00am - 3:00pm


Followed by a virtual fair:
Thursday, February 26th - Monday, March 9th
Ilink.careercenter.uiuc.edu


For a list of participating employers:
Ilink.careercenter.uiuc.edu/events

Smart Energy Design Assistance Center

This is the group out of Architecture here on Campus that can perform energy audits.

Here is their website: http://smartenergy.arch.uiuc.edu/

Gadget Greens

Blogger has links to lots of third-party 'gadgets:' they're mini-applications that we can add to our blog. There are two that I'd like to see added to our blog:
- "Slideshow" allows us to create a slideshow of images that rotate on the blog. Please send me any images that relate to our sustainability effort, whether they're equipment, environments or processes. I'll give you permission, once I set this up so you can upload them too.
- Link List: This would have any relevant sustainability/green sites...I'm thinking we should have a local list, and then a non-local or international list? Feedback would be appreciated!

Starting at Zero...

Check out zerofootprint.com: they have a section created specifically for universities, to help us network, challenge, share data, and go beyond our campus, all in an effort to empower and promote sustainability. I think this has very relevant information that we can use to benchmark and emulate while we get our green bearings.

Upcoming Talks on Campus

There are some upcoming lunch time talks at the University YMCA that some of the people on this committee might be interested in:

February 13 - Dispelling the Myths about Nuclear Power (David Ruzic)
February 20 - Clean Energy is Costly; Who Should Pay? (Clark Bullard)
April 7 - Movement Toward Sustainability at the U of Illinois (Dick Warner)

Adhocism...This could be GREAT.

If we wanted to do something to showcase our ability to be green innovatively, we could make a challenge out of it: check out this slide show. It might seem like more of a student endeavor, but I think staff would find this to be a great, fun way to enter into the world of "reusing, repurposing, and upcycling." We could have awards for the most useful, the most inclusive (ie. how many different elements) and the most innovative entries. It would be great to have a a funny option too; like the green "chindogu."

Kickstart: How to Go Green @ Work

Planetgreen.com is a well-established sustainability, eco-friendly green site with literally hundreds of pages of information. Divided up for usability and easy access, their "work & connect" section has a great page for going green at work. Why re-invent the wheel...at least initially. This is a great place for us to start in considering our communications w/SA staffs. Ciao!

Green Enews

Hey Folks,
In thinking about getting the word out about our SA green efforts, I'm including links to two 'green enewsletters' that I currently receive for your perusal. Conservation International has a great enewsletter that focuses mainly from a perspective of how green efforts affect our mother earth. Treehugger.com's enewsletter encompasses everything from the most commonplace to the ridiculously sublime. Their online enewsletter doesn't quite match the version you get via email: but trust me; it's good.

I'd love to see your favorite green enewsletters or links. And I'm up for a brainstorming session on what to call our enewsletter...and this blog, for that matter!
ala prochaine!

Great Green Challenge Site

Carbonrally.com

Great site for taking various sustainability challenges either personally or as a team. I noticed that Syracuse and Notre Dame have challenged each other. Maybe might put together a SA Green Team and challenge other Big 10 Schools or do campus-wide challenges.