UC Students Offset Carbon Emissions

This is an article from the May 12th edition of The News Record about students planting trees in Sharonville to reduce the university's carbon footprint:

http://media.www.newsrecord.org/media/storage/paper693/news/2008/05/12/News/Students.Offset.Carbon.Emissions-3369045.shtml

NYTIMES Front Page

See this article about university students becoming more commited to sustainable living and reducing GHGs and what they are doing about it --

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/education/26green.html?ex=1369540800&en=7281078d1bde0fa2&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

This was on the front page of the New York Times yesterday!

University Quote

I just came across the following quote and thought it was really powerful. Universities can make a difference!

“You have 4,000 universities in the country spending $190 billion on goods and services (in 2001) annually. That’s greater than the GDP of all but 20 nations. If schools were practicing renewable energy and buying environmentally sound products, it would have a huge impact.”
—Anthony Cortese, President, Second Nature

Check out Higher Education in a Warming World for more.

How to talk to global warming skeptics

This seems to be a good and well organized set of info you can use to counter the nay-sayers to global warming.

http://gristmill.grist.org/skeptics

Local Food Here Locally

Announcing the...
Central Ohio River Valley (CORV) Local Foods Initiative Eat Local Food Guide released for the 2008 Growing SeasonThe Central Ohio River Valley Local Foods Initiative (CORV) releases the 2008 Eat Local Food Guide featuring 63 local farms and 30 local farmers' markets this weekend. The guide will be debuted at Findlay Market on Saturday May 17th and Sunday May 18th and featured at the Enright Ridge Urban Eco Village Home and Garden Tour on Sunday the 18th."Eating locally grown and produced food has so many benefits - our food dollars stay in our local economy, I get to know the person growing my food and be sure the conditions in which it was raised. When I buy local food I support the health of the environment and of my family. This guide makes it easier to connect with local food sources", says Susan Miller-Stigler food guide contributer.The Central Ohio River Valley Local Foods Initiative is a grassroots effort to connect local community members with local farmers and fresh, healthy, local food. In this age of fast food, factory farms, and huge grocery stores that treat food as a mere commodity, we envision a vibrant, ecologically friendly, sustainable local food economy that treats food as a gift of the land. The project had its start when individuals passionate about local foods connected at an event at Imago Earth Center. The project is funded by a grant from Community Friends Meeting (Cincinnati) and other sponsors. Enright Ridge Urban Eco-Village is serving as the project's mentor.For a copy of the Central Ohio River Valley Eat Local Guide visitFindlay Market or Enright Ridge Urban Eco-Village this weekend orcontact Susan Miller-Stigler at 513-300-6832 orsusan@EatLocalcorv.org.Contact: Deborah JordanCentral Ohio River Valley (CORV) Local Foods Initiative513-251-2558deborah@EatLocalcorv.org

some good web resources

To calculate carbon emissions for different travel types (you can ignore the offsetting part):
http://www.nativeenergy.com/

Locally-produced and organics Farm to College program:
http://farmtocollege.org/

books on University Sustainability at UC Libraries

I would check these out or order them, but my library account is frozen (blush).
Can anyone else request them so we can use them as references for the document?
There's even one specifically on transportation issues.


Toor, Will
Transportation and sustainable campus communities : issues, examples, solutions / Will Toor, Spenser Havlick
Washington, D.C. : Island Press, c2004

Sustainability on campus : stories and strategies for change / edited by Peggy F. Barlett and Geoffrey W. Chase
Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c2004

M'Gonigle, R. Michael
Planet U : sustaining the world, reinventing the university / Michael M'Gonigle & Justine Starke ; illustrated by Briony Penn
Gabriola Island, BC : New Society Publishers, c2006

Creighton, Sarah Hammond
Greening the ivory tower : improving the environmental track record of universities, colleges and other institutions / Sarah Hammond Creighton
Cambridge, Mass : MIT Press, c1998