Environment

Students at the University of Denver  used Bike Day last Thursday to launch the free DU Bike-Share Program, what will eventually be a city-wide program with around 600 bikes. The program allows students to rent bikes, helmets, and locks for free, and was started by two students who attended an environmental conference as undergraduates and decided to make DU a more conscious campus. Information about the free program was distributed to about 300 students, faculty and community members who gathered between Nelson and Nagel halls. Organizers distributed free T-shirts and offered  t

The Undergraduate Assembly of the University of Pennsylvania passed a Climate Action Plan (CAP) resolution by unanimous vote this past Sunday.   Dan Sanchez, engineering senior and Undergraduate Assembly (UA) member, unveiled the university’s long-range plan to reduce its carbon footprint on Sept. 15. One of the resolution’s eight clauses calls on the administration to join Cornell University and the College of the Holy Cross on their quest for carbon neutrality and set a date to bring the school’s net greenhouse gas emissions to zero.   The resolution’s final two clauses urge

Heeding the advice of concerned student environmental activists and administrators, Iowa’s three largest public universities will begin a groundwater-monitoring program at the unlined quarry in Waterloo, where they dump coal ash.   ActivUs, a student environmental and social justice organization, has been pressuring Iowa State administration to change its coal ash disposal methods.  The group is pleased with the new monitoring program for Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa, but will continue pushing for more reform.   “It’s a st

Northern Maine Community College is jumping on the clean power bandwagon by creating a wind power technology program.  The program will now also have backing from an area business, Larkin Enterprises Inc., which will provide paid internships to students enrolled in the program. The Bangor Daily News reports, “Officials from NMCC said they were inspired to create the program in light of the growing interest in wind power and NMCC’s proximity to the state’s first commercial wind farm just 14 miles from the campus in Mars Hill.” “This agreement is all about giving students an opportuni

As the Senate prepares to consider the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), which would establish a framework for regulating greenhouse gas emissions, Student Public Interest Research Group (Student PIRGs) chapters around the country yesterday teamed up with Campus Progress, the Energy Action Coalition, and Clean Energy Works to organize students to call their Senators in support of reform. The groups generated more than 1800 calls asking Congress to pass strong clean energy legislation. In New Jersey, NJPIRG student volunteers and interns dressed up as Santa Claus and got more th

University of Maryland’s Student Sustainability Council, an environmental department of the Student Government Association, created an artistic petition to save the Wooded Hillock behind the Comcast Center.   By placing a thumbprint in green paint on a canvas paintings of trees, 110 students signed a petition against the East Campus development. The leaf-like prints served as a symbol of the growing campus coalition dedicated to preserving the hillock.   “We’ve found in the past, people don’t like signing a petition,” Laura Calabrese, a senior sociology major on the council said.

UC Berkeley students from CALPIRG, Powershift, Avaaz, and other environmental groups hosted a flashmob of about fifty students Monday to raise awareness about global warming. The students, dressed in attention-demanding red,  gathered in Sproul Plaza where they set off their cell-phone alarms and and banged pots and pans, collectively ‘sounding the alarm’ on the issue. At least thirty students then called Senator Dianne Feinstein and President Obama on every available phone, urging them to support the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) and take a strong stance against global wa

In honor of National PARK(ing) Day, students from Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) worked with COLAB to convert 20 parking spaces into public relaxation spaces including a beach, a kitchen table and a yoga instruction spot.   According to Chris McCray, COLAB’s “mad scientist,” COLAB is an initiative that spurs students to make a difference in the community.   Rebar, a San Francisco art collective, began PARK(ing) Day in 2005 with the conversion of one metered parking space to a temporary public park.