February 2015

Sustainability Bulletin

Upcoming

RecycleMania

February 1– March 28

"Turn of the Gas! Reducing

Carbon from Building Structures"

February 10

Speaker: Jennifer Jacquet

February 24

Poster Session Deadline

February 27

Terra Award Deadline

March 27

Trashion Fashion

March 31

Earth and Wellness Day

April 23

Click here for the full calendar of events.

4 RecycleMania

9 USGBC Speaker Series

10 Zipcar

11 Speaker: Jennifer Jacquet

12 Love Connections

14 Earth and Wellness Day

18 Around Town

20 Opportunities

Cover Photo by Mark McCarthy

2015 marks UAlbany’s eighth year competing in RecycleMania, a friendly national competition among over 400 colleges and universities to see who can recycle the most. During the course of eight weeks beginning on Feb. 1st, schools across the United States and Canada report data on their recycling and trash, which then is used to designate rankings based on who recycles the most on a per capita basis, as well as which schools have the best recycling rate as a percentage of total waste and which schools generate the least amount of

combined trash and recycling.

This year, UAlbany is setting the bar even high– working to collectively recycle over 120,000 pounds and beat last year’s numbers. Check out the stats on the right to understand

where UAlbany’s waste ends up.

Take a moment to flip through the next few pages to see all

the ways to get involved in ReycleMania!

Recycle

Mania

Recycle

Turn green into green. Use the bottle return machine in the Campus

Center, available to all faculty, staff, and students on campus. The

machine is located near the entrance to the UFood Grill, in the corner

by the doors that lead to 518 Market. The machine only accepts

materials that can be purchased on campus. Bottle return receipts

may be redeemed at the 518 market.

Trashion Fashion Show Mark your calendars for UAlbany’s

second annual Trashion Fashion Show!

The show challenges students and

staff to create wearable works of art

using recyclable or reusable materials

to win the top prize in one of seven

categories: individual, student group,

Greek organization, LLC, quad,

campus office, and fan favorite. Each

of the student categories is awarded

with a cash prize. The best design in

the campus office competition will

walk away with a complimentary

breakfast celebration.

Right now, we are searching for

outgoing students to emcee the show!

If you are interested, email

gogreen@albany.edu to learn about

the audition process.

Important Dates

February 11: Emcee Auditions

March 23

rd: Deadline

for design submissions through MyInvolvement

March 30th: Dress

Rehearsal

March 31st: Trashion

Fashion Show

The Green Scene Team will be handing out prizes to as many eco-

conscious individuals as they can “catch” recycling on Thursdays from

Feb. 1-March 28th. If you’re “caught green-handed,” you will be entered in

a drawing to win a $150 Visa gift card!

This Caught Green-Handed activity is part of UAlbany’s participation in

RecycleMania, the nationwide recycling and waste reduction competition

universities. Sponsored by UAS.

Thursdays

Feb.1st-

March 28th

Each semester the Office of

Environmental Sustainability

teams up with the Upstate

Chapter of the US Green

Building Council to bring a

variety of speakers to UAlbany

every second Tuesday of the

month.

Speaker series events are free

for UAlbany students, staff,

and faculty (outside attendees

have to pay a small fee). The

sessions offer a great

professional networking

opportunity as well as free

local food to enjoy during the

presentation.

Attendees can earn AIA credit,

for Engineering PhDs and LEED

Credentialing maintenance.

USGBC Speaker Series

February 10: “Turn off

the Gas! Reducing Carbon

from Building Structures”

Speaker: Jim D’Aloisio

March 10th: “Toxins”

Speaker: Bobbi Wilding

April 14th: “Green Biz

Toolkit”

Speakers: Krista Bentson

Tom Wolcott

May 12th: “Yurts and

Recycling Roads”

Speaker: Heather Steffek

This month our partner Zipcar is celebrating a decade and a half in

business, now providing more than 10,000 shared cars in six countries

and making cities and campuses easier to navigate and better places to

live. To celebrate this milestone, Zipcar is offering a special gift for all

university students. Existing Zipcar members, check your inbox for a

special email from Zipcar containing a 15th birthday gift.

If you’re not yet a member, sign up today at zipcar.com/campus with

promo code UNIBDAY15 to receive an extra $15 in free driving to use in

your first month.

Spring 2015 Visiting Writer Series

At the end of February the New York

State Writer’s Institute and the Office of

Environmental Sustainability is hosting

Jennifer Jacquet, a scholar in the

emerging field of environmental social

science, the study of how societies deal

with large-scale crises such as climate

change and overfishing. In her new book,

Is Shame Necessary?: New Uses for an

Old Tool (2015), she argues that shame,

used judiciously, is a powerful force of

political change and social reform.

Leading psychologist Mihaly

Csikszentmihalyi said in advance praise,

“This book describes, in sparkling prose,

how important a sense of shame is to

civilized life, and provides some

fascinating insights as to the role of

social media in providing a new tool to

moderate shameless behavior.” In

advance of the event, the book will

available locally at The University

Bookstore and The Book House of

Stuyvesant Plaza. It will also be available

for purchase at the speaking event.

Tuesday, February 24

Seminar: 4:15 p.m., Standish

Room, Science Library

Reading: 8:00 p.m., Recital

Hall, Performing Arts Center

Sustainability Love Connections

Congratulations to Bill Valleau and Nicole Wolodzko on their engagement on November 8, 2014. Bill and Nicole met in the Office of Environmental Sustainability. Bill was the Graduate Assistant and Nicole worked on the Sustainability Bulletin. The long hours in the Office planted the seeds and their relationship blossomed in

November 2011.

This Valentine’s Day, we’d like to celebrate two love connections that

blossomed in the Office of Environmental Sustainability. Best of luck to the

happy couples!

Jim and Kristen Nannariello met in January 2010, when he was the Graduate Student Intern working on the gogreen website, and she had been an Administrative Assistant the previous spring remained involved with the Sustainability Office. They started dating in April 2010. Even though Jim graduated that May and Kristen still had a year left of her

Master’s program, they made it work.

In 2012 Kristen accepted a full-time

position with Freddie Mac in McLean,

Virginia, Jim moved down here also

and took a position as a Marketing and

Media Manager in Bethesda, Maryland.

Jim popped the question on

Valentine’s Day 2013, and they got

married in Upstate NY on October 11,

2014.

The Office of Environmental Sustainability and the Employee Assistance Program is sponsoring the 5th annual Earth and Wellness Day on April 23, 2015. Traditionally, the university-wide event celebrates Earth Day by inviting community exhibitors to campus to connect UAlbany students, staff, and

faculty with resources to that support wellness and sustainability.

This year’s theme is “Our Heritage: The Root of What Sustains Us.” A variety of

exhibitors will be in the LC Concourse to highlight aspects of well-being such

as heritage, sustainability, family, and environmental history.

Poster Session This year, we will be adding a unique forum for students and faculty to present their research projects. The 2015 Earth and Wellness Day theme focuses on “Our Heritage: The Root of What Sustains Us,” which will represent a broad array of topics such as heritage, New York State history, and public health that position sustainability in a place-based context. We invite you to submit an abstract for the poster presentation from a variety of disciplines including, but not limited to: public health, history, biology, and social welfare. Submit

proposals (200 words) to gogreen@albany.edu by Friday, February 27th.

The poster session is intended to highlight the variety research and projects developing at UAlbany related to sustainability and wellness. This forum provides an opportunity to visually present research and project storyboards. There will be dedicated poster session meet & greet time during Earth and Wellness Day, but the information contained on the poster should speak for

itself.

Prizes will be awarded for best poster in student and faculty categories.

Save the Date: Earth and Wellness Day

1. This contest is free and open to all University at Albany students, staff, faculty and alumni.

2. Only photos taken with the criteria outlined in the Submission Guidelines are eligible for consideration. No exceptions.

3. Up to three photos may be submitted per person. 4. Photos must be submitted electronically to

earthandwellness@albany.edu by midnight on Wednesday, April 7th, 2015.

5. Photographers will retain original copyrights to their photos.

6. Entrants grant the Earth and Wellness Day Committee permission to use photo(s) for display during, and in conjunction with, media and marketing related to the event.

7. Only submissions that adhere to contest rules and submission guidelines are eligible to compete.

8. All decisions by the judges are final.

Earth and Wellness Day

Photo Contest

SUBMISSION FORMAT: All

submissions should be e-mailed to

earthandwellness@albany.edu. All

entrants must include the

following in the body of the

e-mail PER ENTRY (if submitting

more than one photo, please send

separate e-mails):

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

CRITERIA: Images will be judged on their effectiveness to convey the topic of heritage,

seeds, roots and culture.

PHOTOS: Photos taken with a digital camera must be submitted at a minimum resolution

of 1600 x 1200 pixels and in jpeg, bmp, png or tif format. Minor digital enhancement for

cropping, red-eye removal, filters, and corrective functions are permitted, but images

that have been judged to be significantly altered will be disqualified. Photographers are

not permitted to place borders or frames around their images or to place watermarks,

signatures, dates, or copyright notices on their images. Images MUST maintain the

integrity of the subject as it was photographed.

Please re-name images to include the photographer’s first and last name and a one word

description of the photo separated by a period (ie. JohnDoe.stream.jpg)

ENTRY FROM A STUDENT/ALUMNI:

First and Last Name; Status (freshman/sophomore/

junior/senior/graduate); E-mail address; Phone

number; Brief description of photo(s) submitted (ie.

Squirrel in tree by State Quad)

ENTRY FROM FACULTY/STAFF:

First and Last Name; Department (if alumni, please

list the Department retired from); E-mail address;

Phone number; Brief description of photo(s)

submitted (ie. Squirrel in tree by State Quad)

On Wednesday, February 18th, Cheryl Charles co-founder and president and CEO Emerita of the Children & Nature Network (C&NN) will present at 7:30 in the Nott Memorial at Union College. Charles has been instrumental in developing the worldwide movement to reconnect children and nature. She is also the former founding national director of Project Learning Tree and Project WILD. To learn more about the speaker, visit the Union College website.

Union College Seminar

Series

Climate Change:

A Call to Action

At 7 PM on Thursday, February 12, The College of Saint Rose will host Judith Enck in the Lally Touhey forum for a discussion on environmental issues. For over five years, Judith Enck has been the administrator of Region 2 of the United states EPA. At this discussion, she will address topics such as sustainability, bomb trains, the keystone pipeline, fracking, and overpopulation. RSVP to Jennifer May-Reddy at may.jennifer@epa.gov or 212-637-3658.

Come out to Honest Weight Food Coop on Thursdays

at 6PM to learn about Solarize.

Solarize is a bulk purchase of solar equipment and

installation services. By working together with many

households interested in buying solar, we can get

better prices on better equipment.

This process has been used successfully around the

US to dramatically reduce costs and make it easier

for home and business owners, because the Solarize

team does a lot of the hard work for you. This

increases overall demand for solar, a true win-win

for all local installers, for our communities, and for

the environment.

If you are interested in helping make this a reality

for the Albany area, or putting solar on your

property, please email Dave Hochfelder at

dphochfelder@gmail.com.

Full Moon Hike Solarize the Capital District

Enjoy the Pine Bush at night

with an hour long hike under

the full moon. Meet at the

Discovery Center and

caravan over to Trailhead #5

(Blueberry Hill West) where

we will hike 1.4 miles over

rolling topography stopping

intermittently to observe the

lunar display.

Hike begins at 6PM on

February 3rd. Please plan to

arrive at least 5-10 minutes

before the start of the

program to purchase your

ticket.

Naturalist Internship Program

DEC's environmental education centers (Five Rivers and Reinstein Woods) offer ten- to sixteen-week naturalist training internships to persons seeking professional experience in environmental education. Each intern will receive training in the mission and role of the DEC environmental education bureau, a wide variety of center programs, the operations and activities of a center, principles of environmental interpretation, and natural history of New York. Interns will assume the role of environmental education staff in carrying out the responsibilities necessary to meet the center's objectives. Opportunities for training and development of specific skills will be available depending on each intern's interests and the center's needs.

The internships run for 10 to 16 weeks (depending on the center) and are held year-round.

Living Arrangements

Normal work days are 8:30 AM to 4:45 PM Monday through Friday. Some weekend and evening work is required with compensatory time off. Depending on availability, each center may provide housing, with a fully-equipped kitchen, furnished living room, and private bedroom. Interns receive a stipend of approximately $330 per week. Check with each center individually for exact living arrangements and exact amount of the weekly stipend.

To apply to Reinstein Woods: download the Reinstein Woods NIP application (PDF) (246 KB) and return it by mail or email to the address listed in the application.

To apply to Five Rivers: download the Five Rivers NIP application (PDF) (225 KB) and return it by mail or email to the address listed in the application.

Outreach Assistant The Outreach Assistant is an integral staff position for this high-growth non-profit organization working in the areas of community gardening and healthy food access in our urban areas. The Assistant will work collaboratively with many Capital Roots staff members to assist with program outreach and engage with the community to spread the word about the organization’s work and services.

REPORTS TO: Program Manager

QUALIFICATIONS: Friendly, enthusiastic person who is comfortable with people of all ages and backgrounds. Excellent interpersonal communication skills, self-starter, high energy. Must have strong organizational and computer skills. Successful candidate must be committed to Capital Roots mission.

RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE: Attend events to promote Capital Roots. Organize speaking opportunities for staff at neighborhood meetings, civic functions and other events. Assist community garden staff with Garden Signups. Recruit interns and volunteers at colleges, universities and other institutions. Conduct outreach to constituent communities, related organizations and service partners. Keep accurate records for all outreach activities. Solicit in-kind donations from businesses. Assist other staff with various projects as needed. Must have ability to work a flexible schedule including some weekends and evenings.

SALARY & BENEFITS: This position is part-time, year-round position, paid on an hourly basis ($11/hour). Paid holiday and sick leave. Flexible work environment.

Send cover letter and resume to: Sharon DiLorenzo, Program Manager Capital Roots 594 River Street, Troy NY 12180 trees@capitalroots.org

To learn more about Capital Roots, go to www.capitalroots.org

Capital Roots (formerly Capital District Community

Gardens)