We began with some brief introductions; it was great to see some new faces.
These are our first formal elections ever!
Announcements:
~This Friday is Tu B'Shavat services at the Bayit for the birthday of the trees. It's an environmental holiday. There is a feast with free wine! It's open to everyone, regardless of religion. They'll be doing green-related things.
~Middletown began recycling 1-7 plastics. The waste committee of SAGES has been talking about making signs to promote this change. Tell your friends!
-Email Jeff Miller (jmiller04@wesleyan.edu) to urge him to make the signs!
~The Green Fund (an optional student fee included with tuition to put toward sustainability projects on campus) passed last semester!
-It needs to be passed by the board of trustees still.
~Mocon is still full of stuff. If anyone is interested in coordinating a clothing drive or something of the sort for Haiti, email Alex Provo (aprovo@wesleyan.edu).
~Wednesday: Wesleyan Democrats are holding elections on Wednesday at 7pm in Usdan 110, and our Dan Fischer is running for president! He will stand up for green initiatives. Go and vote!
~The Green Scene is moving toward blog format! If you have anything you want posted, or any suggestions, email weseon@gmail.com
Elections:
~A general description of all the various jobs were read aloud.
~We decided to have two social coordinators.
Coordinators
~Josh Levine spoke about everything we accomplished last semester, yay! He wants to continue to make sure EON is cohesive, and a force, in addition to the smaller groups being forces in and of themselves
~Anne Rosenthal spoke about how communication will be key this semester. It's important to make sure everyone knows what's going on. We also need to continue to recruit. We need to prove to them that we are an efficient organization with an amazing structure.
Secretary
~Hannah Monk spoke about building up the Green Scene and continuing to improve it.
Webmaster
~Melody Chang is going to remain our competent webmaster.
Social Coordinators
~Sophie Ackoff thinks that we need to step up the game for social aspects. We need EON parties, and maybe smaller events like teas or something.
~Adam Rashkoff was very involved in his high school environmental group, and is really ready to throw himself into EON. He is also the Psi U social coordinator, and offers up their support.
Treasurer: ELECTION
~Meggie McGuire was our treasurer last semester. She will help you navigate working with the SBC and even go to the SBC with you!
~Bing wants to get more involved with EON. She doesn't have any experience, but is ready to learn and help!
~Outcome: Meggie McGuire will continue to be our treasurer.
Tabling
~We need to table this week to promote the Green Scene, our listserv, and our big meetings. A sheet was passed around to record this. There will be a folder of materials at the information desk. Just ask and tell them that you're from EON.
Discussion of Subcommittees
~Dining: Anti bottled water campaign, getting to the bottom of all the money spent on compostable utensils. If you have any dining related concerns, even if they aren't EON related, email Anne (acrosenthal@wesleyan.edu)
~Waste NOT: If you're interested in recycling/reusing materials, and redistributing stuff through free markets and such, email Alex (aprovo@wesleyan.edu)
~Compost: Drafting a proposal to institutionalize compost. If you're interested, email Emilie (emknight@wesleyan.edu). We have no structural support from the administration, so we are wasting our time until we get that help. If you want to rant about the compost system, it would be helpful to show the student body's support. They are going to try submitting it to the X-Prize.
~Get involved in a SAGES subcommittee! SAGES meetings are once a month, Wednesday mornings at 9!
~Sophie wants to create a group on campus that opens the dialogue about food politics, if you're interested in getting this started, email her at (sackoff@wesleyan.edu)
~Melody was talking about doing some kind of outdoor festival, coinciding with the farmers market, If you're interested in learning more about food systems and food sources, email Melody (mchang@wesleyan.edu)
~350 is continuing their awesome work protesting and lobbying. There's lots of opportunity to get the candidates that are writing policy listening to us. They will probably be working with "Show Me Democracy" this semester. It's important that all the other groups are in touch with the 350 group, so they can help promote our causes and vice versa. If interested, email Dan (dlfischer@wesleyan.edu)
~Green Fund is working on writing the by laws and such, so if you want to help, email jmichaels@wesleyan.edu).
All EON meeting next week! 9pm in Woodhead Lounge! Be there, because there will be cookies!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Don't let them kill the Clean Air Act
Last week, thousands of supporters like you joined our call-in day to keep climate strong in the Senate and defend the Clean Air Act. Right now, big polluters and their powerful lobbyists are mounting an attack that could hurt our efforts to pass a strong climate bill this year -- and we need your help to stop it!
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R- Alaska) has just introduced a resolution that will block the Clean Air Act's ability to regulate global warming pollution and crack down on dirty coal power plants.
Protecting the Clean Air Act's ability to crack down on dirty coal is critical to our efforts to pass a strong clean energy and climate bill this year. Unfortunately, Murkowski's resolution has been gaining traction in the Senate this week with senators such as Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA), so we have to act today.
Send a message to your senators today: vote NO on the Murkowski "Dirty Air Act":
http://www.1sky.org/murkowski
Sen. Murkowski received more money from the polluting industries (more than $150K!) than any other lawmaker last year -- and now they're getting their money's worth with a resolution that's tailor-made to protect their profits.
Gutting the Clean Air Act will hurt our efforts to tackle climate change and create millions of clean energy jobs here in the U.S. Don't let big polluters and their supporters in the Senate destroy our clean energy future. Tell your senators: vote NO on Murkowski:
http://www.1sky.org/murkowski
Sending a message will only take a few clicks, but it will make a world of difference in this fight to protect the Clean Air Act and our power to crack down on dirty coal plants. Take action today!
Thank you for keeping up the pressure,
Liz Butler
Deputy Campaign Director, 1Sky
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R- Alaska) has just introduced a resolution that will block the Clean Air Act's ability to regulate global warming pollution and crack down on dirty coal power plants.
Protecting the Clean Air Act's ability to crack down on dirty coal is critical to our efforts to pass a strong clean energy and climate bill this year. Unfortunately, Murkowski's resolution has been gaining traction in the Senate this week with senators such as Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA), so we have to act today.
Send a message to your senators today: vote NO on the Murkowski "Dirty Air Act":
http://www.1sky.org/murkowski
Sen. Murkowski received more money from the polluting industries (more than $150K!) than any other lawmaker last year -- and now they're getting their money's worth with a resolution that's tailor-made to protect their profits.
Gutting the Clean Air Act will hurt our efforts to tackle climate change and create millions of clean energy jobs here in the U.S. Don't let big polluters and their supporters in the Senate destroy our clean energy future. Tell your senators: vote NO on Murkowski:
http://www.1sky.org/murkowski
Sending a message will only take a few clicks, but it will make a world of difference in this fight to protect the Clean Air Act and our power to crack down on dirty coal plants. Take action today!
Thank you for keeping up the pressure,
Liz Butler
Deputy Campaign Director, 1Sky
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Eco-Informatics Summer Institute (EISI) for summer 2010
Eco-Informatics Summer Institute (EISI) for summer 2010: Call for Applicants!
The Eco-Informatics Summer Institute (EISI) (http://eco-informatics.engr.
Eco-Informatics, an emerging discipline, integrates mathematics, computer science, statistics, and engineering with the study and management of ecosystems. Through a ten-week undergraduate/early graduate research experience, the EISI will provide interdisciplinary training for young scientists to help manage ecosystems in our technologically sophisticated, globalized world.
Through the integration of research and education, effective mentoring, and hands-on experiences at the HJ Andrews, fifteen participants will gain:
1. valuable research experience in Eco-Informatics and in their own disciplines.
2. the foundation and opportunities to develop and seek support for their own graduate program, including a peer-reviewed research proposal.
3. the training to become outstanding interdisciplinary scientists and effective contributors to the science and management of ecosystems.
Participants will receive:
1. a total stipend of $4,000.
2. travel, up to $500, for transportation to the Summer Institute will be provided to participants.
3. free lodging at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest.
4. 3 meals per day for the first and final weeks of the program.
5. the opportunity for down time and group activities such as white water rafting.
For more details and application, please go to:
http://eco-informatics.engr.
The application deadline is February 13th, 2010
If you have any questions, please e-mail Katherine.Hoffman@geo.
EPA Announces 4th Annual Rachel Carson Contest
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites the public to submit creative projects to the 4th annual Rachel Carson intergenerational “Sense of Wonder” contest. The categories are poetry, photography, essays and dance. The contest seeks to instill a sense of wonder for the environment among all generations and spur environmental stewardship.
Carson is considered to be the founder of the contemporary environmental movement through her landmark book, Silent Spring. Its publication is credited with reversing the nation’s pesticide policy.
Entries must be from a team of two or more persons from both younger and older generations. EPA is working with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., and Generations United to sponsor this contest.
The deadline for team entries is June 16, 2010. The winners will be announced in October 2010. The public will have the opportunity to vote among the finalists for the winners in each category.
More information: http://www.epa.gov/aging/
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2010 Sustainability Film Festival
The Northwest Institute for Social Change is now encouraging and accepting entries from high school and college students across North America for its 2010 Student Sustainability Film Festival. We are inviting students to produce and submit short films about projects their communities and colleges have instigated to promote sustainability.
The films should be inspired by real-life events, issues or solutions. For example, has your campus put up a wind turbine? Or, students could examine how and if their school is encouraging alternative modes of transportation, or could consider how their college’s food services has chosen to reduce waste.
Entries are due on Friday, May 14.
2010 Sustainability Film Festival: Call for Entries!
Students will be awarded cash prizes for top-ranked submissions, as determined by an esteemed board of noted judges and filmmakers, including Curt Ellis (producer of “King Corn”) and Matt Martin (editor for “No Impact Man”). Each winning film is awarded a $1000 cash prize.
All final selections will be screened at a public event in Portland, Oregon in late May 2010.
Complete rules and submission guidelines are available at: nwisc.com/programs/student_
Formed in 2007, the Northwest Institute for Social Change is an educational non-profit based in Portland, Oregon. We teach students and citizens about the interplay between media tools and public policy. For more information please visit: MediaMakingChange.org
Environmental Internship Opportunity
John Stewart, an organizer with Corporate Accountability International running their Think Outside the Bottle Campaign sends this information about a summer internship opportunity with their organization: (The internship description is below)
"Corporate Accountability International is a membership based non profit that has a thirty year history of waging and winning campaigns against transnational corporate abuse. Our current focus has us working on a water and food campaign: Think Outside the Bottle is part of our Campaign Challenging Corporate Control of Water, and working to promote, protect and ensure public funding for our public water systems and Value [the] Meal is part of our Campaign Challenging Corporate Abuse of our Food, working to secure people’s access to healthy, sustainable, affordable food.
"Corporate Accountability International is a membership based non profit that has a thirty year history of waging and winning campaigns against transnational corporate abuse. Our current focus has us working on a water and food campaign: Think Outside the Bottle is part of our Campaign Challenging Corporate Control of Water, and working to promote, protect and ensure public funding for our public water systems and Value [the] Meal is part of our Campaign Challenging Corporate Abuse of our Food, working to secure people’s access to healthy, sustainable, affordable food.
These internships are best for folks who are interested in doing more than just checking email and making photocopies. In addition to providing some support to central staff our interns truly help move our campaigns forward and take on a specific responsibility throughout their internship. Through this, they really do learn how the organization works and get some experience as an organizer. For example, this past summer one of our interns, Ryan, organized a week of action where over 2,500 people made calls, emails, and wrote letters to Coke demanding they come clean on the source and quality information of their Dasani bottled water.
From my experience as an undergrad at Georgetown, I found it very difficult to find these types of opportunities from the traditional avenues set up by University. The CPO office was pretty corporate focused and most of the “out of the box” opportunities came from professors that I knew."
Feel free to contact him if you have additional questions about Corporate Accountability International or their internship opportunities. His information is:
Corporate Accountability International
National Campaign Organizer
617-447-2517 (office)
857-413-6261 (cell)
jstewart@stopcorporateabuse.
Campaigns/Organizing Internship – Food and Water Campaigns
Have you ever wanted to learn how to run an issues-based organizing campaign? Are you passionate about making our food system healthier and more sustainable, or about defending access to clean, safe drinking water for all? Our campaigns internships are a leadership skills-building program, in which interns will take on a significant project to advance Corporate Accountability International’s Think Outside the Bottle or Value [the] Meal campaigns.
Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact) is a membership organization that protects people by waging and winning campaigns challenging irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world.
You will be working side-by-side with a team of talented and seasoned organizers in a dynamic campaign atmosphere, working for justice and effective social change. Our campaigns internship is a leadership skills-building program, in which interns will take on a significant project to advance Corporate Accountability International’s work. Interns will have primary responsibility for significant projects and will master a variety of skills, including:
- Organizing outreach and educational events.
- Recruiting and training volunteers.
- Outreach to activists in person and on the phone.
- Campaigns Research.
- Design of organizing materials.
- Ongoing administration to support the work of the campaigns team.
- Additional training in fundraising and communications may be included, depending on the interests of the intern and needs of the campaign work.
Value [the] Meal Internship
Value [the] Meal is part of our Campaign Challenging Corporate Abuse of our Food, working to secure people’s access to healthy, sustainable, affordable food. We have launched Value [the] Meal to educate the public about the impact of the fast food industry on our health, our planet and our children. As an Value [the] Meal intern you will help lead outreach to activists, students, faith communities, restaurants or community leaders to put limits on the fast food industry’s manipulative marketing to children, interference in public policy and nutrition science, and attempts to hide the true health risks of their products.
Think Outside The Bottle Internship
Think Outside the Bottle is part of our Campaign Challenging Corporate Control of Water, and working to promote, protect and ensure public funding for our public water systems. As a Think Outside the Bottle intern, you will help lead outreach to activists, students, faith communities, restaurants or community leaders to move mayors and governors to stand up for strong pubic water systems and to cut city and state spending on bottled water.
Qualifications:
- Demonstrated commitment to corporate accountability and social justice.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Basic organizing experience in a high-energy campaign or non-profit setting desirable.
- Experience with databases desirable, and at ease with MS Word and computers overall.
- Organizational skills and the ability to juggle several tasks while meeting deadlines.
- Active in a student group on campus and/or willingness to bring the campaign back to campus.
- Able to commit 15-25 hours per week during the fall or spring semester with an agreed-upon schedule
Visit us at www.StopCorporateAbuse.org
You can find out more about Value [the] Meal at www.ValueTheMeal.org.
You can find out more about Think Outside the Bottle at www.ThinkOutsideTheBottle.org
TO APPLY: Email a brief letter of interest, résumé, and 3 references (including at least one work or volunteer supervisor) to internships@
Global Warming Solution?
How the World Can (and Will) Stabilize at 350 to 450 ppm:
Read the full article here from Climateprogress.org
Read the full article here from Climateprogress.org
Jobs with Green Corps
** Applications due 2/1/2010 – apply online today at http://www.greencorps.org **
Green Corps 2010-2011 Field School for Environmental Organizing
Green Corps is looking for college graduates who are ready to take on the biggest environmental challenges of our day.
In Green Corps’ year-long paid program, you’ll get intensive training in the skills you’ll need to make a difference in the world. You’ll get hands-on experience fighting to solve urgent environmental problems — global warming, deforestation, water pollution and many others — with groups such as Sierra Club and Greenpeace. And, when you graduate from Green Corps, we’ll help you find a career with one of the nation’s leading environmental and social change groups.
For more information, read below or visit our web site: www.greencorps.org.
In your year with Green Corps:
You’ll get great training with some of the most experienced organizers in the field: Green Corps organizers take part in trainings with leading figures in the environmental and social change movements: people such as Adam Ruben, political director of MoveOn.org, and Bill McKibben, author and organizer of the “Step It Up” rallies for climate action.
You’ll get amazing experience working on environmental issues across the country: Green Corps sends organizers to jumpstart campaigns for groups such as Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, Greenpeace and Environment America in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and dozens of other places in between.
You’ll have a real impact on some of the biggest environmental problems we’re facing today: Green Corps organizers have built the campaigns that helped keep the Arctic safe from drilling, that led to new laws that support clean, renewable energy, that convinced major corporations to stop dumping in our oceans and much, much more.
You’ll even get paid: Green Corps Organizers earn a salary of $23,750. Organizers also have a chance to opt into our health care program with a pre-tax monthly salary deferral. We offer paid sick days and holidays, two weeks paid vacation and a student loan repayment program for those who qualify.
And when you graduate from the program, you’ll be ready for what comes next: Green Corps will help connect you to environmental and progressive groups that are looking for full-time staff to build their organizations and help them create social change and protect our environment.
In the next few months, we‘ll invite 35 college graduates to join Green Corps in 2010-2011. We’re looking for people who are serious about saving the planet, people who have taken initiative on their campus or community, and people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and work for change over the long haul.
If you think you’re one of those people, visit http://www.greencorps.org/
Green Corps’ year-long program begins in August 2010 with Introductory Classroom Training in Boston, and continues with field placements in multiple locations across the U.S. Candidates must be willing to relocate.
For more information, visit www.greencorps.org or contact Miller Nuttle, Green Corps Field Organizer, at miller@greencorps.org or (607) 592 9500.
Post-Copenhagen Panel Discussion at Yale
The Yale Climate and Energy Institute (YCEI) Student Congress invites you to:
What Happened in Copenhagen and Why? Eyewitness Accounts from Participants
Panel Featuring:
- Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri YCEI Director and IPCC Chair
- Brad Gentry Senior Lecturer and UNFCCC Secretariat
- Nasser Brahim Alliance of Small Island States Secretariat
- Kartikeya Singh Maldives Delegation
- Angel Hsu Green Leap Forward Blogger
- Other participants to be confirmed
Time: 2-3:15pm, Friday 29th January (reception to follow)
Place: Burke Auditorium, Kroon Hall
What were the Copenhagen negotiations all about? What was it like to be there and how do the negotiations really operate? What does the agreement mean for future climate change policy? This December Yale had a major presence at Copenhagen, with over fifty students and several faculty and staff members attending in various capacities: supporting national delegations, working for the secretariat, blogging, lobbying, and learning about the process. Come hear personal accounts of these experiences as well as analysis of the conference outcomes and process. Short panel presentations will be followed by an extensive question and answer session.
Crude on the Wesleyan Film Series Tonight
Come to the Wesleyan Film Series this Thursday, January 21st!! Crude: The Real Price of Oil is an enthralling documentary about the world's biggest environmental lawsuit, which is going on right now because Chevron is refusing to pay reparations for the environmental and health consequences of oil drilling in Ecuador's Amazon jungle. The film will open your eyes up to this environmental tragedy and entertain you while doing so. Crude has been in several international film festivals throughout the last year, including the Sundance Film Festival, and was declared one of the top five documentaries by the National Board of Review. It's free. Please spread the word about this screening, and come watch to show your support and learn more!
$5000 Scholarship to Sophomores & Juniors
The Morris K. Udall Foundation awards $5,000 scholarships to sophomore and junior undergrads with a demonstrated commitment to solving environmental issues through policy, science (hard and soft), engineering, architecture, economics, the arts, or any combination of the above. Udall Scholars also get to attend the Scholar Orientation in August and are immediately plugged into a growing and active alumni network.
“The scholarship orientation was a transformation for me. The opportunity to meet such a passionate, active and reflective group of students was unlike any experience I’ve had before. I feel invigorated and empowered.” - Emily Grady, ’09 Scholar
The application deadline is March 2, 2010, but interested students should contact the Wesleyan College Udall faculty representative immediately. You can find more information and a listing of faculty representatives by visiting our website: http://udall.gov/.
“The scholarship orientation was a transformation for me. The opportunity to meet such a passionate, active and reflective group of students was unlike any experience I’ve had before. I feel invigorated and empowered.” - Emily Grady, ’09 Scholar
The application deadline is March 2, 2010, but interested students should contact the Wesleyan College Udall faculty representative immediately. You can find more information and a listing of faculty representatives by visiting our website: http://udall.gov/.
Water Use Hearing at DEP Thursday Morning
The State powers that be, the business lobbies, will be fighting the DEP's new water regulations. We need citizens to attend this meeting in Hartford and speak in favor of the DEP's new regulation.
The Middlesex Chamber’s Environment, Land Use and Energy Committee has scheduled a meeting on Thursday, January 14th at 8:00 a.m. at the Chamber to discuss the Department of Environmental Protection’s proposed Stream Flow Regulations. Attorney Greg Sharpe, Murtha Cullina LLP, and a representative from the Connecticut Water Works Association will brief members on the legal and technical aspects of the Department’s draft Stream Flow Regulations, which if implemented in their current form, will negatively impact the business community by increasing costs and service disruptions as well as hamper economic development.
If your company’s business operations require a water diversion permit or if your business depends heavily on water, such as manufacturers, hospitals, golf courses, restaurants, hotels, etc… you will want to attend this meeting. DEP has a hearing scheduled for public comment on January 21st at 9:00 a.m. at the DEP headquarters in Hartford. The Chamber’s Board of Directors voted to oppose the regulations in their current form at its November Board Meeting.
Specifically, the stream flow regulations will:
· Lead to Potential Moratoriums on Construction and Economic Development
· Significantly Increase Water-related Business Costs
· Contribute to Increased Property Taxes
· Result in Public Water Supply Deficits
· Impose Frequent and Lengthy Water Use Restrictions on Customers
· Divert Resources Away from Needed Infrastructure Improvements
If you need more information or plan on attending, please do not hesitate to contact Brian O’Connor at the Chamber by emailing him at brian@middlesexchamber.com or call him at 860-347-6924.
The Middlesex Chamber’s Environment, Land Use and Energy Committee has scheduled a meeting on Thursday, January 14th at 8:00 a.m. at the Chamber to discuss the Department of Environmental Protection’s proposed Stream Flow Regulations. Attorney Greg Sharpe, Murtha Cullina LLP, and a representative from the Connecticut Water Works Association will brief members on the legal and technical aspects of the Department’s draft Stream Flow Regulations, which if implemented in their current form, will negatively impact the business community by increasing costs and service disruptions as well as hamper economic development.
If your company’s business operations require a water diversion permit or if your business depends heavily on water, such as manufacturers, hospitals, golf courses, restaurants, hotels, etc… you will want to attend this meeting. DEP has a hearing scheduled for public comment on January 21st at 9:00 a.m. at the DEP headquarters in Hartford. The Chamber’s Board of Directors voted to oppose the regulations in their current form at its November Board Meeting.
Specifically, the stream flow regulations will:
· Lead to Potential Moratoriums on Construction and Economic Development
· Significantly Increase Water-related Business Costs
· Contribute to Increased Property Taxes
· Result in Public Water Supply Deficits
· Impose Frequent and Lengthy Water Use Restrictions on Customers
· Divert Resources Away from Needed Infrastructure Improvements
If you need more information or plan on attending, please do not hesitate to contact Brian O’Connor at the Chamber by emailing him at brian@middlesexchamber.com or call him at 860-347-6924.
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