UND goes "green" with Earth Week April 26-30

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2011

Abstract

UND goes "green" with Earth Week April 26-30

In conjunction with Earth Day on April 22, the University of North Dakota will hold a week of environmental education and cleanup activities around campus and throughout the Grand Forks community April 26-30. Earth Week events are designed to make people more aware of each person's impact on the environment, and their responsibility to the generations that follow them.

What many students may not know is that Earth Week activities and sustainability efforts are underway, and are in fact happening around campus all the time. Recently, the UND's RecycleMania team finished up a ten-week drive to increase recycling across campus.

How we care for the planet is a measure of how we care for ourselves. With this in mind, the University of North Dakota embraces multi-dimensional wellness, and environmental wellness is one of the dimensions. The Environmental Wellness Task Group, a subgroup of Healthy UND was formed to support this mission. The task group’s initial goal is to provide programming for Earth Week for UND. Earth Day Task Group includes: Deb Merrill, Kim Ruliffson, Mike Little, Haley Proctor, Karina Wittmann, Mandy Dockendorf, Debra Pflughoeft-Hassett,Sarah Winger, Danielle Schermerhorn, and Andrew Miller.

Many organizations came together to develop the programming for Earth Week, including: The Wellness Center, Healthy UND, Facilities Department, the UND Sustainability Council, the City of Grand Forks and The Big Event. Special thanks to NDSU extension and the EERC.

Princeton Review lists UND among greenest schools in USA

Earth Week 2011 Events

You will have the opportunity to win eco-friendly DOOR PRIZES at each event (water bottles, cookbooks, organic food, and more!)

ALL WEEK

Make a commitment to be green. Sign the UND Sustainability Pledge.

Tuesday Tours, April 26th

EERC Tour: 3-4pm

The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) is world-renowned for developing and deploying new, cutting-edge technologies to help improve the environment. On the tour, you will hear about the EERC’s efforts in a wide variety of topics including advanced power systems, coal utilization, climate change, hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, emission control, renewable fuels, biopower, water management, and much more.

To sign up for the tour, contact Debbie Merrill at 777-4878. The tour is limited to 25 people. Please meet at the EERC main lobby between 2:45pm-3pm.

Grand Forks Water Treatment Plant Tours: 10:30-11:30am and4:30-5:30pm.

The Grand Forks Water Utility strives to provide quality drinking water in sufficient quantity to meet the needs of the public. Visit the water treatment plant to learn about where Grand Forks gets its water, how the best-tasting city tap water in North Dakota is processed and how it gets to you and the rest of the community.

To sign up for the tour, contact Debra at 792-2878. Open-toed shoes are not allowed on the tour. Tours are limited to 12 people.

UND Transportation will be provided:

10:10am pick-up at Odegard,10:15am pick-up at the Memorial Union (15 passenger UND van) 4:10pm pick-up at Odegard and 4:15pm pick-up at the Memorial Union (15 passenger UND van)

Wednesday, April 27th

Earth Week Expo: 2-6pm at the Wellness Center.

Learn about and try samples of local, organize and environmental products available for the public to sample. Vendors will be there from Grand Forks City, Hugos, The Big Event, UND Sustainability Council, UND Facilities, Nutrition and Dietetics, Engineering…. and many more.

Composting Informational Session: 4:30-5pm and 5:15-5:45pm in Classroom 121 of the Wellness Center.

If you’re not composting, you’re throwing it all away. Learn the do’s and don’ts of home composting. Turn your kitchen and yard waste into valuable soil nutrients for your garden.

Thursday, April 28th

Campus Green Out.

Participate in the Earth Week Green Out Competition by forming “Green Teams” comprised of UND departments, groups, and friends. Each Green Team should wear green and take a photo of themselves doing an “earth friendly” activity together. Photos may be submitted to UND.workwell@email.und.edu or Mail Stop 8365 by May 4th. The winning team will get a team photo and a campus trophy.

President Kelley Campus Clean-Up, 2-6pm, outside of Wilkerson.

Join President Kelley outside of Wilkerson Hall on Thursday, April 28th at 2:00 PM to help him clean-up the campus. Gloves, tongs, and plastic bags will be provided. Participants will walk together along the Coulee path and pick up litter along the way.

Please complete the volunteer form for your group or department BY APRIL 15th at: www.und.edu/org/thebigevent, click volunteers tab and download the 2011 Volunteer form or contact Kristi Okerlund at: 701-777-6468 at The Big Event. She will assign your group a time to be at the site.

This program provided through a collaboration with The Big Event at UND and the facilities department.

Friday, April 29th

Container Gardening. Loading Dock in the Memorial Union from9pm-12am.

Night Life will be hosting "Container Gardening" as part of Earth Week. Come to the Memorial Union from 9pm-12am to support going green by making your own take-home plant. (The soil, container and plant will be provided). Please bring your UND ID.

Saturday, April 30th

Electronics Collection Event

10:00am - 1:00pm at the Public Works Building (724 North 47th St., Grand Forks). Sponsored by the recycling contractor for Grand Forks: Waste Management Incorporated. In 2010, 12 tons of electronics were collected in 3 hours.

The Big Event

Take the time to help the greater Grand Forks community through community service initiatives such as raking, painting, picking up garbage, washing windows, and readying local parks for summer. Complete the volunteer form at: http://www.und.edu/org/thebigevent by April 15th to get involved! Pre Earth Week Events

April 1st-April 30th: Nike ReUSE A SHOE Program

Donate your used tennis shoes at any of the following locations: Wellness Center, Facilities, Aerospace, Twamley, Wilkerson and the Memorial Union. They will be deconstructed and re-USED to make athletic surfaces. Watch the video!

Get your Volunteer forms completed to be a part of The Big Event. Register by April 15th!

Take the time to help the greater Grand Forks community through community service initiatives such as raking, painting, picking up garbage, washing windows, and readying local parks for summer. Complete the volunteer form!

Super Science Saturday and Earth Day Contest on April 16, 2011, 10am-1pm, Gambucci Arena. Hosted by the Dakota Science Center.

Come to the event and compete in the Earth Day contest! Submit an object made out of used materials. The contest is for all ages and is hosted by Waste Management, Inc., Grand Fork’s recycling contractor. Glow-in-the-dark G3 Doing Our Part bracelets will be handed out to kids.

Campus-Wide Green Pledge

Make a difference! Sign the Sustainability Pledge and commit to at least one action that you are not currently doing that encourages you to be more environmentally sustainable. The pledge will be at the Memorial Union (tables) from 10-2pm from April 18th-April 21st and at various Earth Week events the following week.

Visit the Earth Week tables at the Union to learn about Global Energy AND Carbon and UND Earth Week activities.

"Global Energy and Carbon: Tracking Our Footprint" shows how energy is used by everyday families at three levels of economic development—industrialized, emerging, and developing. Following families in the United States, India, and Cameroon, this documentary demonstrates how energy use is reflected in carbon emissions. The documentary also explores options for managing carbon emissions from energy use while providing adequate access to energy for the world’s growing population.

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