GSC Sustainability Newsletter: October Issue #1

Resources • Oct 5

GSC Announcements

- Upcoming meeting place/time
- Upcoming Events
- Campus and Community Conference and Expo
- Powershift
- One Less Car
- Cereal Box Collection

UF/Gainesville Events

- ACCENT Presents SuChin Pak
- School of Natural Resources and Environment Council
- Cultural Cognition Project Seminar

Volunteer Opportunities

- UF Clean Water Campaign

Miscellaneous

- Food & Organic Agriculture

GSC Announcements:

* Our next meeting, Oct 13, will be at 6:30 in FLG 280. The meeting on Oct. 27 is in FLG 220.
* Oct. 11: GSC Potluck: Bakeoff Theme! 1:30-3 in Plaza
* Oct.14: GSC goes to the Farmer’s Market! Stay tuned for more details in the near future…
* Oct. 15: Dinner out at Reggae Shack at 8pm
* Oct. 24: GSC Camping Trip @ Payne’s Prairie at 6pm. More details coming soon…
* You only have a few days left to register for the 4th Annual Campus and Community Conference and Expo. The conference is from Oct 8-10 at USF. To learn more about the keynote speakers and how to register, visit www.sustainablefloridaconference.org
* Oct. 24-25: Powershift in Orlando. If anyone is interested in going please let us know as well as whether or not you can provide
transportation and if you know of places we can sleep in Orlando. Contact Jamie at jschindewolf@gmail.com.
* Take the One Less Car Challenge! Gators looking for ways to both reduce their impact on the environment and save some cash, are in luck! Using alternative transportation saves money and reduces your impact on the planet, whether it be walking, biking, taking a bus, or carpooling. The Office of Sustainability is asking gators to reduce their impact and pledge to take alternative transportation to campus on October 23rd, One Less Car Day and throughout the fall semester. On Friday 10/23 interactive activities and prize drawings will take place from 11am-1pm on the Reitz Union North Lawn. Find more information, sign up, and join a team at www.sustainable.ufl.edu/onelesscar.
* Come learn more about One Less Car and alternative transportation options for campus: GreenRide, Zipcar, Campus Cab, SNAP, and bike safety tips at our brief information sessions:

— Wednesday, October 7th, 12pm, Reitz Union 283

— Thursday, October 8th, 4pm, Reitz Union 285

— Monday, October 12th, 3pm, Reitz Union 285

— Tuesday, October 13th, 12pm, Reitz Union 283

* PLUS: GSC is launching a project to create reused notebooks from cereal boxes! Please bring empty boxes to any GSC event or meeting!

UF/Gainesville Events

* On Monday Oct 5, ACCENT presents former MTV news reporter SuChin Pak. The show will be in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom at 8pm, doors open at 7:15pm. The show is free and open to the public. She will be speaking on “Multi Cultural Identity: Media, Representation and Activism.”
* “SNRE (School of Natural Resources and Environment) Council attempts to bridge community, the environment, sustainability, and academia into one club. It offers club members a chance to socialize and contribute to their community. Additionally, it bridges graduate and undergraduate degrees in Interdisciplinary Ecology. All SNRE students are welcome to join! To find out more, please join the SNRE facebook group, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=131480537041 and email the president, samiahm@ufl.edu.”
* The UF Water Institute announced that Dan Kahan will be the next speaker in the Smallwood Distinguished Scholar Seminar Series. On Thursday Oct 8 Dan Kahan will be speaking at the “Cultural Cognition of Risk: Theory, Evidence, and Implications” Seminar from 3-5pm in 209 Emerson Alumni Hall. Seminar Description: The cultural cognition of risk refers to the tendency of persons to conform their beliefs about putatively dangerous activities to their cultural evaluations of those activities. This lecture will examine the basic theory behind cultural cognition, experimental and other empirical evidence of its influence on perceptions of environmental and technological risks, and the implications of it for risk communication and policymaking. The seminar can also be viewed at http://at.ufl.edu/~video/main/index.php

Volunteer Opportunities:

* UF Clean Water Campaign is looking for volunteers to help with the monthly water quality monitoring events. They will be going out to the field Friday Oct 9. It usually takes most of the day, but feel free to come for however long your schedule allows. If you are interested please contact John Linhoss at jlinhoss@ufl.edu

Miscellaneous

* If you are interested in food and organic agriculture feel free to look around on the site and do some exploring. https://www.msu.edu/~howardp/organicindustry.html

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Events Calendar

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Join a GSC Campaign:

Student Green Energy Fund

The Student Green Energy Fund is a grassroots, student-led initiative to give students in Florida's public universities the option to create a fund for energy efficiency and clean energy improvements on campus.

After passing a referendum on the student ballot by 78 percent in 2007, University President Machen has supported the Green Fund and the Board of Trustees has approved it as well. We are currently working with students at UCF, FSU, FAMU, USF, FIU and FGCU to pass a bill in the state legislature that would permit individual universities to implement Student Green Energy Funds. Learn more on the Student Green Energy Fund website.

Sustainability Outreach

GSC gives campus-wide sustainability presentations that consist of a PowerPoint and Q & A, covering questions such as "What is sustainability?", "What are we doing to promote it?" and "What can I do to help?"

Greening Local Schools

Parents at J.J. Finley Elementary were concerned about waste at the school, so they've asked for our help to develop a recycling plan and a more sustainable lunch program. The school hopes to serve as a model for other public schools in Alachua County.

The Green Team

The Green Team leads the Tail-Gator Recycling Program, a volunteer-oriented mission to provide recycling services to on- and off-campus tailgates at all home football games.

Consumption Reduction

Help us campaign to raise awareness about the impact our consumption habits have on the planet.

Recycling

GSC participates in the annual RecycleMania, challenging schools around the country in a competition to increase on-campus recycling.

Food Systems

Our Food Systems task force works to raise awareness about local and organic food issues. We maintain an organic garden plot at the UF Organic Garden Co-op.