SUNY Cortland Celebrates Green Days

03/20/2018 

As a national leader in sustainability, SUNY Cortland is pretty green all year round.

In April, members of the campus community make a concerted effort to draw attention to it as they celebrate a full schedule of Green Days events. And next week, individual students will get recognition — and prizes — for doing environmentally sustainable things as part of their daily routines.

From Monday, April 9 through Friday, April 13, a special squad of Green Reps will be on the lookout for people who are refilling water bottles, eating vegetarian meals, riding a community bicycle or doing any other activity aimed at reducing their carbon footprint. Students who are “Caught Being Green” will get a prize from the patrol’s bag of green goodies.

But nobody has to wait until next week. SUNY Cortland’s Green Days are going on now. Although the month’s schedule, like the earth itself, is still evolving, below is a preliminary list of sustainability or environmental activities for April. It will be updated online and in the next edition of The Bulletin:

Wednesday, April 4

Sandwich Seminar: “Can Owning a Well Influence Environmentalism? A Discussion of Aquifers, Water Usage and Citizenship,” investigates the conservation behavior of private well owners in Kansas, where the intense demands of irrigation have made the availability of groundwater a growing problem. Brock Ternes, visiting professor of sociology/anthropology will present research on owners’ conservation routines and other pro-environmental behaviors, which have implications for sustaining communities in drought-prone regions. The talk is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge and is sponsored by Campus Sustainability Coalition and the Sustainability Office.

Thursday, April 5

Community Roundtable: Sustainability at SUNY Cortland: Why does the Sierra Club think we are a "Cool School”? A discussion of SUNY Cortland’s consistently high ranking by the nation’s premiere environmental organization, Presented by: Mathew Brubaker, campus energy manager, and Beth Klein, professor, childhood/early childhood education, from 8 to 9 a.m. in the Park Center Hall of Fame Room.

Presentation: “Copper! WWI and the War on Labor: From the Butte Disaster to the Bisbee Deportation,” a multimedia account of the 1917 Copper Mine Wars that changed U.S. history, will be presented by storyteller, musician and activist Charlie King at 12:30 p.m. in Old Main Colloquium. A discussion will follow.

Monday, April 9 – Friday, April 13

Contest: “Get Caught Being Green,” a special Green Reps Crew will travel campus looking for students who are exhibiting sustainable practices. “Green” students will receive a prize!

Wednesday, April 11

Sandwich Seminar: Several of SUNY Cortland’s student Green Reps will share “Stories of Sustainable Eating,” an exploration of how they incorporate sustainability into their daily eating habits. They will talk about eating locally sourced foods and describe how being a vegetarian and/or vegan affects them and the environment. Students Abby Borzell, Kiley Stoj, Jeremy Collings and Anna Gorall will present and answer questions. The seminar will be 12:30 p.m. in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge and is sponsored by the SUNY Cortland Green Reps, Campus Sustainability Coalition and SUNY Cortland’s Sustainability Office.

Lecture: Jut Wynne, a conservation biologist and explorer who has traveled to some of the world’s most remote places, will discuss biodiversity in his presentation: “Bizarre Cave Animals of Southern China.” Wynne will address the threat that agricultural chemicals and heavy-metal pollution poses to animals in the limestone caves of Guangxi Province in Southern China, as well as their impact on the area’s traditional farming communities. The talk is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 106. It is sponsored by the School of Education.

Thursday, April 19

Sandwich Seminar: “Getting New York to 50 Percent Renewables by 2030 - What Will It Really Take?” will be presented by Brice Smith, associate professor of physics, and Sameer Hairan, a sustainable energy systems graduate student. They will explore the New York Public Service Commission’s 2016 order that 50 percent of the state's electricity must come from clean, renewable sources by 2030, look at New York state’s energy policy and discuss what it will take to achieve that goal. The seminar is scheduled for noon at Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge and is sponsored by the Campus Sustainability Coalition and the Sustainability Office.

Spring Planting Event: Members of the campus community are invited to help plant SUNY Cortland’s model garden for the season. Model garden intern Jessica Moore will coordinate the establishment of a salsa garden bed, vegetable soup garden bed, herb bed and perennial bed. Planting will be done from noon to 2 p.m. in the community garden boxes between Memorial Library and Cornish Hall. It is sponsored by the SUNY Cortland Garden Advisory Committee.

Tuesday, April 24

Tobacco-Free Awareness Activity: Kick Butts Day is an annual campus cleanup focused on tobacco debris and the celebration of SUNY Cortland’s tobacco-free policy. The event will run from noon to 3 p.m. at the Student Life Center.

Sustainable Eating Events: ASC representatives at tables in Neubig Hall from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. will provide information on how campus food waste is pulped and composted. Earth Week menu items featuring locally and regionally sourced food will be featured at Neubig during the same time period.

Tuesday, April 24 – Thursday, April 26

Sustainable Eating Tables: Campus Green Reps will do information outreach about sustainable eating through at tables around campus. Time and location to be determined.

Wednesday, April 25

Air Plant Giveaway: Air plants that need little care, but remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will be given away for free as part of the week’s Wellness Wednesday programming. Plants and information will be available from noon to 3 p.m. at the Student Life Center. The event is sponsored by SUNY Cortland Health Promotion, SUNY Cortland Student Affairs Sustainability Committee, and SUNY Cortland Green Reps.

Thursday, April 26

Alaskan Seafood: Members of the campus community will be invited to sample seafood from Alaska’s sustainably managed fisheries and learn how it’s both healthy for people and good for the environment. Free samples of Pacific Pollack quesadillas outside the main entrance to the Bistro in the Student Life Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Alaskan keta salmon fish tacos will be served inside at Bistro Live during the same time. Also during that time, ASC nutritionist Andrea Hart will talk with students about how to increase the number of vegetables in their diet. The events are sponsored by SUNY Cortland Health Promotion, ASC and the Student Affairs Sustainability Committee.

Friday, April 27

Arbor Day: SUNY Cortland’s official Arbor Day celebration is being planned, time and location to be determined.

Monday, April 30

Environmental Documentary: “Who Killed the Electric Car?” (2006) unravels the history of the battery-powered vehicle that was to set a new precedent for energy efficiency before its mysterious discontinuation in the mid-1990s. In this investigative film, director Chris Paine attempts to uncover a possible conspiracy orchestrated against electric car manufacturers. The film will screen at 7 p.m. in Moffett Center, Room 2125. A discussion with Sociology/Anthropology Visiting Assistant Professor Brock Ternes will follow.