The Environmental Coalition at Virginia Tech

Mar 30

2010-03-31T14:31:00.001-04:00

If you weren't in the meeting this week, you missed out on an awesome presentation on air quality and social justice. Dr. Tim Moore (Air Resources Engineering professor at Virginia Tech) gave a presentation based around his PhD project that he completed at Virginia Tech. Dr. Moore built a mobile Air quality testing station based out of a small white news van, and did comparative tests against the EPA's air quality tests. Dr. Moore went to several low income neighborhoods in cities where EPA testing sites are located to compare local neighborhood pollution levels to declared city-wide levels. The presentation was very interesting, and the results were discomforting. For more information on the project, check out: http://www.airqual.cee.vt.edu/flame/

Still haven't been to a meeting yet this semester? Drop by Smyth 146 on Tuesday nights from 7-8pm if you are interested. No commitment is required, and membership does not require you to come to every meeting.

Announcements:

Come out to see Dubnium at Cabo Fish Taco on April 2nd @11pm for $5! All proceeds go to Oxfam at Virginia Tech's Haitian Well Project!

If you need a date, Oxfam at VT and the American Medical Association are putting on an April Fool's Date Auction at 7pm in the Hillcrest Dining Room! Come out, get a date, and take him/her to Cabo!

The Environmental Coalition will be coordinating a three bin waste, recycling, and composting system for Relay for Life. This is the first year that Relay for Life will be composting! If you can spare an hour of your time the night of Friday, April 9th, we need lots of volunteers to help run recycling stations, train volunteers on composting, and help transport the recycling. To sign up to help please fill out this survey:

https://survey.vt.edu/survey/entry.jsp?id=1269533332699.
Email Jarrad Farris at farris@vt.edu or Alex Funk at funka@vt.edu if you have any questions about volunteering!

Mar 23

2010-03-23T21:23:00.002-04:00

Spring Break is long gone and we are starting to get things into shape for Earth Week. During this weeks meeting, Kyle talked about finalizing our constitution, and showed us everything we need to know as an organization about the constitution before we vote on it. After that Austin gave us a very informative presentation about Geothermal energy.

Announcements:

Anyone still interested in helping to organize Earth Week, contact Erica Putman at Ericafp8@gmail.com

No Impact Hokie kick off event in Brush Mountain A in Squires at 8pm. Be there! Join the movement, or just see what everyone is doing by checking out the blog:

http://noimpacthokie.blogspot.com/

Updates from Residence Hall Federation forum:

All of AJ will be a LEED silver certified residential college by Fall 2012, mix of faculty, and students of all levels
The new $28 million dollar parking garage being built will have all Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting and have solar panels on top of the garage. These are four times more expensive, but safer and use much less energy
Grant for $700,000 from Fed government to improve bike trails
Grant from Federal Transit Administration for 2 hybrid articulating buses (2 connected, bend in the middle), and 7 more hybrid buses. Normal buses cost $285,000, hybrids cost $450,000. It will look somewhat like this, but with the Blacksburg Transit color scheme:

Think Green. Think Blue: Israel and Sustainability Event (March 31 at 7:00 in Brush Mountain):

This event will consist of a free sustainable meal and some arts and crafts. I need some help planning this event from the Environmental Coalition side, so if you are interested in helping out (only minimal help and planning needed, nothing too intense) please let me know ASAP! Thanks! ~Lauren Fialkow, lfialkow@vt.edu

"Coal: The Question of Energy Debat" will be taking place this Friday, March 26 at 7pm in Squires Colonial. Students and experts will debate many issues surround coal.

Energy in the Commonwealth Panel Discussion will take place this Saturday, March 27 at 3pm in the GLC Auditorium. Representatives from Dominion Power and the Sierra Club will be answering student questions about current policy, as well as the future surrounding Virginia's energy.

Earth Hour 2010!! will take place this Saturday, March 27 at 8pm on Henderson Lawn. This is a world-wide event, where for one hour everyone is encouraged to turn off all electrical sources in their house, most specifically lighting. Virginia Tech Electric will monitor our electricity usage during this hour to see the impact our community can have. For more information visit:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=367522156708&ref=ts

http://www.EarthHour.com

Finally... EARTH WEEK IS ALMOST UPON US! Here is a preliminary schedule, a full website outlining all of the events will be put up as soon as possible.

Earth Week 2010
April 17^th-23^rdat Virginia Tech
Our mission: “Uniting the Virginia Tech and Blacksburg community with the purpose of promoting environmental awareness and celebrating our planet”

Saturday,     4/17:    Big Event and Town Events: Working with Virginia Tech's day of service with an eco friendly flair! There will also be several events taking place in the town of Blacksburg.

Sunday,       4/18:    Sunday Funday with the Environmental Coalition: Afternoon outdoor activities, then reconvening at Top of the Stairs with live music

Monday,       4/19:   Conservation and Sustainable Living: Day long events on the Drillfield and in Commonwealth Ballroom with workshops, displays, and a speaker.

Tuesday,      4/20:   Political Action and Community Involvement: Evening workshops and a Climate Action Planning Roundtable with town and Virginia Tech faculty members

Wednesday, 4/21:   Sustainable Food Awareness: Encouraging local and organic dining options, including events at the Blacksburg Farmer's Market, workshops, and displays on the Drillfield

Thursday,     4/22:   Earth Day: A fair on the Drillfield with several sustainability related organizations, a rally for the anniversary of signing the Climate Action Plan, and a march around campus.  President Steger will be officially recognizing new LEED certified buildings.

Friday,         4/23:    Dump the Pump with Alternative Transportation: Encouraging alternative transportation choices through a transportation showcase, workshops, and free bike tune ups!

For more information (WWW.THEECVT.ORG or EC@vt.edu) or contact the Earth Week coordinator at ericafp8@vt.edu

-Cameron

Mar 2 - Dessert Night!

2010-03-02T21:46:00.004-05:00

With spring break right around the corner, and Kyle unable to give his presentation we decided to have an "exam break" meeting. Everyone brought organic/sustainable desserts including organic brownies, lemon cookies, and Homestead Creamery chocolate milk and ice cream.

If you haven't heard about Homestead Creamery yet you should definitely look into it. It is available all over Virginia, and can be purchased at Kroger in Blacksburg. All of the milk at Homestead Creamery is purchased from two local farms (in Wirtz, VA - 34 miles away) both of which have been in family ownership for three or more generations. The milk is free of hormones and antibiotics, and because it is sold in returnable glass bottles it tastes fresher longer and is much more environmentally friendly. For more information on eating sustainably and locally, try to get involved with The Sustainable Food Corps.

http://vtsustainablefoodcorps.wordpress.com/

This Friday is the beginning of spring break so there will be no meeting next week. To stay updated on what everyone in EC is talking about over break check out the google group!

http://groups.google.com/group/vt-environmental-coalition?hl=en

~Cameron

Feb 23

2010-02-23T20:31:00.001-05:00

It's looking like we've got a busy couple of weeks coming up. At today's meeting, Funk addressed the importance of student involvement with Virginia Tech's Climate Action Commitment & Sustainability Plan. We want to keep it in the picture and help the university achieve it's intended goals.

Also on the up and up, the Fever to Sing festival is approaching this March and the EC is trying to work with the organizers to "green" this thing. With over 100 bands, there are going to be a lot of people, which also means a lot of trash. Contact Cameron Miksch (cmiksch@vt.edu) for more information.

Winterfest is happening tomorrow in Squires. It's basically a little carnival for younger kids. The EC is getting together to help promote recycling and etc. Let Liza Dobson (liza7@vt.edu) know if your interested.

~Nick

Feb 3 - Second EC meeting this semester

2010-02-03T12:10:00.016-05:00

Yesterday we had our second meeting of the semester, and we have already started to get things accomplished! Last night we introduced the idea of project groups to those who were unfamiliar with the idea, and then we concentrated on three big projects we are leading this semester. The first was Eco-Olympics which will be a month long competition between residence halls later in the semester. The second was Earth Week, an event that the EC plans every year with events occurring around earth day focused on sustainability. The third was Think Outside the Bottle, a national campaign focused on eliminating bottled water and bringing clean water to people who do not have access to it. After these three project groups were introduced, each group briefly met, talked in more detail about their plans and how everyone can get involved.

For more information on each of these projects contact these people:

Eco-Olympics - Alex Funk - Funkadelic56@gmail.com

Earth Week - Erica Putman - Ericafp8@gmail.com

Think Outside The Bottle - Kara Dodson - Karad3@vt.edu

One important announcement:

The EC is hosting a dance in 8 days and we need your help! Here's the Facebook link:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=268194001333&index=1
Contact Liza Dobson to help out ( Liza7@vt.edu ).

Thanks to those who came out to the meeting, as well as those who came to the social afterwards. Stay green.

-Cameron

First Meeting Of The Semester.

2010-01-28T11:44:00.003-05:00

Thanks to everyone who came out to the first meeting! In case you weren't there, we introduced all of our officers, talked about past and ongoing EC events, and played a few games to get to know each other. Personally, I had a great time meeting all of the new potential members.

This year (provided there is enough time) we will be trying to do a regular blog post to the website to keep everyone updated. If you missed the first meeting, I would suggest heading over to the Google Group http://groups.google.com/group/vt-environmental-coalition?hl=en to see exactly what everyone in the EC is talking about. For those who don't know - the Google Group is basically an online forum dedicated to the EC. Anyone can view it, and anyone can post to it (once they have applied to the Google Group, and been approved). We use the Google Group primarily for discussion outside of meetings, as well as posting important documents such as minutes from the meetings. People post current events around the area that are of interest to the EC, as well as job listings. The Google Group also keeps us from spamming everybody on the listserv. It is important for all members who want to stay involved to regularly check the Google Group and contribute to group discussions. If you haven't already, go ahead and create a google account (not a g-mail) and sign up for the Google Group.

3 major things going on this week and next week that you should know about:
1) Tonight there is a silent auction going on at the XYZ gallery next to More Than Coffee in downtown Blacksburg. This silent auction features pieces from a collection titled "ArtFood." All pieces were donated by local artists (many from the EC!) with the proceeds benefiting The Southeast Youth Food Activist Summit.

2) The second Environmental Coalition meeting! This Tuesday at 7pm in Smyth 146. Trust me, you'll want to be there.

3) The Southeast Youth Food Activist Summit. This is happening next weekend, February 5-7. This event is going to be incredible. We are all carpooling down to Chapel Hill NC for the weekend, where we will learn everything there is to know about eating and farming sustainably. Details can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=249268766083&index=1
and you can register here:
www.syfas.org

See you on Tuesday!

-Cameron

New to the EC? Here's a taste of what's to come!

2009-08-30T21:29:00.006-04:00

Hello everyone,

My name is Bryce and I've been involved with the Environmental Coalition for several years now. I know many of you are stumbling on to this website to learn more about what the EC is about. I think one way to show you is to share with you a couple videos I've made in relation to conferences that we've attended and hosted!

Virginia Power Shift, Fall 2008

National Power Shift Rally, Fall 2007

Virginia Power Shift Bike Ride, Fall 2008

Updates and Introductions to another year

2009-08-12T14:59:00.004-04:00

Hey all, this is your new president here. I'll be serving through the academic year, 2009-2010. Please stand by while we get the web site up! We have a host of wonderful new officers as well, which, including me, are:

Elena Dulys, President

Alex Funk, Co-Vice President
funka@vt.edu

Lyndsay McKeever, Co-Vice President
mckeevla@vt.edu

Jarrad Farris, Treasurer
farris@vt.edu

Grace Friedhoff, Secretary
Gracef89@vt.edu

Kara Dodson, Activities Coordinator
Karad3@vt.edu

Liza Dobson, Recruitment Chair
Liza7@vt.edu

Kyle Gardiner, Media Relations Chair
kylegardiner@gmail.com

Nick Denny, State and Federal Action Chair
dennyn23@vt.edu

Maureen McGonagle, Coalition for Campus Sustainability Representative
Mqm138@vt.edu

Brianna Farr, SGA Representative
Farrb07@vt.edu

Jarrad Farris (farris@vt.edu), Grace Friedhoff (see above), Cameron Miksch (cmiksch@vt.edu); Webmasters

Lauren Moore, Historian
ldmhokie@vt.edu

Shout out for Sustainability Forum!

2009-04-11T18:47:00.003-04:00

Be sure to come out to the Shout Out for Sustainability forum in Torg 2150 which will start from 6:30pm and go to 7:30pm on Tuesday. Remember that we'll be having our EC meeting and elections right after in the same room!

Welcome!

2009-04-11T12:39:00.003-04:00

Welcome to the Environmental Coalition at Virginia Tech's new official webpage!

Please bare with us as this website is still under construction and may not be fully functional yet!