The first Earth Club meeting of the semester will be held today, Tuesday at 5:00 in the McMillan Greenhouse at UNC-Charlotte. We will be making awesome earth club t-shirts and discussing plans for the upcoming year to see what people want to this year in Earth Club. We will also be hosting Carly Queen from the National Wildlife Foundation and Campus Ecology. We hope to see you there. Keep it green.
Pictures from 2008-2009 year
Here are some pictures from the 2008-2009 year of Earth Club.
Earth Club Update
Here are some updates for Earth Club for the summer of 2009. The niner night SOAR sessions will be starting on Thursday, June 11th Here are the rest of the dates for the SOAR niner nights: June 15th, June 17th, June 18th, June 22nd, June 24th, June 29th, July 1st, July 6th, July 8th, July 13th, and July 15th. We will be having our first Earth Club meeting of the 2009-2010 year on August 25th at 5 PM in the McMillan Greenhouse. We hope to see you all around in the fall.
Montana School District Bans “The Story of Stuff” from Classrooms
Missoula County Public Schools in Montana has recently declared the online video “The Story of Stuff” to be too controversial for classroom viewing.
According to the Missoulian, Kathleen Kennedy showed her biology class at Big Sky High School the video last October in order to generate a discussion. One parent, Mark Zuber, objected to the video and brought his grievance to the school board. He argued that the video The school board first ruled 4-3 in favor of showing the video, however, they ruled 4-3 on another vote that it was a violation of Missoula County’s academic freedom policy.
The Story of Stuff blog has a drafted letter that you can send to the Missoula County School Board asking them to reconsider their decision. You can write them at publiccomment@mcps.k12.mt.us, and the blog is also asking readers to cc and bcc the Missoulian at newsdesk@missoulian.com.
Post a comment on here if you decide to write, too. We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Upcoming Meeting Info!
Here’s what you can look forward to at the next couple of Earth Club meetings:
February 24th @5pm – Trashformations! Join us as we make arts and crafts using reused and recycled materials! Come ready to create origami creatures, recycled notebooks, and other amazing, recycled art! Some amazing pieces will be showcased at the 2009 Earth Day Festival, of course, you also have the option to take your work home, too. We’ll meet in the new Recycling modular unit behind the Facilities Management/Police building instead of the Greenhouse for this activity.
March 2nd @5pm – Meet David Jones, the UNC Charlotte Sustainability Coordinator! We’ll be back in the Greenhouse for an awesome presentation.
Join us, and make sure you bring a few friends. There’s enough Earth Love to go around for everyone!
Earth Club Election Results
The Earth Club elections for 2008-2009 are in, and here are your officers for next year:
President – Heather Williams
Vice President – Megan Smith
Treasurer – Brock Bowden
Secretary – Catherine Okafor
Congratulations to the officers-elect!
EPA board freezes construction of new coal-fired power plants in U.S.
“In a major win for environmentalists, the U.S. EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board handed down a landmark decision on Thursday that essentially puts a freeze on the construction of as many as 100 new coal-fired power plants around the U.S.”
Read the rest of this article here, on Grist.org: Is that a bonanza in your docket?
The Big Foot Project
Today I’m working on my final project for Persuasion (Communication Studies) class.
The rules: choose a product to promote using nonsense from a persuasion theory.
The product: Reusable mugs for sale in our campus cafe, Ritazza.
Bottom line: we’re trashy. The average American office worker uses more than 500 disposable coffee cups each year. (Get more trash facts: http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html)
The good news: we can make a difference in Mama Earth’s health by deciding in her favor when given a choice.
Clean Coal at the Joe Biden Rally
I saw my first clean coal shirt and hat today.
A few of my friends and I decided to go vote after attending the Joe Biden rally on campus. As we were waiting in line, a tall fellow stood in line behind us, and I noticed that he was wearing a blue shirt that said, “Clean Coal: America’s Power.” The shirt also had on it a coal briquette with a plug protruding from it. It was the first clean coal shirt I had seen in person, and along with it, the fellow also had the white hat with block letters that said, “Clean Coal.”
I asked the fellow where he got the shirt, and he said that someone came up to him and asked if he was cold, to which he replied, “Yes.” The person then gave him a clean coal shirt and hat.
I then asked him how much he knew about clean coal, and coal in general, and he said, “All coal is dirty.” We then talked a little bit about other solutions, and while he wasn’t completely convinced that wind and solar could provide all the energy that we needed, but he was convinced that we had to move in a different direction. He also knew about mountaintop removal coal mining. After we talked energy, we began talking about the humor of elections, and other subjects.
Americans for Balanced Energy Choices just wasted another t-shirt and hat, it seems.
Save the date: Nov. 22
Dear volunteers,
Join us in restoring health to the Catawba River by planting over 8,000 trees!
When: November 22nd, from 9:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.
Where to meet: Map to Henderson Park Swim Club
What to bring: We will supply tools but are expecting a big turnout. So, if you can bring a shovel or gardening tools that would help ensure enough tools for everyone. If it rains, bring rain gear. If it storms, we will notify you and reschedule.
Join us in a celebration: 1:00-3:00 p.m. A thank you luncheon and celebration at the completion of the event will mark the culmination of our initiative to protect and clean up Mountain Island Lake.
Registration: Register quickly as there is a maximum capacity and also we want to provide enough food. Registration only takes a minute. http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageNavigator/Fix_Mt_Island_Lake
The Sierra Club’s Central Piedmont Group, American Forests, County of Mecklenburg and Central Piedmont Community College want to thank you for participating in the Mountain Island Lake restoration project.
Please contact me with any questions or comments.
Best,
Kara Craig
Sierra Club
(919) 833-8467
kara.craig@sierraclub.org
