Green Gallaudet new mottos!...VOTE...VOTE!

Greetings,

Green Gallaudet is on the roll to save the world of Gallaudet University from pollution! To behold Green Gallaudet's new brand and official motto on water bottles, we need YOU to pick THREE motto out of SEVEN mottos. And then, you'll have Green Gallaudet's mind-blowing water bottle in your hands with no time! 

YOUR opinion is very important to us and the community of Gallaudet!! PLEASE VOTE!

(Please copy and paste link below this to vote)

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/T88K6C2

One fast green tip of the week--

"Be a smart consumer. Avoid products that have excessive or wasteful packaging, and you'll be shaping how products are packaged in the future!"

However, you may wonder when will Green Gallaudet sell the water bottles. We are going to sell them after gathering all votes by this Sunday, December 11th. The prices will be discussed during general meeting. 

Cheers,
Green Gallaudet team

Want to be part of the Gallaudet community?...BE THERE!

2022 Campus Plan Sustainability Workshop 

DON'T FORGET...DON'T FORGET...

Be there and get involved!

Cheers!
Green Gallaudet

2022 Campus Plan Sustainability Workshop

Greetings,

The members of Green Gallaudet will host a Workshop of ‘2022 Campus Plan Sustainability’ on Tuesday, November 29 during Common Time (12:30-1:50 p.m.) at the SLCC Atrium. The administrators of Gallaudet emphasize the significance of Green Gallaudet’s contribution because we are the voice for the Gallaudet students and the community.
The next workshop will include different topics including:

-       Energy Conservation

-       Operations

-        Utilities & Infrastructure Upgrades

-       Building Design Standards

-       Landscape & Water Management

-        Transportation

-       Parking

-       Food

-       Waste & Recycling

-       Academics & Curriculum (sustainability in courses and coursework)

-       Promoting a Culture of Sustainability and Stewardship.

A friendly reminder, we are the VOICE for Gallaudet community, we will need all of you to be part of this workshop so therefore our VOICES will be heard! This is a strong interactive opportunity to share ideas that Gallaudet University can sustain greener campus for the next 10 years and beyond!

Please attend to this workshop and don’t forget your ideas!

WANT TO VISIT AN ORGANIC FARM?!

Student Body Government, Bon Appetit and GSR 300 are sponsoring a day trip to Even' Star Organic Farm in Lexington Park, Maryland. Bon Appetit will provide free breakfast and free lunch, and the transportation will be provided as well!

This unique farm is a highly diverse certified organic farm-- growing over 120 varieties of vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers.

Got kids? No problem! This will be a wonderful opportunity for the kids to learn and explore more about the organic farm!!

WHEN? This SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12th!! 

Please email bethany.gehman@gallaudet.edu if you are interested in going!

Meet at Benson Hall Circle at 7:50am this Saturday, November 12th SHARP! 

Stay Green!!

Green Gallaudet Fourth General Meeting

-T-shirts should be arriving soon!

-Green Bottle has been voted for BPA Free, from GreenBottle.online.com, 25oz with twist cap. Silver bottle with Green Gallaudet Logo

-SAB has approved for main buildings to replace the water fountain to a water fountain with filtered water dispenser included

- Need more ideas on how to improve campus, will have a meeting on Nov 29^th

- Green Gallaudet office? Working on it!

- Educator would like you to be more involved if you are interested in research, BnB articles or workshop, please contact Stephanie Johnston

- Fundraising, hopefully fundraise left over mugs, smoothie and have a paper for students to write down their ideas to help promote campus green environment

- Stickers as a reminder for switchers, will receive design soon

- Volunteering for Garden, please contact Lauren Sprague

- Green Spotlight with Bison TV

 Ideas:

-Collect metals and replace for cash to help the horses rescue farms (more information coming up)

-Bison TV, Crowded episode, commercial in between and give cast to use our products

            -Earth hour, preparation for next semester

-End of semester, boxes in dorm for students to discard where we can recycle or donate/ take items

Cheers,

Green Gallaudet

General Meeting update

The Highlight of Green Gallaudet's Third General Meeting

-18 people showed up and we have 52 members that already paid.
-We will be working on getting water bottles and recycle green bags so we can get $$ for Green Gallaudet
-Organic T-Shirt will be ordered tomorrow so it should arrive within 2 weeks or so!
-President of Green Gallaudet will be working on getting official office for Green Gallaudet, solar panel, stickies, greenhouse, and painting trash bins to Blue and Buff colors.
-The main goal of Green Gallaudet for this semester is to set stability.
-We made $176.38 profit from selling smoothies and old Green Gallaudet T-shirt during homecoming day!

Cheers,
Green Gallaudet team

Green Gallaudet team

Lorne Farovitch, President

Jessica Israel, Vice president

Emilia Nowalski, Secretary

Flynn Rosko, Treasurer

Serina Arellano, Public Relations

Lauren Sprague, Garden Keeper

Samantha Bragg, Fundraiser

Green Gallaudet NEW logo announcement

Green Gallaudet NEW BRAND logo has chosen, after the prolonged weekend of Gallaudet community votes. We earnestly thank you for your support.

With this new logo, we’ll order t-shirts and water bottles for Homecoming! Be sure to save money for Green Gallaudet’s fantastic t-shirts and water bottles! 

Sincerely, 

Green Gallaudet team

Gallaudet Green with FIVE NEW LOGOS! VOTE VOTE VOTE!

Greetings!,

Green Gallaudet want YOU to...
... go to survey link
... take your time looking around the survey
... vote one logo out of 5 logos!
and CAN you do that?

Let's vote!
Copy, paste this link to new window:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/88J2VM7

Your VOTE is very IMPORTANT to us!

(DEADLINE to vote by Oct. 9, Sunday evening)

TAKE BON APPÉTIT MANAGEMENT COMPANY’S “EAT LOCAL CHALLENGE”

IN YOUR CAFÉ

Once a year, Bon Appétit Management Company issues an “Eat Local Challenge” to all of our chefs. On Tuesday, September 27^th, come to your café and enjoy a dinner that is made completely of ingredients from within a 150 mile radius of the café. This act, while seemingly simple, has far reaching implications.

FLAVOR

At Bon Appétit Management Company, everything starts with flavor; we are committed to creating food that simply tastes good. Food that is grown locally is fresher and dramatically more flavorful than food that is harvested early so it can be transported great distances. Locally produced food is picked at the height of freshness, often making it to market within 24 hours of being picked, while food from non-local sources may have been in transit for more than seven days and been warehoused for many months. Have you ever eaten berries straight from the field or picked an apple right off the tree? Wouldn’t you like all your produce to taste like that? On September 27^th it will!

ENVIRONMENT

Local farmers, who use more sustainable growing practices, act as stewards of the land. By buying from local growers you help support sustainable farming practices that nourish and replenish the local land rather than stripping it. You have the power to ensure that the food you buy is produced in a manner that steers away from pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics.

COMMUNITY

The purchases you make can have a profound impact on your community. The family farm is dying and when the family farm dies so too does our agricultural heritage. However, if you eat locally then you are simultaneously investing in your own community and helping to preserve local farmers and artisans ensuring that their traditions continue. If you buy local, you are helping to ensure that we can savor these authentic flavors in the future.

There are many other reasons to eat local, and on Tuesday, September 27^th while grabbing your dinner, pause to find out more about how your food choices impact our local and global communities.

Location: Community Garden

Time: 4:30pm – 7:30pm

For more information on food and sustainability sustainability, visit www.cafebonappetit.com.

Green Festival

Nothing to do on October 23/ 24? Come volunteer at DC's Green Festival!

More information is available on this website--

www.greenfestivalvolunteers.org/dc

Interested? Contact Janna DiBiase @ janna.dibiase@gallaudet.edu

Everyone on campus can play an important part in trimming utility costs

From Daily Digest:

Taking a few cost-saving measures and multiplying them by many people can amount to big savings when it comes to utilities consumption. By keeping mindful of this equation, every member of the campus community can play an important role in helping Gallaudet reduce its utility costs.

Next to salaries and benefits, utilities-electricity, gas, oil, and water--represent the University's largest expense. Gallaudet projects that it will spend approximately $8.2 million on utilities this year-twice the rate of five years ago. The University's Facilities Department is aggressively taking steps to reduce the amount of utilities the campus consumes, and in a May 26 email, Vice President for Administration and Finance Paul Kelly encouraged the community to join in these efforts. The campus received good news in a July 21 follow-up email from Kelly, who said that these measures are beginning to pay off--Gallaudet expects to save $500,000 on its utility bills by the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

This is only the beginning. The University is reviewing a number of additional steps to take in reducing its utilities consumption, and a vital part of this important initiative relies on the community's participation. The utilities market is a volatile one-a hurricane that disrupts an off-shore oil refinery, the current massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, or the high demand for electricity caused by this summer's record-breaking heat wave can cause energy prices to soar. While consumers' bills are dependent on market fluctuations, the impact can be lessened if everyone on campus takes a few simple but effective measures.

The primary ways that Gallaudet has saved money on energy costs to date are by renegotiating its electricity and natural gas contracts with Hess Energy Services for a combined savings of $200,000 in June compared with June 2009, and through participating in the Load Demand Response program. The latter is a partnership the University has with Hess to reduce electrical usage during peak demand-noon to 8 p.m. The program requires participants to turn off nonessential lights, office equipment, and appliances so that residences and small businesses can avoid disruption in service. In return, Gallaudet receives a monthly royalty check. In the 15 months that Gallaudet has been involved in the program, it has been required to reduce energy use on two days when the temperature soared--June 11 and July 7. "I'm very satisfied with the results," said Stephen Kalmus, Gallaudet's manager of utility services. "There was great cooperation from the campus; everybody seemed enthusiastic about doing their part."

Gallaudet recently had a six-month energy study conducted by Johnson Controls, Inc. that resulted in a 1,000-page report on ways the campus can reduce energy use. The recommendations, which would cost $12 million to implement, would result in a savings of $2 million annually, meaning that it wouldn't take long for the University to recoup the initial expense and begin making substantial savings. The report is now being reviewed by the administration.

Facilities has established an energy committee that meets regularly to discuss ways to reduce energy consumption. As a result, a number of steps have been taken, and others are under consideration. For example, air conditioning and lighting have been discontinued during the summer months in unoccupied residence halls at the University and the Clerc Center. In addition, the temperature to the chillers that provide air conditioning to campus buildings has been raised a couple of degrees. Regarding future measures, Facilities is looking at reducing the University's fleet of service vehicles, installing low flow toilets, efficient shower heads, and faucets, installing efficient lighting systems, reducing irrigation system usage, coordinating with Clerc Center and University pool supervisors to reduce water heating over the summer, and enhancing campus environmental controls to better monitor mechanical systems. Additionally, reducing heating and air conditioning levels to campus buildings on evenings, weekends, and holidays will result in savings. Because lighting accounts for 28 percent of energy costs, another option being discussed is installing motion detectors in offices and public areas that would shut off lights automatically if no movement is sensed for a predetermined period of time-say, 30 minutes. The lights could be reactivated with the wave of a hand, or an override switch could simply turn off the system.

While large-scale plans such as these can result in a dramatic reduction in energy use, every member of the campus community can do his or her part to contribute to the effort. Facilities has compiled a list of some simple steps that people can take to help Gallaudet.

• Incandescent lights should be turned off immediately when they aren't needed. This type of lighting has largely been phased out at Gallaudet in favor of fluorescent lighting. According to Kalmus, fluorescent lights require about 15 minutes to reach full power, so he recommends leaving them on unless the area will be unoccupied for a longer period of time.
• If an area receives sufficient natural light, keep the lights off during the day.
• Turn off computers, copiers, and other office machines when not in use.
• Turn off heat and air conditioning units when leaving for the day.
• To ensure that the above steps are followed, assign the last person leaving the office for the day the responsibility of shutting off all lights and heat or air conditioning.
• Report running toilets, dripping faucets, and other sources of water that is being wasted.
• Don't use personal appliances; instead use those already on hand in residence halls or office kitchens.

"As you can tell, energy stewardship is not just a Facilities team solution but a community solution that I am confident we all can contribute to set our campus up for energy savings success," said Dr. Mel Batten-Mickens, executive director of Facilities. "As our team of talented engineers design and plan increased facility technologies we will be able to provide increased data analysis to develop solid foundations to further support improvement areas that will enable our campus to age gracefully with an efficient operation."

On the Green goes Green!

To: Gallaudet community

From: Office of Public and Media Relations

Re: On the Green going green

July 9, 2010

On the Green, Gallaudet's newsletter for faculty and staff, has changed several times since the first issue —mimeographed on 8.5 x 11-inch paper—appeared in 1971. The Office of Public and Media Relations is pleased to announce that today it is changing once again--this time to an all-electronic format. The change is being enacted on a trial basis over the summer months.

On the Green will now refer to an online news stream that will deliver all Public and Media Relations news stories on one central website. Readers may have noticed that this format is already in place. New stories will continue to show up in Daily Digest and news.gallaudet.edu. Selected stories will also appear on the lower half of the Gallaudet home page.

Other news sources, including the slide show on the upper half of the Gallaudet home page and the stories on the Clerc Center's home page, will continue as before. Some Clerc Center news will also appear on the On the Green page. Public and Media Relations will continue to print Gallaudet Todaymagazine and newsletter, while publications like the Alumni e-Newsletter(generated by the Office of Alumni Relations) and the Family and Parent Connection will continue to appear in electronic form. The On the Greentransition will not affect the newsletters of individual programs and departments.

Several factors prompted the change in On the Green. One was campus response. Public and media Relations saw a steady stream of requests by departments to receive fewer print copies of On the Green, or to stop receiving the print version altogether. Requesters cited both environmental concerns and a preference to read news electronically. This response is consistent with many colleges and universities, which have also opted for all-electronic communication with campus constituencies.

The change is also a logical fit in a world that has grown accustomed to a 24/7 news cycle. Publishing articles quickly is becoming more essential every day, especially if Gallaudet is to reach a media-savvy generation of prospective students.

In brief, the new version of On the Green will have several advantages:

• More timely news delivery
• Lower environmental impact
• Cost savings
• More photos, all in color
• Option to add video
• Ability to hyperlink to other Web stories, department Web pages, etc.
• An RSS feed that delivers news to subscribers as soon as it goes live
• Option to print each article using any Internet browser's print command

An additional change is that the news stories will lean toward shorter, snappier copy in the general style of Web stories. In-depth news still has a place in publications like Gallaudet Today Magazine and the occasional electronic feature story.

Public and Media Relations believes this news arrangement better meets the needs of most of its readers. However, the office staff realizes this interrupts news delivery for some readers, especially those with limited access to the Internet at work. Please keep in mind that this summer serves as a pilot period, so feel free to share feedback with the Office of Public and Media Relations. As the fall semester approaches, the system will be evaluated and a decision will be made on whether to continue it through the academic year.

Public and Media Relations encourages faculty, staff, teachers, alumni, and students to contact us with news and information. Your tips on upcoming events, research, curriculum innovations, professional development, faculty and student accomplishments, and more are always appreciated.

Thank you for your ongoing readership and support. Public and Media Relations hopes you will enjoy the next generation of On the Green.

Photo: On the Green through the years (counterclockwise, from center): The first version of the faculty/staff newsletter began on September 8, 1971, printed on one page--front and back--of 8.5" x 11" paper. This modest format continued until October 1, 1979, when the publication became a four-column, four-page newsletter and included photos. The newsletter underwent a major redesign in September 1997 and continued in this format over the next 13 years with only minor changes.

Gallaudet Reduces Energy Use

from daily digest 6/6/2010:

Gallaudet partners with Hess Energy Services to reduce energy use

Gallaudet has partnered with its electrical supplier, Hess Energy Services, and signed on to the ‘Load Demand Response' program, which requires the campus to commit to reducing electrical usage during times of peak demand when local power grids are under significant stress.

The Hess ‘Demand Response' program complements the University's efforts by enabling it to reduce energy when the grid is under stress, while assisting overhead costs through additional revenue the program provides. Not only does this save money, but it responsibly reduces the impact the campus community has on the environment and provides a value added service to the local community by helping to assure that local homes and businesses have adequate electrical power, avoiding brown outs or complete electrical power outages.

Demand Response runs June to September and may involve one to 10 interruptions per season. Historical average has been one event per year over the last five years. Interruption duration may be up to six hours (The average over the last five years has been 2.48 hours) and events may take place between noon and 8 p.m. weekdays.

How can you be a part of the Load Demand Response program? The University relies on faculty, students, and staff to make the program successful. The campus will be notified via the Emergency Broadcast Announcement and cable TV system, which will say, for example: "There is an electrical load curtailment event in effect between the hours of 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Please turn off all unnecessary electrical lights, office equipment, and appliances."

When the message is received, please follow the instructions. Anything that can be turned off will help.

Together, the campus can make a difference by saving money on utility costs while being a good neighbor to the local community.

Going Green: Deaf Kids Share Ideas on How to Reduce Our Carbon Footprint

Going Green! was the theme of an annual contest hosted by Gallaudet's Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center. Over 645 entries were submitted from all over the USA and Canada from deaf and hard of hearing children and this online magazine shows their essay, art and photos of their ASL video submissions.

Hosting a Green contest means they need to walk their talk. And they did! They used soy ink and paper from sustainably managed forests that conserve biodiversity... they plant over 650 million new trees per year to keep forests thriving.... You go, Gallaudet! Some snapshots of the winners below. Go see the full magazine yourself at this link. Enjoy- these Green deaf kids are our future!