Category Archives: Committee Updates

Green Liaisons Committee Update

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I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy so far this semester in the midst of the COVID mayhem. There are a few updates about the Green Liaisons Committee that I would like to share with you all. Moving forward we will be using a Facebook Group to connect with each other, so I encourage you all to join! If you have trouble with the hyper link above, search “University of Delaware Green Liaisons Committee” on Facebook, and request access that way. As a member of the group you will be given access to a shared google calendar that will be updated with all of the events hosted by different environmental groups on or around campus. You will also be able to utilize a directory of relevant contact information such as different campus group executive board members. I know COVID is hindering events right now, but we will try to make the best of this with online speakers and events.
I am still working out the kinks, but if you are currently on the executive board of a student group at UD and are interested in being a part of our collaborative committee, I ask that you send me an email at hdzuray@udel.edu so that I can ensure you are able add events to the google calendar. Additionally, please let me know if you would like to be included in the directory, which will only be available to members of the Facebook group. If so, please send your group name, position, and email address.
Hopefully this change will increase awareness of what’s happening on campus related to sustainability, and make it easier to get in touch will each other. This is a bit of a learning curve, so if you have any issues with the Facebook group, the calendar, or any other difficulties please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Sustainability Council Launch

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The University of Delaware has officially launched its first Sustainability Council!

With support from the Office of the Provost and Office of the Executive Vice President, the Sustainability Council is tasked with creating a formal sustainability plan for the University of Delaware. It is comprised of 24 members from across the campus community, including students (undergrad and graduate), faculty and staff.

The Sustainability Council assumes all programming and responsibilities from the Sustainability Task Force, including Green Liaisons. Green Liaisons will continue to be a platform for student, faculty and staff engagement with campus sustainability topics. It will not fundamentally change.

Students will continue to set the agenda and tone of Green Liaisons, including campus advocacy. The Council will provide admin support by a Graduate Fellow to help Green Liaisons continue to thrive.

Thank You and Goodbye from Ali

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Hello everybody,

As I prepare to graduate in the coming days, I wanted to thank you all for providing an opportunity to serve as Green Liaisons chair.

Green Liaisons is a phenomenal, unique institution to this University. It is a collective, student-faculty led sustainability initiative which brings in a manifold of speakers in the sustainability realm to educate all those interested about what they are up to. Look through this blog to see some of its accolades. As Henry David Thoreou put it, in social institutions, we may discover the causes of all past changes in the present invariable order of society. This is something unique to environmental disciplines, and in sustainability philosophy. Throughout my tenure, we brought in representatives from Green Allies, the Nature Conservancy, and Clean Bay Renewables, among others. It does not seem like a lot, but coming to these events and showing profound interest in the program is what keeps sustainability thriving. A well functioning institution requires public participation. From inviting various speakers, supporting campus-wide sustainability initiatives, and getting to know people of all walks through this experience has been a remarkable experience for me as your co-chair. As I enter the next phase of my life, I want to express gratitude for all of those who engaged in this experience. And for everyone moving forward, I urge a sense of sustainability.

A new student co-chair has been found. Hadley Dzuray will take the helm immediately as the new co-chair. She is a rising senior studying Public Policy, Global Studies, and Energy/Environmental Policy, who is involved in various sustainability initiatives around campus. She will work alongside Francis (faculty-chair) and the Sustainability Taskforce to cultivate Green Liaisons. She has the vigor and spirit for making Green Liaisons an even better program than I ever could have. Feel free to contact her or both of us for any reason (speaker suggestions, food requests, “get me off the contacts list I graduated five years ago,” etc).

Thank you all again. I promise this is my last contact with y’all forever, but feel free to email me with any additional feedback amahdi@udel.edu. I urge everybody to continue involvement in environmental efforts, let it be with Green Liaisons or outside of it.

First Talk of the Semester! (Spring 2019)

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On March 6, we hosted CleanBay Renewables. They are a sustainable engineering company based in Westover, Maryland, but with a few locations across the area, including in Georgetown, Delaware. It was founded in 2013 by Tom Spangler and is the only business of its kind. CleanBay Renewables uses anaerobic digestion and nutrient removal techniques to fully recycle chicken waste into clean power.

Their technology processes in a fully closed system to avoid waste stream, protecting local ecosystems from harm. This technique not only strengthens the electrical power grid, but it also provides an auxiliary for farmers. Delaware is a national leader in chicken production, so this technology is pivotal for the area.

CleanBay currently has 12 trucks functioning daily and they process 90,000 tons of chicken litter a day- enough to power 9000 homes. annually The digesters they use consume 1.5 million tons of water, but it is sustainably done so that the water returns into the ecosystem after use. Their technology produces biogas and digestate during processing, with the digestate being turned into phosphorus pellets. Given the high phosphorus in the area which hurts aquatic life, these pellets are transported to phosphorus-deficient areas in the nation to help food production.

This new and exciting technology was great to hear about and we would love to see what happens next. For more information, please go to cleanbayrenewables.com or contact us! Check out our Instagram https://www.instagram.com/udgreenliaisons/ for photos from the event!

Ali Mahdi

amahdi@udel.edu

Earth Week 2014

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Earth Week 2014 kicked off last week with a wonderful performance from Climbing PoeTree. The Earth Week committee has many more great events planned for the university community. Inspired by the original Earth Day in 1970, UD is putting environmental concerns front and center through teach-ins, discussions, and other educational opportunities and events.

To learn more about the events scheduled from April 21 through April 27, please visit:  http://www.udel.edu/earthweek/.

Green Liaisons will have a presence at the Green Expo on Thursday, April 24 and we will be having our monthly luncheon on April 25 at noon in the Perkins Alumni Lounge. More details to come!

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Happy Earth Day

Climbing PoeTree

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CPT by Pablo Aguilar

DENIN’s Student Programs Committee will be kicking off the UD’s Earth Week festivities on Wednesday, April 16, by hosting a performance of the Brooklyn-based duo Climbing PoeTree.

Alixa Garcia and Naima Penniman, the women of Climbing PoeTree, interweave spoken word, hip hop, and award-winning multimedia theatre to tell powerful stories of liberation, state and personal violence, social, environmental, racial and sexual justice, women’s empowerment, love and human transcendence.

Climbing PoeTree will be performing segments from their acclaimed multimedia production Hurricane Season: The Hidden Messages in Water, which uses poetry, shadow art, dance, film and animation to examine the unnatural disasters facing humanity on a daily basis through the lens of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

The FREE event will start at 7:00pm in Perkins Student Center’s West Lounge.

Earth Week

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Earth Week 2013 kicks off on April 15.  The Earth Week committee has many great events planned including discussions, mini film festival, sustainable food workshop, a community clean up event and a spring yard sale.  Each day between 4/15 and 4/22 you can find something going on around campus related to environmental sustainability.  Please visit the site for more information and get involved!  http://www.udel.edu/earthweek/

Campus Sustainability Day Schedule

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Campus Sustainability Day is coming up next week on Wednesday October 24th, so please mark your calendars with out exciting list of events. All events are free and open to the public…show up, learn about sustainability on campus, and enjoy!

  •  No-Waste Breakfast- Peter Krawchyk our University architect and campus planner will be on hand to discuss the new buildings and infrastructure on campus and their various forms of green design. The no-waste breakfast will feature hot tea and coffee and light breakfast options, all of which will be composted or recycled after the event. The breakfast will be held in the Perkins Gallery beginning at 8:30AM.
  • Keynote Lecture: What’s Gotten Into Us: Toxic Chemicals, Our Health, and the Environment– Dr. McKay Jenkins, Tilghman Professor of English, will discuss his research concerning synthetic chemicals in the environment and how they invade in our own bodies. These are not just the toxins leaking out of industrial dumps–they are the chemicals leaking into us from the product we use everyday. Join us for this enlightening lecture to learn where these chemicals come from and how we may avoid excessive exposure to them. The lecture will be held in 004 Kirkbride, 11:15-12:00PM.
  • Green Expo on the Green- Diverse groups from across campus will come together to showcase their sustainable actions at UD, network with other groups, and encourage sustainability at all levels of involvement. There will be sustainability-themed giveaways, interactive sustainability exhibits, green artwork by students from the College School, and UD Creamery ice cream samples. The expo will be held on the Main Green in front of Gore Hall, 12:00-2:00PM.
  • Hands-On Composting Workshop- The UD Food and Garden Policy      Committee will host a hands-on composting workshop at the English Language      Institute Garden led by Jason Begany. Jason will run the composting      demonstration at an active compost pile where he will discuss the evolution of composting in our society, the dos and dont’s of successful compost piles, and all the composting options for your home. The workshop will provide hot tea and coffee, which will be added to the compost pile at the end of the event! The workshop will be held at the ELI Garden, located at 189 W. Main Street, 5:15-6:15PM.
  • Live Music at Laird– Students 4 the Environment will host outdoor evening activities featuring tye-dye (please bring your own clothing item), live music from UD’s own a cappella groupds, and a compact fluourescent lighbulb (CFL) giveaway. These activities will be held on Laird Turf, 6:30-8:30PM.

For more information about Campus Sustainability Day events and scheduling, visit our website www.udel.edu/sustainability/event.