Category Archives: UD student involvement

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

Engineers Without Borders Talk

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On March 9th, we hosted Lia Dawson, Grace Moran, and Olivia Powell from UD’s Engineers Without Borders chapter. The ladies mentioned that Since 2002, the EWB has completed 698 projects in 46 countries with the help of its 16,810 members from 300 different chapters. At UD, EWB has completed two projects since 2006 and is currently working on two right now. The UD chapter includes 60 students and a little over 10 professionals (faculty members).

The EWB’s mission is to build stronger communities by alleviating social, economic, and political issues and to build stronger global leaders by equipping students to become leaders who are fit to handle the world’s most pressing problems.

One of their projects was completed in 2013, in Guatemala. The ladies mentioned that the Guatemala community had been split by a river, which caused an issue for locals who couldn’t get to the other side during flooding. So, the EWB helped by building a sustainable bridge that could withstand a magnitude seven earthquake. Currently, they are helping people in the Philippines and Malawi.

The EWB also has a local outreach program that has produced 60 + service hours, bolstered community engagement, and created good, local partnerships. The EWB’s vision is to expand local presence, expand engineering capacity, and challenge its students. This will allow for it to build stronger communities, focusing on: community development, education, agency, and creating student leaders.

For more information, please do check out the following link: http://www.ewb-ud.org/

To view the talk, please click on the following link: UD’s Engineers Without Borders Talk