Upcoming Eco-Events

TO SLU Faculty, Staff, and Students:

Several years ago the Mellon Foundation awarded SLU a four-year $800,000 grant for environmental education, research and advocacy. Over the first two years we have funded approximately twenty-four proposals from faculty and students.

The Mellon Environmental Education Initiative Steering Committee announces the call for proposals to be due by February 17, 2012 (Faculty/Staff), March 7, 2012 (Students). We invite faculty,staff, and students to submit proposals for projects that meet the spirit and goals of the Mellon grant. These goals include the following:

1. Increase in-depth experiential learning opportunities for students to apply and discover knowledge through firsthand “field” opportunities off campus, including environmental research, advocacy, internships, activism, and seminar/studio study.
2. Promote and foster opportunities for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaborations related to the study, sustainability, and protection of the environment.
3. Implement project activities (i.e., increased field study and advocacy activities) in environmentally sensitive ways for short and long term benefit to the environment.

Proposed activities should take place summer or fall 2012, or during winter break 2012/2013 (Faculty/Staff only).

Please note that our pool of resources dedicated to funding faculty/student projects is limited, thus we anticipate that this year’s funding cycle will be very competitive. Please read the application guidelines and supplemental criteria on the Mellon Initiative website carefully to ensure that your proposal meets one or more of our criteria. Students, please note if your project involves travel including (overnight or international travel) please you’ll need to use the travel registry on the CIIS website to ensure compliance with University travel policies.

The Steering Committee is particularly interested in proposals that have long term environmental benefits, contribute to regional sustainability, or durable impact on the SLU curriculum. Projects that enhance inter- and multi-disciplinary collaboration across the campus among faculty, staff or students will be favored.

In the spirit of reducing our environmental footprint, the application process will be largely online. Please draft your application form, proposal narrative and budget as electronic documents for uploading.

Should you have questions, we encourage you to contact Mary Hussmann or Carrie Johns, co-chairs, or any member of the Steering Committee (Carol Cady, Alexander Stewart, Eric Williams-Bergen, Brad Baldwin, Devon Stein, Alison Del Rossi, Karl Schonberg and Carol Smith).

Help St. Lawrence beat out the competition during Campus Conservation Nationals, an electricity reduction competition for campus residence halls.

From February 15^th through March 5^th all St. Lawrence student residences will compete against rivals Skidmore, Hamilton, Colgate and Hobart and Williams Smith to see who can reduce electricity use by the greatest percentage. 

Use our building dashboard to track your building's performance, tune in, unplug and make SLU proud.

The second Dig In! Food and Garden Conference will be held March 19, 2012 in Potsdam, N.Y.  Dig In! will offer information, inspiration and resources to develop and strengthen food-based projects at the organizational level in the North Country and beyond.  Workshops, plenary sessions, facilitated discussions and action-planning sessions will educate and build skills to alleviate burdens of poor health and poverty while fostering healthy, secure and connected food systems.  

The conference focus will address gardening, composting, purchasing, and nutrition education in schools, businesses and communities in addition to other relevant topics, organized in four workshop tracks:  Schools, Worksites, Retail & Restaurants, and Communities.  Participants may include school staff and parents; business owners and employees; and community leaders, among others.  

The event is a collaborative effort between the Health Initiative, lead organizer, and other area organizations:  Cornell Cooperative Extension St. Lawrence County; GardenShare; Office of Educational Partnerships at Clarkson University; Sustainable Living Project; UShare; and WorkWell Investments.

Registration for the Dig In! Food and Garden Conference will open January 13, 2012 and space is limited. 

To register, sponsor or learn more, please visit the Health Initiative.

Registration is now open for the 8th Annual Northeast Campus Sustainability Consortium Conference: Climate, Community, and Culture! The conference is being held April 2-4, 2012 at the Syracuse University Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center.  Register to attend the conference and explore the many interconnected and inter-disciplinary sustainability issues affecting our campuses.

• Sustainability 101
• Community relations, operations and municipality collaborations
• Community-based research and education
• The next frontier in advancing campus sustainability

The conference keynote speaker will be Oren Lyons, Onondaga Nation Turtle Clan faithkeeper, Council of North American Aboriginal Nations member, and an award-winning activist and speaker.

If you are interested in presenting at the conference, please submit your proposal by January 20, 2012.