Results!

The results of our 350 Green Project are in!

362 people joined up with the Center, SIFE, and Bridging the Gap to reduce their individual carbon footprints. This surpassed our goal of 350 people!

Together, all 362 of us have contributed to a total annual carbon savings of 1,334,661 pounds.

We had our prize drawing on Friday to celebrate our success, and the winners were Matt Drabenstott, Phillip Cuendet, Rebecca Ewing, and Alixandra Dennis. Congratulations to the winners, and to the whole Jewell community for making such a huge difference!

This marks the end of our Jewell campaign, but you can continue to sign up at Bridging the Gap. If you haven't done so, join this important effort and Do Five Green Things!

Green ideas for dorms?

I just found an article from the Utne Reader about environmental sustainability and the unique challenges apartment dwelling brings to the table. I know many of our students here have similar concerns about living in the dorms. We as a college community are working on ways we can address the sustainability of our campus and dorms, but what can you the students do on your individual level? I think the article about apartments has some good ideas that apply to dorm living too.

• your choice of cleaing products (provided you ever clean that thing that is!)
• use programmable and/or smart power strips
• reduce the amount of meat and processed foods you eat in the cafeteria and in the dorms
  
• use less hot water
• turn lights and things off when you're not using them
• join the 350 Green Campaign!
  

There's a LOT more where these ideas came from in the article itself. Check it out.

Are there things that you do in dorms or apartments that you would share with us?

Is 350 your number?

Welcome to a blog that talks about issues of justice and sustainability. What is important about the number 350? This is the acceptable level of parts per million of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Right now we are at approximately 387. Awareness needs to increase so that the number decreases. To learn more go to http://www.350.org. Here at Jewell we are interested in two numbers. We need 350 people to pledge that they will do 5 things to reduce their personal carbon footprint. The other number will be the tons of carbon dioxide that is reduced through these voluntary reductions. Can the actions of one person make a difference?