In the world’s first global election, between Earth and global warming, you can VOTE EARTH by switching off your lights for one hour on Saturday, March 28, from 8:30 to 9:30 pm. Sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund and Earth Hour, VOTE EARTH hopes to engage 1 billion people in this initiative as a call for world leaders to take serious action at the United Nations Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.
Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia in March 2007 when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008, 50 million people participated in Earth Hour. As of this publication, 1,672 cities, towns, and municipalities in 80 countries have committed to VOTE EARTH for Earth Hour 2009. Click on the link above to register your commitment to VOTE EARTH.
Earth Day - April 22
According to Earth Day Network, Earth Day, April 22, is the largest secular holiday in the world, celebrated by more than a billion people.
This spring, Berkeley campuses will be celebrating Earth Day in a variety of ways.
Westchester Campus students and staff will participate in a park clean-up.
Bergen Campus students and staff will be invited to submit projects for a recycled art contest. Project guidelines will be announced on Earth Day, April 22, with a display, judging, and reception to be held in May.
New York City students are invited to attend the Earth Day Fair at Grand Central Terminal. Student Development staff are also looking into volunteer opportunities at the Earth Day Fair.
"Recycle Your Style!" is returning to the Garret Mountain Campus, where students, faculty, and staff are all welcome to recycle their old clothes with tie-dye on Wednesday, April 22, during Activity Period (11:00 am-12:00 pm) outside the Student Center.
The Middlesex Campus will present "Trash to Treasure," an interactive show that will demonstrate how to turn recyclable items into reusable products such as jewelry, toys, and invitations.
Online students and staff will be sharing recipes for "recycled" food (aka leftovers). The Green Project online club is also in the process of making Earth Day plans.
Watch for upcoming announcements for additional campus Earth Day activities.
From changing light bulbs to planting trees to buying recycled products, these actions can help you reduce your contribution to global warming.
More About Light Switches
Berkeley staff and students are encouraged to turn off lights whenever a room will be left empty. Watch for new signs that will soon be displayed near light switches. In addition, motion sensor light switches are being tested at each of the campuses.
Have you considered all the ways that water affects you and your environment? The following articles highlight some important water-related sustainability issues.
Tap vs. Bottled
Health officials remind us to drink eight glasses of water a day. If you took that water from the tap it would cost you about 49 cents a year. But, if you drank the same amount in bottled water, it could cost you as much as $1,400 a year. Read complete article.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: The World's Largest Dump
In an area in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii, perhaps 1.5 times the size of the United States and 100 feet deep, floats a garbage-strewn soup of plastic, clothing, fish nets, and other man-made objects that is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Read complete article.
Which Regions Will Have Access to Enough Water in 50 Years?
Researchers at the University of Kassel in Germany have developed a model of how climatic, social, economic, and industrial changes over time will affect the availability of water at different times in the future. Read complete article.
Check Out Hot, Flat, and Crowded
Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution – And How It Can Renew America proposes that using American ingenuity and resources to address the environmental crisis will also help the United States get back on track as a global leader.
Friedman's Code Green strategy calls on U.S. leaders to develop policies that allow clean energy, energy efficiency, and conservation to become competitive in the free market. He defines the winning formula as "a renewable energy ecosystem for innovating, generating, and deploying clean power, energy efficiency, resource productivity, and conservation < (less than) the true cost of burning coal, oil, and gas."
In the book, Friedman discusses our climate change goal: “To avoid the unmanageable and manage the unavoidable,” and illustrates the scale of the endeavor: “If we can pull this off, it will be the biggest single peacetime project humankind will have ever undertaken.”
Readers will be challenged, enlightened, and inspired as they consider many of Freidman’s suggestions for the future. Copies of Hot, Flat, and Crowded can be found in the Berkeley College library.
More About Light Switches
