Projects

Projects:

Organic and Fair Trade Coffee
	During the 2005-2006 school year, President Maia Hawkes worked diligently to get organic and fair trade coffee served at campus coffee shop locations. With cooperation from Starbucks/Seattle's Best Coffee Co. as well as the campus food service provider Sodexho, this was one of the club's most successful campaigns throughout the year! Click here for more information about fair trade coffee.

Reusable Mugs

The Environmental Club sells reusable insulated coffee mugs for only $3.00. Our mug campaign is both a club fundraiser as well as an attempt to reduce the amount of paper waste on campus. Help us change the world one 16 oz. espresso at a time when you use your mug at any campus coffee shop location and recieve a 25¢ discount on any espresso drink! In coming years we hope to extend this discount to other locations throughout Moscow. Ask at your favorite local coffeehouse!

Save Paper in UI Computer Labs

We encourage everyone to take advantage of double sided printing to help conserve paper. You can also change page margins to 1 inch instead of the Microsoft Word defualt of 1.25 inches to get even more out of a page. Most professors support this practice, so go ahead, print assignments double sided and use half the paper! It's as easy as 1-2-3. Click here to learn how. During the upcoming year, the E-club hopes to convince ITS services to offer discounted print pages when the double-sided printing option is used.

Earth Week 2006

Our week-long celebration of Earth Day 2006 included games, booths, educational activities, and a different theme every day all week. Sustainable Transportation Monday featured a free bicycle repair workshop and prize giveaway from Paradise Creek Bicycle, as well as our very own UI biodiesel bug. The aluminum can crushing races on Conservation & Recycling Day were a 'smashing' success, while Wednesday's Earth-Friendly Eating theme focused on fair trade and organic foods with the University of Idaho Soil Stewards club [link]. Thursday the club promoted living sustainably to save money and the environment with tips for getting involved, both in the community and on campus. The end of the week culminated in Friday's E-club BBQ, earth ball games, and live music with the Shaun Daniels Band.

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Campus Recycling

The Environmental Club is working in conjunction with ASUI senator Chase Carter to bring better recycling capabilities to our campus, especially in residence halls and on greek row. All residence halls have access to recycling for aluminum cans, # 1 and 2 plastics, cardboard, and newspaper [map]. E-club would like to add access to mixed paper and glass recycling to that list, as well as increasing the effectiveness of other recycling options on campus, including in the library, computer labs, commons food court, and trash recepticles campus-wide.

Ascending Gardens Permaculture Site

For a Saturday of Service project, E-club chose a mid-April weekend to spend an afternoon volunteering at Ascending Gardens, a local permaculture site. It turned out to be pouring rain for most of the day, and only eight E-clubbers showed up to brave the weather, but besides learning some of the basic principles of permaculture, we were able to accomplish a great deal of weeding, build a garden trellis, dig post holes, set fenceposts, rescue chickens, and have time left over for a tour of all the animal friends at Ascending Gardens. The club hopes to return to the site for further service opportunities and a chance to see the view when it isn't raining!

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Graduation Plege Alliance

By joining the Graduation Pledge Alliance, University of Idaho graduates are signing a contract with themselves to make efforts through their lifestyle and employment to live in a socially and environmentally- conscientious manner. Those who choose to take the pledge recieve a ribbon to wear on their graduation robes so that they may be recognized for their dedication. No personal information is collected and students are not held to any special standards, but we do ask that you sign your name to our list so that we can keep track of just how many UI students have made the following commitment,

"I _____ pledge to explore and take into account the social and
environmental consequences of any job I consider and will try to improve these aspects of any organizations for which I work."

Household Goods Exchange

At the end of spring semester 2006, the Environmental Club teamed up with the International Friendship Association [link] to address a common interest in keeping reusable items out of the dumpsters when students started cleaning out their rooms for the summer. By setting up a "junk exchange" beside one of the Wallace dumpsters from 3:00-5:00 Wednesday through Friday of finals week, e-clubbers were able to collect area rugs, kitchen supplies, telephones, shoes, and bags and bags of clothing. Visitors to the exchange were free to drop of junk or collect treasures. The remaining items were donated to the International Friendship Association and Sojourner's Alliance. If you are interested in helping with a similar exchange this year, please contact us!

Turn Out the Lights Campaign

Over the years, e-club is slowly working to replace all of the incandescent lightbulbs on campus with energy-saving compact flourescents which last up to 10 times longer and use between 50 and 80 percent less energy. We have also put stickers on lightswitches around campus to remind students to turn off unused lights - in empty classrooms, dormrooms, and even bathrooms - just be sure to double check that there's no one in there first!