Only One Day To Go!

Hello my fellow sustainable pioneers!

Project Green Challenge begins tomorrow!! I sent an E-mail out to the group with the instructions on how the challenges will be posted and how we are to document them.  Even though we are signing up individually, all points benefit USM!  I will be posting my daily challenges here on our blog and I would love to see everyone elses progress as well.  Please post whatever you document to our facebook page and you ca also send them to me to put on here!  Good luck everyone, I hope we can complete all the challenges :)

Project Green Challenge

Hello Advocates!!

I have exciting news! This year USM will officially be participating in....
 Project Green Challenge!!

This is a 30-day challenge where teams from schools all over the world will complete "green" challenges on a daily basis, document their progress via video, and post the videos onto their teams page.  I think most of the challenges will be easily accomplished and the grand prizes are pretty awesome! This will also be a first for USM and I think this will be a great push for our group to get ourselves out there.

Now, I understand everyone is very busy (including myself) but if you think you can manage being a part of this and are serious about participating then we will be having a short info session meeting this Friday at 12:15 PM.  I tried to get a classroom reserved, but it was too short notice.  So I figured, it's going to be a lovely day out, so lets just meet outside and have a picnic lunch meeting! I was thinking we could meet in shoemaker square, the grassy area next to Cook library near the fountain.  Like I said, if you are interested in participating (and I hope you are!) then we will be meeting THIS FRIDAY at 12:15 PM on the open grassy area next to cook library.  SO bring a blanket and a lunch and I hope to see you guys there!

If you would like to read a bit more about the challenge and the program check out their website:

projectgreenchallenge.com

I'm excited about this and I hope you guys are too!! Remember the Lorax!!

Terra Blight Film Screening

Hello Advocates!!

This is a friendly reminder to come and check out the Terra Blight Film Screening tomorrow afternoon at 5:15 PM located in the Thad Cochran Ballroom I.  Terra Blight is a 55 minute documentary exploring America's consumption of computers and the hazardous waste we create in pursuit of the latest technology. 
The director and other members of the film crew will be there showing the film!  The film will be followed by a short Q&A with the filmmakers.  For more information check out the facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/370024643068269/

I hope to see you all there!!

Meeting Recap

All in all I think the first meeting went pretty well! We had a turn out of about 25 people which is more than I expected so I am pretty pumped!  If you were not able to make it to the meeting here are some updates:

*There was a great idea suggested by a member to get a collaboration started with the art program here at USM to host a "Sustainable Art Event".  I think this is a fantastic idea!  What I'd like to do is get some of the art students to submit pieces of sustainable art to be presented in a gallery.  The Sustainability Advocates can host the gallery event and sell tickets to raise money for our group.  If anyone is already involved with the art program and can help us get started please let me know! And here is a fun idea for sustainable art that one of our members, Brandon Drescher, came across, could be a fun project for us to try out!

*There was also a suggestion last night to get a collaboration started with the Payne Center.  I think there is definitely some potential here! I think we can work together with them to perhaps get some of the new exercise equipment available that uses the energy generated by the person on the equipment to actually power the gym.  This will be a challenge, but even if we can only get one treadmill that would be awesome!  Here is an article from TIME magazine on "people powered gyms" you should check it out!

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,2032281,00.html

*We also decided that thursday nights probably won't be the best nights for meetings since that is generally when project Rake and Ride takes place.  I will update soon on the new meeting days.

That's about all the updates I have for today.  Haley and I will be finishing up the grant proposal for the Rake and Ride this week and hopefully we can get some money!  Everyone keep brainstorming on some fundraising ideas.  I'm super stoked guys, I think this is going to be great!

First Meeting Ever!

Tonight will be the first Sustainability Advocates meeting ever! I am so excited to meet all of the members and really get this ball rolling.  Tonight we will be discussing the plans for the group for the year.  This includes:

*Starting a community garden on campus
*Project Rake and Ride
*Upcycling/Refurbishing Workshops
*Earth Week

It's going to be a lot of fun and I hope we have a great turn out!