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Welcome to the April WSU Sustainability Newsletter!
Solve Climate by 2030 Utah Webinar - April 7
What are Utah’s best options for climate solutions? Join in on a state-wide discussion focused on ambitious but feasible Utah-specific solutions. Learn from local experts & participate in a multi-perspective discussion.
Panelists include:
Sarah Wright, Utah Clean Energy Executive Director
Dr. Brad Mortensen, Weber State University President
Aimee Urbina, Sunrise Movement Coordinator, Ogden
Piper Christian, Climate Activist Leader and student, University of Utah
Interact remotely through our live Twitter discussions using the Utah-specific #SolveClimateUtah. Pose questions or give your reactions live with @WSUsustainable.
Sign up to participate in the webinar here.
Find more information and stay up to date at the Solve Climate by 2030 website and Facebook event page.
Last 2 weeks of Geoscience & Society Webinars
Due to coronavirus, all Weber State classes--and this seminar series--have been moved online.
To access the webinars, click on the posted links during the scheduled times.
April 9 - Climate change & the Intermountain West
Natalie Little, Regional Sustainability & Climate Coordinator, USDA Forest Service
The webinar will be live on Thursday 4/9 1:30 pm, join at https://weber.zoom.us/j/464652509.
Apr 16 - Student Presentations
This webinar will be live on Thursday 4/16 1:30 p.m., join at https://weber.zoom.us/j/559323470.
Pliking in Ogden
Recently, the Pliking Club of Ogden set up a local challenge to increase litter education while reducing the amount of trash on our trails and streets.
Pliking, or picking up litter while hiking, is good for outdoor exercise, meeting others with common interests, and it makes a positive difference in our community.
With all of the shutdowns, business and school trail adopters may not be able to perform spring cleanups on their adopted trail sections. If you would like to clean up a trail by yourself, email the plikingclub@gmail.com for location ideas, as well as supplies.
During the Spring semester, a team of Weber State students documented the litter they picked up with a phone app called Litterati. This project earned community service hours while improving the environment.
One student’s personal goal to make an impact didn’t seem like a big deal until she could see the difference that she made in just a few hours. “It felt so motivating, I just wanted to keep going,” she said.
Stay updated with Pliking news and events through their Facebook page.
The Intermountain Sustainability Summit Went Virtual!
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Intermountain Sustainability Summit Planning Team quickly shifted the event from an in-person gathering to a free, scaled-down webinar version.
“Even though we couldn’t host the in-person event, we wanted to provide the sustainability community with valuable information, despite the circumstances,” said Summit coordinator Chase Wilson.
On March 19, the Summit team hosted a session entitled “Culture Shift”, presented by Mikhail Davis of the multi-national company Interface and Dr. Rob Davies from Utah State University, as well as the planned keynote address by Hunter Lovins entitled “Creating a Finer Future in a Time of Catastrophe”.
The following day, the team hosted John Cook of George Mason University and founder of Skeptical Science as he presented “Increasing Critical Thinking to Understand and Respond to Climate Misinformation”.
Hundreds of attendees participated from over 20 Utah cities, 21 states and over a dozen countries attended sessions, expanding the Summit community across the globe. Recorded sessions are available to view online.
The Summit team was happy to have been able to provide the sustainability community a way to come together, albeit remotely, to connect, learn, and share ideas.
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Green Spotlight: Ana McMurry
The Energy and Sustainability Office congratulates and thanks Ana McMurry for her leadership in the Green Department Certification Program. This past year, Ana not only started as a new member of her department, Emergency Healthcare, but also lead them from a newly joined team all the way to Green Certification!
Ana’s first impression of sustainability was that it seemed like a big world, “. . . like opening pandora’s box, but in a good way." Some of the green strategies she helped implement include switching over to Safer Choice cleaning products, EcoLogo certified hand-sanitizers, rechargeable batteries, and utilizing watt stopping smart power strips. Ana said she wishes she knew about it sooner because of how important it is to her now.
To her surprise, she found many of her colleagues wanted to learn about and participate in sustainability, they just didn’t know how. Ana also learned from her collegues who were already involved in sustainability.
Overall, Ana appreciates the experience she has had participation in the Green Department program. Ana says she is in it for the long run “. . . sustainability is a lifestyle. We are all a part of the problem and that is okay, no judgement, but let’s work together to be a part of the solution.”