In years past, the medical center has always marked “Earth Week,” a weeklong celebration of International Earth Day. The med center community requested more events and to have events spread out so it was easier to attend. We were happy to oblige and even happier to combine forces with the University of Nebraska at Omaha to offer additional events, while making sure the med center was aware of community events through the Nebraska Science Festival.
A special thank you to all of our awesome volunteers. Without you this week would not have been possible.
All month long we asked you to join the Drawdown EcoChallenge, and our team ranked 40th in the nation, with an impressive environmental and personal impact.
We kicked things off by providing you with personal care recipes, so you can reduce your exposure to chemicals, save money, and because we tested and used all of them, know they work. If you missed out, click here for copies.
UNO hosted the Sustainability Expo this year, and the med center will host it next year. Snow and then rain moved the “Yoga on the Green” sessions inside. As usual, it rained during the personal document shredding and electronic/battery/techno trash recycling event, but it’s still our most popular event with hundreds of you dropping off items:
The impact?*
- 17 trees saved;
- 170 gallons of oil not used;
- 381,142 hours of electricity saved; and
- 5,159 gallons of water.
We ended the week celebrating our status as a Tree Campus USA, designated by the Arbor Day Foundation; replacing an eastern redbud tree that was removed due to disease; giving away red osier dogwoods and wildflower seeds; and asking master gardener Susan Siebler lots of questions.
We want to provide activities that are meaningful to you, both personally and professionally. If you have any additional comments, suggestions or changes for next year, please email us.
*Estimated impact; actual totals may vary slightly depending on the exact mix of electronics turned in.
This is awesome!