Earth Month has come and gone, but not without some impressive milestones.
We asked you to come up with unique ways to repurpose the library periodical storage containers, and you did not disappoint. While everyone provided us with unique ways to reuse, the winners are:
- Jenna Corsey, table;
- Euem Osmera, haircare equipment organization/storage; and
- Laura Strong, diaper/baby care organization.
Congratulations to the winners. If you missed the entries, check them out here.
To celebrate the four BCycle stations on campus, we gave away hundreds of free, annual memberships, gave away helmets, and let people test out the new electric-assist BCycles coming soon to a station near you. If you missed the event but would still like a membership, please email LiveGreen.
We maintained our rain-streak 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, including:
- 261 pounds of VHS tapes, DVDs, CDs, and floppy disks
- 14,142 pounds of electronics;
- 4,192 pounds of paper for shredding;
- 182 pounds of alkaline batteries; and
- 18,777 total pounds diverted from the landfill. That impact?*
- 24 trees saved;
- 255 gallons of oil not used;
- 572,686 hours of electricity saved; and
- 7,752 gallons of water.
You also donated:
- 250 pounds of food/toiletries and $1,450 to the Maverick Food Pantry;
- 161 eyeglasses to the Truhlsen Eye Institute clinic;
- Approximately 2,000 pop tabs to Ronald McDonald House; and
- Six boxes of books for the Little Free Library.
Peter Pellerito gave a great talk on basic stretches you can do to prevent athletic and repetitive task injuries, and Melanie Stewart presented a zero waste lunch and learn with the COPH and a Re-Imagining U Course on sustainable living.
We celebrated our status as an Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus USA for the sixth straight year by planting an Autumn Blaze maple tree, giving away Ponderosa Pines and wildflower seeds, and asking master gardener Susan Siebler lots of questions.
The Drawdown EcoChallenge allowed many of us to learn new information while having an impressive environmental and personal impact. We placed 77th out of 1,054 teams — and beat UNO’s team again.
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 and type of paper turned in.
Thank you so much for the programs, especially the recycling and shred it event opportunity. We were even able to turn in a non working vacuum cleaner. It was also a great idea to add food bank donations to the event.