Washington University in St. Louis will celebrate Campus Sustainability Week Monday, Oct. 17, through Saturday, Oct. 22, on the Danforth and Medical campuses.
WUSTL’s Campus Sustainability Week — along with national Campus Sustainability Day, Thursday, Oct. 20 — is held to bring attention to the achievements and challenges for students, faculty and staff in working to instill sustainability principles in higher education institutions and their surrounding communities.
Details on Danforth Campus events, which are open to the entire university community, are below. For more information about events on the Medical Campus, visit news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22786.aspx.
Monday, Oct. 17, Energy Awareness Day
3:15-6:30 p.m. Living Learning Center Tour, meet at base of Brookings Hall steps: Tour WUSTL’s Living Learning Center — one of the country’s greenest buildings and one of the first two buildings in the world to be certified as a “living building” by the International Living Building Institute — at the university’s Tyson Research Center near Eureka, Mo. Visitors also will learn about ecological sustainability research at Tyson. Transportation to Tyson will be provided. To RSVP, visit tinyurl.com/sustainabilityweek2011.
Tuesday, Oct. 18, Clean Energy Day
11 a.m.-2 p.m. Clean Energy Challenge Lunch & Learn, Brauer Hall, Room 12: Sponsored by the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, the Clean Energy Challenge Lunch & Learn includes a panel discussion, Q&A and networking sessions with a focus on clean technology innovation in the St. Louis region.
The Clean Energy Trust’s annual business plan competition awards cash prizes to top cleantech entrepreneurs in the Midwest. This year’s competition has a $100,000 prize for students. Panelists will discuss the Clean Energy Challenge and the services their organizations provide to entrepreneurs and small businesses. Register for lunch at ideabounce.com/skandalaris/events or join the reception and networking at 1 p.m. in the Brauer Atrium.
Panelists are:
- Isabel Acevedo, licensing associate, WUSTL’s Office of Technology Management
- Vicki Gonzalez, managing partner, Nidus Partners LP
- Ken Harrington, director, WUSTL’s Skandalaris Center
- Winston Lazar, senior analyst, Clean Energy Trust
- Erin Noble, director of community relations, Straight Up Solar
- Himadri Pakrasi, PhD, director, WUSTL’s International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability
- Martha Schlicher, bioenergy technology lead, Monsanto Co.
- Suzanne Stelmasek, policy intern, Clean Energy Trust
- Phil Valko, WUSTL director of sustainability
For more information, visit sc.wustl.edu/Programs/Pages/cleanenergytrust.aspx.
2:30-3:30 p.m. Green Hall and Brauer Hall LEED building tours, meet at Brauer Hall Lobby: Learn more about the School of Engineering & Applied Science’s newest buildings, Green Hall and Brauer Hall, both built to LEED Gold certification standards. Learn how they were constructed and what features make them more sustainable. Snacks are provided.
Wednesday, Oct. 19, Car-Free Day
1:30-3:15 p.m. Alternative Transportation Fair, Danforth University Center North Courtyard and Mudd Field: An activities fair promoting alternative means of transportation will feature free bicycle repairs, bicycle commuter education, food, and informational booths by Metro, WeCar, the Washington University Police Department, Velo Bear, Great Rivers Greenway and Trailnet.
3:30 p.m. Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Centennial Greenway trail through campus, outside Steinberg Hall along Forsyth Boulevard: Henry S. Webber, executive vice chancellor for administration, and others will cut the ribbon for the Centennial Greenway bicycle route through campus. For more information about the Centennial Greenway, visit news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22506.aspx.
5 p.m. Bike ride, meet outside Goldfarb Hall along Forsyth Boulevard: Ride along the Centennial Greenway through campus, north to Delmar Loop, North Delmar along Ackert Walkway, east to the Delmar MetroLink stop, south through Skinker-DeBaliviere to Forest Park, and back to campus. The ride will be led by Henry S. Webber, executive vice chancellor for administration. All riders must wear a helmet, bring a bicycle and be prepared for an up to 5-mile ride.
Thursday, Oct. 20, Meatless Thursday
3:15-5:30 p.m. Single-stream recycling tour, meet at base of Brookings Hall steps: Ever wonder how the single stream recycling gets sorted? Join us by visiting WUSTL’s recycling vendor IESI’s recycling sorting facility and find out. To RSVP, visit tinyurl.com/sustainabilityweek2011. Transportation will be provided.
6-9 p.m. Dinner and a movie — 100 percent local dinner and the movie Fresh, Ibby’s Bistro and Ursa’s Fireside: Enjoy a 100 percent local dinner at Ibby’s Bistro in the Danforth University Center and a screening of Fresh, a documentary that celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across the United States who are re-inventing the American food system, at Ursa’s Fireside on the South 40. To RSVP for the dinner, visit tinyurl.com/sustainabilityweek2011. The movie is hosted by the Congress of the South 40.
Friday, Oct. 21, Landfill-Free Challenge Day
Noon-1 p.m. Green Strum Project performance, Danforth University Center Edison Courtyard: This nationally recognized folk musician group makes their own instruments out of discarded/found objects. For more information, visit greenstrum.org.
2:30-5 p.m. Compost St. Louis Tour, meet at base of Brookings Hall steps: Eighty thousand pounds of food waste at WUSTL were diverted from landfills to a composting facility in Belleville, Ill., last year, and that number continues to grow this year. Follow your food scraps’ journey from WUSTL to compost. To RSVP, visit tinyurl.com/sustainabilityweek2011. Transportation will be provided.
Saturday, Oct. 22, Environmental Justice Day
10 a.m.-1 p.m. Environmental Justice Tour, meet at base of Brookings Hall steps: Learn more about environmental justice by touring industrial sites in north St. Louis City and meeting members of the communities that live near them. For more information and to RSVP, visit tinyurl.com/sustainabilityweek2011. Transportation will be provided.
11 a.m.-1 p.m. Burning Kumquat workday, Burning Kumquat garden behind Alumni House: Come join a workday at the Burning Kumquat — the student-run, organic garden at Washington University. For more information on the Burning Kumquat, visit burningkumquat.wustl.edu.
Noon-2 p.m. Burning Kumquat tour, Burning Kumquat garden behind Alumni House: Take a tour of Burning Kumquat — the student-run, organic garden at Washington University. For more information on the Burning Kumquat, visit burningkumquat.wustl.edu.