Back in the Saddle Again...

Well, I've been away from this blog far too long. This is my attempt to get back on track and post a couple of times a week. Are you like me? If I don't write it down or schedule it in my calendar, I'll forget it. So I have created an "appointment" with my computer twice a week just to write a blog post. I know this blog doesn't show it, thus far, but I really do believe that communication is the key to keeping people up to date with what is going on with CSI and how we are faring on achieving our initiatives. And, to be fair, it also provides another means to keeping myself accountable!! How important that is in our busy lives. Too busy to see the forest for all the trees, or I think that the saying goes something along those lines.

Carpooling rocks!

So here's an update on all that we have been doing in the past few months. Last week we celebrated Pollution Prevention Week, which focuses on reducing pollution at its source. The Environmental Protection Agency is who publishes information about it, which you can find here: http://www.epa.gov/p2week/ . The Pollution Prevention Act was passed in 1990, with the idea that preventing pollution from even happening is the best course of action, as opposed to spending many, many dollars on cleanup and reversal efforts. And, honestly, it saves everyone money. For example, this poster was one of many that CSI made and posted around campus. This poster encourages carpooling. I carpool with several people from work who all live far from campus, like me, and carpooling just 4 days a week has saved me many, many dollars in gas money each month. Carpooling wherever possible is just one example of how a small change in our behavior can not only save us money but also reduce direct pollution before it even happens. CSI also helped to get recycling bins in each student residence room across campus. We hope it will help students to recycle more, and help us capture a bulk of recycleables that currently get thrown away on campus. Some campuses across the US have seen 65% (or more!) of their waste be diverted to recycling after implementing and increasing their recycling program.
Something else that we are proud to announce is that CSI will be conducting a Carbon Footprint Analysis of IWU's campus! This is a long project - we expect it to take up to a calendar year to fully document and benchmark our carbon footprint for campus. However, it is well worth the effort. The Carbon Footprint tells us exactly where we stand with our impact on the environment. Now, before you get all up in arms about the controversial debates about carbon, let me just say this: Carbon output is simply a measurable, quantifiable tool that we are going to use to plan our Creation Care activities. The data that it will provide is a valuable way to strategize, plan, take action, and measure the results of that action. Again, accountability. To achieve this Carbon Footprint analysis, we will be using the Clean Air - Cool Planet tool, which is, in essence, a GIANT spreadsheet. We input data, say, how many gallons of fuel we burn each month in our fleet vehicles and campus equipment, and it will tally that data and convert it into a common measurement equivalency. Once we are done gathering and inputting all that data, we should have some cool charts and graphs to share about IWU's impact on the environment and how to go about reducing that impact.
The other neat thing we are working on this fall is hiring a Sustainability Assistant. This is a student worker position. The sustainability assistant will help in the Carbon Footprint Analysis, and also do various other tasks for the CSI group. IWU students at the Marion campus are eligible to apply. The application and job description can be found at the Wildcat Page/Jobs.
And, I'll conclude with another interesting initiative that we are discussing this year: Sustainability and Creation Care Curriculum in the classroom. Karen Hoffman will be our first point of collaboration as we tackle this initiative. We are excited and we are looking forward to working with Karen, a leader on the IWU campus.