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Spring 2008
Penn State Kicks off Inaugural Green-PSU Listserv
What's Green at Penn State by Laura Priaino
Penn State is Taking the "Green" Challenge with New Campaign
Second Edition of ‘Forum for the Future’ Held in the HUB
Downloads
Sal Genito: Easy, Innovative, Effective Sustainability Strategies (pdf)
Andy Lau: A Big Step in the Right Direction: Sustainability (pdf)
Kim Berry: Environmental Stewardship in Departments and Administrative Units at Penn State Berks (pdf)
Janet Swim: Changings Behaviors (pdf)
Steve Maruszewski: Environmental Stewardship in Departments and Administrative Units (pdf)
On July 16, approximately 100 University employees from many Penn State campuses joined together in Alumni Hall in the HUB-Robeson Center for the second installment of Forum for the Future.
The forum is a venue for Penn State leaders and employees to learn about the current environmental state of affairs and sustainable ways of conducting business at the University. It is a partnership between the Finance & Business Environmental Stewardship Key Initiative and several University units. The July forum was titled "Environmental Stewardship in Departments and Administrative Units." The event aimed to spark dialogue and advocate ways to promote improved environmental practices among Penn State faculty, administrators, and staff.
Keynote speaker Sal Genito, director of Buildings and Grounds at the University of California at Davis, fascinated the crowd with the many innovative "green" practices that UC-Davis has developed and institutionalized into its system. Perhaps the most popular item was the university’s own brand of olive oil. After years of cleaning up squashed olives off of campus sidewalks (there are over 1,000 olive trees on the Davis campus), Genito suggested that the university harvest the olives and produce its own brand of olive oil.
Today, the UC-Davis Olive Oil is an award winning favorite among alumni and the public. The clever idea saves the school over $60,000 a year and actually turns a profit—which is used to support university academics and the olive industry. Genito said it’s amazing what can happen once people can start "thinking differently."
After Genito’s speech, four Penn State leaders gave presentations from their areas including Associate Professor of Engineering Design and Associate Director of the Center for Sustainability Any Lau, Senior Director of Business and Operations at Penn State Berks Kim Berry, Penn State Professor of (social) Psychology Janet Swim, and Deputy Associate Vice President for Penn State’s Physical Plant Steve Maruszewski.
The panelists spoke about what Penn State and people at Penn State can do next to think and act more efficiently. They also answered questions from the audience and began a dialogue that should bring back interesting ideas and mindsets to the next forum this fall.
The inaugural forum was held in October 2007 and focused on current global conditions and featured Evan Pugh Professor of Geoscience Dr. Richard Alley as the keynote speaker. The format was similar to the July event and also featured leaders from Penn State speaking from their areas and discussing where to go next. It set the foundation for the July forum as a springboard for many people to learn about what’s happening to the environment and what can be done.
UC-Davis Director encourages Penn State to ‘Think Differently’
UC-Davis Buildings and Grounds Director Sal Genito spoke to a room full of Penn State employees about thinking differently, acting efficiently, and making olive oil at the second "Forum for the Future."
Student Volunteers Help Penn State Stay Green and Clean
STATERs is a student group that promotes recycling awareness and other green activities on campus. They are best known for passing out blue recycling bags at football games, an activity that helped collect 87 tons of recyclable items last season.
International Day for Biological Diversity
The theme for this year’s International Day for Biological Diversity (IBD) is "Biodiversity and Agriculture." Celebration of the IBD in 2008 seeks to highlight the importance of sustainable agriculture not only to preserve biodiversity, but also to ensure that we will be able to feed the world, maintain agricultural livelihoods, and enhance human well being into the 21st century and beyond.
New Videoconferencing Program Saves Time and Money
Instead of driving across campus, why not hold your meetings right from your office? Thanks to Adobe Connect, Penn State employees can save time, money, and gas by using this new videoconferencing program.
Unplug iPod, Digital Camera, and Cell Phone Chargers When Not in Use.
Why: Chargers consume a small amount of energy anytime they’re plugged in—even if they’re not charging. It might not seem like a lot, but at a school as big as Penn State, it really adds up.