UPEACE Environmental Club
History of Environmental Club
September 2005 – December 2005
Facilitator: Liz Falk
• Club founded 5 October 2005 by Liz Falk, Dominic Stucker, Abigail Stucker, Mike Yadrick, Yan He, Gabe Lavoie, Rachna Toshniwal, Brandon Canady, Tom Deligiannis, John McCadams, and Sujata Thapa.
• Composting System established in cafeteria, complete with bilingual signs and poster. “Compost fairy” monitoring during lunch for two weeks was essential to bring about behavioral changes in community members. Compost pile is in the “ranchero” below Classroom 6. The compost is collected from the Cafeteria each morning by the Grounds Crew, and used to fertilize campus gardens.
• Styrofoam Protest was organized to stop the usage of Styrofoam plates and cups in cafeteria. The cafeteria staff was approached well before the protest was organized and asked to switch to ceramic mugs voluntarily. They resisted, but implied that they would do whatever was best for business. In fact, they ended up being supportive of the protest, and Styrofoam plates and cups disappeared the same day. The protest itself was held, complete with placards and chants, in the front parking lot as the staff and student busses arrived in the morning. Additional students and staff joined in spontaneously. In recognition of the prompt change, the Environmental Club promised to supply the cafeteria with 50 ceramic mugs.
• Biofuel Virtual Panel was organized by Liz for all interested persons. The panel was interactive and we were able to ask questions directly to speakers through Skype. There was some discussion of setting up a biofuel generator on campus.
• “A Quiet Revolution,” an environmental video, was shown by Koe. Approximately 30 persons attended and a lively discussion followed.
• Douglass Williamson showed his Documentary on Recycling System in Washington DC. The video was enlightening and stimulated an active question and answer session with the environmental filmmaker.
• In an effort to collect Transportation Data, a column indicating the number of passengers/car was added to guards’ records. The long-term idea is to reduce the number of vehicles, especially those carrying only one person, driving to and from campus each day.
• Cookie Sale Fundraising was conducted for the purchase of mugs for the cafeteria. Approximately 25,000 colones were raised.
January 2006 – May 2006
Facilitator: Dominic Stucker
Treasurer: Gabe Lavoie
Secretary: Abigail Stucker
• Gabe Welcomed New NRSD Students at their January orientation. He described the activities of the Environmental Club and encouraged students to join.
• Fence was built around the Composting Ranchero to prevent dogs from eating food waste. 5000 colones was contributed by Ronnie for nails and dead snags on campus were cut into boards by Giovanni and his Grounds Crew. The Environmental Club offered to help build the fence, but the Grounds Crew completed the project on their own.
• Rector Julia Marton-Lefèvre generously matched last semester’s fundraising efforts of 25,000 colones.
• AsiaFest culture day was held at UPEACE and was a great success. The organizers graciously contributed proceeds to the Environmental Club in the amount of approximately 50,000 colones.
• The Club sold Bingo tickets to support the building of El Rodeo’s Town Hall.
• Anne, as a joint member of the Cafeteria Committee, conducted a poll on the willingness of students and staff to pay more for organic coffee, which came back positive.
• The Club assisted Cheikh with work on the Campus Nature Trail.
• Greening of UPMUNC was conducted by the Club. An environmental pamphlet was inserted into each delegate’s conference binder which detailed ways in which they could reduce, reuse, and recycle paper, can, bottles, etc. The pamphlet was printed on recycled paper. The Club also revitalized the campus recycling system and taped colorful, tri-fold “Green Signs” to tables in the cafeteria to remind people to compost and conserve energy.
• An Earth Day celebration was organized by the Club for the UPEACE community and El Rodeo students, complete with an early morning bird hike; an ecological footprint survey; presentations on climate change, permaculture, and David Suzuki; an environmental quiz show; an ultimate Frisbee tournament, and a nature walk back to Ciudad Colon. El Rodeo students made two beautiful posters of their vision for the Earth, and gifted one to the University.
• Students and staff were alerted about the Town Meeting in Ciudad Colon concerning the possible Dump Site up the road from UPEACE. Students and staff were encouraged to attend, especially with their host-families.
• Fifty mugs were purchased for the cafeteria. These may be removed from the cafeteria by students or staff, so long as they are promptly returned. Also, these mugs may be used for University events.
• The Club’s Bylaws were drafted and then ratified in May.
• In close collaboration with the UPEACE Rainbows, the Student Organizations link from the University website was completed, including a page dedicated to the Environmental Club.
September 2006 – December 2006
• Elections of new officers to be held in September 2006.
Facilitator:
Treasurer:
Secretary:
To be continued…
