Sustainability Fair in the EMU

Trafton B.

October 21, 2009 - 12:30 PM

It's a pretty well-known and undisputed fact that there is always something going on or something to do on campus and today is no exception. Today, we had the annual Sustainability Fair in the EMU breezeway. It's one of my favorite mini-events not only because it's awesome that we have so many clubs and organizations that focus their efforts around raising awareness and fostering environmental stewardship, but also because you are guaranteed to walk away with some really cool stuff. I know, it sounds pretty shallow, but in the words of my PPPM professor, "You'd be amazed to find out what people will do for a cool t-shirt!" The good thing for me is that I wanted to sign up for all of this stuff before hand; the t-shirt was a bonus.

First, I signed up to attend the Powershift West 2009 conference, which will be held on the UO campus on November 6th, 7th and 8th. We've invited a bunch of different speakers to raise awareness about the necessity to shift our energy economy from the current, dirty fossil fuel based methods, and start building infrastructure for cleaner, renewable energies like wind, solar, geothermal etc. Got a free t-shirt (the green one that some of the people are wearing in the pictures above), some cool stickers and a button. Plus, it's just $10 for students. That includes breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.

Next, I headed over to the water table where I was quizzed on the amount of water bottles used in America, and I only took a taste test to see if I could tell the difference between bottled water and tap water. Did you know that less than 20% of all water bottles are recycled in America? Or how about the fact that it takes 3 times more water to make the plastic water bottle than there is water in the bottle? I got the first one right, but biffed on the second. On the taste test, I really could tell difference though. You could taste the plastic from the bottle water. That really got to me.

After that I picked up a free water canteen that had a sticker saying "Think before you drink. Go REFILLABLE!" I grabbed a few more stickers and a CFL light bulb. Not a bad day if you ask me. I snagged a few pictures so take a look for yourselves.

But now, I've got to read some Chinese Lit and an article on Environmental Justice before my next class. There's a speaker coming for a "Fireside Chat" on global warming tonight, so I'd like to be able to make it to that. We'll see how the homework situation goes, though.