The power of STUFF

The true cost of stuff: Check it out before you go shopping. It's food for thought!

If you watch just one

............shared video today, make it this one!

A beacon in the smog.....

....pointed out by a Facebook friend. Grist!

zero waste

Without sacrificing anything in the looks department! http://vitality.yahoo.com/video-second-act-the-johnson-family-24454760

Yale is in the Game

RECYCLEMANIA is on! Yale is in the game! Everyone on campus scores points for Yale in the national RecycleMania contest when they recycle.

If you are near Cross Campus Lawn today check out the art installation and scoreboards for RecycleMania!  Students are showcasing how many bags of trash Yale discards as a reminder that we are in the middle of a national contest to boost our recycling rate and cut our trash.

4 Steps Toward Getting Rid of Your Junk Mail

100 billion pieces of junk mail travels through the mailing system of the United States, according to the US Postal Service. That’s 2.6 million trees a year, or nearly1 billion pounds of landfill waste. By these estimates, enough junk mail is produced to reach the moon every 5 days.

Below you’ll find 4 simple steps toward ridding your mailbox of junk mail.

1. Register

Register your name with the direct marketing association’s mail preference service at www.dmachoice.org and you’ll be added to their “do not mail” database.

2. Opt-Out

Opt-out of pre-approved credit card, mortgage, and insurance offers by using the online form at www.optoutprescreen.com. Note: you do NOT need to enter your SSN for this to work.

3. Remove Your Name

Remove your name from Abacus, an alliance of catalog and publishing companies, by emailing them at abacusoptout@epsilon.com and requesting removal. Include your full name (with middle initial) and your complete address.

4. Call the Company

If you are still receiving mail after going through steps 1-3, pick up a phone and directly contact the companies from whom you receive unwanted mail. You can also find a sample form letter at www.ecofuture.org to print, fill out, and mail to companies to request being removed from paper mailing lists.

(source: http://organizing.yourway.net/)

January Green Tip of the Month

Offered with a tip of the hat to the folks at Yale Sustainability.

Recyclemania

Another chance coming up to rack up points and compete, this time on a national stage on behalf of Yale! Recyclemania starts soon. Judging criteria include:

• largest amount of recyclables per capita;
• largest total amount of recyclables;
• least amount of trash per capita
• and more!

Watch for more information coming soon from Yale.......... and find out more at the Recyclemania website.

Now THIS is a what a powerpoint should be!

More about economics and global health than sustainability specifically, but of course the issues are intertwined. Rosling is the Pied Piper of statistics; check out his other videos.

What can faculty do?

Today I'm making a presentation to the ISM faculty, to engage them. I hope I can interest them in helping the cause in ways little and great. Little ways: turning off monitors, printers, double sided printing and copying. Bigger ways: helping to plan more sustainable events, use videoconferencing instead of meetings involving travel. I'll post the powerpoint here.

Waste Not, Not Waste

Do you feel as guilty as I do reading this? http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/from-farm-to-fridge-to-garbage-can/?ref=health.

Pen Pail

We've got our new Pen Pail! Strange that it's made of plastic........ BUT, now we have a place to put our worn out pens and know they will have no more negative impact on the environment. Small steps.

New Green Workplace Certification Checklist

We're going for the gold! Our ISM Green team is going to try to be one of the first to get certified. The new checklist is here on the sustainability website: Let's see if we can beat the competition.

New ISM Green Team Gets Going!

We had a great organizational meeting of the ISM Green Team today. So many ideas, so much enthusiasm! We had both staff and faculty present, a real plus! Later, we'll be expanding to include all interested faculty and students as well.

Immediate goals include getting started with the Yale Green Workplace certification program, and getting some upcoming events certified as well (http://sustainability.yale.edu/green-event-certification).

Also in the offing: a possible tour of Kroon Hall right down the street (http://environment.yale.edu/kroon/).

Check out my friend Elaine's blog "On the Road to Greenness" (linked at right). She's a local designer who has worked on ISM projects for many years.

Don't forget to take the Yale Sustainability Pledge at http://sustainability.yale.edu/pledge.

Yale Sustainability Pledge

Did you know..........? The University has a sustainability pledge. Show your solidarity by taking the plunge and taking the pledge!

It's right [here].

Getting started....

This is the blog for the Sustainability Task Force of the Sterling Divinity Quadrangle at Yale University, home to Yale Divinity School, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Berkeley Divinity School, the Center for Faith and Culture, Sterling Divinity Library, and more. The task force is composed of students, faculty, and staff from our community, in consultation with representatives from Yale's Office of Sustainability.

More 411 coming soon.....