This past week, members from across the UConn community attended a very special ceremony. For the first time since 2012, UConn held the Environmental Leadership Awards (ELAs). These awards were presented to those who have gone above and beyond to promote sustainability in their field.
The event took place on Tuesday, October 25th, in the UConn Foundation Building, where more than 80 guests, including the winner and finalists of each category, were in attendance. They were given time to network and enjoy breakfast prior to the ceremony.
The ceremony began with a welcome from Scott Jordan, the University’s Executive Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer. He congratulated the UConn community as a whole, and thanked those in attendance for helping to make the university a leader in environmental sustainability.
Vice President Jordan’s introduction was followed by a brief address from Dr. Gene Likens. Among many achievements, Dr. Likens has published over 450 scientific papers on the ecological health of lakes, forests, and other environments. He is most renowned for his contributions to the discovery and remediation of acid rain throughout the 1970s and beyond. He now serves as UConn’s Special Environmental Advisor to the President. Dr. Likens emphasized the importance of community-wide dedication to environmental protection, and gave an anecdote about a Canadian town’s successful efforts to remediate a woodland polluted by copper smelting.
Following, OEP Director Rich Miller and Sustainability Coordinator Sarah Munro called up the winner and finalists for each category, and summarized each person’s or group’s accomplishments. Those recognized were selected by members of UConn’s Environmental Policy Advisory Council (EPAC) from a pool of over 40 nominations.
The 2013-2016 ELA winners are:
Emily McInerney Undergraduate: During her time at UConn, Emily worked at the Office of Environmental Policy, served as President of both EcoHusky and ECOalition, and conducted independent research on the relationship between climate change and wetland health.
Dave Wanik Graduate: Dave conducts research on the impact of wind on electrical power utilities, and developed a model to predict these outages. He is also a member of EPAC, and helped found the Eversource Energy Center.
NEMO Rain Garden Outreach Team: Michael Dietz and Dave Dickson developed an application to educate people on construction of raingardens in association with the Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officers (NEMO) Program.
Spring Valley Student Farm Student Group: This farm is largely student operated. Crops are harvested and sent to several places on campus. The organization also hosts student volunteers on Farm Fridays, and promotes sustainability through their solar thermal greenhouse system and aquaponics system.
Dining Services Group: Dining Services’ staff have actively promoted sustainable innovation in the university’s dining halls. So far, five dining halls have been Green Restaurant Certified, and Dining Services plans to certify all of UConn’s halls in near future.
Julia Cartabiano Staff: Julia is the Manager of Spring Valley Student Farm, as well as a program organizer for EcoHouse. She organized the “Just Food! Or Is It?” symposia and Insect Wonders at the Farm program.
Christopher Mason Environmental Partner: Chris has contributed lots of time and effort to promoting the health of the Hillside Environmental Education Park (HEEP). He participated in the annual BioBlitz, led trail maintenance groups, and promoted invasive species removal.
Dr. Michael Dietz Alumni: In addition to developing the Nemo Rain Garden App, Dr. Dietz has served as an educator in many UConn programs. He leads tours of Low Impact Development Sites around campus, and teaches high school students during the summer at the Natural Resources Conservation Academy.
Dr. James O’Donnell Faculty: Dr. O’Donnell is the Executive Director of the CT Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation. He also serves on the CT Council on Environmental Quality and the Governor’s Council on Climate Change. Dr. O’Donnell also conducts research on oceanography and rising sea levels.
Dr. Cameron Faustman and Jillian Ives Special Recognition: This award was presented for the recent Huskies Ending Food Waste initiative. Several lectures and events were organized to promote reduction of food waste in daily life.
Over 30 members of EcoHusky and the EcoHouse learning community got up bright and early on Saturday, October 8th, to volunteer at the Hartford Marathon in Bushnell Park. After a quick power nap on the bus, volunteers were ready for a day of excitement, positivity, and environmental awareness. Upon arrival at Bushnell Park in Hartford, volunteers mapped out the best locations for compost and heatsheet bins, as their primary responsibility for the day was to manage the waste stations throughout the park to ensure that runners and race-goers correctly disposed of food, recyclables, and foil blankets.
The Marathon’s efforts to reduce waste at the event are commendable; however, it was up to the volunteers from EcoHusky and EcoHouse to ensure that those efforts were seen through. Composting and recycling can have such positive waste diversion impacts, but only if the items are separated into the correct bins. Not only did volunteers ensure that this was done at the event, they also educated race-goers about recycling and composting so they could be more sustainable in their daily lives. Additionally, they tracked the bags of compost, weighing hundreds of pounds over the course of the day.
“Race-goers were attracted to the EcoHusky tent because of its peculiar set up – needless to say, no one else had a conglomeration of “waste” items and handmade basketball hoops scattered around their table. For such a simple and low budget idea, we still managed to make a big impact with the people we spoke to.” -Katie Main, EcoHusky Treasurer
Living at UConn Storrs without a car can be challenging if you are a student that likes to adventure off campus. Even the simplest trips can be difficult. Living in an apartment, I have found that I often need to rely on friends to drive me to the grocery store. Luckily, a new alternative to having a car on campus just came to UConn! Zipcar, a car-sharing service, arrived on campus this fall.