If your e-mail client has trouble displaying this message, you can view it on the web at:
http://www.auburn.edu/sustainability/newsletters/071212newsletter.html
Sustainability -- Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Sustainable Fall and Holiday Season
 

It's been an amazing semester for sustainability at Auburn! In this issue you'll find:

  • a fantastic web-based video that we think everyone should see
  • a sustainable holiday gift guide
  • a new campus resource for tracking utility use in buildings
  • a summary of sustainability activity on campus
  • and a preview of what we'll have going when spring semester starts up.

As always, if you know anyone else on campus who you think would be interested, please encourage them to join our email list by sending an email to miwilliams@auburn.edu

The Story of Stuff
 

A New 20-minute video, The Story of Stuff, has been released online.

This fantastic piece highlights the connections in our modern economy in a fun and interesting way. Watch it and then share it with your friends and family.

Sustainable Holiday Gift Guide
 

Feel like the holidays are too focused on consumption and consumerism?

The interns at the Sustainability Initiative have gathered together a short list of alternative holiday gift ideas.

You can view the entire list on our website, but we've included a couple of examples:

  • Show them how to save energy and money with a home energy audit (Home Energy Saver) (do one for you too!)
  • Get them off junkmail lists (41 Pounds, Green Dimes, Do it Yourself)
  • Give a gift of service (e.g. babysitting, yard care)
  • Make a charitable donation in their name (e.g. Kiva, Heifer International)
  • For kids, prepare a dress-up box filled with wacky old clothes and jewelry
  • or give them art supplies to spark their creativity

New Campus Energy Website
 

The AU Energy Management office has put together a new Energy Information Site for Auburn's campus.

On the site, visitors can learn about:
Fall 2007 - Sustainability in Review
 

It truly has been an amazing semester for sustainability at Auburn. We've put together a list of our accomplishments, as well as others from Auburn.

 

AU Sustainability Initiative Activities:

  • Launched student sustainability group (ASAP)
  • Hosted three outside speakers
  • Hosted five Green Lunch seminars by speakers from campus
  • Established official space for bike shop in the new student union
  • Gave nearly twenty sustainability and climate presentations on campus including:

    - Presentation to AU Faculty Senate

    - Presentation to regional conference for academic purchasers about Responsible Purchasing

  • Presented information on bottled water issues at Ag Roundup
  • Participated in second run of WaCaDa
  • Participated in national sustainability conference
  • Organizing Focus the Nation (see below)

Other Auburn Sustainability Accomplishments:

  • Tiger Transit buses are running on biodiesel
  • The current campus master plan presentation highlighted sustainability as a key goal
  • Identification of sustainability as an important part of the campus strategic planning process (under Opportunities)
  • Dr. Green, Dean of Students, launched "Going Green with the Dean"
  • Thomas Friedman's Littleton-Franklin lecture highlighted the importance of "green" for both economic and national security advantages (see a short video of him talking about those points)
  • The newly finished Alabama 4-H Center is the first LEED Gold green education building in the Eastern US
  • AU Energy Management launched a campus energy tracking website (see above)
  • 20 Auburn students traveled to Washington DC to be part of Power Shift 2007, the first national student summit on climate change

Upcoming Spring Events
 

We'll start the new year off with a fantastic community-wide discussion about climate change.

We will be holding a Focus the Nation event on campus all day on January 30th at the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center.

The day will include a variety of talks by local experts, an address by AU's President Gouge, a discussion panel with our political representatives, and much more. We're in the process of finalizing the speaker schedule right now and we'll launch a full event website in January.

We encourage faculty to consider taking their classes to any sessions that they think are appropriate.

To find our more about climate change, our Focus at Auburn, and how you can help, please visit our website: CLIMATE CHANGE AND AU

Stay tuned for more details about:
Visit Auburn Sustainability Initiative for more information about Auburn's environmental stewardship efforts.
 
You have received this message because you are subscribed to the Sustainability mailing list at Auburn University.  If this was forwarded to you by someone and you would like to receive future newsletters or to unsubscribe please send an e-mail to miwilliams@auburn.edu