| The Golden Rule of sustainability |
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| Written by Jessica Mullins -Argonaut | ||||
| Friday, 01 September 2006 | ||||
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HOW TO SUBMIT A PROJECT PROPOSAL More information on how to submit a proposal for a positive and practical sustainability project to the UISC can be found in the request for proposals (RFP) downloadable document at www.asui.uidaho.edu/ sustainability. Individuals, students, groups, clubs, classes and living groups at any level and area of study are encouraged to read the RFP. The RFP includes requirements, guidelines and links to sustainability ideas and information. Examples of areas for sustainability projects include student life, research, energy and water, buildings and grounds, food, integration with curriculum, meetings, conferences and events, transportation, technology development, purchasing, consumption and waste, outreach to city or region, development and marketing, recruitment and retention, policy and training, communications, information and assessment. Each proposal must have a faculty, staff or community leader as an adviser. Project proposals are due Sept. 22. A match-up, meet-up and question and answer session will be from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sept. 14. Location is to be announced at a later date. To RSVP for the Sept. 14 Q&A meet-up, or for more information about the UISC, contact Justin Saydell at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Everyone on campus can be involved in the new University of Idaho Sustainability Center, located in Shoup Hall. Eclectic individuals improving the campus is the goal of graduate student Claudia Hemphill Pine and undergraduate Justin Saydell, who have been involved in the entire sustainability center creation process. “It is pretty incredible,” Saydell said of watching their vision come to life in one year. “I don’t really have words for it.” Any student at any level and from any major can submit a project proposal, requesting a $500-$7,500 grant for a project through the sustainability center. The projects can apply to any field and be for anywhere on campus. “The center is not just for wildlife,” Saydell said. “It is meant to be multi-disciplinary.” There is no set definition for sustainability, but there is much that it includes. Sustainability could be compared to the Golden Rule, Hemphill Pine said. “It is about leaving enough for the next person or cleaning for our grandchildren.” Every student on campus is studying something that contributes to sustainability, she said. “We want everyone on campus to know that this is the time for them to sit down with friends, advisers and peers and write a proposal to do something concrete and exciting,” she added. Hemphill Pine said she hopes the center brings in students interested in developing new projects in a variety of fields such as marketing, community health or nutrition. “Sustainability is a hot new job market,” she said. There are jobs all over the country involving sustainable action to demonstrate environmental and social responsibility. The UI Sustainability Center is the first center of its kind in the Inland Northwest. The center is defined by two goals, Saydell said. The first is to give students the chance to develop the skills and practical experience needed to be competitive in the workforce. The other goal is to implement sustainability practices on campus that are environmentally, socially and fiscally responsible. “The center will also teach students how to be global citizens,” Saydell said. “Everything we do and purchase has an effect on somewhere.” The center is currently electing four individuals for the staff. The student leaders will oversee the center and its projects this semester. Center staff applicants are chosen by a selection committee formed in agreement with the Dean of Students. The committee is made of the presidents of the three student governments, Associated Students of the University of Idaho, the Graduate and Professional Student Association and the Student Bar Association. Also on the committee is Maxine Dakin, interim director of the environmental science program and Bruce Pittman, dean of students. The center’s next step will be choosing student project proposals to carry out during the semester. “The projects are like a bunch of Christmas presents under the tree,” Hemphill Pine said. There will likely be five to 10 projects selected for this semester, she said. Proposals need to be especially specific about time commitment, which is suggested to be about ten hours a week. Students can request money for their time spent on the project and cost of materials. “The idea is to recognize what it takes,” Hemphill Pine said. “We recognize you can’t ask students to volunteer their time 100 percent.” The center will also have a Campus Community Advisory Board, which is expected to be in place by the end of September. The advisory board will keep the entire campus participating in the center. It will consist of students appointed by the ASUI, GPSA and SBA as well as faculty, staff and community positions. In the spring, the student-fee committee approved the sustainability center’s proposal. The proposal asked for $5 per student from student fees. One-third of the funding will be invested in the center’s student staff, running the center and related activities. The other two-thirds of the funding will be for student projects, an estimated $20,000 total. The actual funding total won’t be known until enrollment is added up, Hemphill Pine said. The center’s five offices in Shoup Hall are currently unfurnished and undecorated. Broken blinds and a crooked heater in one office are signs of needed renovation. Renovating the rooms will be a good way to show off sustainability efforts, Saydell said. The center is the best before-and-after project, Hemphill Pine said. “Sustainability is the fixer-upper of the planet,” she said. All of the furniture in the center is used. Most of it has been donated by other UI departments. “The staff on campus has been helpful,” Hemphill Pine said, referring to more than furniture donations. “We are really enjoying being able to thank so many people.” If the center had been set up in a new building it would be ironic, Hemphill-Pine said, since new buildings tend to have brand new, expensive furniture and use more electricity. The hope is that one of the project proposals will come with a UI interior design major to improve the offices, she added. “We’ll do kind of an eco-efficient green remodel,” Hemphill Pine said. UI is a land-grant university and has always been about sustainability, Hemphill Pine said. “It is in our interest to make our community and world the best possible place to be healthy.”  Add as favorites (33) | Views: 565
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