Green Tip of the Week

Resuable bags are awesome!

This week's tip of the week is to make sure to bring reusable bags to the store with you instead of using disposable plastic and paper bags. Many stores offer discounts off your order if you bring your own bags!

Student Garden Needs Your Help - Medium sized logs and branches

During the fall quarter I asked you all for leaves to add to the student garden. The response was great and you can see the results here! Now I need all of your help again. The garden beds are in and the leaf mulch is down. The next step is to put a layer of medium size branches/logs in the bottom of each of the bed. These branches/logs will provide organic material for the beds and act as water sinks for the plants during the summer. Combined with our underground watering system our beds should be very water efficient!

If you have any spare medium size branches/logs please email me so we can arrange a way to get them to the garden. Here is a picture of what I’m thinking:

 



Picture copyright Dog Island Farm


There are nine beds in the garden each about 8ft long so please try to keep the branches/logs shorter than that and no more than about 4 to 5 inches in diameter. The idea is to put about a 6 inches to a foot of branches/logs in the bottom of each garden bed and then the soil on top of that.

 

We are having our next garden work day event on March 21^st (Dead Day) so we need the branches/logs on or before that day; Ideally before the 21^st.

 

Thank you all again for your support of the student garden!

Student Garden Project Day

Click to view larger

Do you like gardening? If so come out and help us get the new student garden ready for the spring planting! Click on the image to see the flier and please share it with your friends!

When: Thursday March 6th at 1:30pm.

Where: Behind building 26 near the green houses.

What: Just some basic work to start getting the garden ready for planting. No experience needed!

Green Tip of the Week

Ever been to building 27 on campus? The math/science building? Then you know the impact of all of us using the automatic doors when we don't need to.

This week's green tip is to not use the automatic doors for people with disabilities unless you have a diability and need the assistance. Most of these doors stay open after you walk through resulting in the loss of warm air or cold air depending on the season. The result is increased energy use/cost. The chillyness of the temperature on the first floor of building 27 shows us that the impact is not minor.

So please don't use these doors unless you need to. Thank you!

Project Annoucement: Educational Restoration Zone on Campus at SCC

 

Each of the students on the Bigfoot Sustainability Committee are picking a project to focus on. Daron will be focusing on a possible Educational Restoration Zone on campus at SCC. The above image outlines the area that is being considered for the project.

The goal with this project is have an area on campus that can serve as an outdoor learning and demostration area for students and the community. If this project is approved it will be possible for classes to go on field trips on campus and it will serve as a demonstration area for what a restoration project is and the benefits it can provide.

The project outline can be viewed after the break.

Green Tip of the Week

Look for these bins and recycle!

This weeks tip is to make sure to recycle! Most buildings on campus have recycling bins and for those buildings that don't have any or don't have enough your ASG is currently working to roughly double to number of recycling bins on campus here at SCC. Look for the big blue bins or small red ones!

We Want YOU! To join the Bigfoot Sustainability Committee!

Last quarter your Associated Student Government voted to create the student led Bigfoot Sustainability Committee. This committee will work to help make SCC more sustainabile by promoting projects like the Student Garden. If your interested in making SCC more green, working on the garden or increasing recycling options to name a few of the possibilities.

The committee is chaired by the ASG Director of Sustainability. The other members are made up of three teachers and three students. The three teachers positions have already been filled (these positions are also volunteer based). Note: We are currently looking for a teacher/staff to fill an open position. This was updated on Januaray 16th.

If your a student and interested in volunteering for the committee please download and fill out the application:

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByAVIxYXYtP9RjROSGdvOWs4ZzQ/edit?usp=sharing

Just drop it off at the ASG office in the Lair by January 20th if you want to be considered. Thank you!

Welcome back and... the garden beds are completed!

We finished the raised beds!

Welcome back everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic winter break and awesome time over the holidays. We were busy over the break finishing getting the garden beds out to our site and I'm happy to say that the beds are completed and at their final location! Thanks very much to Emily and Kellie for helping to finish getting the beds in the ground and also thank you to everyone else that helped throughout the fall quarter!

This is going to be an awesome quarter with a lot of projects including getting the garden ready for planting in the spring!

Annoucement: Bigfoot Sustainability Committee

Do think that are campus could be more sustainable? Would like to see more bike racks on campus? Or help with the new Student Garden? Do you want to make a difference? Then you should take a look at the new Bigfoot Sustainability Committee!

At the last weekly meeting the SCC Student Government approved the creation of the new Bigfoot Sustainability Committee!

This committee will be tasked with promoting sustainability projects on campus at SCC. Here is the breakdown for the committee:

• Chair:
• ASG Director of Sustainability - Daron Williams
• Three Student Positions:
• Applications for these positions will be available starting next quarter.
• Three Teacher Positions:
• We are still looking for one more teacher to sit on this committee!

The final numbers will be 4 students and 3 teachers.

If your interested in joining the committee please email me at ascsustainability@scc.spokane.edu.

Nationally Acclaimed Author Barry Lopez Speaking at SCC

Photo from http://www.barrylopez.com

The President Speaker Series committee and the Hagan Foundation Center for the Humanities is hosting the nationally acclaimed writer and photographer Barry Lopez.

 

Where: Spokane Community College Lair Auditorium

 

When: Thursday November 21st at 7pm - refreshments and book signing after the talk.

 

From the annoucement email sent out by David Stasney:

 

"In his nonfiction, Mr. Lopez writes often about the relationship between the physical landscape, human culture, and the environment. In his fiction, he frequently addresses issue of intimacy, ethics, and identity. His first stories were published in 1966. He has been a full-time writer since leaving graduate school in 1970 but occasionally accepts invitations to teach and lecture. He has been the Welch Professor of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame and the Glenn Distinguished Professor at Washington & Lee, has taught fiction at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and tarvels regulary to Texas Tech University where he is the university's Visiting Distinguished Scholar. For more information on Barry Lopez visit his website: http://www.barrylopez.com"

See you all there!

Project: Looking into expanding the availability of recycling at SCC

Looking for new friends!

I'm happy to announce a new sustainability project for Spokane Community College:

• Expanding the availiability of recycling at SCC

Student Garden Bed Construction Event

How many of you like gardening? Would you like to be able to garden in between your classes? Your Student Government is moving forward on the construction of a new student garden and we need your help!

What: Constructing raised beds for the brand new student garden.

Where: Meet at the SCC Student Government Office in the Lair.

When: 2:30pm on Thursday the 14th of November.

- Meet at the ASG Office in the Lair. Garden located north of building 26.

The Student Garden Needs Leaves!

So the Student Government wants your leaves!

Last year your Student Government approved the creation of a new Student Garden on the campus at SCC. This quarter we are in the process of putting the garden in. One of the first steps in this is to use the technique of sheet mulching to kill the grass that is currently at the location.

Sheet mulching takes a ton of leaves and cardboard to be affective. If you have leaves or cardboard that you do not need please bring it to the ASG Office at SCC. We are located in the Lair. Thank you!

-Drop off location for leaves and cardboard (please put cardboard in the ASG office)

Welcome to Bigfoot Sustainability!

A couple years ago the Spokane Community College (SCC) Associated Student Government (ASG) decided to create a new position. That position was the student Director of Sustainability. The Inland Empire is an amazing and beautiful place to live. We have mountains, rivers, forests and grasslands all around us. For those of us who love the outdoors there are very few places we would rather to live. This has given many of us a strong sense of stewardship towards the natural beauty of the Inland Empire.