Author Archives: Ann Aubry

Reducing Printing (and Costs) on Campus 

A print management solution called PaperCut is being deployed this summer to help reduce print costs and the environmental impact of printing. 

As a user prepares a print job, PaperCut shows the environmental impact of printing in three statistics – trees, greenhouse gases and energy. 

One of the primary aims of PaperCut is to reduce printing levels by reminding users to pay attention to their printing behavior. Giving individuals a tool to monitor and adjust their printing habits typically reduces printing by 10 percent. 

Options for filters and restrictions, such as stopping mistakes like printing a 100-page document instead of the one interesting page, and forcing double-sided printing, can reduce printing by another 10-30 percent.

Textile Recycling At IWU

From Matthew J. Drat ’84
Development and Community Relations Manager,
Home Sweet Home Ministries

Even though May Term is not yet complete, Home Sweet Home Ministries is again pleased to share the results of our textile recycling program on the IWU campus. The program, in its third year, places collection containers at various locations on campus where students, faculty and staff can drop off their textiles (clothing, etc) and then Home Sweet Home’s HSHRenew program repurposes those items. The resource dollars generated by HSHRenew supports individuals struggling with homelessness and poverty via the services at Home Sweet Home Ministries.

For this school year, HSHRenew at Home Sweet Home Ministries collected nearly 5,000 pounds of textiles on the campus of IWU. That is a tremendous impact on the environment and on the men, women and children at Home Sweet Home. For example, the resources generated can help pay for any entire day of meals at our soup kitchen, meals that affect not only the body, but the mind and spirit as well.

As an alumnus of IWU (Class of ’84) I am particularly happy to see how my alma mater is engaging our local community AND changing lives of our neighbors.

 

Stop Paying to Truck Water to Campus

Offices in Holmes Hall and The Ames Library will be ending contracts for Culligan bottled water and will instead make use of hydration stations. A station is already installed in Ames, while savings from the terminated contract will be used to install one or two stations for filtered drinking water in Holmes Hall.

The GREENetwork and Sierra Student Coalition urge other campus offices to consider conserving both costs and environmental resources by making use of filtered tap water.

Tap into WaterAid 

Monday-Tuesday, April 21-22

Memorial Center Dugout and Lobby, State Farm Hall

Wednesday, April 23
The Ames Library

Students from Health 280: Perspectives in International Health are raising money and awareness to bring safe water and sanitation to millions of people in need through the organization WaterAid. 

To donate and learn more about WaterAid, visit their tables in the Dugout from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. or the State Farm Hall Lobby from 1-3 p.m. on Monday or Tuesday, April 21-22, or at The Ames Library from 2-6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23.

Calendar of Events

Sustainability Events – View as Google Calendar

Wednesday, April 9
Presentation: The True Cost of Coal
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Eckley Quadrangle 
The Beehive Collective will present the story of coal across time and how it is affecting our health, the environment and the economy.
A lecture also is scheduled in the CNS Atrium at 7 p.m.
Co-sponsored by IWU’s Sierra Student Coalition with support from Student Senate and the IWU Environmental Studies Program.

Thursday, April 3
The Echoes of their Wings: The Life and Legacy of the Passenger Pigeon
7 p.m.
C101, CNS
Joel Greenberg, naturalist, writer, and environmental consultant, will speak about the legacy of the passenger pigeon. The passenger pigeon was unlike any other bird. It probably numbered in the billions, making it the most abundant bird in North America, if not the world. But this huge population was neither evenly distributed across the landscape nor was it any way cryptic: the species often formed aggregations so vast they are difficult for us to imagine. But despite that abundance, exploitation for food and recreation destroyed the species in the wild by the first few years of the 20th century. On Sept. 1, 1914, Martha, the last of the species, died in the Cincinnati Zoo. This talk explores the story of the bird and highlights the important lessons that it presents to those of us in the 21st century. Sponsor: John Wesley Powell Audubon, IWU Biology Department and the IWU Environmental Studies program
Saturday, April 12
9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Shirk Center Arena and classrooms
As the spring season kicks into gear, there’s no better time to focus on creating a healthy mind, body, community and environment. Join IWU Wellness and The Ecology Action Center for the 9th annual Illinois Sustainable Living and Wellness Expo (ISLWE) where you will discover a diversity of exhibitors and presenters that provide resources and services about living well and living free. Entry is FREE and everyone is welcome.

Students Attend Environmental Lobby Day

Nine Illinois Wesleyan students attended the Lobby Day sponsored by Illinois Environmental Council (IEC)  on Thursday, April 3. Students attended a training prior to the event and lobbied their representatives and senators on select environmental bills.
Ellen Cornelius ’14, an ES intern with the IEC this semester, helped organize the group from IWU. Other attendees were:
Mackenzie Rivkin ’14
Hannah Scatterday ’17
Kahri Jung ’16
Nicole Chlebek ’16
Dana Rotz ’14
Cameron McKee ’17
Amanda King ’15
Kirsten Slaughter ’16
Environmental Studies Coordinator Laurine Brown 
Director of Government and Community Relations Carl Teichman