Booklist: Books on the Environment

The current issue (February 15) of Booklist features new books on the environment. You can sign up for their free Online Newsletter Read Alert at:

http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?id=64&page=general_info

Managing Your Carbon Emissions -- at WLA!

The upcoming Wisconsin Library Association meeting (November 4-7, Madison, Marriott West, Middleton) stresses the theme of sustainability. The keynote address on Wednesday, November 5th (9.00-10.00) is titled "Climate Change: Local to Global and Back Again," is by UW Professor Emeritus John Magnuson.

Another very relevant session titled "Managing Your Carbon Emissions: An Innovative, Wisconsin-Based Web Tool," is to be held at 10.45-12.00 on Thursday, November 6th.

See http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/conferences/2008/program/index.htm for more information.

A case study in retrofitting a library for energy efficiency ... maybe

An article in the Cap Times today mentions that a UW-Madison engineering class recently performed an energy analysis on the Monroe Street Branch of the Madison Public Library. Great green savings ideas ... but enough money in the budget to implement them?

A study by students in Mike Oliva's sustainable design engineering class at University of Wisconsin-Madison last year found that the 47-year-old library could shave energy costs by using high-performance fluorescent light bulbs, natural lighting, double-pane windows, occupancy sensors for bathroom lights and fans and additional insulation. The students found, incredibly enough, that there was no insulation in the walls.

"The study was a good one, to look at an ancient building and see what you could do," said Library Director Barb Dimick. She thought some of the proposals, in fact, worthy enough to include in her 2009 capital budget.

"But now the operating budget is so bad that the whole thing is on hold," Dimick said.

Read the full article here.

Universities market sustainability to applicants

From the New York Times today (excerpt):

HIGHER education can’t resist a ranking: best college, best cafeteria, biggest endowment, biggest party school. It says something about what’s important on campus, then, that when the Princeton Review releases its annual guide to colleges this week, it will include a new metric: a “green rating,” giving points for things like “environmentally preferable food,” power from renewable sources and energy-efficient buildings.

Green is good for the planet, but also for a college’s public image. In a Princeton Review survey this year of 10,300 college applicants, 63 percent said that a college’s commitment to the environment could affect their decision to go there.

Grist Magazine, Forbes Magazine, the Princeton Review, and others are now ranking colleges and universities in part at least on "green" criteria. I wonder where UW-Madison will rank? I also wonder, how might libraries in all of these institutions contribute to a strong green score?

(Read the full article here.)

Carbon footprint of Web servers and clients

An interesting article in the New York Times today talks about the energy and carbon footprint of the nation's six thousand data centers and quarter-billion PCs:

Up to two thirds of the electricity consumed by a PC is wasted, meaning the machine is on but not in use, according to the Department of Energy. The research firm Gartner estimates that 40 percent of the all carbon dioxide emissions resulting from information technology and telecommunications is attributable to PC’s. Data center servers, by contrast, represent 23 percent, though growing rapidly. (The rest is attributable to telecoms and printers.)

The solution? Simple software to put these units in "sleep mode" or power them down when not in use. In other words, turning out the light when the room is empty — for the Internet age.

Earth Day

Earth Day was founded in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, of Wisconsin. At the University of Wisconsin, the Nelson Institute coordinates research and outreach activities designed to provide information and increase our knowledge about issues of sustainability and the environment. See the Nelson Institute's website at http://www.nelson.wisc.edu/index.php for information about today's events.

American Assocation of Public Health Agencies Sees Climate Change as a Threat to Public Health

This year the American Assocation of Public Health Agencies has chosen to focus on climate change. For National Public Health Week (April 7-13, 2008), APHA has issued a downloadable toolkit and informational brochure, both available at www.nphw.org

Information professionals can help spread awareness of this public health initiative!

Announcement: UW Gaia Project

The UW-Madison has started a new project of faculty and staff "learning-action communities" around climate change and sustainability issues: the Gaia Project. Here's the description:

The UW Gaia Project is an action-learning community for faculty and academic staff who are concerned about issues related to sustainability and global climate change. The Project offers participants the opportunity to learn about these critical issues and to take action on a personal, professional, campus, and community levels to address them.

Learning/Action groups are planned with a variety of different emphases within the area of sustainability and energy issues. The topics given below received the highest levels of interest in the initial survey. While they have substantial overlap, this range is intended to allow participants to meet with other UW community members with similar interests. Depending on enrollment and scheduling constraints, there may be more than one group in particular areas. In addition, small special-interest groups may spin off from many of these as participant interest dictates

Visit their web site for details on these learning-action groups which are forming now.

Focus the Nation

A countrywide Focus the Nation event will take place on Jan 30-31. It is described at http://www.focusthenation.org

It is a major effort involving over 1400 universities, colleges, schools and other groups to focus political attention on the overarching problem of industrial society in the 21st century : Global Warming.

You can see Chancellor Wiley's statement at http://news.wisc.edu/14643

Intern with the "Encyclopedia of Earth" project

LIS students might be interested in this opportunity:

STUDENT INTERNSHIPS IN CLIMATE CHANGE

Dear Students,

Concerned about climate change? Wondering when world oil production will peak and what renewable energies are ready to step in? Want to improve the communication of sound science and policy on these topics to a global audience?

Here's your chance. We are looking for motivated individuals to become student Encyclopedia Interns on a major climate change initiative underway at the Encyclopedia of Earth (http://www.eoearth.org/), a new electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society. The Encyclopedia is a free, fully searchable collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and experts who collaborate and review each other’s work.

The articles are written in non-technical language and will be useful to students, educators, scholars,
professionals, as well as to the general public.

The goal of this project is to build the Web's largest and most authoritative resource on climate change. Encyclopedia Interns will help harvest public domain content, copyedit articles, and otherwise assist authors and topic editors in producing and publishing articles. Encyclopedia Interns will learn the basics of Mediawiki software, the collaborative content platform that underlies Wikipedia, and work with researchers, educators, professionals, and other experts on climate change and
related topics.

The time commitment is flexible and you can work at home, your school's Food Court, Starbucks, or
wherever you can grab an Internet connection.

You can see the current group of "e-scribe" Interns here: http://www.eoearth.org/article/E-scribes.

Here's your chance to make a difference and gain unique professional experience. Interested? Contact Maggie Surface at eoe@eoearth.org.

With best regards,
Cutler J. Cleveland
Editor-in-Chief
Encyclopedia of Earth

SimCity Societies - gaming goes green?

SimCity Societies is an interesting new game (Windows only, so far) which purports to teach about the ecological and economic consequences of various forms of energy production, from the folks who brought you "The Sims" and the folks who brought you "British Petroleum":

BP and EA have partnered to create SimCity Societies, the city-building game that deals with the causes and consequences of global warming. The game presents options for city power generation through various high- or low-carbon means, making available solar power, wind power, hydrogen power, natural gas and biofuels — the same alternative, cleaner forms of energy BP is working with leading researchers, scientists and engineers to provide.

Can computer entertainment (sponsored, in part, by the petroleum industry) be an effective tool for raising awareness of energy footprints and climate change? Should libraries purchase this game? And more importantly: anyone around UW-Madison played this game yet? Want to write us a review?

Eco-Librarians: Changing Our Communities One Step at a Time

Eco-Librarians: Changing Our Communities One Step at a Time is the title of a Continuing Education course offered at UW-Madison SLIS Continuing Education, March 31 - April 21, 2008.

The course description says," There is no doubt our environment is in crisis. Melting polar ice caps and rising sea levels, not to mention the quandary over using one square of toilet paper or two, is enough to overwhelm even the most stalwart eco-warrior. We may not be able to change our environmental woes in giant leaps, however, as a library staff, we can take many small steps to engage, enlighten, and educate our populace. This course will provide a forum for exchanging ideas on how to be effective eco-librarians through simple practices, programming, and some out-of-the-recyclable cardboard box thinking."

Instructor Pamela Bosben has over 26 years experience working in the South Central Library System and has been the Director of the Rosemary Garfoot Public Library in Cross Plains, WI since 1991. In July 2006, the community opened the first newly constructed LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) public library in the state of Wisconsin.

To register, go to http://www.slis.wisc.edu/continueed/eco.html

UW-Madison sustainability grade: B+?

From the Daily Cardinal today:

UW-Madison ranks among the top-10 public and private universities for maintaining green practices, earning a “B+” grade from the Sustainable Endowments Institute’s 2008 College Sustainability Report Card, released Wednesday.

The report ranked the 200 public and private universities with the largest endowments and graded activities on campus and investment practices.

Only six schools received higher than a “B+,” putting UW-Madison “right up there at the top,” according to Mark Orlowski, executive director of the institute. Improving from last year’s overall “B” grade, UW-Madison ranked higher in food and recycling and made strides in green building design, according to the university’s individual report card.

The university scored an “A” in transportation, a new category this year, for providing alternative modes of transportation for faculty, staff and students who all receive a free bus pass. Other attributes in the report include the university’s biodiesel and electric vehicles, a bicycle sharing program and extensive pedestrian and bicycle paths.

However, UW-Madison did not improve from its “B” grade in the climate change and energy or administration categories, Orlowski said.

UW-Madison senior business lecturer Thomas Eggert said the construction of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified buildings would help continue the university’s sustainability efforts.

He noted the business department would seek LEED building certification for Grainger Hall, including the new addition, starting next semester. Eggert also said student involvement has been and will continue to be successful in “going green.”

“There’s certainly a lot of student interest born out both by the classes that are offered and also by the student groups that have developed,” Eggert said.

Eggert mentioned We Conserve, a UW-Madison campaign devoted to reducing campus energy consumption per square foot by 20 percent by the year 2010. Another positive factor in UW’s report was its high grade in endowment transparency, with investment holdings accessible on the Internet. The UW System Trust Funds consider social responsibility criteria in voting shareholder proxy proposals and seek student and public comment on issues of social concert, the report said. “Overall, the trend has been really positive for the university,” Orlowski said.

Tales from Planet Earth

The October 17 issue of Wisconsin Week has an article about the upcoming film festival, "Tales from Planet Earth," that Gregg Mitman and the Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE) have organized for November 2-4.  Admission is free, and it's a wonderful opportunity to view a fabulous set of environmental films in a large-screen theatrical space.  See http://www.news.wisc.edu/14310 for more information.

Recycling IT

"E-Wasting Away in China," by Terry J. Allen, is a thoughtful and disturbing article on America's practice of shipping unwanted "electronic waste," like computers, to China. It was published yesterday by CommonDreams.org.

Great Government Source of Information

For some amazing pictures (that you helped pay for!) of global warming at work, see the Scientific Visualization Studio of the Goddard Space Center at
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/search/Instrument/ICESat.html

Disinformation not misinformation

I was misinformed about the term "misinformation," which originally I misused in my post of September 6th (I have just edited the term out). I meant to use "disinformation," which Wikipedia defines as "the deliberate dissemination of false information" -- clearly a topic of professional interest to librarians and other information professionals.

For examples of disinformation related to climate change and sustainability, see the web site The Heat is Online at
http://www.heatisonline.org/disinformation.cfm

Sustainability and Preservation

The Kilgarlin Center for Preservation of the Cultural Record of the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin, with The Getty Conservation Institute and The University of Texas at Austin Center for Sustainable Development, present From Gray Areas to Green Areas: Developing Sustainable Practices in Preservation Environments

The symposium will be held in Austin, Texas, November 1-3, 2007, on the University of Texas campus. Boasting an exciting line-up of speakers from the fields of conservation, architecture and public relations, the symposium will examine sustainable practices in cultural heritage preservation environments. There will be extensive time for discussion and brainstorming. A highly energetic "Slam Session" will conclude the program on Saturday.

For more information and to register for the symposium, please visit:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/kilgarlin/gaga/index.html

Greening of the Campus

Greening of the Campus is the title of a series of conferences held at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, over the last ten years that "allows people representing diverse areas in university communities to share information on environmental issues." The campus community, say the organizers, "can become a 'green' model for society as a whole by gathering and sharing this information." The seventh and most recent conference in the series took place this week and included presentations in the categories of Education, Research, Service and Operations.

In today's Wisconsin Week . . .

In today's Wisconsin Week is a story about a UW employee, Jim Winkle, who has made a switch to solar power for his Madison home.

The article quotes him as saying, "I've just become more and more aware over the years of the environmental impact of the way we live. . . . You think of [electricity] as this clean energy, this clean thing coming out of your wall outlet, but in fact it's the largest source of greenhouse gases."

Read more at Wisconsin Week