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.