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Summer Session

Summer Session

 

Looking for something to do this summer? Want to stay at Tufts? Need to catch up on a few credits?

Consider signing up for the Tufts Summer Session. There are a variety of environmental/sustainability courses, including Culture, Politics, and the Environment (PS138-03) with Nancy Gleason and International Sustainable Development (UEP 0294BB) with Ingar Palmlund.

Check out the entire list of available courses and register today!

The Kyoto Protocol – Has It Worked?

Check out this incredible infographic on the outcomes of the Kyoto Protocol: Has it worked? Has it failed?

You can also find the original image, and more sustainability news, here.

Environment America Info Session

From Danielle Falzon: Environment America is hiring fellows into our offices nationwide to make a difference in environmental issues. We are looking to hire recent college graduates who have the passion, the commitment and the talent it takes to fight for our environmental values across the country. As an Environment America fellow, recent grads get a two-year crash course in the nuts and bolts of environmental activism ­ working alongside senior staff to plan and run grassroots campaigns, lobby lawmakers, set up and speak at news conferences, organize town hall meetings, identify new members, raise money, recruit and manage staff and much more. I¹m a fellow, and when I was a senior I was looking for a job that would allow me to make a real difference in the environmental issues that I cared about and this is definitely the job to do that. And after two years, fellows are ready to take on an even bigger leadership role in environmental advocacy.

 

Danielle will be hosting an info session in the Career Center (Dowling 745B) on Tuesday 2/19 at 6pm. The info session will go for about 30 minutes.

 

Tufts Environmental Alumni Career Panel and Networking

Tufts Environmental Alumni (TEA) invites alumni and students to attend an Environmental Career Panel and Networking Night. Students: Gain perspective on the environmental sector and network with professionals in the field. Alumni: Connect with fellow Jumbos working in the environmental field and meet the next generation of environmental professionals! This evening event is sponsored by Tufts Environmental Alumni, the Tufts University Alumni Association, and Tufts Career Services.

Monday, February 25th, 6:00 – 8:30 PM

Dowling Hall Room 745, Tufts Medford Campus

Eco-Reps Kick Off Spring 2013

Hi everyone! The Eco-Reps program is proud to welcome four new reps for the spring 2013 semester. Vishakha Ramakrishnan is in Bush Hall. Charlotte Clarke is taking over Hill. Norihito Naka is joining Haskell Hall. You can find out more about our lovely new members here.

Spring events preview

This past week all the Reps hosted “meet and greets” in their dorm. We run  these events every semester to get to know some new residents and reconnect with others. Each rep offered a unique event featuring everything from baked goods to recycling pledges to green dorm room surveys!

This semester we have some big events we’ll be working on as a group. For the first one we are teaming up with Tufts Recycles to work on Recyclemania. Recyclemania is a national competition to see which university is the best at recycling. The grade scale focuses on the percentage of recyclables thrown in the trash can. At Tufts, we will also be doing an inter-dorm competition. Be sure to look out for grades posted in your building and around campus.  The Eco-Reps kicked off the event in Dewick dining hall last wednesday passing out candy and information regarding the event. You can track our national progress and learn more about the competition at http://recyclemaniacs.org/.

A team of our reps met with David McGraw at the Office for Campus Life this past week to talk about making Spring Fling more sustainable. We’ll be working more on this during the upcoming weeks.

Last but not least, Meatless Meals will be happening in Dewick dining hall Wednesdays from 6-7 pm.

Vishakha

Carolyn

Charlotte

Norihito

Graphic Design Intern, Tufts Office of Sustainability (Medford, MA)

Are you a creative, energetic, responsible individual who is interested in making a difference in the field of sustainability? Then you are in luck – we are looking for a Graphic Design intern!

Job Description

The role of the Graphic Design Intern is primarily to assist the Office of Sustainability Marketing team in the design and layout of its communications materials.

Among the responsibilities of the intern are:

  • Create and update materials such as brochures, newsletters, posters, flyers, signs, etc.
  • Design layouts for both print and online communications
  • Take and edit photographs as needed
  • Assist in the production of content for the various communications channels (online and traditional)

Work Study students preferred but not required. The rate is $10/hr and the intern is expected to work 8-10 hours/week.

The Graphic Design Intern should ideally possess the following characteristics:

  • Graphic design proficiency in Adobe Design Creative Suite, especially Adobe InDesign and Illustrator
  • Excellent organization skills with ability to work independently
  • Familiarity with online tools such as Mailchimp, WordPress, Facebook, Twitter and Hootsuite
  • Basic HTML & CSS skills proficiency preferred but not required

Candidates who provide a portfolio of work/design samples will be given priority.

To apply, visit the JobX student employment website, job ID 4918. Good luck! Application closes Feb 12, 2013.

 

Tufts Energy Competition 2013 (Deadline: Feb 1st)

Do you have a great energy idea? perhaps even a final project related to energy? Win up to $3,000 to jump-start your energy idea! Apply to the Tufts Energy Competition! 

Working on an innovative project on energy or sustainability that can be leveraged into a winning proposal? The Tufts Energy Competition is looking for your ideas! This competition is a celebration of innovative student-driven solutions to energy challenges. The goal of the Tufts Energy Competition is to support students implementing projects that explore solutions to key energy issues. The winning team will receive up to $3000 to implement their project, and the runner-up will receive $2000.

Every Tufts student is eligible to apply, including engineering students, undergraduates, Tufts medical students, international studies students, and more. The application is due February 1 and can be found onhttp://www.tuftsenergyconference2013.com/energy-competition/.

Need some inspiration? Previous finalists and winners include:

  • A Split Junction Solar Concentrator for More Efficient Electricity Generation
  • Giving Students the Chance to Choose Their Energy
  • Efficient Hygiene Initiatives: Bringing Ecological Sanitation to Thottiypatti
  • Solar Powered Uninterruptible Power Systems
  • Ocean-Based Algae Energy
  • Wind Turbines and Solar Cookers in Zimbabwe
  • High Voltage Lithium Ion Battery Management System

The 2013 Energy Competition hopes to continue this success with your great ideas!

For more information on the 2013 Tufts Energy Competition please visit: http://www.tuftsenergyconference2013.com/energy-competition/

For any further questions or comments on the 2013 Tufts Energy Competition please email tuftsenergycompetition2013@gmail.com or nolan.katherine@gmail.com

Welcome back for the spring!

The campus is filling up with people and the calendar is, not surprisingly, filling up with events. Keep an eye on our Events Calendar for sustainability-goings-on around Tufts (including Off-Campus events that you may find of interest) and don’t forget to keep checking the Tufts Environmental Calendar, which is limited to events organized by Tufts students or staff that are related to sustainability.

Event reminders are also broadcast over our Facebook and Twitter accounts, usually on the day of the event themselves.

Stay tuned and stay involved!

TSC holds Fall Sustainability Roundtable

TSC's Fall Roundtable drew members from the CSC working groups and various sustainability-related organizations around campus

Tufts Sustainability Collective, the active umbrella organization for environmental groups on campus, has been very busy the past two weeks! The student-run group hosted two successful events, a Sustainability Roundtable and a Sustainability Dinner at Dewick. Both of these events have become staples each semester, so if you missed them this time around, look for their reappearance in the spring!

This fall’s Sustainability Roundtable featured the Campus Sustainability Council‘s three working groups for Energy and Emissions, Waste, and Water. Each group presented their goals for the university and their progress since convening earlier this year, pursuing a dialog with members of the Tufts community, from students to the head of Facilities.

Energy and Emissions team-members noted the achievement of meeting the standards set by Kyoto protocol by 2012 and mechanisms for decreasing the university’s carbon footprint, such as increased efficiency and switching fuels to natural gas or to distributors with renewable sources. In order to reduce energy consumption as the community continues to grow, however, a university-wide effort is called for, and the educational aspect of this goal is where the Office of Sustainability comes in!

The Waste working group focused on reducing outputs to the landfills during new construction projects and building rehabilitation. They mentioned many waste-reduction goals and plans to collaborate with Tufts Facilities in particular to “use less, reuse and recycle more” before anything is dumped in the trash.

The Water team had great news to present, including some concrete actions already in motion on the Tufts campus! Projects so far have included water reuse systems for machinery in laboratories and elsewhere, reducing the water coming in by hundreds of thousands of gallons already, and the recent construction of a university rain garden near the lower campus dorms. Rain gardens are both visually appealing and ecologically sound, ensuring rainwater is infiltrated into the soil, cleaned naturally, and returned to the groundwater rather than sent with pollutants down the storm drains. The Water working group also discussed plans to enter the EPA’s RainWorks Challenge, a national infrastructure design competition, and to look into porous pavement and gray water systems.

Read more about what was discussed at the roundtable in Tufts Daily’s news article.

-written by Anne Elise Stratton

The Candidates and the Climate

While no candidate is perfect on climate change (and indeed, they all seem to be woefully inadequate), there are some differences:
 
PRESIDENT
Mitt Romney: despite his surprisingly good record on climate change while he was governor, Romney’s energy plan focuses almost entirely on pumping more fossil fuels into the atmosphere, a situation that would almost certainly ensure the world’s inability to reign in climate change (Rolling Stone has a pretty fierce write up of it, but you can read it yourself and see). Just one example: in his quotes about N. American energy independence, he uses a Manhattan Institute report that says, “In collaboration with Canada and Mexico, the United States could—and should—forge a broad pro-development, pro-export policy to realize the benefits of our hydrocarbon resources. Such a policy could lead to North America becoming the largest supplier of fuel to the world by 2030.” (what no-one seems to have told him, however, is that oil and gas companies that drill in N. America aren’t restricted to selling that fuel only to Canada, Mexico and the US – they’ll sell it to whomever gives the best price – as any good, non-government-run institution would do).
 
But anyhow, Obama’s no great climate champion these days either but at least he doesn’t blatantly ignore climate change or pledge to dig up and sell all the fossil fuels in North America. As an aside, Romney attacks Obama for ‘targeting old coal power plants’ – when, really, we wish he were targeting them, since those plants are some of the worst carbon emissions offenders.
 
Here is a summary of what the 2 candidates have said about energy and climate on the campaign trail.
 
US SENATE
Elizabeth Warren seems to support action on climate change – at least in words – but I doubt it’ll be a priority for her. Scott Brown, however, in June 2012 voted to ‘disapprove’ the EPAs endangerment findings on greenhouse gases and in March 2012 voted against ending tax deductions for major oil companies and extending incentives for energy efficient homes, plug-in vehicles and alternative fuels. They are considered one of 4 senate races with noticably different opinions on climate.
 
US HOUSE 
Jon Golnik doesn’t list ‘environment’ as an issue on his website, but under ‘energy’ he indicates he supports the Keystone XL pipeline, fracking and drilling in ANWR. OK, I guess that says it all. Climate doesn’t seem to be a priority for Niki Tsongas, but she states that she help[ed] to pass tougher fuel efficiency standards and incentives for renewable energy, so there’s hope there.
 
Don’t forget to vote!

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