Please join me in congratulating the Libraries as the latest Green Team to earn their Sprout Certification, the second of four certifications through the IU Office of Sustainability Green Teams Program.  The Libraries has 11 members (From left to right: Teresa Reynolds, Mike Noth, Melissa Harding, Daniel Bruhn, Vern Wilkins, Jim Champion, Jennifer Chaffin. Missing members include: John Cash, Gary Charbonneau, Chanitra Bishop, and Virginia Dearborn).

The Libraries commitment to sustainability is just one example of how we, as a campus, can make a significant impact on environmental, social, and economic issues by restructuring how we live, learn, and work at Indiana University.

Once again, congratulations!

The No Waste  final waste audit event is this Friday, March 23, from 9:00AM – 11:00AM. It will be the biggest and most organized audit yet. Coffee and breakfast from Bloomington Bagel Company will be provided, as well as all the necessary safety gear. Come for 5 minutes or 2 hours – we need your help! Please wear closed-toed shoes and long pants/sleeves – and remember, if you don’t think you’re cut out for sorting trash and recycling, we have several jobs not involving touching anything icky.

The audit will be held in the Ballantine Hall parking deck, across from the loading dock. If you are standing at the globe in the main lobby, head right, then through the back entrance, and you’ll see a big group of people having a great time… that’s us!

Sign up for the event here! 

Imagine Bloomington Webpage

When: 5:30 – 7:30 PM (Wednesday, February 22)

Where: Banquet Facility of the Upland Brewing Company, 350 West 11th Street

Description: At 6 p.m., Ben Brabson, Emeritus Professor of Physics, will provide a presentation entitled “Climate Change and Bloomington”.  The talk will focus on ways that we in Bloomington can take full advantage of our capacity to think, to understand and to benefit from specific actions to both mitigate and adapt to our changing climate.

Green Drinks Bloomington is a lively, informal social networking event for people from all walks of life who are interested in making a greener world.  Folks gather every month to share libations and ideas, discuss, debate, explore and make new friends and business connections. It is held the 4th Wednesday of every month from 5:30 – 7:30 pm at the Banquet Facility of the Upland Brewing Company. There’s a $5 suggested donation, some food will be provided. To receive a monthly reminder, write greendrinksbloomington@gmail.com.  To learn more about Green Drinks visit www.greendrinks.org.

Volunteer for campus litter study

Where: Campus Division Office, 2222 E 10th St.

Description: Show our campus some love and help us keep IU beautiful!  Volunteers are needed to help us sort and categorize campus litter in support of an effort to reduce littering on campus.  Did you know that IU staff currently pick up 1,500 lbs of litter a day off of the ground on the IUB campus?  Help us locate the sources and find solutions to this problem. Wear long sleeves, pants, and closed-toed shoes.  We’ll provide the rest. Questions can be directed to IUOS intern Mark Milby at momilby@indiana.edu.

Friday’s 2:00-4:00 (beginning February 17th)

Volunteer with us at the Campus Garden Initiative’s new plot at Hilltop Gardens: learn and practice skills for planning, planting and tending to edible plants; help shape the plan for using produce grown this summer; and meet fellow volunteers passionate about growing food for our campus. Bike racks and parking spaces are available for volunteers.

For more information, contact Stephanie Hopkins, Garden Coordinator at iugarden@indiana.edu or visitiugarden.wordpress.com.

Radon-Why Do We Ignore It?

By Shelly Rosenblum

Psychology is fascinating, especially when you consider how we use it on ourselves – or against ourselves to be more precise. When do we use it against ourselves? When we put things off that are good for us, like cutting back on junk food, or skipping the gym, or when we hear someone tell us to test for radon and we don’t.

While it’s difficult to perceive how something we can’t see or smell can hurt us, is there something else stopping us from taking action? After all, the Surgeon General and public health organizations like the ALA and EPA tell us that radon is a leading cause of lung cancer, second only to smoking. We usually take messages from these folks to heart, so why ignore radon?

Dr. Peter M. Sandman is an expert on risk communication. He helps people understand why we fear some things that carry little risk and overlook things which carry a huge risk – like radon. He describes this behavior with a formula: Risk = hazard + outrage. Outrage? What’s that? Suppose a company spills a toxic substance in your neighborhood, creating a health hazard. We’d be angry. Then suppose they’re not forthcoming about the quantity spilled and danger level. We’d be even more angry or OUTRAGED!

The more outraged we were, the greater the perceived risk. Even if the hazard was small, but the outrage large, we’d still perceive a large risk. Now apply this to radon: since it’s natural, there’s no one to be angry with – no outrage. With no one to blame, we somehow convince ourselves that the risk is smaller. This lack of outrage allows us to fool ourselves into not taking action. But consider this: if you found that your children’s school had not tested for radon, or if they had tested, found elevated levels and not told anyone, you’d be outraged – suddenly you would perceive the risk as huge – you would demand action. Consider further, one day your children may have reason to be outraged – at YOU – for not having tested the home they grew-up in!

Test, Fix, Save a Life. Testing is simple and inexpensive. The cost of fixing a home with elevated levels is comparable to other minor home repairs. It’s cheap insurance – against lung cancer and against having your children outraged at you! Learn more about how to test and fix your home.

The recycling center is open Monday through Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Materials accepted at the center include:

• Steel and aluminum cans (no scrap metal)
• Plastics #1-7
• Clear and colored glass bottles and jars (no window glass, mirrors, light bulbs, etc)
• Mixed paper/fibrous products (junk mail, newspaper, office paper, paperboard, etc)
• Corrugated cardboard

All materials must be free from food contamination, and paper and cardboard products must be dry. The center does not currently accept hazardous materials such as paint, aerosols, poisons or batteries, but these items may be taken to the Monroe County Recycling Center at 3400 S. Walnut Street. Visit their facebook page or website for more information. For further questions about the recycling center downtown call Chad Roeder at 325-2777.

Sign a petition for local transit funding referenda

Bloomington Transportation Options for People (B-TOP) has passed a resolution supporting a petition from the Central Indiana Regional Transit Authority calling for dedicated funding for transportation. To read and sign the petition, visit http://www.cirta.us/. Also, if you are involved in an organization that may want to pass a resolution, the coalition is looking for more supporting organizations to sign on.

Bloomington Community Orchard Workdays and Events

The Orchard has many opportunities for all interest levels. Workdays, team meetings, limestone benchmaking workshop, tabling at community events, tours at the Orchard..the list goes on! Check out our calendar (http://www.bloomingtoncommunityorchard.org/site/calendar) for details or email Stacey at getinvolved@bloomingtoncommunityorchard.org for more information.

Green Acres Neighborhood Ecovillage

Want to grow sustainable community right here in Bloomington? Our “retrofit cohousing” ecovillage offers sustainability-related events, community potlucks, music jams, and much more. Come learn with us (even if you don’t live in the neighborhood) and make new friends. We welcome folks of all ages who are attracted to our vision. Learn more at www.ganecovillage.org/vision-and-values. To get involved, join our email list by sending a blank email to: green-acres-neighborhood-ecovillage+subscribe@googlegroups.com.

Some suggestions for Green Team members:

• Create a list of “green tips” for your co-workers that can be presented at office meetings
• Volunteer with one of the many sustainability focused organizations on campus
• Work to achieve one of the four levels of certification through the Green Teams Certification program
• Use electronic documents whenever possible and only print when necessary
• Set up printers to automatically duplex print (double-sided)
• Activate sleep mode on your computer
• Turn off and unplug computer screens, printers, and scanners before leaving for the day
• Replace old light bulbs with energy-efficient light bulbs
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Choose alternative transportation- walk, bike, or take the bus
• Buy Fair Trade coffee for your office
• When hosting an event with food, ask for local caterers that emphasize sustainable practices

I welcome you to post your own pledge on the Green Teams blog