UW River Falls targets Energy- Sufficiency

By 2012 the Universtiy of Wisconsin River Falls hopes to acheive energy independence, producing an equivalent amount to that they consume. The River Falls campus was selected because of its longstanding environmental record.

In light of the acheivments here in the Twin Cities, why not the same?

http://www.uwrf.edu/sustain/uwrf-release.html

The U of M and the Chicago Climate Exchange

Thanks for these links, Leo!

Want to see how the U looks at sustainability?May I recommend looking into the Chicago Climate Exchange. This could change the whole shape of the debate about sustainability here at the University.

http://www.uservices.umn.edu/sustainableU/index.html
http://www.chicagoclimatex.com/about/members.html

Coca-Cola and campus, addressing the controversy

Following up the controveries over the Coca-Cola corporation's human right and environmental justice issues spokesmen from the company will come to UMN to address their contract to soon expire. Here is were anyone can let their voice be heard and influence the future of coca-cola on campus!

October 11, 7-9pm
Coffman theature

EcoWatch's 1st meeting of Fall 2006

EcoWatch's first meeting of the semester is this upcoming Monday, September 25th at 5:30 PM.
Meet us at Coffman Union in the Mississippi Lounge (3rd floor) and look for the EcoWatch sign. At the meeting we'll discuss our tentative semester plans, and recap our activities from last year. If you have ideas for events and campaigns that we can work together on, be sure to come to the meeting so we can hear your input!
Email ecowatch@umn.edu with any questions- see you Monday!

News: Schwarzenegger sells his Hummers

Gov. Schwarzenegger (R-California), who was one of the first people to buy a Hummer when it went on the market in the early 1990s, has sold his 8 hummers after just signing the Californian Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32). Whatever the motivations, what a drastic change! Check out the story below:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_objectid=17800238%26method=full%26siteid=94762-name_page.html

rights and rice seminar

Local and Global Movements to Protect the Rights and Livlihoods of Indigenous Farmers

A jasmine rice farmer from Thailand and Wild rice growers from the White Earth Reservation and will speak about their efforts to protect native rice varieties. Learn how these farmers are securing their future by organizing through fair trade and sustainable agriculture. Don't miss these amazing speakers!

Monday, September 25th
3:00 PM
Borlaug Hall 365

Critical Mass september 29th, 5:30

Critical Mass is a bike ride to promote cycling as an alternative form of transportation and create visibility for the commuting cyclist. Typical rides vary from 400 to 50 people depending on the season, involve music, and a slow pace ride over several street lanes. I never miss it

The ride meets the last Friday of every month 5:30 at Loring Park in Minneapolis. EcoWatch will meet on campus around 5pm to ride as a group. Probably in front of coffman union or northrop mall. E-mail ecowatch@umn.edu if this is of interest.

Bigstone 2 Coal Plant Expansion

Do you want more dirty coal power in Minnesota?

This is the time to tell the Minnesota Public Utilities Commissions (PUC) what you think!

Big Stone 2 is the proposed expansion of a huge, 600MW coal burning power generator just 2 miles across the Minnesota border in South Dakota. Big Stone II will not utilize any coal gassification processes; it will be a conventional coal plant. The expansion would run new power lines across Minnesota to carry power to the Twin Cities area.

The new plant would:
Emit several tons of global warming pollutants
Deposit more mercury and other toxins into our air and water
Inhibit growth of renewable energy sources, like wind power, that could boost Minnesota’s economy.

Demand Renewable Energy

Show decision-makers that Minnesota does not want more coal-fired power!

Attend one or both hearings at the Public Utilities Commission!
MONDAY, OCT. 16th 1:00pm or 6:00pm
MN PUC Large Hearing Room
121 7th Place E. Ste 300, Saint Paul

EcoWatch will be organizing a strong contginent to attend, by bike as well as bus. All are welcome to join and should contact ecowatch@umn.edu to correlate travel.

If we get 150 people in that room, with a vast majority against the plant, itcan be stopped. They don't expect huge numbers. EcoWatch will be going as a group to meet there with other students from neighboring colleges to show them that students do not want to live with another coal plant for the next 50+ years. More details about a carpool will be posted when we get closer to the date.

Gore's new focus on GW solutions

While Al Gore's recent film, An Inconvenient Truth, has generated great publicity and exposure to the threat of global warming, he has often been very light on solutions. But at a major policy speech at NYU this week, Gore offer suprisingly many new solutions and appears to shift his focus from identifying the problem of global warming to energizing people and decision makers about the solutions we have. Check out this link to an article from Grist magazine:

http://www.grist.org/news/muck/2006/09/19/gore/index.html?source=muck

This article also talks about more speculations about his Presidential aspirations. Whatever those may be, I'm glad that such a public figure is highlighting all the solutions we have at our fingertips to combat this problem.

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