We are really into it now! This is Week 3 of the official RecycleMania Competition, or Week 5 including the two pre-season weeks. We are submitting our data and doing what we can to promote recycling and sustainability on campus. Each week we have designated a theme to focus on and plan our educational events and activities around. Preseason Week 1 was Go Green, where we encouraged students to get involved by taking the University’s Go Green Pledge. Week 2 was Sustainable Agriculture and Composting. Tabling was held by the UR Microfarm and Dining’s Team Green. Week 3 upped the ante as it was the official first kick-off week of the competition. The theme was Water Conservation. The Global Water Brigades group put on a presentation of the work they did in the rural mountain community of El Retiro, Honduras to implement a sustainable water system for a community of 450 people who previously did not have running water. Then, an interesting discussion was organized by Dining’s Team Green in panel format on implementing a Ban the Bottle campaign here on campus. The reaction of our students and the panel members was quite mixed and people can tend to be quite passionate about their opnions surrounding bottled water on both sides. There are pros and cons on both sides, and it will certainly be interesting to see what the result is of the project. Immediately following this panel we screened the movie Flow to delve a little deeper into the many complex issues and political ramifications surrounding water conservation. To lighten up the mood, Week 3’s theme was in honor of Valentine’s Day. Students were invited to make their own cards from hand-pulped recycled paper prepared by students, Leah Mould and Leslie Wolf.
What’s next? Well, Week 5 is going to be an exciting one for sure! The theme is Energy Conservation. Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) and Grassroots are co-sponsoring a Green Energy Fair to be held in Wilson Commons this Wednesday, February 20th from 12:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. There will be free hot chocolate courtesy of ESW, a trivia wheel with prizes, student groups and special guests tabling, and even a vehicle display outside featuring the UR Biodiesel bus, an electric GEM car, and a Chevy Volt! Don’t miss it! We are also screening the movie Food, Inc. onThursday, February 21 at 8:00 p.m. in Dewey 1-101. If you haven’t seen this eye-opening movie, you should really check it out. Finally, the SAM fraternity brothers will be hosting a RecycleMania house party on Friday, February 22 starting at 11:30 p.m.
Click here to see what we have in store for the rest of the competition:
So, how are we doing? Here is how we rank as of competition week 1:
Grand Champion: 53 out of 208
Gorilla: 15 out of 288
Per Capita Classic: 9 out of 277
Not bad at all! For full results see: http://recyclemaniacs.org/scoreboard