Vermont Campus Sustainability Network

VCSN is a campus resource promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainability at Vermont institutions of higher education. The Bulletin is a platform for stimulating an inclusive dialogue on sustainability efforts within the state. VCSN is hosted by the UVM Office of Sustainability, with support from Efficiency Vermont.

Interested in submitting an article highlighting the work being done on your campus?  Please send it to Tatiana.Abatemarco@uvm.edu.

EPA Mandates Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has issued the Final Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Rule, which requires reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from large sources and suppliers in the United States.  This rule effects suppliers of fossil fuels or industrial greenhouse gases, manufacturers of vehicles and engines, and facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more per year of GHG emissions.  The EPA says that the rule is, “intended to collect accurate and timely emissions data to inform future policy decisions.”

This new rule will affect the University of Vermont, which emitted 34,983 metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2009.

For more information, check out the EPA website

To view UVM's Greenhouse gas inventory, click here

VCSN Bi-Annual Meeting- January 2010

The next VCSN bi-annual meeting is set to take place at the end of January 2010.   The meeting will be an opportunity for representatives from Vermont's institutions of higher education to discuss campus sustainability efforts in the state with each other and with representatives from Efficiency Vermont. 

Current agenda items include a discussion of the lessons learned from working with the LEED green building certification program, the weatherization committee's efforts to create a training program for Vermont college students, and the importance of social marketing to campus greening efforts.  Is there anything you would like to see on the agenda?  Please email Tatiana (tabatema@uvm.edu) with suggestions. 

In an effort to select the best possible day for this meeting, we have created a doodle survey of days and times.  Please take the time to follow the link below and vote on when you would like the meeting to take place. 

link to doodle calendar

Generation E Release

National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology Program, today released a new student guide titled, “Generate E: Reporting Campus Sustainability Leadership For The Next Generation”, available for free download at www.nwf.org/GenE

The report highlights the unique and critical role college students are playing in reforming sustainability programs that lower their campus’ carbon footprint.

"We scouted projects at more than 160 colleges and universities all across the country. In more than 20 years of supporting student environmental leaders, we’ve never seen this extraordinary degree of student engagement and creativity around sustainability at every level," said Julian Keniry, Senior Director of Campus and Community Leadership, for National Wildlife Federation. "Our findings demolish the myth that students are apathetic or sitting on the sidelines. Their voices are rising up in ways we haven't heard since the civil rights or the peace movements of the '60s and '70s, but the irony is, we are finding that most campus educators and leaders at the state and federal levels aren't really listening."

Find the report, in its entirety, at www.nwf.org/GenE

NWF Campus Ecology Program
www.campusecology.org

What is your campus doing to help solve the global warming crisis?

Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation, is America's leading competition and awards program recognizing college and university innovation to solve global warming.  Categories include: green jobs and education, research, design and technology, students in action, and campus actions in administration, operations and planning. Describe these solutions to the National Wildlife Federation in by filling out the entry form and creating a short video by December 31, 2009 and you will be eligible to win prizes including grant money for your campus group and a feature in Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming, a multimedia Earth Day broadcast in April.

To get more information on how to apply visit http://www.nwf.org/campusecology/chillout/entry.cfm

Compete to win $200,000 in the 2010 MIT Clean Energy Prize venture creation competition!

Open to both undergraduates and graduates of all US universities, this business plan competition offers a platform to:

• Make a Difference -Have an idea to change our energy future? Prove it!

• Generate Exposure – VC’s, industry leaders, engineers, scientists, media

• Win Money – $200,000 for the grand winner plus another $300,000 in prizes

• Launch a Business -Turn an idea into reality

For more information, see our website at www.mitcep.org

The deadline for submission is February 25, 2010. All that is required is a two-page executive summary and a 12 slide PowerPoint Presentation (submit online in one of the 5 categories: Renewables, Clean Non-Renewables, Transportation, Energy Efficiency and Infrastructure, Deployment). Semifinalists in each category will receive entrepreneurial, legal, and technical mentoring from high caliber professionals who are MIT Clean Energy Prize sponsors and mentors.

Please contact me with any questions. If you would like to receive updates from us, sign up at www.mitcep.org.

New Magazine for Young People Seeking Contributions 

Are you a young thinker? Storyteller? Artist? Poet? Filmmaker? Essayist?
Activist? Or just somebody with an unconventional viewpoint of a problem or
an idea for solving it? Then share your viewpoint or idea with diverse
audiences by getting published in Emergent Thought magazine, a new magazine
exclusively for young people under 35 with a passion for social and
environmental change.

Emergent Thought magazine is a medium- a space where young people can share
their paradigm-level perspectives and ideas on problems afflicting society
today in the hope that they will catch on among other people. Through the
power of reader-contributed work, the magazine aims to cultivate and spread
written work, art, photography and film that can help us heal our
relationships with each other, other living beings, and the land. Its vision
is the evolution of a world that is sustainable, equitable, and happy. We
will be launching the inaugural issue in January of 2010. If this magazine
speaks to you, get in touch with us at dlim@emergentthought.com or at *
www.emergentthought.com