Tuesday is our LAST meeting of the semester & you know what that means – OFFICER ELECTIONS! If you have not nominated yourself for a position do so here. 

Angie is speaking for OES internship (office of energy and sustainability)! (5 minutes)

Evan will be giving a brief overview of the EC’s one more BIG action before the semester ends to SAVE THE STADIUM WOODS. And then briefing about the CAMPING TRIP THIS WEEKEND. DON’T MISS IT.

ELECTIONS: Alex and Rial will be running elections: 

Election meeting normally run about 20 minutes overtime and is super exciting – so get pumped to VOTE. It might be the most important meeting of the semester because we are selecting the people to take our club further into 2012-2013!

If you’re running for a position expect to talk for about a minute about why you want + would do well in your elected position. You can run for more than one position – but it is recommended to pick your top choice.

We will be voting to split the positions of secretary/historian and recruitment/fundraising, before elections start.  

We will vote anonymously for each position after the candidates speak. To participate in voting you must be an official EC member listed on the website. If you’re not – comment below with the project groups you’ve participated in or events attended.

Happy Earth Day EC. We did a great job at the Stadium Woods Rally: 

See you Tuesday,

Love EC

HAPPY EARTH DAY VIRGINIA TECH

If you pick just one way to celebrate earth day today put on some warm clothes and rain boots and come to the GLC stage for the Stadium Woods Rally today at 1:00p.m. – Hear some awesome speakers and help save these trees that were our age durning the American Revolution!

The media will be there and these trees need your help. There is not an issue more important to Hokies, Virginia Tech, or closer to home. 

See you there.

Love,

The Environmental Coalition. 

That’s right Environmental Coalition Members, Next Week is Earth Week!

Clear your schedule  - and come to as many events possible throughout the week.

Check the schedule at: www.vtearthweek.com

Next week we are ELECTING OFFICERS FOR 2012-2013! If you would like to nominate yourself or a friend for any position go to this survey! Positions available - President, Vice President, Secretary, Recruitment/Fundraising Chair, Treasurer, Marketing, SGA Representative, Coalition Representative, Webmaster, Earth Week Coordinator!

Important things to do:

Promote the Earth Week Website to your roommates, friends, and CLASSES… It’s never too late to do a Class rap.

Field Day is Tuesday, come out to the drill field to play, all day! 10am – 5pm. No Hokie Left Inside! See vtearthweek.com for a more complete list.

We will be sending out an email each day to remind you of the day’s schedule!

Thank for all you do,

The Environmental Coalition at VT

Bill McKibben Skyped with us for an hour in Torg 3100 -Last Tuesday –  it was exceptional!

Here are a few noteworthy things he discussed:

Wrote About Climate Change since… before many of us were born. The Truth? We knew what we needed to know 20 years ago. The Carbon Science.

The story of the last 20 years – is the story of how hard and how fast that it is happening.

The question is how far are we going to move?

Climate change is not a future problem – it’s a present crisis we have to take on now.

“Connect the Dots” A global movement:

May 5th | with friends all over the world | BIG GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION | designed to draw attention to the urgency of Climate change

Highlighting: Consequences. Causes. Solution.

It’s more than one weather tragedy, there are multiple solutions, and we need to act fast – so we can do something about this.

We’re taking on the power of the fossil fuel industry -which is the richest industry the world has ever seen. We’re going to be taking on that industry, with battles like the Keystone XL Pipeline. We got to demonstrate the real people power. We’re never going to have enough money… so we have to make up for it in spirit, passion and creativity.

We won, temporally. But all environmental victories are temporary…

Even if we manage to block the pipeline – we’re not going to stop climate change. We have to figure out a more coherent strategy - like putting a price on carbon – to internalize the costs it puts on our atmosphere – that’s what the fossil fuel industry fears the most.

Why are subsidies such a bad idea? In education subsidies, we provide loans and grants to allow people to be smarter and wiser… and be a help to things. The reason not to pay subsidies to fossil fuel companies – (1) they are already rich - would we give subsidies and aid to already rich college students? (2) They have been doing this for 250 years now – subsidies are not going to help them get better at it. (3) We are subsiding the thing we want less of…

Politically and scientifically – lay of the land – where we are. This fight will keep intensifying. We have to keep the pressure up because we don’t have much time. We need you working hard now.

cool things:

Civil Disobedience - college students should not be the main cannon fodder – Most people who were arrested in Washington DC for keystone were born in the FDR and Truman administrations

If you’re going to get arrested, come in your Sunday best – a visual way to say “in this fight, we are not the radicals, we are asking for it to work like it has been for the last 10,000 years.” The radical ones are the coal companies and oil companies who are willing to change the chemical composition of the atmosphere just to make money.

All over the world, in every county, there are rooms full of people like the one you’re in right now – ready to solve this.

Thank you for what you’ve done. Thank you for what you’re going to do.

In fact, we are having a meeting this Tuesday in Squires Brush Mountain. We will be discussing the EC Constitution, EARTH WEEK, class raps, and working in AWESOME PROJECT GROUPS.

Your Facilitator: Josh

Giving the Ice Breaker is: Alex

Enviro News: Lindsey

After our weekly news, we will discuss a CAMPING TRIP, learn about Class Raps and how to become an EC officer! We are then breaking into Project Groups!

Announcements: 

Don’t forget to register for Relay for Life! Register for our team! The name is “Sustainable Hokies” – We are going to recycle so SIGN UP because we need your help. It’s $10 and a pretty low commitment. We need YOUR help to bring environmental awareness to the RELAY Hokie nation on April 20th. don’t delay.

Bike Kitchen 5 K: Sign Up! The Bike Kitchen is having a 5K run and walk with all proceeds going directly to helping us reach fundraising goals for our building projects. The race will be April 28th at 8:30 A.M. at the Christiansburg Rec Center. The link to the active.com site is below to register. The race will cost $20 when registered before March 31st and $25 dollars after that date. The first 200 registrants receive a free t-shirt. Thank you for your time and support and I look forward to seeing you at the race! http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=2019584

Urban Farming Talk on Monday April 9, 104 B Surge from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m.
IDR day-
The Interdisciplinary Research Honor Society (IDR) is sponsoring the second Interdisciplinary Day at the Inn at Virginia Tech. IDR day is an event for students, both undergraduate and graduate, as well as faculty to attempt to tackle university problems by using creativity and interdisciplinarity. Registration is free, space is limited.

Below is a link to more information and registration:
http://www.idrsociety.org/idr-day-2012/

UAPSA field trip-
The Urban Affairs and Planning Student Association (UAPSA), in cooperation with the New River Land Trust (NRLT), is announcing a field trip to McDonald’s Mill, a historic property under conservation easement located in eastern Montgomery County.  The trip will take place on Saturday, April 7, leaving Blacksburg at 9:30 am and returning by 1:00 pm.  John Eustis, the Executive Director of the NRLT, will guide us around the property, highlighting several interesting features, including:

This week we will be meeting once again in Brush Mtn A at 8 PM on Tues 3/20.

We’ve made it half way through the semester and Spring Break is almost here! Come out to the last meeting in February. THIS TUESDAY at 8:00 pm – Brush Mountain A, Squires.

Erica is the Facilitator.

Environmental News will be brought to you this week by: Abby! 

Lindsey is leading the Ice Breaker.

Alex is leading the EC’s New Book Club and he is going to talk about it!

We will THEN be having a short discussion about officially finishing our constitution, also with Alex.

There are a lot of projects that need leaders so look for the email this week and sign up to get these off the ground (Earth Hour, “Fossil Fools” Day, a campus representative for Mobilize you, and more!)

We will be breaking into project groups: from Earth Week, to the new recycling building club, those listed above, and more! Get pumped!

Announcements:

EARTH WEEK facilitators meet on couches outside Brush Mountain A at 7:30.

Got art? (1) We are looking for some awesome EARTH WEEK graphics! bring doodles to the meeting. (2) and donations for our art auction EARTH WEEK fundraiser.

Registration is open for the Appalachian Food and Agriculture Summit! Sign up, just visit: www.afas2012.com

 Sign up for our Relay team - it is going to be awesome! go to www.vtrelay.org and click “sign up” register under “Sustainable Hokies” double check by making sure the team captain is Erica Largen – if so you’ve got the right team.

Sign this petition - Save the Stadium Woods.

Green is Sexy. Get involved with the calendar and contact Liza: liza7@vt.edu

Mountain Justice Spring Break! Kara has the info: karad3@vt.edu

Beyond Coal at VT meets Tuesdays 7-8PM Torgersen 1020. Come work with our coalition to transition from coal to clean energy at VT by 2025! Meet new friends, learn organizing skills, and make a positive difference in the community.

On the 22nd of March, Sustainable Blacksburg – cooperating with the Blacksburg Library — will host an evening with trees.  This event will occur in the Community Room of the Blacksburg Library.  This is intended to be a family event having the purpose of examining why humans need trees and what value they bring to our lives.  (The event is now shown on the SB Calendar.) At 6:30 PM, the doors will open so that folks can visit tables around the room holding demonstrations of the many ways in which trees are important to us. At 7:00 PM, Jeff Kirwan will present an illustrated talk on the “Remarkable Trees of Virginia“.  (Those who have heard Jeff speak on this subject before, say that the wanted to go home and hug every tree in their yard.) Following Jeff’s talk, there will be time to informally talk with him and yet another opportunity to view the displays and visit with the folks at the display tables. PLEASE MAKE A NOTE NOW ON YOUR CALENDAR, so that you can squeeze this informative event into your busy schedule during life’s “March madness”.  You are welcome to stop by when you can — and stay as long as you wish!