Projects - Spring 2009

Cardboard Crew

We are making our usual preparations for recycling cardboard during move-in days in August. To demonstrate how much cardboard we can recycle, here are some numbers from 2007:

Project leaders: Peter Reisz and Jinsu Sohn

Composting at the Commons

We compost food offerings from the Commons Dining Center Preparation Kitchen and coffee grounds from Common Grounds. In addition, we seek to utilize our compost for campus beautification projects and perhaps for free plants that will be given to Vanderbilt students.

Project leaders: Luke Boehne and Liwei Jiang

Compost Expansion & Green Roofs/Community Gardens

Goals

To promote the cause of sustainability by transforming Rand’s food scrap into fertile soil which will then be used in a Roof Garden and/or Community Garden which will beautify our campus, spread the ideals of environmental protection, and fight Global Climate Change by creating a more heat-efficient building (hopefully Sarratt) and reducing landfills.

Implementation

• Expand the Common’s Compost Initiative to Rand and start composting food scraps (with Wilskills). Possibly located on top of Sarratt.
• Build a garden on top of Sarratt (another building) and/or a Community Garden on campus with help from Gardens of Babylon, a professional "green" landscaping company who helped SPEAR with the Commons Composting.
• Harvest produce from the garden and use it in food preparation or sell it at one of the on-campus markets.

Project leaders: Ben Kahn and Luke Boehne

Eco-Fashion Show

SPEAR will be partnering with the Sierra Club as well as other fashion organizations on campus to produce Vanderbilt's first ever Eco-Fashion Show this coming fall. The show will feature designers who have made efforts to make their clothing eco-friendly by using inks, threads, and materials that serve to be non-damaging to the environment. More information about time and dates to come!

Project leaders: Leslie Labruto and Colleen Parker

House Energy Competition

We plan to hold a two-week energy competition among the ten Houses on the Commons. In preparing for this event, we will be advertising heavily around the Commons and in our school newpapers such as the Hustler. In essence, the ten houses will compete to see who can reduce their building's energy bill by the greatest percentage. We will provide tips on ways for them to reduce their bills. We are even going to have the RAs on each floor have a floor meeting to encourage energy reduction tips. The House that lowers their bill the most will have a huge party on the Commons Lawn.

Eventually, we hope to have energy competitions involving every residence hall on campus.

Project leader: Leslie Labruto

Kilowatt Ours

Kilowatt Ours is a program developed by local filmmaker Jeff Barrie focusing on sustainable energy and conservation in the Southeast. SPEAR is partnering with the program and send out trained educators to present the documentary Kilowatt Ours and the accompanying program to elementary and middle school age children.

Project leader: Peter Reisz

Newsletters

This semester SPEAR experimented with publishing weekly e-newsletters to distribute meeting minutes and service opportunities. Click here to access the newsletter archive.

Project leader: Liwei Jiang

Rites of Spring Recycling

SPEAR coordinated efforts to pick up all recycable materials after Vanderbilt's two-day spring concert featuring acts such as Lil' Jon and Spoon. After each night SPEAR would comb through the lawn and properly dispose of cans and bottles, while also picking up valuables left behind at Rites of Spring.

Project leader: Rebecca Maddox

Seminar Series: Environmental Sustainability

At each general body meeting, we will have a short presentation that covers a topic related to environmental sustainability. We gladly welcome ideas and suggestions.

Some of the items on the Presentations page are examples of past seminars.

Project leader: Liwei Jiang