VOLUME 5
April 2009
Bright Green News
The Campus Sustainability Newsletter
IN THIS ISSUE
IN THIS ISSUE
• The Sixth Annual Sustainability 6th Annual Sustainability Summit—April 22nd
Summit—April 22nd
• The Office Update The Chancellor's Advisory Com-
• Explore Creativity, Planning & mittee on Sustainability (CACS) is
• Climate Change
Building Sustainability at Cal –
holding its annual Sustainability
Service Learning
• GoodGuide - Finding Safe, Summit from 8am to 12pm on
Healthy, and Green Products Earth Day, Wednesday April 22nd,
• Green Activities & Events
at the International House. This
• Be Clean — and Green!
year’s theme is "Green the Color
• Water & The Itty Bitty Fruit
• May Alert of Change" and will focus on in-
Label2009 Student Sustainabil-
ity Forum forming, inspiring, and engaging all listening to Julie Sinai, Chief of Staff, and resources available at UC
• TGIF Grants- Call for Proposals members of the Cal Community. City of Berkeley, talk about the Berkeley.
• The Snackwell Effect: Consum- unique roles of government and
ers Sabotage Energy- The event will start off featuring an The second set of breakout session,
• Berkeley Energy Resources
Saving Efforts
academic institutions in catalyzing
address by the Chancellor Birge- from 11:10am-12:00pm, include
Collaborative Events and sustaining green economic
neau and a keynote by Ian Kim, How will we meet our CalCAP
• PLAYgreen-what we learned development or learning more from
Green-Collar Jobs Campaign Direc- Goal?, What Can UC Berkeley do
James E. McMahon PhD., Co-chair
• Reminder-Registration is tor at the Ella Baker Center. After- to Reduce Water Consumption?,
of the Water Energy Technology
Open: UC, CSU, CCC Sus- wards, two sets of informative and Creating a Sustainable Food
tainability Conference Team, about the factors contribut-
breakout sessions on diverse topics Policy.
ing to water scarcity in the state.
will be held.
Other opportunities include a dis-
From 10:10am to 11:00am, atten- cuss with Patrick Goff, Campus To learn more, click here:
The dees will be able to participate in Executive Director of Hazardous http://
Office one of three concurrent breakout Material and Radiation Safety, about sustainability.berkeley.edu/
sessions, each with its own unique living and working more sustainably summit/
Update panel of speakers. Options include by taking advantage of programs
• Become a fan of our Facebook
Page! E x p l o re C re a t i v i t y, P l a n n i n g & C l i m a t e C h a n ge
• Have a question on sustainability
you need answered—see the Creativity in the Face of Climate Change: Growing Sustainability in a low-carbon
new Bright Green Questions and The Role of Humanities in Awakening So- world—A Speaker Series
Answers on our website. cietal Change - Panel Discussion
Three Sessions Offered in April and May
• Please encourage your friends 4/21, 4/28 and 5/5
Friday, April 24nd:
and colleagues to join our list 2:00pm - 4:30pm, UC Berkeley Art Museum 5:15-7:00pm, 305 Wurster
serve.
A Berkeley Institute of the Environment (BIE) symposia The Institute of Urban and Regional Development is ex-
Contact us: ploring a pro-active response to California’s SB 375
series event, this panel discussion is conjunction with the
exhibition Human/Nature: Artists Respond to a Changing through a speaker series the Spring. The three remaining
Lisa McNeilly:
Planet on view at the UC Berkeley Art Museum through sessions look at climate issues and the state’s land use
lmcneilly@berkeley.edu target for 2050, transportation and land use issues, local
September 27, 2009. Distinguished panelists will explore
Kira Stoll: stoll@berkeley.edu and regional planning challenges. The sessions are free
in conversation the role that the visual arts must play in
and open to
the transformation of society toward one that can sustain
Check out our Office website the public.
the planet.
and the CalCAP website
This event is free and open to the public.
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Bright Green News VOLUME 5 April 2009
G o o d G u i d e - F i n d i n g S a f e , H e a l t hy, a n d G re e n P ro d u c t s
product’s name, one can review and get a rating on
the item based on a variety of healthful and green
criteria—this criteria can be customized to reflect
individual tastes and values.
Ever wonder what chemicals are in the prod-
GoodGuide.com offers expert evaluation on over
ucts you use every day and how safe they are
70,000 toy, food, personal care and household prod-
for the environment? Want to make more
ucts and its database is growing everyday. To add
informed choices about the companies you buy
to its everyday usefulness, GoodGuide offers the
from?
user ways to create personalized shopping list as
Originating as a UC Berkeley research project, well as take the GoodGuide mobile to the store
spearheaded by Dara O’Rourke, Professor at though an I Phone application.
Image courtesy of GoodGuide.com
UC Berkeley, GoodGuide helps consumers get
GoodGuide is still in beta form, and they want to
the answers they need on the health, environ-
hear from you—the consumer—on what works, Visit the GoodGuide -
mental and social impacts of the household
what’s missing, hear your ideas and more. http://www.goodguide.com/
products they purchase. By simply typing in a
B e C l e a n — a n d G re e n !
You can be clean and green at the singing two verses of the “Happy Birth-
same time. day” song).
Antibacterial soaps often contain tri-
Are you still buying antibacterial
closan and triclocarban. Studies show
soap? Give a thought to purchasing
these antibacterial ingredients do not
“plain old soap” next time you’re at
reduce your chances of catching an
the store. Look for “no triclosans”
infectious illness, are not removed by
on the product labels or bottles and
wastewater treatment, and don’t de-
go back to “just plain old soap.”
grade quickly in the environment. Tri-
closan, a registered pesticide, bioaccu-
Several studies have concluded that
mulates in fish and humans and is a
washing hands with plain old soap
hormone disruptor in amphibians.
and water is just as good as antibac-
terial products, if not better. For To learn more,
extra assurance, alcohol- or perox- go to http://www.scbwmi.org/
ide-based hand sanitizers can also be and click on the
used. Wash often (especially after “Triclosan White Paper.”
restroom use) and scrub for at least
Article and Graphic Courtesy of East Bay
20 seconds (this is about equal to Municipal Utility District - EBMUD
M ay 2 0 0 9 S t u d e n t S u s t a i n a b i l i t y Fo r u m
On Wednesday, May 6, 2009 in clubs stay in constant com-
104 Genetics, Plant & Biology Post your solutions to how clubs can keep in contact on our
munication with each other?
from 12:00pm-2:00pm, the Facebook page
Students will be able to express
Office of Sustainability will be hav-
their opinions and solutions to the
ing an informal meeting with stu- Learn more about the student sustainability forums:
Office and peers. This forum dis-
dents to follow up on a question http://sustainability.berkeley.edu/os
cussion will begin online through
that was brought up at the March
our Facebook Page!
2009 forum - how can student
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Bright Green News VOLUME 5 April 2009
The Snackwell Effect: Consumers Sabotage Energy-Saving Efforts
Consumers may be undermining their own en- pected energy savings by leaving them on
ergy-saving efforts by using efficient appliances longer, explains Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez of
more often, recent studies reveal. The phe- the American Council for an Energy Efficient
nomenon, called the Snackwell Effect, has been Economy. People who buy an efficient furnace
compared to dieters binging on low-calorie may lose 10-30% of their savings, probably
cookies, and it occurs when homeowners up- from raising the thermostat.
grade their homes or appliances but then use
One solution is to invest in devices that show
energy more frivolously. For example, a 2008
consumers their electricity use by appliance or
study found that people given energy-efficient
by household, so they know how much power
washing machines washed more clothes. One
they are consuming. Such devices include the
couple, the Kings of W. Virginia, confess that
Kill-a-Watt appliance monitor, or whole home
they sometimes wash just one piece of clothing Don’t fall victim to the Snackwell effect: turn off
monitors such as the PowerCost Monitor. lights and appliances when finished. (Photo: Flickr)
in their new high-efficiency clothes washer,
something they would not have done before. Whatever the solution, the take away message
is simple: when you upgrade, don’t slip into
“It could be that by doing something virtuous, it
indulgent habits. Better yet, upgrade your
gives you license to do something indulgent
habits as well and maximize your savings with This article is courtesy of Flex Your Power's
somewhere else,” says Loren Lutzenhiser of
a combination of efficiency upgrades and sim- eNewswire.
Portland State University.
ple, satisfying conservation efforts.
The Effect continues to put a dent in many To subscribe to Flex Your Power’s free eNews-
Original article: eNewswire Article wire, click here.
homeowners’ well-intentioned efforts. People
who install efficient lights lose 5-12% of the ex-
W h a t we l e a r n e d a t t h e P L AY G re e n Fe s t i v a l
The Office of Sustainability joined Here is a bit of what we learned: -Use less napkins and paper towels-
thousands of UC Berkeley stu- better yet, use washable napkins
-Save water, shower together
dents, campus and community
-Fix leaky faucets
supporters as they touched, tasted, -Compost!
experienced and learned about the -Print on both sides of paper!
-Bring your own coffee mug
latest products, fashions, technol-
-Hang your wet clothes don’t use the
ogy, services, sounds, cuisine and -Ride your bike!
dryer
career opportunities from the very
-Don’t send pointless emails- servers
best local and national eco-friendly PLAYgreen is more than a festival, it
use a lot of energy
companies. is an on-going Recreational Sports
-Don’t buy things initiative to share with the campus
Hosted by Cal Recreational Sports Learn More About
what they are doing to reduce their
the PLAYgreen festival offered our -Think about what you throw away PLAYgreen
ecological footprint and to inspire the
office an opportunity to find out
-Grow your own food Rec Sports user to be involved in the
from visitors “what the campus
-Use CFL’s process.
should be doing to be green.”
Reminder: UC, CSU, CCC Sustainability Conference
Registration is Open: cluding all 10 UC campuses, 21 of the 23 CSU
8th Annual UC, CSU, CCC Sustainability Conference campuses, 43 community colleges, and 16 pri-
Working Our Way to Zero vate and out of state campuses.
June 21st-24th, 2009
Hosted at UC Santa Barbara Scholarships and volunteering opportunities
Network with key stakeholders across the state; last year 90 available and keynote addresses and
http://sustainability.ucsb.edu/conference
campuses sent representatives to attend the conference, in- some sessions will be webcast.
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