The Results Are In!
After ten weeks of competition, 510 colleges and universities, including NJIT, representing 4.7 million students and 1.1 million faculty and staff collectively recycled or composted over 69.4 million pounds of material. More importantly, the combined effort of all RecycleMania campus coordinators has helped raise awareness about resource conservation with a new generation of students. 
 

NJIT’s 2009 RecycleMania Results

Bottles/Cans: NJIT placed 46 out of 210 schools with 3.35 lbs/person (in 2008 we recycled 1.67 lbs/person) puting us in the top 22%!!!  This is the first time we placed this high!  Way to go NJIT!  Thanks to everyone who helped promote recycling and participating in the many incentive activities we offered.  I attribute this to Bill Johnson’s (Physical Plant) dedication to picking up the recyclables all around campus & letting me know each week how many bags were collected from each of the residence halls.  I also attribute this to all of the extra “mandatory” community service help from Residence Life in which I had students pull recyclables out of the trash for collection.  The grant we received last year from the National Recycling Coalition for 50 recycling containers for bottles/cans that were placed in Kupfrian and Tiernan also helped.  Thanks to Physical Plant for all of the help – we couldn’t have done this without you! 

Per Capita Classic:  NJIT placed 236 out of 293 schools with recycling a total of 5.13 pounds per person for the 10 week competition, an increase of .18 lbs/person from 2008 when we collected 4.95 lbs/person.   

Gorilla Prize: NJIT placed 194 out of 293 schools with recycling a total of 51,223 lbs of combined paper, cardboard, bottles & cans for the 10 week period, over 19,000 lbs more that in 2008, when we collected 32,120 lbs for the 10 week period.   

Paper: NJIT placed 200 out of 204 with .21 lbs/person.  In 2008 we collected .69 lbs/person.  However, I am working with the newly forming USBGC @ NJIT student chapter to recycle paper in SOA. 

Cardboard: NJIT placed 169 out of 204 with 1.57 lbs/person.  In 2008 we recycled 2.23 lbs/person but the # of students used was smaller since we were just competing as the Campus Center.  Our overall pounds of cardboard increased. Gourmet Dining Services was key in driving these numbers up.

As for the residence hall competition,   REDWOOD WINS with recycling 13.47 lbs of bottle/cans per person during the 10 week competition.  Oak was a close second.  Congratulations!  The winners of RecycleMania and the Energy Reduction contest was announced at the Green Fest on Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22. Each Redwood resident received $5 in “Green Bucks” to redeem for prizes at the Green Fest. 

To view the final results, click here: http://recyclemaniacs.org/results09.aspx .  For more information, contact Donna Minnich Spuhler, Campus Center, at minnich@njit.edu.

This year, the Campus Center with the assistance of Physical Plant, will be coordinating the competition for the entire campus.  Recyclables include bottles/cans and paper/cardboard.  In addition, the Campus Center, representing commuters, is challenging each of the Residence Halls to see who can recycle the most per student.  A trophy will be presented to the winning group on Earth Day on April 22.

Please help NJIT move to the top 25 schools this year by responsibly using the blue recycling containers located in the Campus Center, SOA, Tiernan, Kupfrian, Residence Halls and elsewhere on campus. 

PLEASE - DO NOT PUT GARBAGE IN THE RECYCLING CONTAINERS!  We cannot recycle contaminated containers. 

In Spring 2008, as a result of competing in the partial category of RecycleMania (Campus Center only), NJIT placed as follows:

Gorilla Prize: Total Pounds of Recyclables: NJIT = 32,120 pounds, 38th Place out of 61 schools.

Per Capita Classic : Cumulative Pounds of Recyclables per person: NJIT = 4.59 lbs/person,  52nd Place out of 56 schools.  

Targeted Material—Paper Pounds/Person: NJIT = .69 lbs/person, 54th Place out of 57 colleges.

Targeted Material—Cardboard Pounds/Person: NJIT = 2.23 lbs/person, 38th Place out of 50 schools.

Targeted Material—Bottles & Cans Pounds / Person: NJIT = 1.67 lbs/person, 39th Place out of 56 schools.

For more information about RecycleMania, go to www.recyclemania.org or contact Donna Minnich Spuhler at minnich@njit.edu.  

Want to eat healthier, learn new recipes and/or reduce your food’s carbon footprint?  Come learn about sustainable cooking practices including organics and buying local, from NJIT’s own award winning sustainable chef Peter Fishbach!  Watch demonstrations, learn new recipes and sample great food.  Sponsored bt GDS and the Campus Center. 

Learn what you can do right now to save energy, money and make your home more green and sustainable.  Presented by Rosalie Clemens abd Christine Bruncati, NJIT Center for Architecture and Building Science.  Sponsored by the Campus Center.  Desserts and beverages provided.

See Christine Bruncati on http://www.njit.tv/ in NJN’s The Green Builders.

Let’s Barter Up is a unique boutique experience and the ultimate green way to shop!  No money required (or wanted).  Just bring your like new items (clothing, jewelry, small appliances, electronic games, toys, whatever) and services (web design, graphic artist, baby sitting, cooking, etc.) and barter or trade with others!  Newark’s Brickerati Green will be hosting the event with the Campus Center and even Mayor Booker is attending!

Title: An Introduction to Green, High Performance Schools ( K-12)

Buildings are the leading source of Global warming gases and much effort has gone into making buildings more sustainable through the technology of “green architecture.” Professor Evans will provide an introduction to the basics of green, high performance K-12 schools: what they are; why they are valuable to students, teachers and taxpayers; and how they can be cost-effectively procured.  He will also discuss the current thinking on how much such schools cost – and if there is a cost “premium” for high performance.  He will end with a quick review of the status of the current schools construction program in New Jersey.

Mr. Evans is a registered architect and currently directs the Center for Architecture and Building Science Research (CABSR) at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Mr. Evans has over 25 years experience – in both the private and public sectors - in architectural design, construction technology and building performance. He began his career at Steven Winter Associates, a building systems consulting firm then based in New York City, where he concentrated on integrating new technologies into buildings, particularly housing. In 1990 he left SWA to become Vice President for Research at the American Institute of Architects in Washington, DC. He served in this position for eight years, also assuming responsibility for the AIA’s Allied Membership and Distance Education programs. Mr. Evans left the AIA in 1998 to become the founding director of the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) program at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In his current position, Mr. Evans directs CABSR, a multi-disciplinary research program focused on improving the performance of buildings and communities. Mr. Evans current area of concentration is high performance, sustainable buildings, particularly housing and schools. He was the curriculum content coordinator for a 25-module, online training course for architects on designing high performance schools (.www.hpschooldesigntraining.com). He also established the New Jersey High Performance Schools Information Center in cooperation with the New Jersey Schools Development Authority, and he recently launched the High Performance Schools Online Academy (www.hpschoolsonlineacademy.org) developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Rebuild America program. He also served on the US Green Building Council’s “LEED for Schools” advisory committee and co-authored New Jersey’s 21st Century Schools Design Manual.

Mr. Evans is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council. He has a B.A. from Yale University and an M.Arch. from Columbia.

RSVP on Facebook at  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=34719117429

For more about NJIT’s iTunes U platform, see http://itunes.njit.edu

Noble November : Drop off non-perishable food items to help local soup kitchens feed those in need.  Donation boxes throughout campus.  Sponsored by Student Senate.

Monday, Nov. 3

Get the Facts Before You Vote! 10am - 8pm, Campus Center Lobby.  Find out where the candidates stand on the environment & other issues.  First Time Voters - check out a sample ballot & get poll information.

Bring-A-Bottle Bake Sale & Get Tagged by Rufus! 11am - 5pm, Campus Center Lobby.  No cash needed - just bottles to recycle! Learn about the Green Energy Council & have your photo taken with Rufus for Facebook.

Tuesday, Nov. 4

Election Day!  Get Out and Vote!  Polls Open 6am - 8pm.  Wednesday, Nov. 5SPEAK UP!  Share Your Voice!  12pm - 4pm, Campus Center Lobby.  Email the new U.S. President your concerns about climate change, sustainability, the economy - whatever!

Monday, Nov. 10

Green Energy Council Interest Meeting. 11:30am - 1:00pm, Campus Center 215.  Students - want to do something GREEN on campus? Become a founding member of the first university chapter of the GEC!

Wednesday, Nov. 12

Some Like It Hot - Many More Don’t: Climate Change & U.S. Politics. 3pm - 4:30pm, Ballroom.  David W. Orr, the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Science & Politics at Oberlin College, OH.  Dealing effectively with climate change presents political challenges that can be even more complex than the science involved. David Orr will explore critical climate-change issues in the context of U.S. politics and policy decisions. Sponsored by NJIT Technology and Society Forum Committee, Albert Dorman Honors College and Sigma Xi.

Saturday, Nov. 15

Let’s Barter Up!   A Green Unique Boutique Experience. 11am - 3pm, Campus Center 2nd Floor Gallery.  Hosted by Newark’s Brickerati Green.  Join us for a unique boutique experience where no cash is needed!  Bring your like new items (clothes, small appliances, electronic games, etc.) and services (baby sitting, web design, cooking, etc.) and trade/barter with others.  More info at LetsBarterUp.org.

Monday, Nov. 17

Green Your Home - Workshop for Home Owners. Bring Your Own Lunch Series.  12pm - 1pm, Campus Center Ballroom B.  Learn what you can do now to save energy, money, and make your home more green!  Presented by Rosalie Clemens & Christine Bruncati, NJIT Center for Architecture and Building Science Research.   Beverages & desserts.

Green Energy Council Interest Meeting. 11:30am - 1:00pm, Campus Center 215.  Students - want to do something GREEN on campus? Become a founding member of the first university chapter of the GEC!  Pizza

Tuesday, Nov. 18

GoGlobal - International Learning & Service Opportunities. 1pm - 3pm, Campus Center Lobby.  Make a difference - in the world!  Be a part of global learning and meet with Peace Corps, Engineers Without Borders, Telecom Without Borders, Study Abroad and CDS International Co-Ops.

Thursday, Nov. 20

Sustainable Cooking 101. Bring Your Own Lunch Series. 12pm - 1pm, Campus Center 235.  Learn about sustainable cooking practices including organics and buying local from NJIT’s own award winning sustainable chef Peter Fishbach!  Watch demonstrations, learn new recipes and sample great food!

Monday, Nov. 24

Be More With Less & “The Story of Stuff”. Bring Your Own Lunch Series.  12pm - 1pm, Campus Center Ballroom B.  Impending holiday shopping got you stressed! Feel you have too much to buy & not enough money?  Come watch “The Story of Stuff” and learn about the effects of all that stuff & how you can be, and give more, with less!

Friday, Nov. 28

National Buy Nothing Day!  Hate the idea of facing the crowds on Black Friday?  National Buy Nothing Day is a 24 hour moratorium on consumer spending — participate by not participating!  Reduced buying + cost saved + reduced production + reduced resources used = better environment! http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd

“Thank You Mother Earth: November Sustainable/Green Events” is coordinated by the NJIT Campus Center Go Green Initiative.  For more info or to suggest othet green events, please contact Donna Minnich Spuhler, Campus Center, at minnich@njit.edu.

Speaker:  Maurie Cohen
Time:  Wednesday, October 22 at 3 PM
Location:  Kupfrian 117

Title:  The Unsustainability of American Consumer Society

Abstract:

What do sustainability scientists have to say about the current financial meltdown? Might the present turmoil in the banking system ultimately be attributable to a lack of sustainability inherent in our consumption of energy and materials? Indeed, some sustainability scientists have long forecasted the unfolding disaster by considering work on “sustainable consumption.” This issue originally took root at the 1992 Earth Summit and was further elaborated at the Johannesburg Conference a decade later. The key role that consumers play in the design and implementation of sustainability policies now occupies a prominent role on the international agenda through initiatives like the Marrakesh Process being led by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), as well as the efforts of the European Union and its individual member-states. This presentation will focus on the macroeconomic dimensions of sustainable consumption and present evidence to demonstrate that the United States (along with several other affluent counties) lives substantially beyond its financial means. Though only partly acknowledged at present, this situation will have profound domestic and global consequences as it becomes apparent that the American government is no longer able to meet its extensive international obligations.

Bio:

Dr. Maurie J. Cohen is Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Editor of the journal, Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy. His books include Exploring Sustainable Consumption: Environmental Policy and the Social Sciences (with Joseph Murphy), Risk in the Modern Age: Social Theory, Science, and Environmental Decision Making, and The Exxon Valdez Disaster: Readings on a Social Problem (with J. Steven Picou and Duane Gill)). Dr. Cohen has published more than two dozen articles in academic journals including the Journal of Industrial Ecology, Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, Journal of Consumer Policy. His research has been supported by the AT&T Foundation, the Anglo-German Fund for the Study of Industrial Society, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the British Economic and Social Research Council. He holds a Master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Columbia University and a PhD in regional science from the University of Pennsylvania.

UPDATE:  A video of this presentation is now up on NJIT’s iTunes U site.  View this in your iTunes application.  Direct link (will launch iTunes):   http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/njit.edu.1519636349

For more about NJIT’s iTunes U platform, see http://itunes.njit.edu