EARTH DAY EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

Just in case you didn't know, EARTH DAY is this Sunday, April 22, 2012! Don't forget to give the earth some extra love that day!

In celebration of Earth Day, the Greenteam is hosting a few events on campus on April 24 and April 25!

On Tuesday, April 24, we are having our Plant Giveaway event in the Basement of Moody at NOON (12:00 PM). Come to the Basement to paint some plant pots! We also give you guys a free plant once you paint your pot! Channel your inner artist and get ready to paint!

On Wednesday, April 25, we are celebrating ONE DAY WITHOUT WASTE!!! ODWW is a day where you don't produce any waste. This means you don't throw any trash in the trash can. You can still recycle that day, but make sure what you recycle is actually recyclable! This is a REAL CHALLENGE. Think differently on how you can reduce/eliminate waste that day. Instead of paper towels, use an automated hand dryer. If you don't have one near you to use, find a different way to dry your hands (perhaps, wipe them on your pants?). Instead of buying fast food (where you end up with greasy food containers that you will end up throwing away), maybe grab some friends the night before, cook some food, store your leftovers in the fridge in a reusable plastic container (like a Glad container), and warm your food up on One Day Without Waste! 

On One Day Without Waste, we are also having a picnic on Anderson Lawn at NOON (12:00 PM). Come bring some lunch and eat with us! Don't forget to make sure that the lunch you bring won't create waste!

ALSO, we are looking for new Greenteam members! If you are interested in being a part of the Greenteam, find us on Facebook and write on our wall if you want to join! Include your email address with your wall post!

Have a great day and love the earth!

As a side note, congratulations to all of you Harry Potter fans because Pottermore finally opened to the public earlier this week! 

WORLD WATER DAY!!!

Hey everyone! Today is World Water Day!

Check out the World Water Day website here: http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/.

Don't forget to conserve water! Take shorter showers, turn off the faucet when brushing you're teeth, let the rain wash your car! 

From the World Water Day website:

"International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day."

Our friends from Charity Water have a video which you can watch here:

Don't forget, you can donate to Charity Water by swiping your Cowboy Card at the scanner near the Hydration Station in Moody Center! Or you can donate online here: http://mycharitywater.org/p/campaign?campaign_id=22885.

Have a great day everyone!

OPEN FORUM

Hey friends! The Greenteam is having an Open Forum on Wednesday, February 29 from 12-1 PM in the BASEMENT of Moody Center! Get pumped about this because we are inviting everyone (aka the HSU public) to come talk to us and give some feedback on what you think of HSU Green and what ideas you have. It's going to be pretty chill!

We will also be selling $1 baby Nalgenes, and we will have some awesome FREE stickers to hand out to you all. We also have another surprise to give you!

We will be introducing you to something exciting called Acts of Sharing! You can check it out here: http://actsofsharing.com/. We also are open to talk about partnership ideas, changes you want to see around the HSU campus that relate to being green, and just about anything else you would like to talk about!

So brown bag some lunch that day and come meet us in the Basement!

Water4Water

Hello friends!

We haven't blogged in a while, but we have some exciting news! If you haven't noticed, there is a Brita water station (THE HYDRATION STATION) in Moody center right in front of the cafeteria. Just so y'all know, it's FREE! Just go to the refill station, and enjoy some free, filtered water. Also at the Brita water station is a scanner for your HSU ID/Cowboy card. You can donate 25 cents each time you swipe your card. This 25 cent donation goes toward an organization called Charity Water. Charity Water builds water wells for people who don't have access to water. If each student at HSU donates $2 (8 card swipes) over the course of a school year, we can provide funds to build one water well for over 250 people who desperately need it. For more information, check out the website: http://www.hsutx.edu/green/water4water.


This Monday (February 6, 2012), the Greenteam will be in Moody Center from noon to 1 PM selling small Nalgene water bottles for $2. The money we raise selling the Nalgenes will also go toward Charity Water. So come visit us and buy yourself a Nalgene to fill up at the Brita water station.


Also, if you don't have Cowboy Cash, you can donate at this site: http://mycharitywater.org/p/campaign?campaign_id=22885.

Here's a fun video to kick off the Hydration Station's welcome to the HSU campus:

Have a great day and keep living green!

-The Greenteam

BuyGoodStuff

HSUGreen is officially kickin' off the 2011 Buy Good Stuff Event tomorrow! Find us at the Cowboy Christmas party tomorrow starting at 6:30 PM on Anderson lawn for the campus lighting! The Greenteam will be handing out fliers that have a Buy Good Stuff Guide that will help you in your holiday shopping.

Remember the lady who came to talk at chapel during Global Awareness Week? She talked about "fair trade" and "Good News Goods" (check them out at http://goodnewsgoods.com/). HSUGreen decided to create a shopping guide to encourage you to buy goods that promote sustainability and that work toward the creation of better trading conditions. Here is the 2011 Buy Good Stuff Guide:

Here are some short descriptions of the items in the guide and where you can get them:

1. Baggu Bags - The Classic Baggu is $8. Check it out at www.baggubag.com. Give that someone special the coolest reusable bag on the block. Made of 100% rip-stop material and can hold 50lbs. This bag is rad.

2. Mighty Wallet - The Lumberjack Mighty Wallet is $15. Check it out at www.mightywallets.com. If your grandma asks you what you want for Christmas, you need to tell her, "The 100% recyclable wallet that is virtually indestructible please!" Plus that flannel brings out your eyes.

3. Patagonia - The Patagonia Freebox Jacket sells for $129. Check it out at www.patagonia.com. Yeah, it might be a bit pricey, but you totally get more than what you pay for. DWR coating = water resistant. 90% recycled polyester insulation = sweating in the snow. Patagonia = super high quality and guarantees you will look like a model.

4. Wool and the Gang - The Trophy Head Band Knit Kit is $59. Find it at www.woolandthegang.com. We all agree around here that handmade gifts are the best things ever. The awesome folks at Wool and the Gang hook you up with this knit kit that has everything you need to make not just one, but TWO wool headbands. The kit includes: 2 balls of wool yarn that are made in Peru just for WATG, 10MM Wooden Needles, easy-to-follow patterns, a knitter's sewing needle, and WATG patches.

5. TOMS - The Women's Classic Red Houndstooth sells for $54 at www.tomsshoes.com. You know the drill people and the drill is a great one. TOMS are the ultimate two-for-one present because you're giving two pairs of shoes for the price one. We love this new design of an old classic and it's just in time for those chilly days that you'll need to keep the toes warm. You'll look super fly.

6. HipCycle - Get a Bike Chain Frame for $32 at www.hipcycle.com. Pictures are worth 1000 words, unless they're in a ugly frame, then they're worth a lot less. This is where HipCycle's bike chain frame shows up to save the day. Made of 100% old used bicycle chains, these frames will make any picture look like your favorite. Simple and awesome. Get one. 

7. WeWood Time Pieces - The WeWood DATE (beige/brown) sells for $119. Find it at www.we-wood.us. We know what you're thinking, "a wooden watch?!" But trust us, here's when we say, "Yeah, a wooden watch!" WeWood took the classic idea of a watch and brought new life into it, kind of like Pinocchio in reverse. Plus they not only plant a new tree for every watch sold, but they also only use wood that was being scrapped by big companies or that was grown in certified sustainable forests. 

8. Trade As One - The Knitted Elephant sells for $16 at www.tradeasone.com. Fads of all kinds will come and go, but people will always love things that are cute and cuddly. This fair trade hand-kitted elephant is made with tons love by the women at Casa de la Mujer Artesana in rural Peru. It would be the perfect gift for anyone who doesn't hate really wonderful things.

9. OliveBarn - The Organic Herb Garden Trio sells for $29.99. Check it out at http://www.olivebarn.com/. Everyone knows someone with a green thumb and after you ask them to get that checked out by a doctor, you should give them the Organic Herb Garden Trio. OliveBarn allows you to pick 3 herbs from their list and they'll send you everything you need to start growing. 

10. Alex Bottle - The Alex 32oz (black/fresh) is $29.95 on www.alexbottle.com. This is like no other bottle on the market right now. You can take the Alex apart in the middle so you can turn your 32oz in to a 26oz and you can swap color combinations. The Alex is made of 50% recycled material, is 100% recyclable, and will hopefully be in all of your stockings this year.

Shop green during this Christmas season and spread love and happiness and Christmas cheer to all your friends and family! Don't forget to catch the Greenteam at the Cowboy Christmas party tomorrow at 6:30 PM on Anderson Lawn. We'll give you a shopping guide and enjoy watching the campus get lit up!

URGENT NEWS!!

So I hope everyone knows that soon the HSUGreen will have it's very first event of the year!


Can you guess what it is?
 
We are watching a movie on Anderson Lawn on October 10th at 8pm.  Put it in your calendars.
        
I mean it.  Right now.


There will be FREE ice-cream, and an opportunity to win some freaking cool prizes!  All you have to do to be eligible (and to get ice-cream.. so I guess it's not completely free), is bring a reusable bowl, cup, pot, mug, you get the trend here. Bring something, that you wont be throwing away when your done using it, to eat your ice cream out of! So do that and we'll give you a number or something. And then we'll draw and you'll win. Its easy peasy. ps- you totally might not win, but its worth a shot right?




So now for the biggest bestest part.


 You're going to love this. 




I just know it.


The movie we are watching is...






.............(drum-roll)




The Lorax!


I knowww right!?
Okay don't lie to me.  I know that you loved Dr. Seuss when you were little too. Its ok to still like the Doc as a more mature college student too, I mean we like him so much we're showing his movie... but we're not like obsessed or anything... we're totally cool...I promise.


So you should totally come and chill in the lovely weather, eat some fattening ice-cream, and try your best shot at winning a copy of the movie that we will be watching and the book its based on!


Everyone is going to be there.  Be there or be a Once-ler!(only true D-Seuss fans will get that reference, and we tip out hats to you)  But don't forget your reusable container, because that would be sad for you.
Real sad. Like, you would be the mayor of bummer town.


Also, you are probably going to want to watch this.  Cause its neat.

Love the earth-

theGreenteam

Redemption Biz

I read recently that God is in the business of redeeming and if redemption is God’s business, I want in.

But that leaves us with this HUGE question to deal with: "what does redemption mean?" I love this definition: “the act of saving something or somebody from a declined, dilapidated, or corrupted state and restoring it, him, or her to a better condition.” Everything on the earth is in a state of decline; everything, including humans. I mean think about it, as soon as we are born we begin to die. Life leads all of us to one point: death. I know it sounds morbid, but it is the truth. And yet, God seems to put value on that life; regardless of our ever declining nature, our lives seem to be worth redeeming. Which I feel like is pretty great news. With that said, we as part of that declining creation worth redeeming also need to be about this business of saving that which is in decline and nurturing it into restoration. We need to see the value in the life around us just like God seems to do every day.

I want to take this moment to clarify what I mean when I say, "the life around us" or "all of creation." I specifically made "life" INclusive not EXclusive, because it is not just human life we need to see value in and more importantly, it is not only humanity that is in need of redemption. I think that we too often forget that "creation" runs far deeper than just humanity. Yes, the biblical texts state that we are made in God’s image and set apart but there are 5 other days worth of creation in that narrative that we tend to discard. The trees, the water, the animals, the sky, etc are just as much a part of that narrative as humans are. Thus "creation" is inclusive to all and God’s redemption must involve all of creation.

It all goes back to this idea of redemption. All people of the modern world are trained to be consumers. We want what we want now and if we don’t get it, we will throw a fit. On the contrary and in classic God style, God seems to demonstrate something far different: redemption. Redemption of the world and not consuming everything in it. Shouldn’t we follow that example? Careless consumption is the opposite of redeeming, so I think we might have a little "restructuring" to do...

Someone once said, "Convenience equals apathy. And this apathy has become a major contributor of what is killing our desires to redeem." So, today WE have a choice. I have a choice. A) Allow all of my conveniences to render me apathetic to redemption or B) Disregard convenience, forgo apathy, and participate in redemption.

Today, I am going with option B. 

What about you?

Love the earth- theGreenteam