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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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 apartbut 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.
Welcome back to HSU all you earth lovers! And if you're new to HSU, the Greenteam would like to give you a HUGE welcome! I hope all of you had an AWESOME summer! Back in college...ready for fun...maybe not so excited about classes...but college is cool though right...?
I hope we made our mark during NSOlodeon! The Greenteam put out water stations near the dorms during move-in day JUST FOR YOU. So you should feel special. Consider it as an early birthday present for you freshmen and transfers (and everyone else) who grabbed a cup of water from our stations. PLUS we partnered with The Arborday Foundation and donated 450 trees to be planted over the course of the next year! So, you're welcome for that. Oh and we gave away these awesome whinsheild shade things you put in your car to keep the sun out. If you'd like one (for FREE) just send us an email of you begging for one and we'll hook you up big time.
GIVEAWAY ALERT!!! There's a free HSU Camelback/Nalgene competition still going on! Email a picture of the Earth being loved to hsugreen@gmail.com by 2pm on Friday9/9/11 and we'll pick a winner!!! It could possibly be YOU!
I was picking up my mail from the post office, and as usual, all I had were some advertisements for events around school. So I decided to recycle them in a not-so-far-away paper recycling bin placed strategically near the post office. And still, I saw people throwing away their paper mail in the trash. Friendly reminder, PLEASE RECYCLE! It's honestly not that hard to do. The earth will love you for it.
I did a recent search in "green" news and found an article about a city not too far from here: DALLAS (shoutout!). Here's the article: CLICK HERE. Basically, the article was talking about how Dallas just became the first major city in Texas to launch carton recycling! How cool is that?! So go back to the days of elementary school and remember lunch time and how you had that small carton of milk. And just think, NOW YOU CAN RECYCLE IT!!! Here's a statistic from the article: "In 2008, only 18 percent of U.S. households had access to carton recycling programs. Today, this number has nearly doubled to almost 36%, with cities in over 40 states representing approximately 40 million households now accepting cartons in their curbside collection programs. Dallas increases these numbers by an additional 235,000 households, and is setting the bar for other cities in the state of Texas to follow suit."
Here's another statistic: "Last year, the City of Dallas recycled more than 50,000 tons of materials and is on track to recycle nearly 65,000 tons this year. Carton recycling will help the city toward their 31% diversion goal for the year. By increasing their recycling rate and coming up with innovative ways to increase waste diversion, the city saved $1,185,260.21 of landfill space."
So if you thought recycling and being green was a joke, IT'S NOT. It's actually super practical and super economical!
Keep on being green. Keep on loving the earth. Stay cool, my friends. Peace out.
