Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Carolina in the News

Check out the recent media coverage of sustainability-related programs and practices at UNC:

Researchers study indoor air pollution
The National (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)
If you think you can avoid air pollution by staying indoors, think again. ...“It is an effort to find out what is happening to the population in the last 40 years as urbanisation has increased,” said Dr Karin Yeatts, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr Yeatts is heading a team of 68 researchers who will work in collaboration with the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi and the UAE University’s department of community medicine.
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091122/NATIONAL/711219876/1010

Town, UNC Seeking Bike Input
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
Carolina North will be connected to UNC by a bicycle route, but the school and the town of Chapel Hill are first getting public opinion on where to place that route at an open workshop. Mary Jane Nirdlinger, special projects coordinator for the town of Chapel Hill, says the discussion will focus on an effective and easy location for the route.
http://wchl1360.com/detailswide.html?id=12489

-Thanks to UNC News Services for finding these great stories AND compiling the summaries! You can find more UNC media coverage and stories online at:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/category/8/34/103/

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Carolina in the News

Check out the recent media coverage of sustainability-related programs and practices at UNC:

Kresge Foundation $43.7M aids groups helping poor
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
...The National Advising Corps at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill gets $1 million to place college graduates in underserved high schools and community colleges. The foundation has $2.8 billion in assets and made 342 grants totaling $181 million last year.
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/6257801/

Researchers make key step towards turning methane gas into liquid fuel
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Washington have taken an important step in converting methane gas to a liquid, potentially making it more useful as a fuel and as a source for making other chemicals. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is plentiful and is an attractive fuel and raw material because it is more efficient than oil, produces less pollution and could serve as a practical substitute for petroleum-based fuels until renewable fuels are widely useable and available.
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3017/74/

UNC to celebrate Campus Sustainability Day Oct. 27 with food, activities, Segway rides
Prizes, pledges and a people mover promise to make 2009 Campus Sustainability Day on Tuesday (Oct. 27) a waste-free event to remember at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The celebration from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Frank Porter Graham Student Union Plaza includes free refreshments. If it rains, the event will move indoors to the union’s Great Hall.
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3028/68/

Universities set goals, take small steps to sustainability
Triangle Business Journal
Going green is not easy, and it will take a long time and a lot of money. But the Triangle’s three research universities now have their goals for doing so. Duke University has committed to being climate neutral by 2024, while the University of North Carolina System has committed for all 17 of its institutions, including UNC in Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in Raleigh, to reach that status by 2050.
http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/10/26/story11.html

UNC To Celebrate Sustainability
WCHL 1360-AM
Next week, the UNC family will celebrate Campus Sustainability Day at the Frank Porter Graham Student Union. Cindy Shea, director of the sustainability office at UNC, says this event will observe why UNC is one of the leaders in waste and energy management.
http://www.wchl1360.com/detailswide.html?id=12175
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3028/1/

Energy policy changes the temperature at UNC
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
It might be cooler in buildings at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this winter, thanks to an energy-use policy adopted in July. ...Chris Martin, UNC's director of energy management, said the new policy puts everyone on the same page about saving energy. "We wanted a consistent approach across all of campus with an effort to reach out and educate people as to what actions they could take to save energy," Martin said.
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-UNC+to+celebrate+Sustainability+Day%20&id=4141603-UNC+to+celebrate+Sustainability+Day

UNC to celebrate Sustainability Day
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Prizes, pledges and a people mover promise to make 2009 Campus Sustainability Day on Tuesday a waste-free event to remember at UNC. The celebration from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Frank Porter Graham Student Union Plaza includes free refreshments. If it rains, the event will move indoors to the union’s Great Hall.
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-UNC+to+celebrate+Sustainability+Day%20&id=4141603-UNC+to+celebrate+Sustainability+Day
UNC Release:
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/53130.html

IFC may delay new shelter
The Chapel Hill News
Inter-Faith Council director Chris Moran said the agency may delay its development permit application amid neighbors' opposition to a new men's homeless shelter on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at Homestead Road. ..."We've looked at 14, 15, 17 different locations over the years," Moran said. Last year UNC offered 1.6 acres out of 13 it was buying near Homestead Park, meeting all IFC's criteria. "The university is making this extraordinary gift, which I don't think we can ever get again," Moran said.
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/53130.html

Social activist Yonni Chapman dies
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Family, friends and fellow veterans of the civil rights movement on Friday remembered Mr. Yonni Chapman as an unyielding fighter for social justice and a skilled historian who embodied the very best spirit of Chapel Hill. ...Mr. Chapman asked the university to impose a moratorium on the award, which led then-UNC Chancellor James Moeser to hold a campus dialogue on the issue. UNC eventually canceled the Bell Award and replaced it with three awards that honor women’s advocacy at the university.
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Social+activist+Yonni+Chapman+dies%20&id=4123791-Social+activist+Yonni+Chapman+dies&instance=main_article

Money Talks: African-American Economic Summit
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
This weekend, scholars from around the country will gather at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke universities to talk about the current recession and its impact on African-Americans. In advance of the summit, guest host Janet Babin unpacks why the current economic contraction has deepened long-standing racial gaps in income and wealth.
http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/african-american-economic-summit/view
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3011/73/

Institute receives award
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The service and outreach arm of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health has received an award in recognition of its "significant contributions" to public health in the state. The North Carolina Institute for Public Health was presented with the Partners in Public Health Distinguished Group Award at the N.C. Public Health Association's annual conference in Asheville earlier this month.
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-BRIEFS%20&id=4150967-BRIEFS
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3013/107/

UNC wants more sustainability courses
The Chapel Hill Herald
Last spring, a team of students at UNC found more than 150 courses related to sustainability. On Tuesday, Chancellor Holden Thorp said he would like to see more such courses on campus to prepare students for the abundant opportunities efforts in sustainability will eventually bring.
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-UNC+wants+more+sustainability+courses%20&id=4163785-UNC+wants+more+sustainability+courses

Poverty is bad; helping is hard
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
No lawmaker opposes the goal of reducing poverty, but a state legislative commission Tuesday was far from unified about how to do it. The group listened as leaders from UNC-Chapel Hill's Center on Poverty, Work & Opportunity and the N.C. Justice Center, which advocates on behalf of low-income families, outlined four proposals the commission will consider turning into bills...Gene Nichol, who heads the poverty center, emphasized that 15 percent of North Carolina households and nearly 20 percent of children in the state live below the poverty level.
http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/state/story/161245.html


-Thanks to UNC News Services for finding these great stories AND compiling the summaries! You can find more UNC media coverage and stories online at:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/category/8/34/103/