Wednesday, July 28, 2010

UNC Sustainability Update - Upcoming Events

Today's UNC Sustainability Update includes the following headlines:
  • UNC & Local Events

  • Regional & National Events

  • Workshops & Classes

Click here to read the full UNC Sustainability Update.

Click here to join the UNC Sustainability Listserv.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Carolina in the News

Check out the recent media mentions of sustainability-related programs, practices, people at UNC:

What is ozone?
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Dr. David Peden is director of the Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma and Lung Biology at the UNC School of Medicine and deputy director of Child Health Research at the N.C. Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute. He explains the basics of ozone and what his research shows about the effects of ozone pollution on health.
Click here to read more.

-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

Carolina in the News

Check out the recent media mentions of sustainability-related programs, practices, people at UNC:

'Carolina Watt-Busters' lead pack in saving energy
The Chapel Hill Herald
The "Carolina Watt-Busters" can claim that title, at least for the moment. Never heard of them? Well, it's one of 14 energy-conservation teams across the nation competing in a competition to see which team can reduce energy consumption by the greatest percentage in a large commercial building. For the Watt-Busters, that building is Morrison Residence Hall on the UNC campus, and for them, so far, so good.
Click here to read more.

Business grads look beyond profits
The Triangle Business Journal
...As a result, MBA programs have been adding more courses on the social and environmental sides of business. For example, courses on mergers and acquisitions focus not only on the financial benefits of the deals, but also on the impact on various business units, their employees and the communities where those units are located. ...According to the Aspen Institute’s “Beyond Grey Pinstripes” study, the number of social benefit courses offered at MBA programs grew 79 percent from 2005 to 2007. UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, which was included in the Aspen study, expanded the number of social benefit courses by 60 percent between the 2003-04 and 2008-09 school years.
Click here to read more.

-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

Friday, July 23, 2010

Carolina in the News

Check out the recent media mentions of sustainability-related programs, practices, people at UNC:

UNC Researcher Studies Effects Of Gulf Spill On Marine Species
WNCN-TV (NBC/Raleigh)
The waters of the Gulf serve as a spawning ground for many fish and the underwater blowout has fouled their habitat at a time when a number of these species are creating the next generation of life. "The oil can just gob up their feeding mechanisms and gills, and then there's the issue of toxicity of which we know terribly little about," said Joel Fodrie, a fisheries ecologist from UNC'S Institute for Marine Sciences located in Morehead City.
Click here to read more.

Teachers explore green power
The Chapel Hill Herald
Science teachers from across North Carolina explored the future of electricity and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power at a professional development workshop this week at UNC. With funding from the Progress Energy Foundation, the UNC Institute for the Environment provided a learning opportunity for 24 middle and high school science teachers Wednesday and Thursday. Experts at UNC addressed the energy realities of the 21st century and provided hands-on learning strategies to promote energy literacy in classrooms.
Click here to read more.

What if oil spills here? (Under the Dome)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Marine researchers will huddle with state and federal officials this week about what could be done in North Carolina to respond to a major oil spill. A conference on Wednesday at UNC Wilmington's Center for Marine Science will focus on the role of higher education institutions in responding to a spill. ...Participating agencies include the U.S. Coast Guard, the N.C. Division of Emergency Management, Army Corps of Engineers and the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries. Universities represented include UNCW, East Carolina, N.C. State, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke.
Click here to read more.

N.C. Energy Office grants $5.6M in stimulus funds
The Triangle Business Journal
The North Carolina Energy Office is doling out $5.6 million in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to create an internship program that will employ 400 North Carolina students training in green-energy related fields. ...The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will use its $324,736 grant to provide a fellowship for a recent graduate of a graduate program; two fellowships for recent graduates of undergraduate programs; 12 summer internships for current graduate students; 10 summer internships for current undergraduate students; eight regular session/semester internships for current graduate students; and 28 regular session/semester internships for current graduate students.
Click here to read more.

Economy Slows Down North Campus Project
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
Not much is going on at UNC’s Carolina North campus today. That’s because a depressed economy and a lack of funds are slowing down progress on the project. Plans for Carolina North include an Innovations Center to house start-up businesses, and to strengthen ties with UNC research. A new law school building is also planned. Executive Director of Carolina North Jack Evans says numerous things are slowing down the project, but they all come down to money. He says the importance of the project to university research is still clear, but just how it will be built is not.
Click here to read more.



-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

UNC’s Morrison hall ranks first at midpoint of EPA’s National Building Competition

Six months into a yearlong competition, Morrison Residence Hall on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ranks first of 14 contestants in a national energy efficiency contest. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the midpoint rankings of contestants in the National Building Competition, a coast-to-coast contest to save energy and help fight climate change.

The competition is the first national energy efficiency contest of its kind and features 14 buildings from across the country that are “working off the waste” through improvements in energy efficiency with help from EPA’s ENERGY STAR program. The building that sheds the most energy waste on a percentage basis will be declared the winner by EPA on October 26, 2010.

Morrison Residence Hall reduced its energy use by 19.2 percent from August 31, 2009, to February 28, 2010. (The average percent energy reduction among all competitors was approximately 8 percent.) Energy-saving strategies at Morrison included replacing incandescent track lights with light-emitting diode bulbs and reducing the wattage of 200 balcony lights. Minimizing the airflow into rooms that don’t need any heating or cooling reduced fan energy by 70 percent. Posters on all floors announced the competition and reminded students to be conscious of all the energy they use. In addition, UNC improved Morrison’s solar energy system, reworked the energy dashboard and generally tuned up the heating, ventilation and air- conditioning system.

“We are very excited about the competition and hope that these efforts will show the country that there is a huge opportunity to conserve. We are not talking about 10 to 15 percent here, we are talking about 25 percent, 30 percent and higher,” said Chris M. Martin Jr., director of UNC Energy Management. “This great competition, sponsored by EPA’s ENERGY STAR program may be just the spark we need for a nationwide energy conservation initiative.”

EPA National Building Competition website: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=business.bus_building_competition.
UNC Energy Management website: www.save-energy.unc.edu

Energy Management media contact: Jessica O’Hara

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Science teachers to explore future of electricity at UNC workshop

Science teachers from across North Carolina will explore the future of electricity and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power at a professional development workshop this week at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

With funding from the Progress Energy Foundation, the UNC Institute for the Environment will provide a learning opportunity for 24 middle and high school science teachers July 14-15. Experts at Carolina will address the energy realities of the 21st century and provide hands-on learning strategies to promote energy literacy in classrooms.

Teachers will tour the UNC co-generation plant, the new platinum-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified Education Center at the North Carolina Botanical Garden and the laboratories of scientists involved in the UNC-based Energy Frontier Research Center. The interdisciplinary center was established last year under a $17.5 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to develop solar fuels from next-generation photovoltaic technology.

Progress Energy supports various programs offered by the institute’s Center for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economic Development, including K-12 teacher and public outreach, graduate and faculty fellowships and an upcoming Energy Challenges Symposium.

Workshop activities will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Members of the media interested in attending can obtain a detailed schedule of events by contacting the institute.

UNC Institute for the Environment contact: Josh Meyer

Friday, July 9, 2010

UNC Sustainability Update - Upcoming Events

Today's UNC Sustainability Update includes the following headlines:
  • UNC & Local Events

  • Regional & National Events

  • Workshops & Classes

Click here to read the full UNC Sustainability Update.

Click here to join the UNC Sustainability Listserv.

Carolina in the News

Check out the recent media mentions of sustainability-related programs, practices, people at UNC:

Hurricane Modeling Predicts Rough Waters in 2010
U.S. News & World Report
...In addition to improved seasonal forecasts, scientists have become much better over the last 20 years at forecasting the tracks of storms, by feeding computer models with a wealth of recorded data on winds, currents, circulation patterns, and interactions with the atmosphere. Rick Luettich, a marine scientist and director of the Center for the Study of Natural Hazards and Disasters at the University of North Carolina, said this knowledge can help oil-spill responders in the Gulf of Mexico prepare for the coming season. Luettich received a rapid-response grant from NSF to analyze the movement and transport of the oil continuing to spew into the Gulf.
Click here to read more.

In the oceans, the heat is really on (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
It's not climate change, it's ocean change! The oceans are choking on greenhouse gases. Our emissions are changing ocean temperature, pH and circulation with wide-ranging effects on biological productivity and ecosystem health. These are among the conclusions of five review articles published in a special feature on the oceans in a recent issue of Science magazine. (John F. Bruno is an associate professor in the Department of Marine Science at UNC-Chapel Hill. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg is a professor and director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland in Australia.)
Click here to read more.

-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

Carolina in the News

Check out the recent media mentions of sustainability-related programs, practices, people at UNC:

Work force housing, urban density will boost economy (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Citizen-Times (Asheville)
The Center for Urban and Regional Studies at UNC Chapel Hill recently issued a report describing what a lack of affordable housing in Asheville is doing to the city and surrounding areas. The report highlights what we have been dealing with for several years: higher housing prices, more traffic and longer commutes. Across the region, cities and counties are struggling with these issues.
Click here to read more.

-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

Thursday, July 8, 2010

UNC Sustainability Update - Sustainable Food, Clean Energy, Golden Bus Awards, and more!

Today's UNC Sustainability Update includes the following headlines:
  • ‘Eats 101’ Course to Feed Sustainability Venture

  • UNC Environmental Finance Center Part of $2.2 Million National Clean Energy Project

  • Chapel Hill Transit Drivers Receive Golden Bus Award

  • Durham Tech Launches New Sustainable Technology Program

  • Central Carolina Community College Offers Natural Chef Culinary Program

  • Energy & Environment Graduate Certificates

  • And more!

Click here to read the full UNC Sustainability Update.

Click here to join the UNC Sustainability Listserv.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

‘Eats 101’ Course to Feed Sustainability Venture

June 29, 2010 UNC Global News

One of UNC’s most innovative courses, an honors seminar about food and culture, will soon link up with UNC’s new Global Research Institute, and, in so doing, create the cornerstone for the Institute’s program in Food, Agriculture and Sustainable Development (FASD).Planters

The Global Research Institute, which was launched in March 2010, hosts research fellows from within and outside the university to work on key international problems. The principal theme at the Global Research Institute for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 is entitled “Globalization, the Economic Crisis, and the Future of North Carolina.” Fellows will explore various aspects of the above topic and disseminate their research findings in a variety of ways to scholars and the general public.

In addition to hosting funded research fellows, the Global Research Institute is promoting and sponsoring several other programs and initiatives relating to important global themes, including the FASD program.

This program is envisioned as one in which members of the university community (and the community at large) can explore an array of themes relating to food, agriculture and sustainable development, themes which are likely to rank among the most pressing of the 21st century. One of the central organizing principles behind the FASD program is that it will be broad in mission, incorporating research, teaching, and service/outreach activities.

“Eats 101”

One of the plans of the new program is to include the students of the legendary undergraduate course “Eats 101,” formally known as Honors 352. Undergraduates in this advanced seminar pursue intensive interdisciplinary study of a range of local, national and international food issues – all of which will contribute to the teaching dimension of FASD.

Dr. James Ferguson, who teaches in the history department and developed the class 13 years ago and has taught it ever since, said the course is designed to be interactive and interdisciplinary. Instead of progressing in a chronological or linear fashion, Ferguson said the course requires students to explore 10-12 topics simultaneously.

“I’m deliberately trying to avoid a single focus,” Ferguson said of the course topics, which include the relationship of food to history, policy and economics, among other things. “The students are exposed to many disciplines.”Food Trip

Students also learn outside the traditional classroom setting through field trips to groceries, markets, farms, restaurants, a commercial bakery and a coffee roaster – not only in Chapel Hill but across the state. When class is held at UNC, Ferguson is often assisted by professors in other, non-food specific departments from UNC as well as other universities throughout the country.

“One of the things we want to do is to keep it very academic but bring in local restaurants and farmers,” said Samantha Buckner ‘08, a former “Eats 101” student and one of the teaching assistants for the course.

Students and instructors also prepare (and share) weekly meals as part of the course curriculum, with the preparation and consumption of food considered essential to learning about the issues covered in class.

“They learn as much at meals as they do in the classroom,” Buckner said, but both she and Ferguson strongly state that it is not intended to be a cooking class.

A highlight of the course is a trip to France directly after class ends in May. Students spend one week traveling the country, studying the ways in which community is built and sustained in the food history and culture of France, experiencing production and preparation of food in French monastic settings, on farms and in professional kitchens.

“They gain a really rich experience,” Buckner said, which is to understate things.

Collaboration with Global Research Institute

The FASD curriculum will be incorporated into the Global Research Institute, with Ferguson leading the program and “Eats 101” serving as the teaching cornerstone.

Ferguson considers food, broadly conceived, to be a way into numerous other issues, as it is closely linked to questions relating to economic development, environmental issues, trade questions, and nutritional/ medical concerns.

One of UNC’s major goals, according to Ferguson, is to develop creative approaches to issues like these – and “Eats 101” and the FASD program more generally can Francecontribute to this end.

Students in “Eats 101” do a tremendous amount of reading and writing on food-related topics, participate in a lively weekly seminar, and work together on various group projects.

Sustainability is explored in the class through an additional credit hour (apart from the Tuesday night class) led by teaching assistant Lauren Wilson, UNC’s first Food Studies major.

All students in “Eats 101” research and write lengthy term papers on food-related topics of their choice choosing, which they work on throughout the semester. Past examples, Ferguson said, include examinations of possible causes of the current obesity epidemic; global economics and policy considerations in the coffee trade; cross-cultural political, nutritional, and economic issues concerning breastfeeding.

Undergraduate students “do fabulous research,” Ferguson said, noting that the class is more like an intense graduate seminar. Students are also required to read and analyze the work completed by students in earlier years.

Ferguson expects the collaboration with the Global Research Institute to further enhance the students’ research and commitment and allow students to share their work more broadly – both within the university and beyond.

“We’ve got talent like a volcano – they have no outlet now,” Ferguson said. “And the FASD association will offer new opportunities to display these talents to a wider audience.”

The FASD initiative will provide such an outlet, through research and outreach opportunities, sustainability workshops, seminars, film screenings and lectures. There is also the possibility of a future research group among faculty to supervise the creation of additional food courses and to encourage individual student research on food through honors theses.

“Food, agriculture and sustainable development are likely to be among the most important global/local issues of the 21st century,” said Global Research Institute director Peter Coclanis. “UNC has lots of strengths and resources in these areas, but they aren't bundled as effectively as they might be.”

Coclanis said the goal of the program is to reorganize the already strong resources at the university into a space in which any interested party – including students, faculty and community members – can share what they know about food and sustainability.

“We're very excited about FASD, and believe it will help us to leverage ‘Eats 101’ and other UNC resources so as to render us even stronger and more visible on issues in this domain,” Coclanis said.

-Story by Heather Mandelkehr ‘10

Carolina in the News

Check out the recent media mentions of sustainability-related programs, practices, people at UNC:

U. of Florida's Support for First-Generation Students: Helpful, but Pricey
The Chronicle of Higher Education
... At public institutions, in particular, state policy affects the ability to create and sustain such a program. Some public colleges with many needy students and limited state aid simply can't afford them, says Shirley A. Ort, associate provost and director of scholarships and student aid at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and one of the architects of the Carolina Covenant.
Click here to read more.

Oil Predicted To Hit Florida's Atlantic Coast, Not Gulf
National Public Radio
...At a meeting on Capitol Hill earlier this week, oceanographer Rick Luettich from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill said these storms will change the flow of oil in the Gulf. They set up huge counterclockwise wind patterns. Professor Rick Luettich (Oceanography, University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill): As you make that counterclockwise rotation around the Gulf, you push things to the western Louisiana, you push things to Texas, areas that haven't seen them, but you also push them up against the Mississippi Delta.
Click here to read more.

What if drilling goes really wrong? (Opinion-Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As the Deepwater Horizon disaster enters its third month, we are finding out more about what went wrong. It appears that corners were cut, and that none of the drilling operations had realistic plans for what would happen if a blowout occurred and backup systems failed. We also know that the Minerals Management Service (MMS) did not demand realistic assessments of what could go wrong pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review procedure.
Victor B. Flatt is the Taft distinguished professor of environmental law and director of the Center for Law, Environment, Adaptation and Resources at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law. He is also a member scholar of the Center for Progressive Reform.
Click here to read more.

Chapel Hill Garden Teaches Sustainable Gardening
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
Sustainable gardening is the focus of three workshops at the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill this summer. Laura Cotterman, who writes the garden’s publications, says these workshops offer something different for local gardeners. The three workshops cover several sustainable gardening topics. The first, taught by garden volunteer Greta Lee, focuses on permaculture, a sustainable approach to all aspects of design intended to mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies.
Click here to read more.

Another path to nuclear energy
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The ongoing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico emphasizes our need to develop other forms of energy. That need is particularly acute in North Carolina, where we have to import all of the oil and nearly all of the coal (from other states) that we use. We can learn a lot from India about the solution to these problems.
Click here to read more.

-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

HBO Documentary Series: Gasland

Check out the new, controversial documentary "Gasland" from filmmaker Josh Fox:
Official Website.

And the press that it is generating:
ABC News.

"Gasland" criticizes natural gas drilling as a less than viable alternative to offshore oil drilling by outlining its often overlooked environmental and health implications. In the wake of the Gulf spill,"Gasland" could prove to be a rather prescient warning of a shifting energy economy.

Carolina in the News

Check out the recent media mentions of sustainability-related programs, practices, people at UNC:

Progress Energy, UNC to gauge potential of wind power off North Carolina coast
The Triangle Business Journal
Progress Energy is joining with UNC-Chapel Hill on a three-year, $1 million study to map and model the wind resources off the North Carolina coast, the Raleigh-based utility announced Tuesday. ...Progress is committing $300,000 toward the study, matching $300,000 in federal stimulus funds administered by the N.C. Energy Office. The remaining funds will come from federal grants and private sponsors. The study will be led by Harvey Seim, a UNC professor in the university’s marine sciences department.
Click here to read more.

-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



Labels: news

Carolina in the News

Check out the recent media mentions of sustainability-related programs, practices, people at UNC:

UNC EFC Wins Portion of Major Federal Grant
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
A $2.2 million U.S. Department of Energy grant has been awarded to a consortium of organizations, including the UNC Environmental Finance Center. EFC Director Jeff Hughes says the grant will help provide assistance to local and state governments around the country to develop innovative energy finance programs.
Click here to read more.

UNC center part of energy project
The Chapel Hill Herald
To promote investment in clean energy, the U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $2.2 million to a national team that includes the Environmental Finance Center at UNC. ...The group will provide technical assistance services to state and local recipients of 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant and State Energy Program funds. The UNC center is coordinating this effort on behalf of the nationwide Environmental Finance Center Network.
Click here to read more.

-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



Labels: news

Carolina in the News

Check out the recent media mentions of sustainability-related programs, practices, people at UNC:

Hurricane may help break up oil of our coast
The Havelock News
Having a hurricane take dead aim on the North Carolina coast is something coastal residents have faced often, but this year, with the slight possibility that tens of millions of gallons of oil are poised to enter the Gulf Stream, many wonder what effect such a storm would have on an oil slick. ...According to Rick Luettich, director of UNC’s Institute for Marine Sciences in Morehead City and UNC’s Center for the Study of Natural Hazards and Disasters in Chapel Hill, North Carolinians are benefiting from an atypical change in currents in the Gulf of Mexico that is keeping the oil spill, at least for now, from coming up the East Coast.
Click here to read more.

Progress boosts UNC wind study
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill's planned $1 million study of offshore wind energy potential will get a $300,000 gust from Progress Energy. The UNC study, to be completed over three years, is expected to be the most comprehensive analysis of wind power potential on the state's ocean waters.
Click here to read more.

-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



Labels: news

Carolina in the News

Check out the recent media mentions of sustainability-related programs, practices, people at UNC:

Garden to host experts
The Chapel Hill Herald
The N.C. Botanical Garden is offering three summer programs that will be of special interest to gardeners. ...The N.C. Botanical Garden is located off Fordham Boulevard at Old Mason Farm Road in Chapel Hill. A unit of UNC, it has been a leader in native plant conservation and education in the southeastern United States for more than 30 years. The Botanical Garden is open seven days a week and admission is free.
Article

-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

UNC Environmental Finance Center part of $2.2 million national clean energy project

To promote investment in clean energy, the U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $2.2 million to a national team that includes the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Other members of the team are the Center for Climate Strategies (team leaders), and Ballard Spahr law firm, both based in Washington, D.C.; Northcross, Hill and Ach law firm in San Rafael, Calif., the University of Delaware Center for Energy and Environmental Policy in Newark, Del.; and the E.P. Systems Group in Covington, Ky. The project began in April and will continue through December 2012.

The group will provide technical assistance services to state and local recipients of 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant and State Energy Program funds. The UNC center is coordinating this effort on behalf of the nationwide Environmental Finance Center Network. To date, it has worked with the state governments of North Carolina, Hawaii, Missouri and Wisconsin and the municipal governments of Asheville, Charlotte and Greensboro, N.C.; Knoxville, Tenn., and Los Angeles, among others.

Although governments can use existing financing strategies to adopt clean energy projects in local communities, the process can be complex. The Environmental Finance Center helps local governments navigate the unique laws of their area and the requirements of local stakeholders. The center also identifies ways to leverage their efforts through private investment or projects that can recirculate funding, such as revolving loan programs that promote job creation.

Environmental Finance Center contact: Jeff Hughes