The Sewanee Green“Sewanee’s Source for Sustainable News”

735 University AvenueSewanee, TN

37383November/December 2011 2

NOXL 2011: This is What Democracy Looks Like

In the early morning hours of November 5th a group of 52 members of the Sewanee Community boarded a bus, well prepared for the 11 hour journey they were about to make. This group, consisting of students from the College, the School of Theology, SAS, the Sewanee faculty and many community members, were all untiting with an organization, based nearly a day’s drive away in Vermont, for one thing-stop the Keystone Pipeline. The group joined nearly ten thousand other indviduals from colleges and activist groups all over the world, along side of hundreds of concerened citizens of all ages and backgrounds. The groups first gathered in Liberty Park at 2pm on November 6th where they were met with moti-vational speakers, and instructions for how to proceed with the rest of the day. Among the most powerful speaker present was one of the leaders of the first na-tions

tribes. The man, a chief of his tribe, pleaded with the American people to recog-nize what this pipeline would be for his land. Another moving group, were the Nebraska farmers who spoke passionately against the corporations that were planning on endangering their health and livlihood. The crowd dispersed into groups, eventually encircling the White House a grand total of three times. When the protest was officially finsished, many groups broke off and took to the streets sending a powerful message by protesting outside of American Petro-leum. This protest was powerful enough to send a point to the President, who delayed the decision in light of the protestors, and resonated with the Sewanee community in unimaginable ways, particularly with the Green Campus Network Interns. We are, of course, dedicated to reducing the amount of energy we use, but more importantly we are dedicated to using clean renewable energy, and supporting those companies that are making efforts to utlize safe methods of drilling, and buring fuel. If we’re stuck on oil, we want to be stuck in the least harmful way possible

After the group of fifty-two traveled to Washington, D.C. for the tar sands oil pipeline protest on Sunday, November 5, those students, faculty, and community members who participated were not ready to stop the political activist train in its tracks quite yet. In effort to make activism and communication concerning environmental issues more available at Sewanee and in the surrounding community, a group titled Sewanee Green Action has been formed by Sewanee professor, David Haskell and senior, Courtney Hinkle. The group’s had a webpage up and runing with , a list of existing, pro-active organizations, upcoming meetings, news, and other resources can be found. SGA’s next plan is to off-set the carbon that was emitted into the atmosphere as a result of driving a charter bus to and from the protest. In order to do so, a tree with a 42 inch diameter will be planted in effort to counter-act the 555 kilograms of carbon that was released. On December 10th the Rotary Club will be delivering 2 white oaks and 2 sarvisberry trees onto campus, which the SGA hopes to plant some time during that day. If interested in attending the tree planting, please be aware of emails regarding follow-up actions, in addition to checking the SGA’s website for finalized plans.

For more information on this and other green happenings on campus, visit, sewaneegreenaction.wordpress.com

Making it Right:

A New Organization Sticks to their ideals; making a powerful

statement.

The Sewanee Green“Sewanee’s Source for Sustainable News”

735 University AvenueSewanee, TN

37383November/December 2011 3

Sewanee Unplugged :Students Kill the Watts

At Sewanee, we may not think that almost half of our electricity comes from coal and that we send about 1.35 pounds of carbon into the air for each kilowatt-hour we use. During the month of November, the Green Campus Network worked with the Environmental Residents to hold an electric energy reduction competition among the resi-dence halls called Sewanee Unplugged. The goal of the competition was to get students thinking about how living in a college dorm can be energy-efficient.At Sewanee, 1212 students live in a total of 18 residence halls. In the past three years, each of us uses an average of 190.23Kwh during the month of November only. Of course, a lot of that energy is required for our daily needs, but some of it is unnecessarily spent. Sure, some of the over-consumption of kilowatt-hours is due to inefficiencies within the engineering of a given building, but a good

chunk of it is behavioral. Many of us may like to leave the lights on all night while we are out partying in the ATC, or we may like to turn the heater all the way up so that we can dance around in underpants just like we’re used to do in the summertime. And the list goes on. In response, Sewanee Unplugged has challenged us to move beyond overusing elec-tricity and kill some watts. In turn, the residence hall that reduced the most electricity on a per-capita basis was promised to receive a prize of its own choosing, for a value of $500.The competition was topped by Quintard, where residents listened to recommendations of their Environmental Residents to cut down their elevator use and walk the stairs, unplug appliances, and turn the lights off and were able to reduce their per capita electric consumption by 23.15% with relation to the average percapita electric use during November in the past three years for their residence hall. During the competition, the girls of Phillips chose to turn off the lights of their hallways, while the guys in Trezevant Hall decided to unplug one of their washing machines, and turn off their lights whenever possible. More energy savings were possible during Thanksgiving break, where students were encouraged to unplug all their appliances before heading home for their turkey meal. Total energy reductions during the month amounted to 15313kwh (about $1500 and 20600lbs of CO2) in relation to the baseline. Ultimately, the purpose is to get us thinking about our daily electric use in our dorm room. Knowing that almost half of our electricity comes from coal, we must all try harder to minimize the amount of electrons we suck out of the grid to power our lifestyle. If we want sustain-ability, our lifestyle as students must reflect a commitment to reduce overconsumption.

And the Results Are......

1. Quintard -23% reduction2. Phillips - 18% reduction3. Gorgas - 16% reduction4. Cleaveland -13% reduction5. Humphrey’s -12.37% reduction6. Tuckaway -12.09 % reduction7. Johnson -10.29% reduction8. Hodgson/Emery -7.58% reduction9. Trez -6.58% reduction10. Ellliot -4.23% reduction11. Hoffman/St.Lukes -3.33 % reduction12. Cannon +2.6% increase13. Benedict +3.63 % increase14. McCrady +3.70% increase15. Hunter +8.22% increase16. Courts +16.21 % increase

The Sewanee Green“Sewanee’s Source for Sustainable News”

735 University AvenueSewanee, TN

37383November/December 2011

Upcoming Events:

More information?Contact a GCN intern:

Jonathan Salazar: salazjb0@sewanee.edu

Jordan Long: longjm0@sewanee.edu

Joanna Parkman: parkmjk0@sewanee.edu

Grace Saunders: saundgw0@sewanee.edu

Check out these sites:

www.epa.org

www.treehugger.com

www.ashe.com

www.enn.com

www. conservation.org

www.sewaneegreenaction.wordpress.com

-Winter Break Campus Wide Shut Down

-Energy Audits of All Academic Buildings

-Completion of a new and improved HVAC policy for Sewanee

-Speaker Series adn Green Jobs Fair Next Semester

On Tuesday, November 15, the Green Campus Network and the Natural Science & Mathematics Living and Learning Community hosted a screening of the award-winning documentary, “The Last Mountain.” The film provided a critical look at energy consumption in the United States and the devastating effects of mountain-top removal coal mining in West Virginia. With shocking footage and first-person narratives describing annihilated mountains, contaminated watersheds, impoverished communities, and negative human health effects, the film was a powerful reminder of the electric power that Sewanee students consume and encouraged viewers to consider the source and implications of this energy. This exposé highlighted the corruption and numerous violations of the coal industry, urging for use of alternative sources of energy and conservation initiatives. Mining and burning coal is the number one source of greenhouse gases worldwide. In 2009, 46% of electric power for Sewanee was generated by burning fossil fuels. Fossil fuels for electric generation in southeastern United States comes from mountain-top removal mining. For every kilowatt hour consumed in Sewanee, 1.35 lbs of CO2 are emitted into the atmosphere. The average Sewanee student consumes 3109.3 Kwh per year in their residence halls alone. After the film, students had the opportunity to sign a pledge, committing to reducing energy consumption by taking simple measures, such as turning off lights when leaving a room, unplugging appliances, and taking shorter showers.

The Last Mountain: A Last Look

Recent Changes:-Thanks to Duck River Electric we now have LED lightbulbs on University and Tennessee Avenues. This small investment in sustainabil-ity will save the university big over the next ten years.

-Dixon Meyers and his Outreach Office have began implementing their “Utility Conserva-tion Project”. The project is aimed at lowering the electricity bills of local underpriviledged households.