2010

GREEN DORM COMPETITION!

 The University of Montana will hold the inaugural all-campus green residence hall competition in coordination with the UM Office of Sustainability and the Associated Students of UM Sustainability Center from Oct. 26 to Nov. 10, 2010. 

Erase Your E-Waste - Saturday, October 9, 2010

Thanks to all who helped out at the E-Waste event!  Over 1500 cars helped prevent over 140,000 lbs of e-waste from going to the landfill!  THANKS MISSOULA!

10.10.10

Thank you to everyone who helped out at the Missoula 10/10/10 events!  Here is some coverage on the events:

http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_ed15d90a-d4ea-11df-80f4-001cc4c002e0.html and

http://www.kpax.com/news/global-work-days-help-reduce-carbon-emissions/ 

NICE WORK!!!!

2009

UM Climate Action Week: October 19th-23rd, 2009

Saturday October 24th, 2009 was Global Climate Action Day and millions of people took action by forming the number 350 and hosting events all over the world. Check out UM's pictures from 350 Day by following the link on the Current Campaigns page.

To learn more visit www.350.org.

Schedule of Events

October 19th, 7:00-8:30 pm UC Theatre: "Climate Change Across the Curriculum: Panel Discussion." To kick off the week we will host a panel of speakers from across campus as they talk about climate change within their discipline. Panelists include: Dr. Steve Running, Forestry; Dr. Dane Scott, Ethics; Dean Irma Russell, School of Law; graduate student Toby Meierbachtol and Keegan Eisenstadt, CEO of Missoula based non-profit Clear Sky Climate Solutions. Open discussion to follow.

October 20th, 7:00 pm UC Theatre: Amnesty International Human Rights Award winning documentary "Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai." This dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights and defend democracy.

October 21st, 5:00 pm UM FLAT: Letter writing and video making campaign. Show your support for the American Clean Energy and Security Act by writing letters to Senators Tester and Baucus and learning more about what is happening in Copenhagen in December.  

October 22nd, 10 am-2 pm, UM Oval: UM Climate Action Now "Dumpster Dive." Come help UM CAN showcase to the University just how much waste we produce and how much recycling ends up in the garbage. 

October 23rd, 10 am-2pm UM Oval: UM Day of Climate Action. Come to the rally where community climate change organziations and student groups will have booths, speakers will present and a chance to play games and win prizes. There might even be a polar bear! 

Campus Climate Exchange

Campus Climate Exchange is a University initiative designed to raise awareness about the breadth of climate change and its many dimensions. The initiative builds on last year's inaugural "Focus the Nation" climate change awareness project.

In 2010, faculty from across campus incorporated climate change into their curriculum. Campus Climate Exchange will continue again next year, and we hope to increase involvement. If you are a faculty member that participated in this two day event, please take the Survey and provide feedback on how the discussion went.

Departments Involved:
College of Forestry & Conservation
English Department
Environmental Studies
Geography
Ecosystem & Conservation Sciences
Society and Conservation
Political Science
School of Business Administration
Math Department
Center for Environmental Health Sciences - BMED
Building Maintenance & Engineering
Arabic Language & Linguistics
Economics
Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (BMED)
Communication Studies
Political Science

Sample classes:

• GEOGRAPHY: "We will be reviewing quantitative and qualitative approaches to investigating the potential impacts (positive and negative) of climate change, with an emphasis on studies that attempt to capture local perceptions of risk and hazard associated with climate change."
• ECONOMICS: "We will be reading four different papers on policies to control carbon emissions and discussing them in relation to climate change policy."
• MATH: "We are just finished talking about time series - a great topic for climate change! I will likely be discussing more issues with time plots and possibly try to find an example to use while introducing correlation."
• SOCIETY & CONSERVATION: "We are going to continue a discussion of how climate change makes it challenging to manage protected areas like parks both for historic fidelity/biodiversity conservation and for wildness/untrammeled/hands-off values. We will also talk about how to craft policy that both enable flexibility while also providing for public accountability, in the context of climate change."
• BIOMEDICAL & PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE: "We will be talking about how climate change may be altering world occurrences and distribution of infectious diseases."

If you would like to be involved please contact: ASUM Sustainability

GREEN GRIZZLY BASKETBALL GAME

On Saturday, February 21, 2009, the theme of men's basketball game at UM was “green.” The "Go Green" game was an effort by UM to bring the University's commitment to sustainability initiatives and environmental stewardship to Griz fans.

During the game, Griz fans could purchase a variety of Farm to College food items, including MT-made hot dogs and buns. Student volunteers provided fans with information about the efforts of UM Recycling on campus. Waste was recycled and composted. Finally, students helped to raise enough money to purchase enough carbon offsets to offset half of the emissions associated with the game!

The game was a collaborative effort of ASUM Sustainability Center, UM Dining Services, UM Athletics, UM Recyling, and UM student group volunteers (UM CAN and Students for Real Food!)

FOCUS THE NATION

In January 2008, UM hosted a national Focus the Nation event-a nation-wide, global warming educational initiative. Over 35 faculty members from a variety of disciplines-Environmental Studies, English, Chemistry, Business, Modern Classical Language, etc.-participated in a global warming "teach-in" incorporating climate change into their classes. Nobel Laureate and climate change expert, Steve Running, as well as US Senator and member of the Environment and Public Works committee, Max Baucus, participated in the event.

UM also hosted a climate change panel comprised of national, state, city, and campus representatives. The panel discussed the challenges of global warming and the efforts being made to address the issue. Over 1,500 Focus the Nation events took place in January, and the University of Montana's is considered to have been one of the top 100 most successful.

STEP IT UP

In Fall 2007, UM hosted a "Step It Up" event-a part of a national effort to draw attention to the issue of global warming. The event was a tailgate at a University football game, and it served as a unique opportunity to reach out to all members of the UM community. President Dennison, as well as Nobel Laureate, Steve Running, joined in the festivities.

ASUM DUMPSTER DIVE

UM had two dumpster dives in 2008. The first was April, 2008 and the second was September, 2008. Both events were aimed at educating the campus community about wasted recyclables on campus.

During both events volunteer students gathered to dig through trash and pull out recyclables, which were then displayed on the oval.