WKU Sustainability Blog
August 5, 2009
Last week the WKU ‘green team’ - me and Terry Wilson, Nancy Givens, and Robin Hume, from the Center for Environmental Education and Sustainability (congrats on the recent Center name change!) went to Colorado to visit with the sustainability gurus there. We visited the Rocky Mountain Institute and toured the building to see all the LEED features. One of their LEED credits is local food sourcing, so they provide fresh, local food in the kitchen for their employees. Very cool. We met with Dave Newport, Director of the University of Colorado, Boulder Environmental Center and toured their recycling facility. The  Environmental Center is funded completely by student fees. The students at CU Boulder voted to assess themselves a student fee in the early 1970’s to fund recycling program and other environmental initiatives. Presently, the fee is $16 per semester and the Environmental Center employs about 100 students who oversee the recycling program, alternative transportation options, and other really great stuff. Amazing! We met with folks from Earth Force in Denver who are doing wonderful things with teachers and K-12 students to get them thinking critically and coming up with creative solutions to issues that they (the students) truly care about. Nothing better than civically engaged middle schoolers. These Earth Force kids and their teachers are amazing. You may remember them from the sustainability conference we hosted at WKU this spring. They were there, sharing their challenges and achievements. Finally, we met with the director of GreenPrints, which is the city of Denver’s sustainability program. How it works is that city employees in any department can apply for a one year fellowship to work with the GreenPrints program. For one year, they work in the Mayor’s office with a team of other fellows, to advance sustainability in Denver. They do a lot of neighborhood outreach and partner with Earth Force. The current director of the GreenPrints program is the city’s Parks and Recreation Director. He’s awesome and so is the program. A great model for BG! Colorado was great, and we did find some time to hike in the Rocky Mtn. National Park (picture above). For a little while I wanted to go back to my Park Ranger days but I was so inspired by the Denver and Boulder sustainability folks I couldn’t wait to get back to my work here at WKU. By the way, they had noticed we are doing some pretty great stuff too! And thanks, Taylor for the great restaurant recommendation. We loved The Southern Sun.

Last week the WKU ‘green team’ - me and Terry Wilson, Nancy Givens, and Robin Hume, from the Center for Environmental Education and Sustainability (congrats on the recent Center name change!) went to Colorado to visit with the sustainability gurus there.

We visited the Rocky Mountain Institute and toured the building to see all the LEED features. One of their LEED credits is local food sourcing, so they provide fresh, local food in the kitchen for their employees. Very cool.

We met with Dave Newport, Director of the University of Colorado, Boulder Environmental Center and toured their recycling facility. The  Environmental Center is funded completely by student fees. The students at CU Boulder voted to assess themselves a student fee in the early 1970’s to fund recycling program and other environmental initiatives. Presently, the fee is $16 per semester and the Environmental Center employs about 100 students who oversee the recycling program, alternative transportation options, and other really great stuff. Amazing!

We met with folks from Earth Force in Denver who are doing wonderful things with teachers and K-12 students to get them thinking critically and coming up with creative solutions to issues that they (the students) truly care about. Nothing better than civically engaged middle schoolers. These Earth Force kids and their teachers are amazing. You may remember them from the sustainability conference we hosted at WKU this spring. They were there, sharing their challenges and achievements.

Finally, we met with the director of GreenPrints, which is the city of Denver’s sustainability program. How it works is that city employees in any department can apply for a one year fellowship to work with the GreenPrints program. For one year, they work in the Mayor’s office with a team of other fellows, to advance sustainability in Denver. They do a lot of neighborhood outreach and partner with Earth Force. The current director of the GreenPrints program is the city’s Parks and Recreation Director. He’s awesome and so is the program. A great model for BG!

Colorado was great, and we did find some time to hike in the Rocky Mtn. National Park (picture above). For a little while I wanted to go back to my Park Ranger days but I was so inspired by the Denver and Boulder sustainability folks I couldn’t wait to get back to my work here at WKU. By the way, they had noticed we are doing some pretty great stuff too!

And thanks, Taylor for the great restaurant recommendation. We loved The Southern Sun.