You're invited...

 ...to EARTH WEEK at Ithaca College! It's all we can talk about these days... we are so excited to bring you a fantastic week of events celebrating the Earth!

Please join ICES (the IC Environmental Society) and REMP (the IC Resource and Environmental Management Program) for our annual Earth Week celebration at Ithaca College! There are TONS of awesome events going on with something for everyone. All events are free and open to the public – please spread the word. Invite friends to the FB event here. We hope to see you there!

Here is the full list of events… and we’re still adding more! For the most up-to-date schedule and event descriptions, check out the page above.

MONDAY, 4/16:
- IC Natural Lands nature walk, 12pm, South Hill Natural Area kiosk behind Terrace 10
- Bike repair clinic, 1-3pm, Academic Quad
- Hempstravaganza/Earth Week kickoff: Live music & hemp jewelry making, 12-5pm, Fitness Center Quad (tentative)
- Sustainability Café: “Fracking is a Crime!” 4pm, CNS 112
- “Waxing Swidjit: Using Social Media to Facilitate the Collaborative Economy,” 7pm, Textor 101

TUESDAY, 4/17:
- Friction fire kit workshop (tentative)
- Bike repair clinic, 1-3pm, Academic Quad
- Locavore and wild edibles teach-in, 5-7pm, Klingenstein Lounge
- Food justice movie screening and panel discussion, 7pm, Textor 102
- “Standing Silent Nation” screening and Native Americans and Hemp panel discussion, 8-10pm, Textor 101

WEDNESDAY, 4/18:
- IC Natural Lands nature walk, 10am, South Hill Natural Area kiosk behind Terrace 10
- “Body Care Aware” workshop, 10am-2pm, Cayuga Lake Room, Campus Center
- Medicinal plants walk, 4pm, South Hill Natural Area kiosk behind Terrace 10
- Bioneers plenary talks screenings, 6-7:30pm, Textor 101
- Hemp fiber talk with Dr. Netravali, Skype with David Bronner, and screening of WIP reel of “Bringing it Home,” 8-10pm, Textor 101

THURSDAY, 4/19:
- School of Business Sustainability Symposium, 12pm, School of Business 111
- Organic garden tour/planting, 12:10pm, IC community garden (meet at Park bus stop)
- Frack Off demonstration, 12:10pm, Academic Quad
- “Empowered” screening, 6pm, Textor 103
- Bioneers plenary talks screenings, 8-9:30pm, Taughannock Falls Room, Campus Center

FRIDAY, 4/20:
- Take It Or Leave It clothing swap, 10am-3pm, Academic Quad
- Net Impact carrot mob, 3-7pm, Waffle Frolic
- IC Natural Lands nature walk, 12pm, South Hill Natural Area kiosk behind Terrace 10
- Forestry exercises training, 2pm, South Hill Natural Area

SUNDAY, 4/22 (EARTH DAY):
- Permaculture garden workday, 2-4pm, IC permaculture garden (between Williams Hall and Mac’s)
- Earth Day celebration at Farmers’ Market, 12-5pm, Steamboat Landing

This year’s events are co-sponsored by:
ICES (IC Environmental Society)
REMP (Resource and Environmental Management Program)
Sustainability at Ithaca
Organic Growers of IC
IC Natural Lands
IC Net Impact
Bomber Bike Initiative
Primitive Skills Club
Frack Off
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
IC Feminists
Ithaca Dining Services
GreenStar Natural Foods Market
Sustainable Tompkins
Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes
Swidjit
Slow Food Ithaca College
IC Permaculture Research Team

Questions? Please contact Margaret Keating at mkeatin1@ithaca.edu. We ask that inviduals requiring accommodations contact us at ices1970@gmail.com.

Exciting gardening opportunities!

Looking to get your hands dirty? There are a number of ways you can right here on campus and off campus too!

This is the design for the pergola and trellises we will be installing tomorrow! So exciting!

First, tomorrow there will be a workday in the IC Permaculture Garden (formerly the ICES garden), next to Williams Hall just outside of Mac's. It will be from 12-6, so stop by for as long as you want. There will be snacks, power tools, fun, and good people... you definitely don't want to miss this. Our garden will soon be blooming with flowers, medicinal herbs, fruits, and other edibles! Questions? Contact the crew at ICpermaculturegarden12@gmail.com.

If you're interested in other gardening opportunities, join the Organic Growers of IC, who run and maintain the IC Community Garden at the lower end of campus. It's amazing! Come out for a workday, they're lots of fun! Email gardenic@gmail.com to find out when they are.

Next month, Gardens 4 Humanity (G4H) is hosting a couple of community plantings at two different locations! All are welcome, just show up! If you're interested, contact Josh Dolan ASAP via email at sapsquatch7@gmail.com.

• Wed 4/11 – Northside Ithaca Housing Authority (4th and Morris), 5-7pm
• Thurs 4/12 – Mutual Housing (1st and Franklin), 5-7pm

A new community garden, Wood's Earth has started up in Ithaca, near Newfield (next to Robert H. Treman State Park). Gardeners can choose any size plot in 250 square foot increments, for $0.25/sq.ft. - and a plot over 1,000 sq.ft. is 20% off!

Take advantage of this fun idea & save money on fresh, healthy food! If you've been thinking of gardening this spring, but have questions, time constraints, or lack of space or resources, then consider a plot in the community gardens at Wood's Earth! We've got everything you need (and a bit more!), including:

• Deer fence
• Compost
• Mulch
• Drip irrigation
• Greenhouse
• Tool Sheds
• Parking
• Children's garden & programs
• Educational workshops on all things gardening, from seed starting to harvesting

So, whether you are a beginning or experienced gardener, we have what you need to get gardening this year.

Located just off Route 13 on Route 327 - next to Newfield, Robert H. Treman State Park, and the Ithaca Beer Company.

For more info or to get a plot, visit www.woodsearth.com or email woodsearthclass@gmail.com.

Love to walk in the woods? Become an IC Natural Lands Steward!

Photo by Lee Ann Hill, winner of the Fall 2011 ICNL Photo Contest

You are invited to join Ithaca College Natural Lands (ICNL) in caring for the woods surrounding campus and volunteer in the ICNL Stewards Program. Sign up by attending our informational meeting this Tuesday, 7pm in the Taughannock Falls Room in Campus Center, or send an email to icnatland@gmail.com expressing your interest.

ICNL Stewards are the sentinels of the forest, and help monitor for changes in the landscape. Being a steward is a rewarding job not only for the steward themselves but also for ICNL as we work to keep track of the ever changing land of South Hill. Stewards get the opportunity to develop a relationship with the land and be the eyes and ears for ICNL. If you've taken Environmental Sentinels, this is a great way to keep up the skills you learned and practiced in that course.

Stewards are asked to visit their parcel every week on their own time and take a short walk around (or sit still, too) to become familiar with the land and notice changes. Anyone in the IC community can be a steward: students, faculty, staff, and administration. Apart from being a great way to take a break from busy college life, becoming a steward will allow you to learn about South Hill, relate to the land, and can also be a good resume builder.

Please feel free to visit ithaca.edu/naturallands to find out more, or email me at icnatland@gmail.com with any questions.

- Madison Vander Hill
ICNL Intern

2nd Annual TIOLI Gift Swap!

Whoa, long time no see, blogosphere. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and break! I'll hopefully get back to keeping this more updated, although I can't guarantee it (although I always keep the calendar on the left updated). Here's a quick reminder about a big event coming up soon:

If you’re home for Thanksgiving break, check to see if you have any clutter or old clothes you don’t want anymore (who doesn’t?) and bring it back to campus. Then swap it for something for your friends and family - good for your wallet and the planet! This is also a great opportunity to get rid of the stuff you've mysteriously accumulated in your room but haven't touched all semester before you go home for winter break... much better than chucking it in the trash and sending it to the landfill. If you don’t want to hold onto your stuff in your room until the swap, bring it to the TIOLI room (hours here).

The swap will be held on Thursday, December 8 from 8am-5pm in Emerson Suite B. There will also be food and fun activities such as face painting, music, hula hooping, and a ukelele learning station! We will also be raffling off sustainable items and a $20 gift certificate to Collegetown Bagels.

The event is completely free and open to the public, so come and take a break, kick back, and enjoy some vegan hot chocolate with us!

Questions? Email REMP at irecycle@ithaca.edu.

Do you want to see more bikes on campus?

The Bomber Bike Initiative (BBI) needs your help! We are a student-led campus group working to make IC a more bike-friendly campus. BBI's goals are to get more covered bike storage on campus and possibly start a bike-share program open to all Ithaca students, staff, and faculty.

Please take 3 minutes of your time to answer a few survey questions concerning your bike use on campus (even if you don't have any interest in bikes, we want your opinion too!). Your feedback is very valuable and much appreciated. If you have already participated in our survey, thanks for your input!

Herbal Tea Making Workshop

 

Come learn to make herbal tea blends from  native/locally grown herbs. You will learn: 

• How to harvest, dry, and store herbs
• How to blend herbs for taste or herbal remedies 
• Resources for herbal facts and folklore

We will make and brew 5 different herbal tea blends. A handout with all recipes will be provided. Space is limited; RSVP to mjones@ithaca.edu. Bring your own cup!

Where: Park School of Business, 4th floor lounge/kitchen

When: Tuesday, November 8, 7-9pm

Tomorrow: Fracking Rally and Occupy Bikes!

Tomorrow (Friday) Frack Off is holding an anti-fracking rally at 4pm at Free Speech Rock. Come out and show your support (and sign the petitions if you haven't) demanding that Ithaca College bans fracking on its lands, and that NYS officially bans fracking. If you don't know much about fracking (hydraulic fracturing), go to Frack Off's screening of "Gasland" in Textor 101 at 7pm tonight, and then check out Shaleshock's website for tons of information.

After the rally, join the critical mass bike ride around downtown Ithaca in solidarity of the Occupy Wall St. movement. Celebrate Halloween (optional of course) by dressing up as scary Wall St. bankers and corporate CEOs, zombies and vampires, or beautiful revolutionaries and occupiers! We will ride to some of the haunts of Ithaca's 1% and through the neighborhoods of the 99% and do some outreach while we ride. Then descend on the Commons for Friday night festivities!

Let's show the strength of this movement by creating a community movement on two wheels! If anyone is interested in riding down from IC, contact Margaret Keating at mkeatin1@ithaca.edu. We will assemble after the fracking rally at 5pm and head down to the Bank of America ATM on Seneca St.

"Fresh" Screening and Sustainable Food Teach-in!

In celebration of National Food Day, the Ithaca College Environmental Society (ICES), the Resource and Environmental Management Program (REMP), and Slow Food Ithaca College will be holding a teach-in on sustainable food followed by a screening of the documentary Fresh.

The teach-in will cover various aspects of eating sustainably, including choosing local, organic, vegetarian/vegan, and sustainable carnivorous options. We will be making some delicious examples of these types of foods for your enjoyment!

Fresh celebrates local farmers, advocates, and business people that are working to reinvent our industrial food system and solve its rampant problems, such as pollution, food contamination, and obesity. We will also have snacks during the movie, if all the delicious food we're bringing isn't enough!

Where: Williams 323
When: Monday, October 24, 6-8pm

Free and open to the public; please bring your friends! It's never too late to start thinking about where your food comes from and its impact on you, the environment, and communities around the world.

Food Dignity Panel Discussion

Professors Julia Lapp, Amy Frith, and Alicia Swords, IC Food For Thought, and the IC Nutrition Club will be hosting a Food Dignity panel discussion of local food system activists and program directors. Join in the discussion with local and regional experts about efforts to promote a just, humane, and sustainable food system.

Panelists include:

• Joanna Green  (Director, Groundswell Center for Local Food and Farming)
• Jemila Sequira (Whole Community Project Coordinator, Tompkins County Cornell Cooperative Extension)
• Liz Karabinakas (Community Food Educator, Tompkins County Cornell Cooperative Extension)
• Natasha Tompson (Director, Southern Tier Food Bank)

Where: Textor 102

When: Tuesday, October 25, 7-9pm

This should be a great event, and it's right on campus. You can never talk too much about good, sustainable food!

Dan Smolen: "Tailoring the Green Suit: Establishing a Bright Green Career in a Dull Gray Economy"

Ithaca College Career Services is hosting Dan Smolen (class of '83), who will be presenting on "Tailoring the Green Suit: Establishing a Bright Green Career in a Dull Gray Economy." The presentation will include a career development strategy overview and question & answer session, followed by a reception. 

Where: Klingenstein Lounge, Campus Center
When: Thursday, November 3, 7 - 8:30pm

From Dan's website:

As a nationally recognized executive recruiter, serial entrepreneur, direct and interactive marketing specialist, environmental and public policy activist, past chairman of a large regional political organization, and author of Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy, Smolen brings a unique perspective to green business executive employment.

Sponsored by Career Services, TREES Institute (Teaching and Research in Environmental Ethics and Sustainability), Sustainability@Ithaca, Roy H. Park School of Communications, School of Business.

Dr. Helen Caldicott: "Lessons From Fukushima"

On Tuesday, October 11th at 7pm, Ithaca College welcomes renowned nuclear activist Helen Caldicott M.D., who will be presenting “Lessons from Fukushima: What role should nuclear energy and natural gas extraction play in our energy future?” This lecture will take place in the Hockett Family Recital Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music. Recording artist Janet Burgan will present a pre-lecture concert starting at 6:30pm.


The single most articulate and passionate advocate of citizen action to remedy the nuclear and environmental crises, Dr. Helen Caldicott has devoted the last 38 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction.

Dr. Caldicott co-founded the Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organization of 23,000 doctors committed to educating their colleagues about the dangers of nuclear power, nuclear weapons and nuclear war. The Smithsonian has named Dr. Caldicott as one of the most influential women of the 20th Century. She has written for numerous publications and has authored seven books, including “Nuclear Power is Not the Answer” (2006) and “A Desperate Passion: An Autobiography” (1996). Dr. Caldicott’s most recent book is the newly revised and updated “If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Heal the Earth” (2009).

Copies of several of Dr. Caldicott’s books will be available for purchase; Dr. Caldicott will conduct a book signing following her talk. Representatives of local social justice and peace groups have also been invited to table at this event.

Dr. Caldicott’s appearance at Ithaca College is co-sponsored by the departments of Environmental Studies and Sciences and Journalism, Ithaca College “Committed to Change”, Sustainability at Ithaca, with generous financial support from Adelaide P. Gomer.

Meatless Month Challenge: Sign the Pledge Today!

This month Ithaca Dining Services is challenging people to go sign the pledge to go meatless once a day, once a week, or go vegetarian or vegan. They would like to see how much we can reduce IC's meat consumption this October and for the rest of the year.

Reducing meat consumption is one of the most significant personal lifestyle choices you can make to reduce your environmental impact. It really requires much more space than a simple blog post to explain why, but here's just an introduction of some of the issues (and this is a great website for all sorts of other food/sustainability issues). While you're here, check out this sweet video, The Meatrix:

To get started on your veg challenge, go to the World Vegetarian Day celebration event today in Towers Dining Hall from 5-7pm and sign the Meatless Month pledge. There are lots of resources on the web for helping you get an idea of how to eat balanced meals and get all the nutrition you need, and tons of blogs with recipes and ideas. (Actually the resources really are endless.) My personal favorite, as a vegan, is this one... talk about drool-worthy photos.

Ithaca Dining Services wants to hear your story; send them an email, Facebook or blog comment, and Tweet about your experience!

Email: ecodining@ithaca.edu
Twitter: icdining
Facebook: Ithaca Dining Services
Blog: ICDiningSustainability.blogspot.com

If you ever need ideas, inspiration, or just want to talk about vegetarianism or especially veganism, leave a comment or send me an email (mkeatin1@ithaca.edu)!

Sea Education Association Information Session

Tues October 4
12:10 PM
CNS 112
Pizza and drinks - RSVP to Carol Hansen (chansen@ithaca.edu) so she knows how much food to order!

Learn about programs in field and environmental studies aboard the Cory Cramer or the Robert Seamans, sailing out of Woods Hole, which is not only a world-famous center for ocean and scientific exploration, but also a very cool (and beautiful!) place.

From the website...
By coming to SEA, you can get a semester’s worth of credit for a 12-week program that takes place half on shore and half at sea. Our rigorous interdisciplinary programs begin in Woods Hole, one of the world’s great centers for ocean research. Here you will study the chemistry, biology, physics, and geology of the oceans and you will design your own research project that you will carry out at sea. You will learn the history and culture of mariners who for centuries have gone to sea, an ancient tradition that you will join. You will discuss the major policy issues that will be tomorrow’s headlines. And you will learn what it requires to take a vessel under sail safely to the open ocean and to international ports.

Green Corps Recruiting Information Session and Interviews

Green Corps' one-year, full-time, paid Field School for Environmental Organizing includes intensive classroom training, hands-on field experience running urgent environmental and public health campaigns, and career placement in positions with leading environmental groups.

Learn more about this opportunity when alumnus Will Mathewson visits campus on Thursday, October 13 for a 5:00pm information session.  He will also interview interested students on Friday, October 14 from 2:00 - 5:00pm in Career Services.  To reserve your seat for the information session and/or to apply for a pre-scheduled interview, please login to your eRecruiting account.

Students majoring in Environmental Studies/Science, Politics, Sociology or Biology are encouraged to attend the session, however it is open to any student with an interest in learning more about Green Corps.  Opportunities exist for students with backgrounds in media and communication, particularly those studying Journalism.

Weigh The Waste Challenge

Join us as for another event in our Sustainability Event Series, Weigh the Waste Challenge! On Monday, September 19, sustainability interns and representatives from the Resource and Environmental Management Program (REMP) will be at all dining halls from 5:00-7:00 weighing food waste from students' plates!

Mark your calendars:

Next event (my personal favorite) Monday October 8 is World Vegetarian Day.

More info soon.