This week I am excited about two projects in the Sustainable Communities, SUST 4004 class that are going to help my community of Falcon Heights to become more sustainable. Students met with our City Administrator, Justin Miller, yesterday and just this morning, he wrote a note to our mayor, councilmembers (I am one) and city staff sharing his enthusiasm about these projects. One project is to prepare for a new city-wide recycling contract (our RFP will be drafted this spring) and the other is to work on neighborhood-level sustainability with our citizen environment commission and neighborhood commission.
Yesterday I attended a leadership meeting for about 150 University Services staff (the folks who make sure we have heat, lights, food, buses, computers, etc.) and got to hear about a lot of efforts already underway to make this University more sustainable. So many of these staff want to work with students, so stay tuned for internship opportunities, service learning.... we'll see what comes!
The new website (sustainabilitystudies.umn.edu) looks fantastic, and Mary Scott and the CFANS design team deserve ALL the credit for that. Tell us what you think and how sustainability studies can be more interactive. The google calendar on the website is a place we'd be happy to list environmental and sustainability events. Email sustainu@umn.edu
Lance Brisbois started this week as a student assistant has already done a great job coordinating student groups, including a new student advisory group for sustainability studies at the U.
More next week!
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