Green Profile- Peter Rescigno, CUA Sophomore and Chairman XVIII of the CUA College Republicans

Our most recent Green Profile is Peter Rescigno, CUA Sophomore and next year's Chairman of the CUA College Republicans. The CUA CRs are one of the largest and most active groups on campus. Peter gives us his take on the opportunities for the GOP to more fully engage environmental issues in the coming months.

Ryan: How do you think environmental issues with will fit into the 2012
GOP platform?

Peter: With the 2012 campaign right around the corner, environmental issues will be one part of the many issues that will fit into the GOP platform, Coming from a college GOP perspective, I think that there will needs to be a more private ownership focus in regards to the environmental agenda. Change in the environment starts with the people that live in and with it. There is no way government can control, through legislation, the everyday abuses of the environment that are currently occuring. One potential solution to environment decline is through market-based solutions which incentivize individuals to take responsibly for their own actions. Cap and trade or marketable permits in the areas of air pollution and water pollution will most likely be offered as key parts to the GOPs platform, however with drastic changes to the Waxman-Markey plan that failed in the Senate in 2009. It has been a long time coming and with the ever changing political atmosphere, 2012 is looking more like the year. Overall, it will be important to make it clear that conservation is conservative. Just because you are a Republican does not mean that you are against clean energy, it means you are for it in a more fiscally sound way.

Ryan: What role do you see college students playing in the fight against
climate change and the promotion of sustainability?

I think college students have already started taking action promoting sustainability. The Green Club has been very active on Catholic's campus, working diligently in the computer labs and workshops, collecting scraps and papers to be recycled. More and more students are using recycled materials and energy efficient light bulbs. Efforts on the part of college students, especially at Catholic, will continue to increase as advocacy and individuals start to change their own habits. It is a trend setting situation, as soon as one student does it, the rest follow and it becomes habitual.

Ryan: What changes could CUA implement to save money and pursue sustainability?

I think CUA is on the right track to saving money and promoting sustainability. Last year's addition of solar panels on the roof of Flather Hall shows the commitment the University has to the environment and renewable energy sources. In terms of furthering that trend, I think CUA should replace the Styrofoam to go boxes in the pryz. and replace them with recycled plastic containers. Little changes, like replacing Styrofoam, shaves years off the decay process happening in land fills across this country.

Ryan: What advice would you give to GOP voters concerned with environmental issues?

For GOP voters concerned with environmental policy, I would remind them that a fix to the environment is important and that if we do not do something soon, the environment will suffer. But it is important to remember that environment reform is not going to come in sweeping legislation reform mandated from Washington D.C. or State Houses across this country, it comes from individuals and individual responsibility. Again, changes to bad environmental policy will come small at first, but with small changes comes lasting sustainability.

-Ryan

Green Profile- Chris Cummings, Resident Assistant Reardon House

Our latest Green Profile is Chris Cummings a CUA Senior and two year Resident Assistant (RA) currently responsible for Reardon House. RAs are tasked with created programming foster the holistic development of the residents they are responsible for.

Ryan: How have you taken environmental issues into account with your
duties in Residence Life at CUA?

Chris: As a member of CUA's ResLife, I constantly and consistently encourage the residents to be ever mindful of the recycling bins and utilize them to their full potential. As an RA, environmental campaigns are not always on my level, so outside of the bins and relying on email (rather than flyers) for advertisement there is very little individual RAs can do. However, ResLife will occasionally run enviro-friendly campaigns and I do my best to support them.

Ryan: What role do you see college students playing in the fight to stop
global climate change and promote sustainability?

Chris: College students are in the unique position to donate time and energy others cannot. College students can devote plenty of time to activism. On an individual level they can of course cut down tremendously on dorm energy costs. On their campus they can form groups, petition their university, and actively participate in grassroots campaigns in their areas.

Ryan: What is one measure college students can take to make climate
change a major focus on their respective campuses?

Chris: College students can be mindful of their energy consumption. College campuses consume enormous amounts of energy, and if each student was a little more self aware of their energy usage, it could make a significant difference.

Ryan: What improvements would you like to see future Resident Assistants
make to make their residents more aware of climate change and
sustainability?

Chris: I think RAs do as much as they can to that respect. If anything the administration needs to be more receptive to RA generated ideas on the subject and more proactive in promoting/facilitating said ideas. The administration can make other departments/university information more available to RA, and allow RA and their residents to submit ideas for serious consideration.

-Ryan

Green Profile- Matt Fulton CUA Junior and Former Chairman of the D.C. Federation of College Democrats

Our next Green Profile is CUA Junior Matt Fulton. This past year Matt served as the Chairman of the D.C. Federation of College Democrats. This organization is the governing body of the D.C. chapters of the College Democrats (including the local chapter here at CUA)and has several hundred members.


Ryan: How important were environmental issues, specifically fighting
climate change and promoting sustainability, to your tenure as DC Fed
Chair?

Matt: Environmental issues and climate change were never high on the agenda during my time as Fed chair. This wasn't because I, or the Federation weren't interested in the issue, it was simply because there were bigger things on the radar like the midterms or organizational issues, etc. That being said, I think this year advocacy will take the front seat and I see no reason why an issue as important as the environment shouldn't be a major focus.

Ryan: What role do you see college students playing in the fight against
climate change?

Matt: I think college students are uniquely suited to provided positive examples of sustainability in the fight against climate change. As young people who are just making their place in the world, I think we can best serve the environment by setting an example for others to follow and being as friendly to our habitat as possible. Whether that be by taking public transport, recycling, etc depends on one's lifestyle but it should start there.

Ryan: What steps could DC college students take to make our campuses more green?

Matt: Last year there a push by the Green Club here at CUA to get solar panels installed on the roofs of some major buildings on campus like Opus. In seeking to first make a change at their own schools, college students should lobby the administration to make campus more eco-friendly if that means installing renewable energy sources or making changes in the dining hall. It starts there.

Ryan: What advice would you give to college students on both sides of the
aisle interested in getting more involved in environmental advocacy?

Matt: While there are admittedly some groups that advocate for the environment which are mostly partisan like Green Peace, some are actually quite non-bias. For many years my Congressman in NJ-3 was Jim Saxton, a Republican, who was top rated by the Sierra Club. That's an example that environmental protection is not a partisan issue. I think students could get involved with groups such as that or simply start by doing what I said earlier...living greener themselves.

-Ryan

What CUA Can Learn from Santa Clara

The National Catholic Reporter recently published an article under their Colleges and Universities section, entitled ‘Stewards of the Natural World.’ Featured in this article is Santa Clara University in California. Santa Clara is attempting to promote sustainability at their university by having programs like “Living Green in the Neighborhood.” But as the article mentions, Santa Clara hopes to start a discussion amongst Catholic universities in which the idea of sustainability is linked to the Catholic mission.

Santa Clara has developed an Office of Sustainability, which allows one office to be solely dedicated to the issue. This office provides a way for the students to understand the “three aspects of sustainability – environmental, social and economic… [and] the link between sustainability and Catholic social teaching.”

This, however, is no easy task. Therefore, the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change is looking to create a ‘toolkit’ for Catholic institutions to make the process easier. Hopefully, it will give guidelines and information that will not only make the university more ‘green,’ but will also connect Catholic universities to their Catholic identity in a new, key way. A uniform process will also make dialogue between universities easier. This toolkit takes its five pillars from the St Francis Pledge; pray, learn, assess, act and advocate.

It is important for Catholic universities to not be left behind in this movement. Especially now since The Princeton Review has added a green colleges guide to their repertoire of information on colleges and universities. This makes sustainability issues another angle of competition between colleges and universities. Therefore, it would probably be a good idea if the Catholic institutions took this toolkit opportunity and led the way into a sustainable campus future.


Check out the full article here

-Dan

CUA Students Commended for Solar Picnic Table Project

Check out this press release from The Catholic University of Ammerica on the campus' first solar picnic table!



CUA to Recognize Students’ Solar Picnic Table Design and Announce Expansion of Solar Energy System
Washington, D.C. – Six students from The Catholic University of America (CUA) are being recognized today by University President John Garvey for their innovative, one-of-a-kind, solar-powered picnic table that was recently installed on the patio outside the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center. The table — equipped with outlets capable of charging laptops, cell phones, e-books and other electronic devices — was the winning design in a contest sponsored by the University. Students on the design team received scholarships provided by Washington Gas Energy Services, Inc. (WGES).

The winning design team is made up of a graduate student in mechanical engineering, Joseph Cochrane of Coopersburg, Pennsylvania and five students in the CUA Master of Architecture and Master of Science in Sustainable Design programs. Lindsey Dickes of Baltimore, Maryland; Michael Doster of Wayne, New Jersey.; Cory Estep of Bradenton, Florida; John Lang of Ellicott City, Maryland; and Monica Perez of McLean, Virginia all contributed to this award-winning solar project.

CUA President Garvey also announced today the expansion of its solar photovoltaic (solar PV) system, which originally became operational in December 2009. The expansion will add 440 solar panels to the more than 1,000 panels already installed on four campus buildings. The expanded system will be one of the largest in the District of Columbia, and will now total 414 kilowatts and generate more than 500,000 kilowatt hours of power each year.

The solar PV expansion will be installed at no up-front cost to CUA and — like the original system — will be owned and operated by WGES. CUA has signed a 20-year agreement with WGES to purchase electricity generated by the solar panels at guaranteed prices, and the electricity will be used by the buildings where it is produced. Standard Solar Inc., of Rockville, Md., installed the original system and will install the new solar panels as well.

“Our Catholic faith calls us to be good stewards of the environment,” said Catholic University President John Garvey. “Today we are celebrating two forward thinking examples of how we are doing that. One – the installation of additional solar panels – is focused on making our University’s infrastructure more ‘green.’ The second is a collaborative teaching moment that has given our students the opportunity to apply what they learned in the classroom to actually building something that is environmentally friendly.”

CUA currently offers engineering courses in photovoltaics, hybrid gas and electric vehicles, and wind energy technologies and master’s degrees in architectural sustainability and urban design.

The expansion of its solar PV system is the latest accomplishment in CUA’s program of environmental commitment. In 2002, CUA was the first university in the Washington area to purchase a portion of its electricity from regional wind power projects. In 2008, the University received an Award of Excellence from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its recycling efforts. In January 2009, CUA opened the first new LEED-compliant student residence hall in Washington, D.C. Opus Hall has since been LEED certified.

“Catholic University’s leadership in advancing the use of renewable energy has clearly motivated others to do the same,” said Harry Warren, president of WGES. “As one of the very first large purchasers of wind power in the D.C. region, Catholic University can take great pride in the recent announcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the District of Columbia is now the nation’s leading city for renewable energy use. As the first Washington, D.C. University to install a large scale solar power system, CUA serves an example to other area universities and colleges. Today, they compound this leadership example by announcing the expansion of this solar installation and recognizing these remarkable and talented students and their environmental ingenuity.”

MEDIA: For more information, contact Katie Lee or Mary McCarthy in Catholic University’s Office of Public Affairs at 202-319-5600; Keira Shein, WilkinsonShein Communications for Standard Solar, 410-363-9494, keira@wilkinsonshein.com or Leah Gibbons, Washington Gas Energy Services, Inc., at 703-793-7565, 301-509-1508 or lgibbons@wges.com.

-Ryan

Event Rescheduled

Our apologies for having to reschedule the Environmental Action Climate Change Panel that was originally going to be held last Monday. One of our presenters was ill and we wanted to ensure The Catholic University of America community had the opportunity to hear from these excellent presenters.

The event has been rescheduled for next Monday, April 18th at 7pm in Pangborn Hall Room 302. Our panel will feature speakers from Friends of the Earth, Casey's Trees, and possibly CUA's own Facilities and Maintenance Operations. The panel will focus on the impact college students can have on promoting sustainability and combating global climate change on and off campus.

For more information about our event please visit the Facebook Event Page.

-Ryan

Casey Trees and Students Make Statement on Campus

This past Friday at The Catholic University of America, there was a Cherry Blossom Tree planting. The School of Architecture and FMO hosted and organized the event, which turned out to be a great success. A group called Casey Trees supplied the trees and helped plant them along with 35 or so CUA students. Casey Trees outreach also got Deer Park water, Crumb cupcakes, and The National Cherry Blossom Festival to sponsor the event. Together we planted 10 cherry blossom trees next to the architecture building. When the trees canopy and bloom, it will make a great backdrop to the commencement exercises that take place there.

The event was supposed to run for 4 hours, but the efforts and eagerness of CUA student planters was a little underestimated. Beginning at 9 AM, those trees were all planted and mulched by 10 AM. Most of us stuck around for lunch, which included a program that none of us were prepared for. During lunch, we had some VIPs talk a little about what they do. These VIPs included a retired US Ambassador to Japan, a worker from the Japanese Embassy, and the President of The National Cherry Blossom Festival. That was very impressive to say the least.

All in all it was a great event. I believe Casey Trees returns to CUA every year, so I encourage you to attend next year. We are lucky enough to have a speaker from Casey Trees at our event: Environmental Action: On and Off Campus - Monday, April 11 @ 7 PM in McGivney Auditorium, please feel free to spread the word about this event or visit our Facebook page to learn more.

-Dan

Launch Announcement

Welcome from Ryan and Dan. We are the founders of Environmental Action CUA, a group dedicated to educating college students about the steps they can take on and off campus to stop global climate change. We are currently planning a large panel discussion at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. that will bring together environmental experts to help us achieve this goal. Please stay tuned for future posts and more information regarding our event.

-Ryan