Environmental Action

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Environmental Action

• Activities for Chitwood/Weymouth Residence Halls
• Presented by Lindsay Reed

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Environmental Action What is it?

• Sustained activity to improve Planet Earth
• Based on science Environmental Science
• Value of the action is measured by Sustainability
  can it be sustained?
• Myths about Green Living

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Ten Things You Could Do

• Use a cloth bag to shop for groceries
• Car pool and use public transportation
• Get plumbing leaks fixed
• Set water heaters to recommended temps
• Eat less meat

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Ten Things (continued)

• Buy an auto that gets 35 MPG
• Stop vampire currents (power strips)
• Use laptop computing whenever possible
• Recycle use Freecycle in Lubbock
• Repair
• Use compact florescent light bulbs (CFL)

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One BIG Thing You Could Do

• Help Texas Tech get a better grade
  http//www.endowmentinstitute.org/report2008/profi
  le149.pdf
• The Aggies have a C- and the Long-horns have a
  B-
• Your project could be a breakthrough!

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Green Universities

• Oberlin College
• Harvard University
• Warren Wilson Coll.
• U Cal System
• Duke University

• Middlebury College
• Berea College
• Penn State U
• Tufts University
• Carnegie Mellon

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Global Warming

• The 800-lb. gorilla in the room
• What it is average global temperature above that
  caused by natural cycles
• What its not weather or local temperature
  (which may be very variable)
• Why it demands attention like a ship, once set
  in motion, temperature increases are very
  difficult to turn around warm becomes hot

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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

• 2,500 top climate scientists world-wide
• Gathered temperature data for 30 years
• Projected back using ice cores, tree rings, and
  historical accounts
• They recently won the Nobel Prize!
• Their findings are shown in two graphs

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Global Warming (continued)

• It is very important to get our information from
  experts atmospheric scientists or climate
  specialists
• Earth is like a sick patient - we need to get
  second opinions, and then plan a course of action
  to bring the patient back to health.
• One of our local experts Katharine Hayhoe in
  Geosciences Department

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Energy

• The yin to global warmings yang
• Every human activity requires it
• We have a habit of generating it using coal, gas
  and natural gas (fossil fuels).
• Clean sources abound solar (thermal, PV,
  passive), wind, geo-exchange, hydro, ocean
  (tides, thermal) and others
• Ask your utility to sell you clean energy.

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Ten More Things

• Replace electric stove w/ natural gas stove
• Replace top-load washer w/ front-loader
• Replace hot/hot wash w/ warm/cold wash
• Replace electric dryer w/ gas dryer
• Put computer in sleep-mode
• Turn off computer when done

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Ten More (continued)

• Replace Christmas lights with LEDs
• Seal air leaks in your house or apt.
• Add R-40 cellulose insulation to attic
• Use passive sunshine to advantage (block in
  summer, allow in during winter)
• Tune your furnace every fall
• Write Your Congressman!

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Stay Happy!

• Environmentalist take their work seriously, so
  they appear overly serious they are saving the
  world!
• But theres no point doing something that doesnt
  make us happy so choose to do things even if
  they are little that are compatible with our
  nature.
• You must be the change you wish to see in the
  world. Gandhi

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Resources

• Its Easy Being Green, Crissy Trask
• Carbon Busters Home Energy Handbook, Godo Stoyke
• The Lazy Environmentalist, Josh Dorfman
• Tech Renewable Energy Society (http//www.orgs.ttu
  .edu/tres)
• Join Today!

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Web Resources

• http//www.grist.com
• http//www.ecorazzi.com
• http//www.treehugger.com
• http//www.presidentialprofiles2008.org
• http//oregonstate.edu/johnsonc
• http//www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2008/j
  anfeb/features/intro.html
• http//freecycle.meetup.com/cities/us/tx/lubbock/