It’s Earth Month, readers, and I can’t think of a better time for me to actually do my job and fill this blog with the goings-on of CCC instead of my ponderous personal musings. If this is the first post you’ve read, it’s important to note that the CCC is not a homogenous group, but is broken into several subcommittees, each with a different mission. Without further ado, I’ll bring you up to date on each.
The clean energy committee (formerly the dirty energy committee) is focusing on expanding the presence on solar panels on campus. Currently, the only panels are located atop the Bratton Tennis Center; a proposal clean energy has in the works would expand them to the ideal flat roof of the Sherwood Athletic Center. The group’s objective is now to find funding and an installer.
The mug share committee’s mugs have arrived and are awaiting distribution to the Reid Campus Center. Next week, reusable mugs can be found on the coffee cart at Reid; taking one for your drink instead of a disposable cup is worth a 20 cent discount on any purchase. Also coming soon to Reid is a green coffeehouse, which still has spots open for performers (contact Matt Akins).
The bike share (profiled in a previous post) is likewise preparing to launch its program, with a fleet of six bikes from the Outdoor Program slated to be available at the library after a ribbon-cutting on April 20. The yellow bikes will be free for any student, faculty, or staff to check one out like a book for an hour, an afternoon, or a whole day.
The industrial composting group, which established a composting bin behind Jewett Dining Hall last semester, began this semester with a problem––excessive moisture in the compost was causing the fleet of worms to fall through the layer of newspaper at the bin’s base. They’ve countered this problem by switching to drier food and exchanging the newspaper for more absorbent straw, and the worms are doing better. Coming up, they have planned a Build Your Own Bin workshop for the Walla Walla Community.
In other news: the Cool the Schools group, whose job is to teach local students about climate change and the environmental knowledge every citizen should have, has prepared its volunteers, and plans to start visiting schools within two weeks. The CCC Steering Committee is accepting applications for four open positions (contact Claire Meints or Katie Radosevic). Finally, Josh Fox, the director of the natural gas documentary Gasland, will be coming to campus this Earth Month to host a showing of his movie.
As you can see, we’ve got so many irons in the fire it’s all I can do to valiantly blog about it. Enthusiasm is higher than ever, and I’m happy to contribute my own small part. If you’re interested in getting involved, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email!
