This weeks newsletter takes a look at conservation competitions on campuses, some great book recommendations, and a few videos that are worth a watch. Be sure to check out the Resources Center for more useful tools, ideas, and articles!

GTS News!

In the last few weeks Green Tower has added a new Welcome video and Membership Orientation video to the website.

We also added a paypal donation button!!

Finally, we are currently working with a group in the Netherlands to establish an International Chapter of Green Tower Sustainability! Make sure to stay tuned to the website as we will be adding their chapter page in the next coming weeks!

Frazil Ice!

The first video is a piece from the National Park Service on Frazil Ice at Yosemite National Park. It’s got a combination of education and beautiful scenes from Yosemite Park. Seriously how cool is this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=9V9p4mFEYXc&vq=medium#t=15

GTS Talks: RecycleMania and Conservation Competitions!

By Ian and Pat

In honor of the RecycleMania Competition starting today, Ian and I sat down and talked about some good practices for starting conservation competitions on campuses. Check it out here.

Book Review: Cradle to Cradle!

by Ben

Cradle to Cradle is one of my favorite sustainability-related books, not because it’s so revolutionary or earth shattering, but because it is such an articulate (and relatively basic) explanation of what sustainable systems are. This book is fantastic for helping to frame sustainability issues and for developing the ability to think in terms of sustainability. I learned a lot form the book when I read it in 2007 after a couple of years as a sustainability activist, but I’ve also recommended it several times to friends as a good introduction to sustainability – it works for several levels. A lot of the value I personally find in this book is in relating technological and biological systems to each other and showing why one is working so well while the other is not. Although the book discusses primarily material flows, its ideas and main points are applicable to a wide spectrum of other issues as well.

Level: Introductory to Advanced. Great intro to general concepts, but also a great perspective for advanced sustainers to add to their toolkit.

Who should read it? Anyone who is interested in sustainability, manufacturing & production processes, biology, or waste management.

Also worth checking out is William McDonough’s TED Talk about Cradle to Cradle

Real Food Challenge Summits across the Country!

Be sure to check out the Real Food Challenge Summits taking place this spring across the country. The Real Food Challenge works to bring together and empower students and staff to transition to real, nutritious foods in their campus dining halls. Sign up now for a summit near you!

Student Focus!

Students at Loyola Chicago are hosting a competition to fund sustainable projects. Groups of students can apply create projects that would make the Loyola campus more sustainable. The three best projects win $5,000 in start-up funding. Check out the full story!

Here at Green Tower we love when students get to take the reins and put their education into practice. At the University of Arizona the House Energy Doctor program has been letting graduate architecture students help buildings reduce their energy consumption since 1986. This year with the help of the UA Office of Sustainability the students will be helping the Arizona campus save energy! You can read more here!

Watch the Academy Award nominated film “The Warriors of Qiugang” online!

This short film documents the villagers of the Chinese village of Qiugang’s fight to get rid of the polluting factories that were making their families sick. The film was co-produced by Yale Environment 360 with filmmakers Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon and can be viewed online!

Interesting Reads!

How important is the CEO (or University President) to Sustainability

Top 10 books on sustainability

More books on sustainability!

Why you should be pissed about climate change!

Interested in getting more involved with Green Tower Sustainability?

Check out our membership and mentor pages!

Happy Sustaining!

Patrick and the Green Tower Sustainability Staff

www.greentowercampus.com

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www.twitter.com/GTSustain