EcoHousers inspecting plants at the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Greenhouse. In this UCONN EcoHouse Weekly Digest...EcoHouse Events & Volunteer Op

         

EcoHousers inspecting plants at the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Greenhouse.

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In this UCONN EcoHouse Weekly Digest...

Monday EcoHouse Dinner

5- 6 pm in Whitney Dining Hall ever Monday. Join us!

Coventry Lake Advisory & Monitoring Committee on 12/2

Be part of the development of Coventry's watershed management plan for the DEEP. At their next monthly meeting, we will be discussing how EcoHousers can attain practical volunteer experience in surveying, data management, and plan development. Contact Brigid if you are interested in attending.

UNIV 1840 Mandatory Reflection Sessions

UNIV 1840 Requirement: Each student is required to attend one of the 2 closing reflection group sessions.
• Wednesday, 12/3 2 pm in the EcoHouse Lounge
• Friday, 12/5 3 pm in the EcoHouse Lounge

Where Connecticut is Headed: The Future of Energy and the Environment

Wednesday, December 3rd, 6pm - 7:30pm | Laurel 101
Commissioner Rob Klee of Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) will discuss his agencies current priorities and future areas of focus regarding Connecticut's environmental and energy needs. This discussion will include a question and answer session with Commissioner Klee. Light refreshments will be served following the discussion. This event is co-sponsored by the UConn Environmental Engineering Program and the Office of Community Outreach.

Yuletide Gathering!

Celebrate the end of classes with Sprague Hall!
Friday, Dec. 5, 4:00 (right after UNIV 1840 group reflection)
Sprague 1st floor Lounge
There will be hot drinks, snacks, the White Elephant gift swap, holiday arts and crafts, music, and fun times.

More important for you to know right now is that there will be a White Elephant gift swap during the event! If you choose to participate (please do! everyone is welcome), there will be a sign up sheet on the EcoHouse board by Brigid's office. Here's how it will work:
1. You will either make a gift, or re-gift a gift, that anyone might like (it isn't for a specific person). Think about this over break!
2. Wrap the gift so you can't tell what it is. Doesn't have to be fancy (newspaper, etc).
3. Bring the gift to the event on that Friday.
4. Participants will draw numbers out of a hat and will pick and open gifts in that order. This will turn into a game where based on your number, you can steal someone else's gift. Details will be explained later.

There will be cries of fortuitous victory after opening awesome gifts. And there will be cries of undeserved disappointment after others steal those awesome gifts. But it's fun right?

FinalsGrind Contest


Show us what your Finals Grind looks like by sharing a photo using our #FinalsGrind keyword for a chance to win a $25 gift card to Mooyah! Daily winners will be selected during finals week with only one grand prize winner. The contest runs from Sunday, November 30, 2014 between 12:01 AM EST to Thursday, December 11, 2014 11:59PM EST. Winner will be announced on Thursday, December 11 2014 at 4 PM EST. One winner will be randomly selected from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram submissions every day during finals week with a Grand Prize Winner being chosen on Thursday, December 11, 2014. The winning photo will be shared along with the announcement of the winner on UCONNFYP social media accounts.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS: To enter this social media contest, you must be following UCONNFYP on Twitter & Instagram. (account links below) Entries must @replying our UCONNFYP account(s) AND include the #FinalsGrind tag. Entries are unlimited.

Volunteer for the newspaper study!

Reminder: we are in need of some volunteers for our news paper study. There is a sign up on the programs board for those of you who are interested. Thanks! - Cam and Matt

Stay tuned to your weekly digest. And, stay in the loop through Facebook

Want to take over the FYP&LC Instagram & Twitter accounts? We are looking for students to share their experiences! Let Brigid know if you are interested.
Click Here: UCONN Learning Communities on Facebook!
Here to Join: EcoHouse Facebook Group!

Scholarships, Job Opportunities, & Classes

Live in EcoHouse in 2015- 2016

Apply to return to the LC for 2015-2016. Current UConn students who want to return to EcoHouse need to apply via their UConn Housing Application. The Housing Application will open for current students on December 1 and stay open until January 26, 2015. Students must indicate their interest in living in a LC for the 2015-2016 academic year when they fill out this application.

Enroll in Spring 2015 EcoHouse Courses!

Prepare to enroll in EcoHouse courses! According to the EcoHouse policy, students are identified as the following:
1st year in EcoHouse: Acorn
2nd year in EcoHouse: Sprout
3rd year in EcoHouse: Sapling
4th year in EcoHouse: White Oak
EcoHouse Alum: Canopy

Course Enrollment Policy: All acorns and sprouts must enroll in UNIV 1840 and a special topics EcoHouse course. Saplings and White Oaks have the option of enrolling in either one of special topics EcoHouse courses or UNIV 1840. They are permitted to enroll in both, but are only required to enroll in one. Spring Valley Student Farmers need not enroll in UNIV 1840.

Courses available for Spring 2015 are:
UNIV 1840- 1-credit; environment for Fall and Spring semesters. This course does not meet. Students receive 1 credit for completing 32 hours of environmentally-related service or experiential learning. Examples of how students earn their hours:
* Volunteering at Rentschler Field's "Green Game Day"
* Trail clearing and GIS mapping trails
* E-waste recycling events

UNIV 3820- UConn Almanac, Wednesdays 4:40- 5:30; Discovering the timeless ideals of Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac. The course-long assignment will be structured around an online GIS map of the UConn Storrs campus, in which students will creatively document sections of campus as Aldo Leopold did for Sand County Almanac so many years ago

UNIV 3820- Sustainable Scholars, Thursdays 4-5; Students will have the opportunity to interact 1-on-1 with multiple visiting scholars at the top of their field. We will also explore hands-on research available here in the UConn area with field trips. From dinners with faculty to inspecting new, yet to be published, research, students will broaden their knowledge in several eco-fields like climate change, green businesses, and biodiversity

CHEG 4995 and POLS 2998, Tuesday Thursday - 11-12:15- SUSTAINABLE ENERGY IN THE 21st CENTURY (3 credits); States are increasingly under pressure to reform their energy policies given the concerns with global climate change, declining sources of affordable fossil fuels and the geopolitics of supply security. While the need for clean energy seems obvious, the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy in many countries around the world has been neither inevitable nor smooth. Needless to say, there are many technological and economic challenges: which energy sources provide the most viable and affordable replacement for fossil fuels? What are the potential and pitfalls of different energy technologies? To what extent can alternative energy sources be integrated into our existing technical and economic systems? How sustainable are they? What would be the cost and benefits to the citizens and the economy in general of reliance on alternative energy sources?

Enroll in your EcoHouse courses by e-mailing Brigid Belko for a permission number. If you are not currently enrolled in EcoHouse classes, but registered to be an EcoHouse member, you will be contacted this week regarding enrollment.

Food Safety Modernization Act Round 2 - Your Action is Needed!

Your comments are needed by December 15, 2014 to ensure that the local, sustainable and organic food system we are creating can continue to grow and prosper. About this time last year, YOU - our consumers, farmers and food businesses - made a huge difference when you commented on the first flawed draft of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) proposed rules for the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The FDA went back to the drawing board. Their second draft of proposed rules is now available. Some of our concerns were heard. Others were not. We have to make our voices heard again.

As currently written, the rules can make it more expensive and difficult for smaller and beginning farmers, as well as for farmers involved in creative multi-farm CSAs or Food Hubs. Local foods could be over-regulated and important synergies with the natural world could be banned. There are two basic rules, each with many parts: The Produce Rule governs what happens on farms and the Preventive Controls Rule applies to facilities that process food for human consumption. There are problems with both rules and also with the ease with which a farm might be classified as a facility and be subject to the Preventive Controls Rule. The farm could then be subjected to onerous requirements designed to keep a global food business safe, clearly overkill for our local farms. There are also problems with requirements for extensive, expensive water testing on farms. Other issues include making it harder for farmers to diversify, and unknown regulations for low-risk, value-added food processing, such as making pickles on a farm.

CT NOFA's partner, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) has thoroughly studied the proposed rules and created extensive resources to help us understand what is at stake and how to make intelligent and effective comments. Comments from farmers, food businesses and consumers are very important. NSAC's resources will guide users to the specific concerns for different participants in the food system. There is also going to be a FSMA update session for farmers on December 3, 2014 sponsored by UConn Extension, the Connecticut Farm Bureau and CT NOFA. Please comment to the FDA before the December 15, 2014 deadline. The FDA is looking for specific feedback from individuals, businesses and organizations. We need to send as many separate comments as possible, because even a petition with a million signatures counts as just one comment to the FDA. Thank you for helping to keep Connecticut farming!

The School of Business is offering an undergraduate course in sustainability this spring in Storrs!

FNCE 4895: Sustainable Real Estate. This is a one-credit course that meets on two Saturdays - March 7 and April 11.
The course will provide an overview of the techniques, approaches, materials and technologies used in the internationally recognized Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating systems. Students will learn how buildings can be designed, constructed and retrofitted to improve sustainability, promote water and energy efficiency, and minimize environmental impacts. After completing the course, students will be eligible to take the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED Green Associate exam, providing a credential that demonstrates green building expertise in non-technical fields of practice.

Apply to be a Udall Scholar!

The campus application for nomination for the Udall Scholarship is now live with a Dec. 1, 2014 deadline. Interested students should check out our page: http://www.onsf.uconn.edu/find-scholarships/sample-page/the-udall-scholarship/ which has a link to the application and to the official udall.gov site.

Support the S.T.A.A.R. wash and fold service

Please support their wash and fold service, this service was created to teach the S.T.A.A.R. Program students about personal hygiene, how to accomplish the task of washing, drying, and folding clothes, and organization. This service is FREE & SAVES YOU TIME. Also the students are supervised while learning how to wash, dry, fold clothes. RA Jhennelle will be sharing a Google Spreadsheet with you located in your google drive please sign up for a day that you will bring you clothes downstairs to the S.T.A.A.R. Program. Besides clothes, you can also bring your bed sheets and towels to be washed, dried, and folded. Here is more information about the S.T.A.A.R Program http://staarprogram.weebly.com/
*Whitney Bits will be given to those who sign up

Attend the Connecticut Recyclers Coalition Conference

On Tuesday December 16, the Connecticut Recyclers Coalition is hosting the "Connecticut Organics Recycling Conference and Trade Show" at the Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville, CT 8am-2pm. The conference will focus on the state of organics recycling and composting in Connecticut at the local, community, and commercial level and its development and challenges. Attendees at the conference will include government officials, municipal recycling coordinators, large institutional and commercial sustainability managers, and sustainability non-profit representatives. EcoHouse will sponsor any interested students in attending. Contact Brigid if interested.

Apply to live at Spring Valley Student Farm in Spring 2015!

Spring Valley Student Farm Concept: Spring Valley Student Farm (SVSF) was created in spring 2010 and has become an extension of the EcoHouse Living Learning Community. It provides an opportunity to learn about organic farming through applied learning while also providing a residential living option with additional independence and responsibility appropriate to returning upper-class students. Spring Valley Student Farm exists as a collaborative venture between Residential Life, Dining Services, First Year Programs and Learning Communities, the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the Office of Environmental Policy.

Spring Valley Student Farm Mission: EcoHouse and Spring Valley Student Farm exist to foster meaningful student learning, engagement, collaboration, and camaraderie around environmental and sustainability issues. As an extension of the EcoHouse Living Learning Community, SVSF provides students the opportunity to act on their interest in sustainable agriculture through organic farming. Living and working at the farm allows students to gain practical knowledge and skills through experiential learning while simultaneously modeling a closed loop food model in which organic produce is grown on campus for UConn Dining Services. Spring Valley Student Farm aims to be a place where students, faculty, staff, and Storrs-Mansfield community members can come together to learn about the connections between land, food, and people.

Spring Valley Student Farm Goals:
• Promote EcoHouse at Spring Valley Student Farm as an example of sustainable education and living for the UConn campus, local community and the state of Connecticut
• Model efficient, effective, sustainable farming practices that are economically viable and ecologically sound
• Serve as a vanguard for a local, organic food movement on the UConn campus by encouraging students, faculty, and staff to consider the environmental and human impacts of the foods they consume daily
• Encourage imaginative, innovative, and creative thinking to achieve more sustainable lifestyles and solutions
• Evolve into an organic farm that produces hundreds of varieties of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers
• Host workshops, seminars, tours, and volunteer work days for campus, local residents, and local schools

Additional Information: SVSF is located at 104 and 86 Spring Manor Road in Mansfield off Route 32 just north of the intersection with Route 44. Applicants need not be EcoHouse students but need to join EcoHouse upon acceptance as a SVSF resident. They will then need to enroll in the required EcoHouse classes. With completion of ten hours of volunteer time per week SVSF residents pay $200/month in rent, $800 total, due and payable at the start of the semester. This fee includes all utilities including electricity, water, trash, snow removal, cable, and wireless internet. The monthly fee does not include a meal plan. In exchange for this discounted living arrangement, all students selected to live at SVSF are expected to contribute 10 hours a week toward running the farm during the academic year.

There is no University transportation provided between the farm and the main Storrs campus. The farm is located about one mile from the Depot Campus where the bus line runs. Those interested in additional responsibilities may apply for student employment positions through Dining Services. Independent study credits are also possible with a sponsoring faculty member in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Email Julia.cartabiano@uconn.edu or phone 860-508-7706 with questions or to apply.

On a separate sheet please provide brief answers to the following questions.
1) Please provide contact information including name, home address, local phone number, email address and Peoplesoft number.
2) Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who are you? (major, semester standing, interests, hobbies, goals, etc.)
3) Why are you interested in living at Spring Valley Student Farm?
4) How do you envision the farm experience will improve your effectiveness in educating EcoHouse students about sustainable agriculture and food systems? How do you plan to share your knowledge with the greater community?
5) SVSF residents will be responsible for tending to the farm, planting, turning compost, harvesting and processing produce, taking care of the chickens, spring planning, etc. Please describe your past experience gardening or working on a farm.
6) What other relevant experience do you have that would make you an ideal candidate for Spring Valley Student Farm? (course work, honors, awards, scholarships, co-curricular activities, volunteer or service work, work experience, living experiences, study abroad, etc.)
7) Residents of SVSF are required to give a presentation each semester to EcoHouse on a topic of interest and to be part of a production area team. What topics are you interested in exploring?
8) If selected to live at SVSF, what new ideas would you have for improving the farm and the community? How would you be an active member and contributor at Spring Valley Student Farm? How would you further the goals of the community?
9) Do you have any experience living in a communal space? What are your assets as a house/roommate? What qualities might make you difficult to live with? What does healthy communication mean to you?
10) Please state your interest and willingness to live at SVSF during summer 2015.

Please return completed application to Julia Cartabiano by Monday, November 10, 2014.

Summer Job for Biology-interested students

Dominion is currently accepting applications for the summer internship program. If you know of any Fisheries, Marine Science or Biology undergraduates looking for a great summer opportunity, please encourage them to apply to the program within the next month. https://campusconnection-dominion.icims.com/jobs/5316/intern---environmental-biology---summer-2015/job

12th Annual P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet

http://www.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/2015/2015-p3.html
Open Date: 09/05/2014 - Close Date: 12/16/2014
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces the posting of the Request for Applications, People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Award Program, with the goal to research, develop and design solutions to real world challenges involving the overall sustainability of human society. The P3 competition supports scientific and technological research efforts to create innovative projects focused on sustainability. The P3 Award program was developed to foster progress toward sustainability by achieving the mutual goals of improved quality of life, economic prosperity and protection of the planet- people, prosperity, and the planet – the three pillars of sustainability. The EPA offers the P3 competition in order to respond to the technical needs of the world while moving towards the goal of sustainability.
Supporting the development of sustainable methods is in line with the Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC) Research Program. EPA’s SHC Research Program provides useful science and tools for decision makers at all levels to help communities advance sustainability as well as achieve regulatory compliance. SHC is collaborating with partners to conduct research that will result in science-based knowledge to guide decisions that will better sustain a healthy society and environment in America's communities. The research is intended for decision-makers at the federal, regional, state and community levels.

Want $4,000 to complete your dream project?

Are you interested in learning more about the IDEA Grant? Attend an information session to find out how you could get funded up to $4,000 for your self-designed projects including artistic endeavors, community service initiatives, research projects, entrepreneurial ventures, and other innovative projects.
For more information please visit; http://ugradresearch.uconn.edu/IDEA./

Nature, Science and Society Seminar this fall – a discussion of the broader intersection of our work with society

This year we will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act by exploring:
What is wilderness?
Is it worth maintaining?
Can it be preserved in the face of global changes?

Tentatively, we plan to read and discuss
- the book Beyond Naturalness, a look at preserving wilderness despite change
- the book 1491: New revelations of the Americas before Columbus, to consider what is wilderness in the context of history
- the degree to which wilderness and other environmental issues are or aren’t discussed in midterm elections
- population growth, immigration, resource per capita use and its effects on wilderness
- economic systems and equality and the preservation ethic
- most importantly, whatever the group decides

All are welcome, including students of any stage, faculty, staff, and local citizens.
We seek to explore the broad interconnections between science and the rest of society. These interconnections include politics, economy, and culture. We read a variety of popular books and articles and meet with visiting speakers and campus leaders. The group includes a wide range of faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and local community members. We try to push the boundaries of the college seminar: in the past, we divided into two teams and debated climate change, wrote an op-ed piece for the Hartford Courant, and toured the campus cogeneration plant. This year should prove to be just as exciting.

The seminars occur on Mondays at 4pm in the Bamford. Counts for indirect service hours!

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