Amy Holm's Posts - Transition Whatcom2024-03-19T10:40:43ZAmy Holmhttp://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/profile/AmyHolmhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2197505583?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=1diq88f7tp7mc&xn_auth=no2011!tag:transitionwhatcom.ning.com,2011-02-11:2723460:BlogPost:435052011-02-11T20:37:29.000ZAmy Holmhttp://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/profile/AmyHolm
<p>Egypt is free! What a historical day! Throughout the day, send your positive thoughts over there for a peaceful and smooth transition. </p>
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<p>And things are going well at WWU's AS Environmental Center too. We've had tons of great events lately. We all got together at the end of last quarter and talked about what our main goal for the year was going to be. Our finished product came out to be raising awareness for our office and letting people know who we are and what we do. We…</p>
<p>Egypt is free! What a historical day! Throughout the day, send your positive thoughts over there for a peaceful and smooth transition. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>And things are going well at WWU's AS Environmental Center too. We've had tons of great events lately. We all got together at the end of last quarter and talked about what our main goal for the year was going to be. Our finished product came out to be raising awareness for our office and letting people know who we are and what we do. We really want the EC to be a hub where everyone can feel comfortable coming in and finding new ways to get involved and hearing about what's going on on and off campus in the way of sustainability.</p>
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<p>In that vein, I am working on the preliminary plans for an event geared towards the freshmen in the dorms. If we want to get our office out onto campus, we need to talk to those who are going to be here the longest, aka the freshmen. I'm working with the ecoReps, student reps in the dorms, to create a week-long scavenger hunt around campus that focuses on the environmental resources on campus. It's sure to be a fun event!</p>
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<p>Some great news! We've hired a Green Energy Fee Advisor, Kathryn Freeman, who will help and walk students through the process of creating proposals that will then be submitted to the Green Fee Committee for approval. This is a super exciting thing because we're moving forward on this awesome project that the students voted for. There are already several large proposals in the works, each one as exciting as the other. One of the projects I'm particularly stoked for is changing all the lights in the parking lot behind Arntzen to LED lights. LED is a much more efficient way to give off light and don't waste as much energy in heat. So great! </p>
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<p>More coming later about all our awesome plans and goings-on! </p>
<p> </p>Fri. April 30, 2010tag:transitionwhatcom.ning.com,2010-04-30:2723460:BlogPost:210932010-04-30T19:05:37.000ZAmy Holmhttp://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/profile/AmyHolm
<p>Hey everyone! I have no idea if anyone will actually read this, but here it is.</p>
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<p>Here at Western, we just finished up with our hectic, educational, and incredibly fun earth week which was wittingly dubbed "Earth Days" to support the idea that every day is Earth Day. Many months of planning preceeded the week. Speakers were booked, bands were paid, rooms were reserved, publicity was printed, and ideas flew around the Environmental Center like wildfire. VU 424 (our office) was a…</p>
<p>Hey everyone! I have no idea if anyone will actually read this, but here it is.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Here at Western, we just finished up with our hectic, educational, and incredibly fun earth week which was wittingly dubbed "Earth Days" to support the idea that every day is Earth Day. Many months of planning preceeded the week. Speakers were booked, bands were paid, rooms were reserved, publicity was printed, and ideas flew around the Environmental Center like wildfire. VU 424 (our office) was a hotbed of craziness and enlightened minds trying to get the greater population involved in saving the planet!</p>
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<p>The week was kicked off by several work parties on Saturday all throughout Western and Bellingham. Monday and Tuesday were full of movie showings such as "Addicted to Plastic", "Tapped", and "For the Love of Water". These were all a success and promoted dialogue about different environmental issues and their solutions.</p>
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<p>Wednesday saw a Sustainable Cooking Class headed by Heather Jeffreys, the head of Students for Sustainable Food, and an intern here in the office. I didn't get a chance to attend, but I heard that it was wonderful and everyone loved it (there was food; who wouldn't love it!?). There will be future sustainable cooking classes so look out for those!</p>
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<p>Thursday, April 22nd, the official Earth Day, consisted of many booths and a small celebration in Red Square under the shining sun. In between classes, people stopped by and made buttons to support creativity over consumption and heard about all the exciting events going on.</p>
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<p>An unexpected group of people came by around 1:00pm and starting protesting Earth Day. They carried signs stating "I hate Earth Day" and "Profits over People". Needless to say, they got many strange words and uncomfortable stares from the environmentally friendly people of WWU. However, it turned out to all be a stunt to promote the presence of the Yes Men on campus. The Yes Men are a couple of guys who impersonate public officials and do satirical protests and forums making fun of the way that politicians handle our environment. Watch their hilarious youtube video here: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZuyiAFTtb8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZuyiAFTtb8</a>.</p>
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<p>The quarterly Environmental Club Summit was also on Thursday. At 7:00, 25 pizza boxes arrived in the MPR and a group of about 50 Western students devoured them while dialoguing about how to get involved in environmental clubs and how to best collaborate events. The energy of this specific group of students was infectious and as they walked out after the meeting, the general public could tell they had just been planning to save the world.</p>
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<p>The "Yes Men: Fix the World" video was shown on Friday at 7 and 9 and got a fair amount of attendance. Many laughs ensued while people passed bags of popcorn around.</p>
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<p>The big news came on Saturday when all the environmental clubs on campus and different vendors from Bellingham and the surrounding area came together for the annual Earth Day Festival! The event had to be moved to the VU MPR because of rain, but it worked out well because there was still enough room and it was nearer to the middle of campus. Lots of people came and did crafts, got seedlings for their rooms, watched tribal dances, and ate yummy, organic food.</p>
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<p>All in all, Earth Days was a great success!!! Look forward to next year's week and get involved!</p>