Sustainability Week 2014 celebrates town and gown's commitment to the environment
Sustainability Week 2014, a green partnership between Virginia Tech, the Town of Blacksburg, and Sustainable Blacksburg that highlights sustainability efforts in the town and on campus, will be held Sept. 13 through 21.
More than a dozen events to “celebrate, educate, and motivate” are scheduled throughout the week to showcase many of the sustainable efforts that are happening on campus and in the community. This is the eighth year of the program.
The celebration begins Saturday, Sept. 13 with a workshop at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Christiansburg where volunteers will be offering repurposing and up-cycling ideas.
Events on Monday, Sept. 15 include a grand opening tour of the Hoop House, a Dining Services initiative to extend the growing season for produce used in campus dining centers.
On Tuesday, Sept. 16, events include a tree planting service project at The Grove and a night of Pecha Kucha.
“Pecha Kucha is a term to describe a very short, very fast-paced presentation about a single topic,” said Emily Schosid, campus sustainability planner at Virginia Tech. “No one wants a boring Power Point lecture, and we thought this would be a fun way for people to learn. Because the presentations are so short—six to seven minutes—we are able to hear a large variety of topics in one night.”
Additional events during the week include an Active Commute Celebration on the Drillfield, a Market Day and Sustainability Expo, a project to remove invasive plants from Stadium Woods, a sustainable community meal and a Solarize Blacksburg home tour.
On Friday, Sept. 19, there will be a special lunch time talk with Alumni Distinguished Professor Scott Geller about changing behavior to improve sustainability efforts. Also, he will introduce simple behavior changes the audience can make right away.
Details and a complete list of events can be found on the Sustainability Week 2014 website.
In 2013, Virginia Tech reaffirmed its support for the Climate Action Commitment and Sustainability Plan, which the university first adopted in 2009. The plan set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, recycling, and the commitment to pursue LEED Silver certification standards or better for new campus buildings.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
