If you indulged in the delicious cuisine of McElroy this week, you know about the new sorting system that EcoPledge members, in conjunction with BC Dining Services, have implemented. Students separated recyclable cans and bottles from food waste, trash, and dishes; and asked that people stack their plastic containers instead of throwing them in the trash.

This was an effort to help students become more conscientious about their waste while teaching them basic life skills of recycling and composting. The program was previously implemented in Stewart Dining Hall on the Newton Campus, and hopefully this new system will enjoy equaled success in McElroy. Read more about it on our McElroy Sorting page.

Read the Heights article: "New Trash System Encourages Recycling."

January 30: Bill McKibben Discussion

On January 30, the Environmental Studies Program hosted renowned author Bill McKibben for a discussion on “Building the Climate Movement.” Bill McKibben is an American environmentalist and writer who frequently writes about global warming, alternative energy, and the risks associated with human genetic engineering. Beginning in the summer of 2006, he led the organization of the largest demonstrations against global warming in American history. McKibben is active in the Methodist Church, and his writing sometimes has a spiritual bent. For more information see Bill McKibben’s web site.

In McKibben's words: "Global warming is, quite simply, the biggest thing that humans have ever managed to do. I've been following the science and the politics (and the sad, gut meaning of it all) since the late 1980s, when I wrote the first book on the topic, The End of Nature. In the years since, both the scale and the pace of the peril has increased substantially — we now seem to be nearing tipping points past which truly cataclysmic damage would be inevitable."

Read the Heights article: "McKibben Brings Currents of Change." Watch the Bill McKibben video on Front Row.

March 26: Kilowatt Ours Screening

Kilowatt Ours challenges the assertion that the US needs to build more power plants by presenting an alternative based on conservation and renewable power. This 65-minute documentary reveals the underreported side effects resulting from America’s voracious appetite for coal-generated electricity.

Kilowatt Ours follows filmmaker Jeff Barrie on his 18-month journey across the southeastern United States, where more than six tons of coal are burned to generate electricity for the average home annually. Barrie takes viewers from our light switches at home to the sources of our energy, examining social and environmental consequences such as global warming, mountaintop removal, air pollution, childhood asthma, and mercury contamination.

Leaving the devastation behind, the story makes an uplifting turn, uncovering hope-filled examples of conservation, efficiency, and renewable power at work today. Barrie makes the case that environmental problems could be minimized by utilizing alternative technologies that are available today. The solutions are surprisingly accessible and affordable to the average American. Kilowatt Ours presents viewers with an ambitious plan for shifting America’s energy paradigm towards conservation and renewable power.

April 2: Crude Impact Screening

Crude Impact is an award-winning documentary film that explores the interconnection between human domination of the planet, and the discovery and use of oil. It has been awarded Best Environmental Feature Film at the 3rd Annual Artivist Film Festival in Los Angeles, as well as the prestigious Social Justice Award at the 22nd Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The objective of Crude Impact is to promote positive, hopeful change in the way we source and use energy — changes that will create a more just and sustainable world.

April 6-12: Real Food Week

The New York Times and the Quality of Student Life Committee presented Matthew L. Wald, Reporter for the Washington Bureau of the New York Times.

Matthew L. Wald has been with the Times for 32 years and has covered environmental and energy issues for the newspaper for the past 12 years. Recently he written a series of articles on how the world is, and is not, moving toward a more energy-efficient future.

At this lecture, he spoke on renewable electricity and renewable vehicle fuel. In addition, he addressed how responsible investing can play a part in this effort as well as the barriers that continue to exist in the adoption of renewable energy.

October 28: "Activating Sustainability: Is Corporate Greening for Real and Can it Stop Global Warming?"

Boston College had the pleasure of hosting a dynamic panel conversation covering topics of global climate change, energy, and corporate responsibility in fostering sustainability. Three panelists discussed these issues, and audience members were involved in both small group sessions and discourse with the panelists themselves.

Panelists:

• Richard W. Pearl, Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility Officer, State Street Corporation
• Giampaolo Russo, Director for Public & Regulatory Affairs, Edison Spa
• Charles Derber, Professor of Sociology, Boston College
• Giovanni Moro, President, FONDACA

Sponsored by Leadership for Change, Boston College; FONDACA (Active Citizenship Foundation); and the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Boston.

November 12: Kilowatt Ours Screening

On Wednesday, November 12th at 7:00 p.m., Ecopledge hosted a movie screening of the documentary

Kilowatt Ours in Fulton 135. In its second showing at BC, Kilowatt Ours challenges the assertion that the U.S. needs to build more power plants by presenting an alternative based on conservation and renewable power. This 65-minute documentary reveals the underreported side effects resulting from America’s voracious appetite for coal-generated electricity. Kilowatt Ours follows filmmaker Jeff Barrie on his 18-month journey across the southeast United States, where more than six tons of coal are burned to generate electricity for the average home annually.

November 18: Discussion: "Exploring the Big Idea of Integrating Sustainability into the Undergraduate and Graduate Curriculum"

What would a BC graduate who has obtained a sustainability-enriched college education be like? What would a sustainability-themed course or curriculum look like? Do we have a particular obligation as a Jesuit University to educate students to consider not only other people but also the planet when making decisions?

On November 18, BC hosted a conversation about sustainability in its academic programs. Group discussion was emphasized, as attendees sought to flesh out the big idea of sustainability on the BC campus.

Sixty-four students, faculty, and staff members came to understand sustainability as a question rather than an answer — a question that can be asked across all academic disciplines. Sustainability is not necessarily a concrete subject, they decided, but a way of looking at the world, and this perspective could be infused into the life of the BC student both in and out of the classroom.

This event was sponsored by SustainBC; EcoPledge; UGBC; and the Biology, Geology & Geophysics, and Environmental Studies programs. See the official invitation and flyer for this event. Read the Heights editorial.