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NMSU's College of Education raises sustainability awareness with 'Greenfest 2009'

New Mexico State University's College of Education Sustainability Committee held "Greenfest 2009" on Friday, Oct. 30, bringing awareness to faculty and students on ways to be sustainable on and off campus.

Those at the event sampled green ice cream, were given sustainability information and were able to provide feedback on how to further "green" the College of Education.

The event included an informational panel and later breakout discussions that offered attendants tips, insights and a chance to dialogue on how to live and learn more sustainably. Mark Uchanski, from the university's Plant and Environmental Sciences department, presented "Infusing Sustainability Themes in the Curriculum" at the first panel. Uchanski shared many of the ways he has infused his courses with sustainability curriculum. The second panel, "Energy Consumption & Technology," presented by speaker Hadi Sharifi from Computer Science, discussed the use of energy while computing and ways to reduce that energy usage. The final panelists, Michael Fitzpatrick from Special Education and Lynn Hurd from Curriculum and Instruction, both College of Education Sustainability Committee members, offered individual efforts for students and faculty to take to be more sustainable on and off campus with the "Thinking Globally, Acting Locally" panel.

Finally, YouTube videos featuring sustainability efforts and projects from other campuses were shown to give students, staff and faculty an idea of the green efforts being used.

"Greenfest 2009" was also an opportunity for students and faculty to not only to become more educated on sustainability, but to take an active part as well. The day marked the launch of the College of Education's Green Pledge campaign featured on their Web site. Students, staff and faculty can make a pledge to consider the environmental, educational, social and economic impact of their daily actions to reduce their ecological footprint. The college's Green LISTSERV, which functions as an electronic forum where members can dialog, share and create a community within NMSU's College of Education around issues of sustainability, renewability, and green working, living and learning, was also highlighted.

In all more than 40 attendees had the opportunity to provide suggestions to the college on how to move forward with their effort to become more sustainable. The Sustainability Committee received a large amount of feedback, which will be uploaded to their Web site and sent through the LISTSERV once it is sorted.

For more information on the College of Education's sustainability efforts or to sign up for the Green Pledge, visit http://education.nmsu.edu/faculty/sustainability-committee. To sign up for the LISTSERV, visit https://mailman.nmsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/greencoed/.

Written by Donyelle Kesler.