Green Week starts Monday
October 19, 2012
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Purdue's Green Week 2012 will take place from
Monday (Oct. 22) to Oct. 27. (Photo provided) |
Purdue's annual Green Week kicks off Monday (Oct. 22) with a lecture by David Orr, an acclaimed professor of environmental studies and politics from Oberlin College in Ohio.
In his lecture, titled "Designing Resilience in a Black Swan World," Orr will discuss his decades-long effort to power buildings using sustainable energy in Oberlin, Ohio, his college's hometown. He also will discuss how his work may be applied to other places, including Purdue. The lecture will take place at 3:30-5 p.m. in Stewart Center's Fowler Hall.
This year's Green Week offerings also will include:
* A lecture about the global challenges on food security from Purdue's Gebisa Ejeta, Distinguished Professor of Agronomy, director of Purdue's Center for Global Food Security and 2009 World Food Prize winner.
* Tours of the environmentally friendly components of the newly dedicated France A. Córdova Recreational Sports Center.
* A showing of the documentary "Last Call at the Oasis." A panel discussion will take place afterward.
* A campus conversation about climate change.
* A Wabash River cleanup.
"Purdue's Green Week is a celebration of our success in achieving increased sustainability on campus and in our community," says Michael Gulich, the University's director of sustainability. "During Green Week, we also hope to encourage and equip everyone to do more to promote sustainable practices. We hope everyone will make the change to help our campus and our community become greener places moving forward."
This year, Green Week is expanded to include Saturday (Oct. 27), when a Purdue-organized Wabash River cleanup will take place. From 9-11 a.m., the first 50 volunteers who register for the event will clean up trash and other debris along the river near the Riverside Skating Center in West Lafayette. Those interested can register at www.purdue.edu/sustainability/greenweek/index.htm.
The Alternative Transportation Expo will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday on Memorial Mall and Centennial Mall, which is located between Stanley Coulter Hall and Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry. The expo will include a vehicle show with Smart Cars, a hybrid Tesla sports car, an electric Fisker Karma sports car, a hybrid bus from CityBus, hybrid delivery trucks and an airplane that runs on biofuel developed by Swift Enterprises Ltd., a company in Purdue Research Park.
On Friday, there will be a Green Week celebration that will include a tree planting at 3:30 p.m. near Memorial Mall. Refreshments will be served on the mall from 4 to 6 p.m., and during that time, the winners of a student-focused Green Week photo scavenger hunt and an energy-saving competition in the residence halls will be announced.
For more information about Green Week 2012, go to www.purdue.edu/greenweek.
Writer: Amanda Hamon, 49-61325, ahamon@purdue.edu