FDU Goes Green

It will be a green April at FDU as the New Jersey campuses focus on environmental sustainability efforts. The Metropolitan Campus celebrates Earth Day on Tuesday, April 20, while the College at Florham marks Green Day on Monday, April 26. RecycleMania 2010, a friendly competition among colleges and universities, is also ongoing at the College at Florham in an effort to increase student awareness of campus recycling and waste minimization.

Earth Day

The Metropolitan Campus community commemorates its second Earth Day celebration from noon to 4 p.m. on April 20. As part of efforts to help keep the environment clean, the Hackensack Riverkeeper will be bringing boats to help volunteers in the annual river cleanup, which starts at noon. Other activities include a student poster competition, the releasing of butterflies and a display of electric cars and other commercial cars that use alternative energy.

Student Green Team members
Diana Ribeiro, left, and Gerardo
Nunez, visited offices in Dickinson
Hall, Metropolitan Campus, to sell
tulips they grew in Metro Greenery,
the campus greenhouse, to raise funds
for Earth Day.

Representatives from various local and official environmental groups, as well as those from green businesses, will be manning information booths. Members of the campus community may also purchase pesticide-free flowers, herbs and vegetable seedlings grown in the campus’s greenhouse by students and members of the Green Campus Committee.

The afternoon affair is co-sponsored by the Student Green Team and the Green Campus Committee, which is jointly led by Alice Benzecry, biological sciences, and Cynthia Radnitz, psychology (both Metro).

For more information about Earth Day go to http://view.fdu.edu/default.aspx?id=6587 or e-mail benzecry@fdu.edu or radnitz@fdu.edu.

Green Day

For the fourth straight year, the College at Florham celebrates Green Day on April 26 with the theme “One Day on Campus, Everyday for the Environment.” A variety of activities highlighting the University’s ventures into environmental sustainability are planned for this year’s affair — from the opening of a Perennial Edible Garden (PEG) and a permaculture tour of the campus to a green fair, student presentations and an afternoon of “GreenSpeak,” workshops on various topics.

The opening of a PEG and permaculture tour (“permanent culture,” a concept that embraces many interlinked aspects of sustainable living) will be offered by Jan Graff, an edible forest gardener at BigOldTrees in New York City.

Workshops will be held from 12:45 to 4:45 p.m. in Lenfell Hall, Hennessy Hall. Among the topics are “Sustainability and the New Political Economy of Economic Growth,” with Maurie Cohen, chemistry/
environmental science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.; “Globalization and the Sustainability Transition: Who Are We Kidding?” with Michael Weinstein, director, Institute for Sustainability Studies, College of Science and Mathematics, Montclair State University; and “Global Warming and Human Happiness,” with Eric Hausker, co-chair, Sierra Club Loantaka Group, Trenton, N.J. Other presenters include Bill Sheehan, Hackensack riverkeeper; Daniel Calcagnetti, psychology (Flor); and Kenneth Greene, campus provost and political science (Flor).

The University community will also be treated to performances by the Melodies of Heaven Gospel Choir in the Great Hall at 4:45 p.m., and by the FDU Choir in the Orangerie of the College at Florham Library at 5 p.m. These will be followed by a reception and student awards ceremony, also in the Orangerie.

College at Florham student Jonathan Jerome designed the winning Green Day logo, pictured above, which will be displayed on Green Day T-shirts, tote bags and other Green Day merchandise.

Christopher Caldiero, communication studies, and Peter Burkholder, medieval/ancient history (both Flor), are co-chairs of this year’s Green Day. For information about Green Day and its activities go to http://view.fdu.edu/default.aspx?id=4910 .

RecycleMania 2010

RecycleMania 2010, which sees colleges and universities compete against each other in different contests — the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest total amount of recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita and the highest recycling rate — is in full swing at the College at Florham.

Kristin Creel, advisement counselor, academic advising/student support services (Flor), and Jen Sandler, student, won the first Recycling Quiz. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to participate in the second quiz, which is under way. Quiz forms may be found at the information desk in the Student Center or in Hennessy Hall (table to the left of the Provost’s Office). Entries may be dropped in the box labeled “Recycling Quiz.” Winners — one student and one staff or faculty member — receive either a $75 gift certificate for the campus bookstore or a $75 deposit to their Fairleigh 1Card accounts.

For more information about RecycleMania 2010, which runs until March 27, go to http://www.recyclemania.org .