Sustainability Week Recap
UVU and its partners break ground at the Elektron Solar Project in Tooele County.
The UVU Botany Club President strikes a pose at the Sustainability Fair.
Careers in Sustainability Panel panelists and moderator.
A UVU student and Grounds employee record the DBH of tree on campus for the Tree Service Learning Project.
UVU celebrated it's second Sustainability Week October 18 - 22. Sustainability week offered a wide range of in person and online activities.
The week kicked off with Wolverines following along live as ground was broken for the Elektron Solar Project, the solar farm that will bring UVU to over 90% renewable electricity and help us achieve our sustainability goals. Read more about the groundbreaking and the Elektron Solar Project on the UVU News site.
We were excited to bring back the Sustainability Fair this year and were pleased to have so many groups from around campus represented including two new student sustainability clubs; Green Wolverines for the Environment and Students for the Prevention of Climate Change at UVU.
Another returning event was the Tree Service Learning Project. Project participants collected data on the diameter at breast height (DBH) on trees on campus. This measurement helps UVU assess the value of our trees and how much carbon they absorb in a year.
New to Sustainability Week this year was the Careers in Sustainability Panel. This panel brought sustainability professionals from around Utah together to share there journey into a sustainability career and their lessons learned with students.
On the same day of the Careers in Sustainability panel was the UVU Center for the Study of Ethics' 26th annual Environmental Ethics Symposium. This year the Symposium focused on women working in environmental activism, research, and policy and discussions on how gender intersects with concerns for the natural environment. You can view the recorded sessions on the Symposium web page.
Submissions Now Open for David R. Keller Sustainability Prize
David R. Keller was Director of the Center for the Study of Ethics from 1999 until his untimely passing in 2013. He received a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Georgia under the guidance of Frederick Ferre. David's work focused on environmental ethics and he advocated for philosophers, scientists, and policymakers to work together for environmental stewardship.
In memory of our colleague, the center supports the David R. Keller Sustainability Prize given to organizations in our region in support of exceptional innovation and leadership on sustainability issues.
These may include governmental, non-profit, and for-profit organizations
The application deadline is December 15, 2021. Submit your application and find more information at the David R. Keller Sustainability Prize page on the UVU Center for the Study of Ethics website.
The 2020 Prize was awarded to Bike Utah.
6 Tips for a More Sustainable Thanksgiving
- Use the Guestimator & coordinate with guests. Save The Food's Guestimator tool generates a shopping list to minimize your food waste based on how many guests you will have. You can also avoid food waste by coordinating with guests to make sure dishes aren't repeated and they know how many people they are cooking for.
- Plan for leftovers. Have a plan for your leftovers; whether it's meal planning for the days after based on what you will have left over or asking guests to bring containers to take home leftovers.
- Choose to reuse. Set your table with reusable dishes, glasses, and utensils. Cloth napkins & tablecloths, rather than paper & plastic, are a great way to reduce waste and class up your table. When decorating chose décor items that can be used year after year or can be repurposed throughout the year instead of disposable decorations.
- Buy local and/or organic when possible. Locally produced food reduces the environmental impacts from transporting your food and helps support local farmers and businesses. Buying organic helps avoid the environmental & human impacts of pesticide overuse. Refer to EWG's "Dirty Dozen" & "Clean Fifteen" to help prioritize what produce you buy organic.
- Eat less, or no, meat. A great way to reduce the impact of your Thanksgiving is to reduce the amount of meat at your table, or eliminating it entirely. Keep it simple with a premade meat-free roast or get creative with plant based mains. UVU Wellness is hosting a Plant Based Holiday Cooking class on Wednesday Nov, 3 at 5:30 pm in the SLWC Demo Kitchen (email [email protected] to register).
- Ditch Black Friday and spend time outside. Join the growing movement that decides to "opt outside" rather than joining the masses of shoppers on Black Friday. Spend time outside with your loved ones savoring the last moments of fall giving thanks for the gifts of nature.
Job Opportunities
- Environmental, Health and Sustainability Intern. Chromalox. Ogden, UT.
- Environmental and Grants Intern (Part-Time). UTA. Salt Lake City, UT.
- 2022 Digital Communications Internship. HEAL Utah. Salt Lake City, UT.
- 2022 Legislative Internship (Spring). HEAL Utah. Salt Lake City, UT.
- Intern - Environmental Social Governance. Invitae. Remote.