Ready, Set, GO!!

Hello all of you blog readers!
            
           My name is Ariana Aquilani and I am a Sophomore at UNI studying Accounting with an Economics minor.  I am one of the many students traveling to the United Kingdom to explore their sustainable ways of life.  Now you may ask, "Why would someone pick this Sustainability Capstone in the United Kingdom over all of the trips offered through the University of Northern Iowa?"  Visiting four countries in a two week period, seeing attractions most people would only dream of, and experiencing a whole new culture; I think the better question is why would someone not want to go on this trip?!  I had already decided I wanted to go on a two or three week program and I was set on traveling to either Europe or the United Kingdom.  Personally, I had not even heard of this program before I found out a close friend of mine was signed up for this trip.  At the time, I was enrolled in another capstone; but when I realized this trip was planning to visit many more places, I switched and have been hooked ever since!  Check back starting May 20 to read everything we are experiencing over in the UK!

Farmers' Market at the University of Birmingham

            Hopefully by traveling through the many places we plan to visit, each of us will grasp an idea for a project that we can bring back to implement on the University of Northern Iowa campus.  This is what happened as a result of last year’s trip.  A Presidential Scholar that traveled with the group last year brought back the idea to start a vegetable garden on our campus.  I am proud to say that I have been a part of the group of scholars who took charge of this project in order to make it a reality this year.  The Panther Plot is an on-campus student-run vegetable garden behind the Biology Research Complex.  Not only will it provide local, healthy produce to members of the university and the community through a fall farmers’ market, but it will also offer volunteers an opportunity to learn lifelong skills concerning food systems, and foster relationships, connections, and diverse learning experiences for everyone involved.  It joins together people from the Center for Energy and Environmental Education, the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, the FoodCorps Program, the Cornerstone faculty, the Reaching for Higher Ground committee, Dining Services, and many more for a common cause of sustainability.  We hope this will become a maintainable project for many years to come by facilitating a closed circle of fresh produce to decrease our “footprint” on this earth.  Hopefully we will be inspired to impact the university just as last year’s group did!  We have a lot to live up to but I know we are willing to accept the challenge!

                               

Tower Bridge

            In addition, there are other parts of the trip for which I am very excited!  I have always seen the Tower Bridge, Stonehenge, and Conwy Castle in movies or pictures; but now I will finally be experiencing them in person!  We will not have to worry about exercise with all the walking we will be doing in the cities, not to mention canyoning and hiking up and down Mt. Snowdon in Wales.  Also, we will all have the chance to converse with people of four separate cultures.  Even though most of them will speak English (or some form of English), we will be able to experience their difference in lifestyle.  By looking at their way of life, we may even realize new things about our own American culture.    

                          

               

On the verge of canyoning

Hiking Mt. Snowdon

              Now that we all have our passports, our packing list from Jill, and our built up enthusiasm, we are all ready for takeoff.  Make sure to pack your camera and walking shoes because after we land in Heathrow Airport in London, struggle carrying our luggage up the stairs, and drop it off at St. Simeon Hotel, we are off to explore the UK!  Hope you are all as excited as I am!  LET OUR ADVENTURE BEGIN!!!  Remember to keep checking back to get first-hand stories each day from every member of our group!  You will feel like you are there exploring with us so you won't want to miss a day!

-Ariana Aquilani

            

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Leaving On a Jet Plane

Hello everyone,

In just under a week a group of sixteen bright young chaps will begin their journey to the United Kingdom!  This is the first blog of many that will be written in the next three weeks.  We are leaving on a jet plane this upcoming Sunday, May 19th, so keep your eyes open for new posts daily (or when we have internet access).  

My name is Jill, and I am going with on the trip as a program assistant.  For the past two years, I have had the honor of helping Eric to set up and organize this trip.  Last year was our first adventure, created from scratch.  It turned out to be a complete success!  Lots of things have happened on our campus with credit due to the trip taken last year, thanks to the amazing minds of our students.  We are ecstatic to take off on our trip this year, as we have added more activities and countries to our line up.    

I don't want to ruin the whole trip, since the students will tell you about it themselves, but I will fill you in with an overview of all the awesome things we are going to be doing.

First we will fly into London, and do a bit of exploring.  There, at first, we will experience culture shock when traveling via the tube and extreme jet lag.  Students will see all of the main sights such as Big Ben, Westminster, the Tower Bridge, etc.  

After London, we will do a day tour of Stonehenge, the Roman Baths, and Windsor Castle.  We will be heading to Swansea, where we will spend time at Swansea University learning about their current sustainability efforts.

From Swansea we will travel to Northern Wales.  On the way we will stay in a quaint little town called Bala, where we will get some Welsh outdoor action canyoning and hiking Mt. Snowdon, the highest peak in the UK.  In Llandudno we will explore an ancient castle and ride the longest cable cars in Europe.  

The next stop is Ireland.  We will take a ferry to Ireland and explore all of Dublin, then up to Belfast in Northern Ireland, all in a few short days.  We will then voyage back across the Irish Sea to Scotland, where our trip will end a couple days later in Glasgow.  

  

The whole point of this class is so that students can travel the world and be able to see the environment, technology, and society with new eyes.  Traveling abroad allows us to be open minded and see situations from different perspectives.  Our trip is focused particularly on sustainability.  We want students to figure out for themselves what sustainability means to them and why it is important.  The United Kingdom is a great place to go to do this, as they a leader in sustainable development and research.    

Expectations of students coming on the trip include exploration and discovery of new things related to sustainability.  We anticipate students will bring these ideas back to where we live and choose to make it a better place.  We want students to become intrinsically motivated to do this, and the experiences they have in the UK we hope will help this to happen.  

Having this blog is one way students can reach out, by sharing their ideas with you.  We tried out the blog last year, and it was very successful.  Instead of having only a few students compile one, this year Eric decided to implement blogging into the course and have each student write their on blog, on the day of their choice.  This way we are able to see the perspectives of each student, how they feel about the places we visit, and their attitudes on sustainability.  Students will be able to voice their opinions via writing, a video, or any other creative way they please.  

A new blog will be coming your way later this week prior to our departure.  Thank you for reading and please follow along!  We will put updates on Facebook each time a new blog is posted.  Have a great day!

-Jill Thompson

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Iowa Goes Blue

Wednesday, November 28th, around 450 people sat in the Cedar Falls High School gym to understand how they can take part in the new Blue Zones Project makeover.

What is a Blue Zones Project?  It's a community effort to increase the amount of healthier choices for its citizens--whether it be having fresh produce in the grocery store more readily available or designing better bike lanes for easier and more direct access to work.  The idea is to create that ripple effect and have the idea of a safer, healthier community spread around the world.

Spencer's Fareway becomes Iowa's first Blue Zone grocery store.

Read full article here: http://www.fareway.com/NewsArticle

Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Spencer, and Mason City were selected as demonstration site communities for Iowa. The event held Wednesday officially kicked off the initiative for Cedar Falls to help make Iowa the healthiest state in the country by 2016.  To do so, the goal is to create easier, healthier choices for citizens through changes to environment, social and policy networks.

Not only are there physical changes to the town, but there are lots of activities and classes you can take to become a healthier you.  From a walking club, to cooking classes, there are plenty of opportunities for you to learn the ropes of a becoming a fit and thriving community.  Check here for more information.

Help make everyone in your community healthier and happier by pledging today! Visit http://www.bluezonesproject.com/ to sign up and begin prolonging your beautiful life!

Here are some extra links for more information on the Blue Zones Project:

http://wcfcourier.com/bluezones

http://www.bluezonesproject.com/

*State logo courtesy of http://www.ihconline.org

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Reduce, Revamp, Rewear

Guilty.

We all have those clothes buried in the back of our closets just sitting there, dying for us to rediscover them and give them life again.  Unfortunately, that rarely happens.  That sweatshirt you bought in 7th grade is probably going to be living untouched until you move or your mom makes you clean out your closet.  This year, you'll have the opportunity to make good of those old clothes!

Bring them to University of Northern Iowa's Biannual Clothing Exchange!

Wednesday, November 28th and Thursday, November 29th

9 AM - 3 PM in the Maucker Union Ballroom

For every item you donate, you receive an item in return!

Bring you clothes, shoes, and accessories to the Student Involvement Center in Maucker Union, or bring them the day of the event!

Leftover items are donated to charity.


Check out the offical Facebook page for more information.



via http://www.clarkforkcitychurch.org/uncategorized/desmet-school/

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AASHE Conference

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Gandhi

Attending the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Conference further fueled my desire for making a difference. It is incredibly inspiring to be surrounded by around two thousand students, faculty, and staff from around the country and the world who are all working for a more sustainable planet. As the Director of Environmental Affairs for Northern Iowa Student Government, I used this experience to network and learn from others who are working on similar projects.

At AASHE, the students spent the entire first day together. I talked with students from California, Texas, Massachussetts, and many other states. It was incredible how similar we are; we were able to exchange project ideas, contact information, and challenges. We attended sessions to hear about other students’ efforts, so that we can learn from others’ challenges and successes. For my Presidential Scholar Think Tank experience, my group is researching, planning, and implementing a project related to local foods. Therefore, I especially used these student sessions to find out how other schools had started and maintained these projects. Composting, sustainability funds, community gardens, and much more were just some of the session topics that I attended. There were also beneficial sessions on overcoming silos among student organizations and departments. Overall, I learned that involving as many students on campus in sustainability initiatives leads to high success rates. With that, look for some exciting student projects making a presence on campus in the future!

Hunter Lovins, the AASHE keynote speaker, delivered a powerful message that truly resonated with me. Hunter addressed that while voting with your ballot and voting with your dollars are important, it is voting with your hours that has the true ability to influence people’s lives. In the end, how you spend your time in life is what is going to really matter. If you devote yourself to a cause with your time, then you are investing in personal experiences. In an hour a week, there is true potential to change others’ lives. After hearing this message, I have been analyzing where I spend my time to make sure that that aligns with what I believe is most important in life. Where are you spending your time?

AASHE was a memorable networking and learning experience that I am grateful to have had!

-Kara

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No Shave November

Being more sustainable doesn't mean you're giving up on fun.  Today is November 1st--more commonly known as No Shave November.  A month where men can, well, be the manliest of men.  It's a fun time of the year where men can just be lazy and let it all grow out. There's another aspect behind No Shave November I'll bet you probably have never thought of before--water conservation!
Think about it. On average, you use about five gallons of water every time you shave. Times that by seven days, and you've ended up using about thirty-five gallons of water a week.

So as you men start your month long competition on who has the longest, beardiest beard of all, think about the aspect of water conservation.  Hold your friends accountable--don't let them shave!

Make sure you compare your water bills from October and November.  See if there's a difference!

Document yourselves and post them to our Facebook.  Show the world the [not so] hard work you've been doing for the last 30 days!

ALSO

For the month of November, UNI's Student Nature Society is hosting No Shave November to promote water conservation and well, who doesn't want to grow a beard for a cause?

Here's how it works: We will be setting up a booth outside the greenhouse on campus the week of Oct. 29th-Nov. 2nd, stop by with $1 to register to receive a mustache bracelet AND get your clean-shaven "before" photo taken! *All photos will be saved, "after" photos will be taken at the end of the month, and we will vote on the hairiest philanthropist! (More details to follow)

SEXIEST/MOST IMPRESSIVE/AWESOMEST HAIR GROWTH WILL BE WELL REWARDED!!!!!

Check out the full details of the event here

Best of luck!

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Peanut Butter Love

Have you ever seen a peanut butter machine? UNI's dining center, Piazza, recently acquired one! Here's a quick video showing you how it's done!

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