Earth Day will be celebrated on April 22. Sustainability Management is collaborating with the Student Association Sustainability and Community Engagement Committees; the Department of Earth and Environment Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences; the New York Coalition for Sustainability in Higher Education (NYCSHE); the SUNY Student Assembly; and Bard College to bring an assortment of events to the campus community.

Environmental Justice in ���ϲ����� Virtual Panel
Tuesday, April 6, 6 p.m. ET

The Student Association Sustainability Committee and Community Engagement Committee will host a discussion with local leaders about environmental injustices that occur in and around ���ϲ�����. The panel includes:

• Deka Dancil, president of the Urban Jobs Task Force;
• Neil Patterson, assistant director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment;
• Catherine Landis, associated faculty at the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment; and
• Thomas Perreault, professor and chair of the Department of Geography and the Environment in the Maxwell School.

Students, faculty and staff interested in the event may .

Solve Climate By 2030 Panel Discussion
Wednesday, April 7, 6 p.m. ET
Sponsored by Bard College, NYCSHE and the SUNY Student Assembly

Students, faculty and staff are invited to join a regional panel discussion about how an ambitious Green Recovery based in state and local action can put us on the way to solving climate change by 2030. A panel of thought leaders will provide their perspective on what a Green Recovery in New York would entail, the one most impactful action that can be taken and how students can advocate for change. or for more information contact gogreen@albany.edu.

Waste-Free Menstrual Cycle Education and Menstrual Cup Giveaway
April 8, 15 and 22

The Student Association Sustainability Committee will table in the Schine Student Center to sign up participants for their menstrual cup giveaway. The Committee will be giving away 20 menstrual cup goodie bags, which include a menstrual cup, compact sanitizer, washing solution and bag. The tabling event will also provide information about having a waste-free menstrual cycle.

Lunch and Learn: A Look Behind the Scenes of Campus Recycling
Wednesday, April 14, 12:30 p.m. ET

If you are interested in what happens to your recyclables on and off campus, join Sustainability Management for a virtual Lunch and Learn to learn what really can be recycled, why it can be recycled and how it gets recycled. This session will reinforce Sustainability Management’s goals for increasing recyclables on campus and reducing contamination before it is sent to the recycling center. These figures also determine the ranking of the University in the Campus Race to Zero Waste—an annual recycling and waste reduction competition where colleges and universities compete from across North America. Sign up for the Lunch and Learn on the .

‘Cooking for the Planet’ Plant-Based Cooking Class
Tuesday, April 20, 6 p.m. ET

Join Meg Lowe, sustainability coordinator, and Claudia Cavanaugh, sustainability student intern, for an interactive, virtual cooking class. Learn about how a plant-based diet will help save our planet while making a delicious coconut curry. The class is free, open to the campus community and limited to the first 20 people who . Registrants will receive an email with the link to join and can pick up their ingredients at the Carriage House, 161 Farm Acre Road, on the day of the event.

‘David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet’ Screening and Panel Discussion
Thursday, April 22, 4 p.m. ET

On Earth Day join Sustainability Management and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences for a free screening of the documentary “David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet” on Zoom. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion at 5:30 p.m.; participants can join the entire event or watch the movie on their own time and tune in only for the panel discussion.��

“A Life on Our Planet” serves as Attenborough’s “witness statement” through which he shares concerns for the current state of the planet and hopes for the future. Many are familiar with Attenborough as a faceless narrator, but in this film, you will go on a journey with him as he traces his 60 plus years as a naturalist, showing you the planet’s past and present biodiversity and the degradation humans have caused over the years.

Join the post-film panel discussion with ���ϲ����� Earth and Environmental Sciences professors, including:

• Professor Suzanne Baldwin, a geologist who investigates the rock record to reveal how the Earth has evolved over geologic time;
• Professor Melissa Chipman, a paleoecologist who uses lake sediments to study interactions between past climate, wildfires and permafrost thaw in the Arctic; and
• Professor Sam Tuttle, a hydroclimatologist who studies the movement and storage of water throughout the Earth system.

Pollinator Kit Giveaway
Wednesday, April 28, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

As a , Sustainability Management and the Bee Campus USA working group will be in the Schine Student Center on April 28 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to hand out Pollinator Kits! Stop at the table to pick up a free kit and learn why planting pollinators is important. The Pollinator Kits include everything needed to plant herbs that help pollinators and can be transplanted to your garden or repotted to fit in your space. No registration is necessary.

For more information about sustainability at ���ϲ�����, visit the and follow @SustainableSU on , ��and .

2019: Bee Orange CALS project, Lisa Olson-Gugerty

The ���ϲ����� Campus as a Laboratory for Sustainability (CALS) program is offering up to $75,000 for faculty or student projects that advance the University’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, directly or indirectly, or through raising awareness on campus about climate disruption and environmental sustainability. Funds will become available May 16, 2021. ���ϲ����� faculty and students from any discipline can apply.

In April of 2020 the following six projects were awarded funding:

• Reducing Disposable Aerosol Media usage in the Nancy Cantor Warehouse project: Bekir Kelceoglu and Zeke Leonard, $12,000
• Designing a Sustainable Bio Fiber Textile for Campus Housing at ���ϲ�����: Professor Don Carr
• Creating a Showcase to Demonstrate the Energy-Saving and Carbon Reduction Potential of the Building System by Occupancy-Centric Building Control: Associate Professor Bing Dong
• Energy and Environmental Analysis for a South Campus Dormitory: Assistant Professor Nina Sharifi, $20,500
• Does ���ϲ����� Housing care about the environment: Assistant Professor Seyeon Lee, $12,000
• ���ϲ����� Architecture Goes Green: College of Visual and Performing Arts student Valeria Gallucci, $1,300

The next round of funding is available for projects undertaken between May 16, 2021, and June 30, 2021. All proposals must clearly address how the project relates to climate disruption and all must include outreach or educational activities that promote awareness of sustainability-related issues on the ���ϲ����� campus. Projects may include (but are not limited to) faculty or student research, applied research, campus infrastructure or landscape projects, outreach campaigns, service projects or course development.

Carr, professor of design, coordinator of the School of Design’s M.F.A. in design program, coordinator of the industrial and interaction design program and ���ϲ�����CoE Faculty Fellow, submitted his grant for Designing a Sustainable Bio Fiber Textile for Campus Housing at ���ϲ�����. In the grant Carr said, “Thanks to our team being selected for this CALS grant, we’re excited to move forward with research that explores taking a Bio Design approach to the creation of fibers and textiles. The notion that we can apply this research to the various textile needs here on our campus is an area of discovery that can be transferred to numerous products and market opportunities.”

The ���ϲ����� Climate Action Plan, which was released in 2009, is providing the competitive funding as part of the CALS program, overseen by a team of faculty and staff from across the University. The program merges academic scholarships with the University’s broad initiative to meet energy efficiency goals, while having our faculty and students use our campus as a testbed for innovative ideas.

“Over the years these grants have been instrumental in helping the University with research that can and will help us reach our carbon neutrality goals,” says Sustainability Coordinator Melissa Cadwell. “This grant is unique in that both students and professors can apply—giving students who may be applying for their first grant, an opportunity to have guided experience on campus. Additionally, being able to work with the students and professors has created a stronger working relationship with Sustainability Management and the campus community.”

Find the call for proposals and application materials on the . The deadline for submission of proposals is midnight on March 16, 2021.