Posts tagged ‘USF’
Spring 2010 Elections Results – GIFT Referendum Status: Approved!!!
Congratulations USF on passing (GIFT) the Green Initiative Fund for Tomorrow. Now let’s make the change.
The Green Initiative Fund for Tomorrow (GIFT) provides funding for projects that reduce USF’s negative impact on the environment. GIFT will allocate funds to projects that increase the amount of renewable energy used on campus, increase energy efficiency, and reduce the amount of waste created by USF. Portions of the fund will support education initiatives, student aid, and internships. GIFT is supported by student fees and administered through a student-majority governance board.
GIFT is a dual-purpose fund:
1. Provide resources for immediate response and action
2. Create a growing capital base over the long-term to ensure maximum net benefits
GIFT will receive re-occurring funding through student fees and will grow over time. Through a revolving mechanism drawing cost-savings from projects, GIFT will replenish the fund while providing cost-savings to USF. GIFT will make it easy and efficient for students and other USF community members to design projects. This will provide an unrivaled hands-on opportunity for individually structured environmental education while raising the awareness of the entire community. Furthermore, it will demonstrate that a synthesis between student fees and self-funding sustainability projects are optimal to ensure impact and fiscal stability
Roughly $18,000 will be generated annually from this fee increase to support these initiatives. The increase in student fees will not take affect until Fall 2011, pending approval by the Board of Trustees.
Important aspects of sustainability include minimization of the negative effects of producing and consuming energy, preservation of environmental and economic resources, equity to insure social justice, and reverence for the future.
USF Green Initiative Fund for Tomorrow: Enabling USF students to make an Impact
The Green Initiative Fund for Tomorrow (GIFT) provides funding for projects that reduce USF’s negative impact on the environment. GIFT will allocate funds to projects that increase the amount of renewable energy used on campus, increase energy efficiency, and reduce the amount of waste created by USF. Portions of the fund will support education initiatives, student aid, and internships. GIFT is supported by student fees and administered through a student-majority governance board.
GIFT is a dual-purpose fund:
1. Provide resources for immediate response and action
2. Create a growing capital base over the long-term to ensure maximum net benefits
GIFT will receive re-occurring funding through student fees and will grow over time. Through a revolving mechanism drawing cost-savings from projects, GIFT will replenish the fund while providing cost-savings to USF. GIFT will make it easy and efficient for students and other USF community members to design projects. This will provide an unrivaled hands-on opportunity for individually structured environmental education while raising the awareness of the entire community. Furthermore, it will demonstrate that a synthesis between student fees and self-funding sustainability projects are optimal to ensure impact and fiscal stability
Roughly $18,000 will be generated annually from this fee increase to support these initiatives. The increase in student fees will not take affect until Fall 2011, pending approval by the Board of Trustees.
Important aspects of sustainability include minimization of the negative effects of producing and consuming energy, preservation of environmental and economic resources, equity to insure social justice, and reverence for the future.
Vote for GIFT
Step 1. Click https://eballot.votenet.com/usfca/login.cfm
Step 2. Login
Step 3. Click on ASUSF Senate General Elections- Spring 2010
Step 4. Vote YES on GIFT
Go to www.votegift.org to learn more
USF Climate Change Policy Survey
The students of Introduction to Environmental Policy are working on a study of climate change policies at the University. They are hoping to gain a better understanding of the students awareness, background, and action.
Click to TAKE SURVEY
Please take a few minutes of out of your day to fill out our survey.
Also please invite your friends as they are planning to propose a series of actions and will be in a better position to do so with additional responses.
Recyclemania: Push towards the end!
As the end of the Recyclemaina competition nears, USF is currently ranked 54th out of 260 competing Universities in the overall Grand Champion category.. With a cumulative recycling rate of 35.79%, we hope to have a bigger push these final two weeks. In the Organic foods services category we are currently ranked 4th overall. Great job Dons and remember. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
For all 2010 results see http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/Results.aspx
USF Net Impact makes green improvments to Malloy Hall
Yesterday, the “Campus Greening Initiative” spearheaded by the USF Net Impact graduate program came to fruition. The goal of the initiative, launched back in the fall semester, was to install new water fountain applications which would enable students to fill reusable water-bottles, cutting down on the some 3,000 bottles thrown away on the USF campus everyday. Approved by Dean Mike Duffy in the fall, Malloy Hall has officially become the pilot site for this environmentally friendly project. Co-chaired by MBA students Arash Bayatmakou and Sabeen Ahmad, Net Impact is planning to hand out USF custom reusable water-bottles to incoming students in the fall to encourage the success of the program and promote and expand organization’s ideas.
The movement is one of several initiatives that USF Net Impact, an organization dedicated to the merging of social and environmental responsibility with business, is tackling. The group is also currently working on implementing a composting program and a recycling education/awareness campaign in Malloy as well.
Net Impact
Mission
Net Impact’s mission is to improve the world by growing and strengthening a network of new leaders who are using the power of business to make a positive net social, environmental, and economic impact. With more than 125 student and professional chapters on 4 continents in 75 cities and 80 graduate schools, a central office in San Francisco, and partnerships with leading for and nonprofit organizations, Net Impact enables members to use business for social good in their graduate education, careers, and communities.
USF Chapter Mission:
Net Impact at USF is organized for and by USF graduate students to inspire social and environmental stewardship amongst the University’s future business leaders. This is accomplished by:
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Exposing students to corporate, social, and environmental responsibility issues.
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Introducing concepts of sustainability that are applicable in all sectors of industry.
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Creating a network of businesses, organizations, and professionals for students to broaden their business education, refine their leadership skills, and pursue their professional goals.
Click here for more on USF Net Impact
Click here for more on USF Net Impact Undergrad
RECYCLEMANIA updated results
Current Results—RecycleMania 2010
Below are the top five schools in each competition.
To view the full standings of each RecycleMania competition, please click on the competition name
Keep it up USF!
RecycleMania is underway at USF, with the university hoping to top its 4th place finish in the Food Service and Organics recycling category and 60th place finish overall nationally in 2009. RecycleMania runs through March 27.
Let’s keep USF’s new zero-emission electric Zap recycling truck and Facilities Management’s Mirrain Polanco busy loading and unloading recycle carts for transport to USF’s recycling compactor for the competition.
Photo by Joe Murphy
USF Bookstore wont buy your books back? Donate Them!
Use the new bin we built from cardboard and paper
Don’t burn your books for warmth!
or some sort of weird pleasure.
GIVE.
USF Net Impact Undergrad Launch Event: What is Social Entrepreneurship? An idea forum for conscious students
Come out tomorrow night to learn about the growing field of social entrepreneurship, 6-8pm, Fromm Chapel.
- USF Net Impact Launch Event
Join the University of San Francisco’s Net Impact Undergraduate Chapter as they present a panel of young entrepreneurs at the forefront of socially responsible and sustainable business. As our generation moves into the workforce and familiarizes itself with the complexities of the business world a new frontier has emerged that looks to combine the energy and enthusiasm for a fulfilling life with the necessity of making a living. A plethora of new businesses and non-profits led by dynamic, passionate, and inspired young people with a vision for a better world have developed over the last couple of years and we hope to spark discussion around the opportunities that are possible in today’s environment.
Come to learn and explore. Be inspired to grow and succeed.
Panel:
Hans Chung, Co-Founder of Mokugift (http://mokugift.com)
Our mission is to foster environmental solidarity by making it easy and rewarding for anyone to fight climate change and by providing the tools to inspire others to do the same. Mokugift makes it possible for concerned citizens, even those lacking access to planting space, to plant real trees for $1 apiece, either for themselves or as gifts to others. Gifting a mokugift tree is similar to sending an e-card, and recipients can display their trees online at Facebook, MySpace, MyYahoo, iGoogle and other popular Web sites. Award-winning nonprofit organizations specializing in agroforestry project—which restore depleted lands and boost the agricultural productivity and incomes of indigenous peoples in some of the poorest parts of the world—plant the actual trees purchased via mokugift.
Mike Del Ponte, Founder and CEO of Sparkseed (http://sparkseed.org)
At a time when the economy, the environment, and global institutions are undergoing a massive shift, young social innovators are leading the way with creative approaches and dynamic business models. Sparkseed is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing guidance, funding, and tools to this new generation of leaders.
Over the past two years, Sparkseed has launched 31 ventures throughout the country. These ventures are changing lives and protecting the environment. The students who lead these ventures are becoming effective social entrepreneurs.
Talis Apud-Martinez, Co-Founder and Director of Operations for Feel Good World (http://feelgoodworld.org)
FeelGood’s (FG) mission is to “unleash OUR potential for creating lasting social change.” We are an innovative social enterprise that empowers college students to become global citizens, socially responsible leaders and entrepreneurs while taking an active role in the sustainable end of poverty. Specifically, students create and run non-profit delis where they “give away” grilled cheese sandwiches for a voluntary donation. In addition to gaining critical business skills and inspiring their peers, they invest 100% of their profits in organizations sustainably ending poverty. We ensure their success as global citizens, entrepreneurs and changemakers through business consulting, investment capital and a formalized education curriculum
- USF NEt Impact Undergraduate Chapter
University of San Francisco: Building Green Buildings
The University of San Francisco plans to build a 60,000-square-foot science center on its main campus, the latest upgrade of the school’s aging facilities.
The $60 million Center for Science and Innovation would be built at the south end of the 42-year-old Harney Science Building, near the school’s War Memorial Gymnasium off Golden Gate Avenue.
Construction of the building, designed by the architectural firm NBBJ, is slated to begin in May 2010.
The Center is designed to be USF’s first LEED certified building (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), targeting a Gold level rating for exemplary sustainable design. The new facility will:
- Generate 40,000 kWh of energy per year with solar arrays
- Use renewable and recycled building materials
- Maximize use of natural air and light
- Store rainwater for use in landscape irrigation
- Feature a green roof, covering an advanced computational studio, to naturally cool the building while reducing run-off
The Center for Science and Innovation is the next step in USF’s ongoing march to sustainability. In the first months of 2009 alone, the USF campus has:
- Increased solar power generation six-fold
- Moved to capture 75% of recyclable material from campus waste
- Placed 3rd in a national campus recycling contest sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency
- Launched “trust the tap” to eliminate plastic water bottles from campus.
Specific challenges are:
* A lack of informal study space for students,
* A lack of appealing and usable outdoor gathering spaces. and
* Dated, aging architecture.
The Center for Science and Innovation will address these challenges directly. Far from “just another building,” the project will completely reimagine the current Harney Plaza, providing a two-tiered commons with an inviting atrium sunken into the renovated and “greened” upper plaza. While still accommodating a host of student events for the university, the new flexible design promises a “living room” for campus. Meanwhile, approximately 15,000 square feet will be created for informal student study and gathering spaces. These spaces will vary from contemplative hideaways for individual study, to high-traffic areas more suitable for group work and events. Most importantly, the Center will make a bold, future-focused architectural statement in the core of USF’s lower campus. This will elevate the university’s external reputation and make a more sophisticated impression on prospective students and other visitors.
Check out the CSI blog and website to stay up-to-date on their new endeavor.
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