Take Back the Tap sponsored a screening of the documentary, "Blue Gold: World Water Wars" on April 24, 2012. This was in celebration as part of UNLV's Earth Week.
Below are a few flyers UNLV SSC member Abhinav made:
The movie screening was held in the SEB Auditorium. Here is the trailer for the film.
Below are photos from the screening:
"Blue Gold: World Water Wars" Movie Screening
Take Back the Tap information and UNLV Petition provided to movie guests
SEB Auditorium
Food and Water Watch, Take Back the Tap intern Monica hosting the event
On Saturday, March 31, 2012, UNLV hosted it's own Earth Hour event. We met at the Student Union and watched the documentary, "Forks Over Knives." UNLV's Sustainable Coordinator, Tara Pike, hosted the event and there was a great turnout as people watched the movie and tried to win awesome raffle prizes provided by Rebel Recycling. Once the film was over, we made our way to the top of the Tropicana Parking Garage to eat a Vegan dinner and watch the lights on the Las Vegas strip go off for Earth Hour. Below are photos from the successful event:
Students checking in and receiving a goodie bag provided by Don't Trash Nevada. Inside was also a Sustainable Tips sheet
Tara Pike raffling off some cool prizes
View of the Las Vegas strip from the Tropicana Garage before Earth Hour
View of the Las Vegas strip from the Tropicana Garage during Earth Hour
Students enjoying a vegan dinner
Vegan dinner options
View of the Las Vegas Strip from the Tropicana Garage after Earth Hour
Earth
Hour is an international event where millions of people around the world show
their support for climate change action by turning off their lights for one
hour. Started in 2007 by WWF Australia,
people from over 135 countries pledge to participate in Earth Hour in a
community or individual setting. Las
Vegas has participated in Earth Hour since 2009 and the lights on the Las Vegas
Strip are shut off. From 8:30 to 9:30
pm, it is a message made and a sight to be seen that each of our actions add up
to one big change. For more information
about Earth Hour, visit: www.earthour.org
This
year, UNLV is hosting an Earth Hour event.
On March 31st, the documentary, “Forks Over Knives” will be
screened in the Student Union Theater at 6:00 pm. Below is the "Forks Over Knives" trailer.
Afterwards, everyone will assemble on the
roof of the Tropicana Parking Garage to watch the lights on The Strip turn
off. At this time, a Aramark catered
plant based buffet and discussion about the documentary and how Earth Hour
promotes individuals to conserve energy and reduce their carbon footprint. To
find out more information, visit: www.facebook.com/UNLVEarthHour
Students
and faculty must RSVP to attend this event.
You can RSVP by filling out the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/UNLVearthhour or by finding UNLV SSC and Rebel
Recycling tabling and signing up with them in the Student Union this week.
UNLV SSC
is spreading awareness of Earth Hour to UNLV students and faculty at tabling
events and getting people to pledge to participate in Earth Hour and to RSVP
for UNLV’s Earth Hour event. If you want
to take the pledge to participate in Earth Hour, visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B22HH7H
Below are
posters made by UNLV SSC member, Abhinav, promoting the Earth Hour Event:
Below are
photos of UNLV SSC members promoting Earth Hour UNLV:
UNLV SSC members Hilary, Sam, and Cailtin creating Earth Hour poster
UNLV SSC member, Sam and I
entered week 8 of participating in Meat Free Monday. Last week Sam stopped by Jason’s Deli for
lunch, and had an amazing sandwich so we decided to go there again this
week. We both ordered the Veggaletta
Muffaleta, a vegetarian sandwich with, grilled portobello mushrooms, organic
spinach, tomatoes, red and yellow bell peppers, red onions, provolone, and
olive mix. I must say, it was extremely
delicious and believe it or not, I would order it over a meat sandwich any
day. Meat Free Monday has made me try
things I would have NEVER tried before and I find myself really enjoying a lot
more foods. Check out Jason’s Deli vegetarian
options, you’d be surprised at how tasty vegetables really are!
Have you ever walked around campus and noticed a lot of black spots on the ground? Those aren't part of the concrete, those are smooshed and dried up gum spots. So why does gum stay around for a long time?
Gum is
made of a base of non-biodegradable materials including natural or synthetic
wax, latex, or rubber. I know that 99.9%
of gum-chewers do not swallow their gum and simply dispose of it on the street
or under a table or chair. This creates
a problem because gum is non-biodegradable and stays in that spot for a long
time. When you swallow gum, it passes
through your system without breaking down.
Knowing this, a red-alert going is probably going off in your mind that
gum is bad for the environment. Gum
thrown on the ground can also be eaten by animals and they can die. Around the world, cities spend millions of
dollars cleaning up gum and it is not easy to remove. Therefore, you should use a Gum Rap to put
your gum in and prevent it from being thrown on the ground or under a
desk. (From Be EGOlogical Blog Post: Say NO To Gum)
Here are a few photos of gum seen around the UNLV campus:
Stairs by CBC
Plants outside BEH
Under a table in the Lied Library
UNLV students, come on you can do better than this! This is your campus and you are trashing it with gum that is difficult and costly to remove. Next time you want to throw out your gum, think twice about how you dispose of it.
SSC
members, Sam and I previously did a project about the environmental and health
risks of chewing gum and Gum Raps provided Gum Rap packets for the class. The other day, classmate Bryson asked if we
had a Gum Rap on us so he could spit out his gum, and sure enough Sam did! To find out more information on what Gum Raps
are how to get a hold of their products, visit: http://www.gumraps.com/
Below are
the steps to using a Gum Rap:
Step 1: Take a Gum Rap Sheet.
Gum Rap packets are small so they can fit in your backpack or purse
Step 2: Side Note - There is a fun fact on the back of each Gum Rap Sheet,
so if you would like to learn something new...don't forget to read it!
Step 3: Place your gum on Gum Rap sheet
Step 4: Place Gum Rap in garbage.
Or you can hold onto them and send them in for gum recycling.
UNLV SSC Vice President Monica Garcia is also the intern for the Food and Water Watch campaign, Take Back the Tap. She attended a meeting with the President's Advisory Council to go over a few sustainability goals for UNLV. Monica wrote a write up their successful meeting and is featured below:
"The meeting was held on March 21st, 2012 at 1pm in FDH 780. Dr. Rainier Spencer, the chair of the PAC, and other distinguished individuals from the UNLV PAC were present, here's a link with the PAC individuals: http://unlv.edu/president/advisory-council
The individuals that accompanied me to the meeting were: Tara Pike, UNLV Sustainability director, Sheila Bray, UNLV Conference & Event Coordinator, Jeri Taylor, ARAMARK Sustainability Intern, and Eddie Montejo, SSC President.
The Take Back the Tap (TBTT) campaign was the first item on the agenda, but before I spoke, President Smatresk acknowledged TBTT and stated that in an effort to collaborate with TBTT, he has come up with an idea of sending a Brita filter to every Dean's office across campus along with a set of biodegradable cups. This would be done in an effort to change office culture, from having water pitchers and cups present at meetings (these items were actually at the meeting table yesterday haha). Smatresk stated that he would send these items in a form of a gift box and that he would like me to generate a paragraph explaining the reasoning behind President Smatresk's gesture, to endorse his efforts in helping with TBTT's cause. My paragraph would be included in every gift box to spread TBTT awareness across UNLV. This was definitely pleasant news because it demonstrates a conscious effort by Smatresk as an effort in straying various departments across UNLV away from the continued dependency on plastic bottle consumption. The obvious point is that a reduction in plastic bottle dependency will not disappear over night, it is a gradual transition and that is another point President Smatresk noted which I completely agree with. People are so accustomed and so comfortable with the idea of buying bottled water that to them, it is an engraved part of life. Which is why gradual awareness throughout the campus is crucial to create. Through the staff/faculty offices of UNLV, it is detrimental for them to realize the importance of becoming independent from plastic bottle use.
After President Smatresk shared his ideas, Dr. Spencer, the chair of the PAC, acknowledged me and asked me what other items or thoughts we had to share with the council. That's when I spoke about the proposal we generated with Tara Pike's efforts in uncovering funding for special event hydration stations at UNLV. I expressed to Smatresk that Pike has received funding for four special event hydration stations, Water Monters, thus far from the kind generosity from the Vice President of Business and Finance, Dr. Bomotti. Here is thewebsite on the Water Monter water stations: http://www.thewatermonster.com/ In the proposal we asked for 6 Water Monter water stations and 2 flexi fountain water stations: http://www.flexidrinkingfountain.com/ However, although President Smatresk embraced the ideas, he stated that he would like to see how popular these water stations become before investing in more, which is completely understandable. Therefore, our mission now is to see the demand of the Water Monster stations at Walk-a-thons in April at UNLV and specifically at the UNLV Festival of Communities on April 21st.
Along with these points, President Smatresk expressed a great amount of interest in getting composting bins specifically for the biodegradable cups, he voiced that directly to Pike to uncover the best way possible to have the in offices. Then, Smatresk noted that he'd really like myself to be present at Premier this fall semester, to get stage time and tell everyone at the event the TBTT initiative that I'm headlining, he stated "I want to brag about you". haha. That was great! Because it shows that Smatresk is indeed interested in supporting this campaign on a long term basis. Then I spoke about Festival of Communities to Sheila Bray, UNLV Conference & Event Coordinator, if I could be present at Festival of Communities with a TBTT booth and possibly get stage time. Bray stated that she thinks that will definitely be okay and stated that she will give me the individuals I need to contact to make that a possibility."
If you have any further questions about Monica's meeting with the PAC, please email her at monica.garcia.89@hotmail.com
The UNLV
Sierra Student Coalition is working with the Food and Water Watch’s national
campaign: Take Back the Tap. Monica
Garcia is the intern for UNLV’s campaign initiative to spread awareness and
encourage students to stop buying/using bottled water and drink tap water. Tap water is much better than bottled water
for a number of reasons, including: it’s A LOT cheaper, chemicals from the
plastic do not seep into the water, and is locally sourced. Did you know that bottled “water” is actually
just bottled tap water? Watch the video:
The Story of Bottled Water to find out why bottled water is not good for the
environment and your health.
The Rebel
Recycling Program is also encouraging UNLV faculty and students to stop using
plastic bottles and switch to using a reusable water bottle. Brita Hydration Stations have been installed
around campus, which provides free filtered and COLD water. There are 13 installed/will be installed soon
Hydration Stations around the UNLV campus.
Visit http://facilities.unlv.edu/recycling/HydrationStations.html
to view the list as well as a map of where the Hydration Stations are.
If you don't know what a Hydration Station is, you should check out this video. You'll be searching for one tomorrow!
Through
Monica’s efforts, she has managed to get a petition going that educates students and faculty about tap versus bottled water and to support the reduction
of bottled water sales on the UNLV campus.
Over 500 people have signed this year, and we hope to reach more
students and faculty. To find out more information
and to sign the petition (electronically), please visit:
