SEAA News

4/21/09 SEAA Meeting Minutes

Dan Goettel came to present to the SEAA last Tuesday about an interesting Permaculture internship opportunity called Deepening Roots. The program is located in Quebec and will run from June 1st-June 29th as well as a second session from Aug. 1st-Aug. 29th. Because fo the low turnout for this meeting, we want to invite Dan to come back and make a formal presentation about this program to a larger group. If members are interested in hearing this presentation, email me, Lily at lcbrown@student.umass.edu so I can set a date. Thanks!

PS. Dan is also interested in conducting a 6-hour workshop based off the tenets of this internship program to give interested parties a chance to get a taste. This workshop will be conducted on May 9th, but only if there is enough interest. Please email me concerning your level of interest in this opportunity as well.

Here is the outline from Dan's Presentation

for more info on the program visit www.deepeningroots.org

This is the third year of Deepening Roots

Program made up of 4 elements:

agriculture
        backyard gardening
            time learning about permaculture and its principals
                self maintaining edible forest gardens
        small scale farming
    nutrition diet
            cleansing
            raw food dishes
    meditation
            reducing stress
            generating spirituality
    Leadership
            Merges first three elements, gain confidence and learn skills to communicate importance    of first three elements to their communities

The goal of this program is to experience and spread tools for body health, environmental health, and mental/spiritual health to our communities

Larger topical workshop
    One day workshop, train individuals to teach their communities
        Cooking
        Meditation
        Simple steps of creating backyard garden
        Communicating importance of the first three elements
            Giving them an experience
            Tools to prepare raw food and their own gardens
                Understand why they are good options
            Enabling people to grow their own
            Social issues like
                Topsoil loss
                Industrial agriculture
Various educators from various fields to teach within focus areas
    Andrew Jones
        Permaculture
        Mind/body wellness

This workshop would be May 9th, for approx. 6 hours and would cost $25 to cover expenses. However, if there is enough interest, this price can be lowered.

Much Love,

Lily and Bekah

SEAA KICKOFF

April 16, 2009

Sorry it took us so long to upload the minutes from the kickoff meeting! Without further ado...

SEAA Minutes. 4/7/09. KICK OFF!

Who are we?
-    “We” and you are one and the same. Some of us know a lot, some know nothing; we are not all environmental science majors! What brings us together, to the meetings, is a general interest, sense of urgency, and positive attitude!
-    We will attempt to be the bonding agent, the glue, the hummus, of environmental action on campus, a place where YOU can come with ideas and receive support.

Why are we here? (Go around)
-    The environmental scene on campus is totally disjointed > needs cohesion.
-    To see what’s going on, how we can get involved in future
-    Need to identify ourselves > there is a definitely a lot of leadership on campus; we know that students can create change, but without a central power, without organization, it can be significantly more difficult! We need to unify!

We encourage leadership and participation from anyone and everyone!
(We know that this meeting we are talking at you, but in the future, let’s all talk together, okay?)
-    Secretary is popcorn job > moves from week to week. (But if no one volunteers, I’ll be the back-up.)
-    Steering panel is fluid > Currently, it is comprised of Bekah, Lily, Katie, Vicky, Shalini.
        DO YOU WANT TO GET INVOLVED WITH PLANNING?
        Just ask. We’ll say yes.

BIG QUESTION:
    How do we want to convey ourselves to public?
We need to create a tabling package for Focus the Nation (April 18th) and Earth Day. Any ideas of what literature we can put on the table, how we should set it all up? Email lcbrown@student.umass.edu or rshaughn@student.umass.edu with suggestions! We would love to hear from you!

PRESENTATIONS:

MASSPIRG
    Goal = to pass legislation on federal level (and other little events)
    Great News: EcoCoalition is back together!
        There was a planning meeting Friday 4:00
        Climate justice forum (Thurs, April 23 6:00-8:00)
Green jobs fair with career services (Nov 4th). Who is interested?? They would love HELP! Email Lily or I, and we’ll put you in contact with the right people! (Or email Rebecca, rfowler@student.umass.edu, to cut out the middleman)
MASSPIRG really wants to work with us! Cool.

Co-op Power
“Co-op Power is a regional network of local communities creating a multi-class, multi-racial movement for a sustainable and just energy future. We are a consumer-owned energy cooperative serving New England and New York.”
- www.cooppower.coop/ CHECK IT OUT!
Sustainable Energy Summit (WENDY)
Friday May 1st: all day green job training (all levels) > community leaders, permaculture (living roots), shrinking carbon footprint (business development), consumer energy coaching! AFL CIO talking at night, local band (Latino-American) playing at blue wall, Jobs with justice… Sounds great!
Saturday May 2nd: All day workshops (30-40!). Chuck Collins (grandfather founded Oscar Meyer, he inherited lots of cash and gave it all away), Gus Newport (worked with Dudley Sq initiative to build up community… food project, start farm in Boston, expanded to 3!)

PROBLEM: Because Friday is geared for people already in the green job field, it’s pretty expensive ($114). Saturday is less, but still pretty steep for a student (all day + lunch = $42).
SOLVED: If you volunteer for 4 hours (handing out literature, emailing people to tell them about SES, helping to move equipment on Friday), Saturday is free!!

Vicky will put conference on UMass calendar
Katie getting Wendy to speak at Focus the Nation.

We’ll be putting up links to Wendy’s literature and forms and other stuff on the website, in the near future.
Email Wendy: wendy@cooppower.coop

FOCUS THE NATION
Goal: To engage and educate communities – want to know what students/youth are doing!
When? April 18th, 1:00-3:00
Where? Library lawn
What? Big rally! There will be speakers, information tables, a congressman and fun!
(Sponsored by mass power shift)
Want to be on the planning committee? Want to speak? TALK TO KATIE (katiemac68@gmail.com)
Let’s get out there and make some noise! Wooooo!

So now that you’ve heard what we have to say…
What do we want this “group” to be?

-    Gabe says: Maybe raising awareness should be secondary > we need to learn and understand before we can tell people about it. Like sustainable agriculture > we should know this stuff for the future!! (snaps)
-    Everyone likes idea of getting speakers to come. And if we’re really moved, we’ll have a discussion after!
-    Speakers one week, Activity pertaining to speaker the next? This seems like a great format!
Ideas for Activities:
-    Field trip to Wendy’s sustainable village! (Any day except Monday)
(HELP put up wind power generator!)
(LEARN to organic farm on glacial bedrock!)
-    Make your own personal compost bucket (with worms)
-    Email other ideas!

Next meeting is Tuesday, 4/21, at 6:30 in the Mary Lyon classroom.
Hope to see you all there!

Love from your humble secretary, week of 4/6,
Bekah

SEAA KICKOFF

April 16, 2009

Sorry it took us so long to upload the minutes from the kickoff meeting! Without further ado...

SEAA KICKOFF

April 16, 2009

Sorry it took us so long to upload the minutes from the kickoff meeting! Without further ado...

Juniper Festival, The World & the Word

April 9, 2008: The 8th annual Juniper Festival, The World & the Word (April 25 & 26), will explore the confluence of environmental science and literary art. Poets, essayists, fiction writers, activists, publishers, and scientists will gather to investigate the many ways environmental science and literary art need and nourish one another. Narrative and data, field work and poetic form: how do these transmute and translate one another? What does literary art have to say about the health of the planet? The honey bees? About the great migrations, the resplendent woods? The sustainability of our habits? What effect might literature, and literary artists, have on the world our children inherit? View the flyer in Word Document Word or PDF.

SEAA General Meeting

April 6, 2008: The SEAA General Meeting begin at 7PM on Tuesday April 8th in Stockbridge Hall Room 114. View the meeting outline in Word Document Word or PDF.

SEAA Steering Committee

April 6, 2008: The SEAA Steering Committee will meet at 6PM on Tuesday April 8th in Stockbridge Hall Room 114. View the meeting agenda in Word Document Word or PDF.

SEAA Tabling

April 4, 2008: The SEAA is tabling in the Campus Center everyday this week (Monday 4/7 - Friday 4/11). We are still looking for people to fill in some time slots. Please take a look at the schedule in Excel or PDF and get in touch with Josh Stoffel if you are interested.

SEAA Group Meeting

February 6, 2008: If you were not able to attend Tuesday's SEAA Group Meeting, you may view meeting notes in Word Document Word or PDF.

Wind Energy Forum

November 16, 2007: On Thursday November 29th, the SEAA will be co-sponsoring an event with NetImpact(a graduate business sustainability organization) on the Cape Wind Project. It will take place from 7-9 in the Mahar Auditorium and will consist of a 40-minute presentation from Clean Power Now (a Cape Cod-based nonprofit organiation that supports renewable energy projects and policies) and will be followed by a question/answer panel discussion with UMass professors and local experts. Don't miss this awesome opportunity to hear more about the Cape Cod Wind Project and offshore renewable energy. Contact Rob House for more information, or if you'd like to get involved with promoting the event.

SEAA Group Meeting

November 13, 2007: SEAA reconvened today in the Campus Center. At the meeting, the subcommittees reported back on their progress. The outline of the meeting is available in Word Document Word or PDF.

SEAA Group Meeting

September 12, 2007: SEAA held its first meeting today in the Campus Center. At the meeting the group discussed the four major initiatives for this year. Read all the meeting notes in Word Document Word or PDF.

SEAA Group Meeting

September 7, 2007: The first SEAA meeting will be this Wednesday 9/12 in the Campus Center room 917 at 7:00pm. We will be discussing our major focuses for this semester.

We have many large and exciting initiatives that we will be working on this semester and we will need all the help we can get from anyone who is interested in working with us.

This first meeting is mostly for new members to come and see what the SEAA is all about and for returning members to reunite and prepare for our most jam packed semester yet.

SEAA Light Bulb Drive

August 28, 2007: The details of the light bulb drive have been finalized with Mike Lucey, the Facilities Engineer that has been helping us get this organized. We will be meeting at 8 am on Monday, Sept. 3rd at the Bluewall in the Campus Center. Please bring any posterboards or markers you have so that we can make posterboards to hang up in the dorms. We will be leaving from the Bluewall to our respective dorms, which will be assigned on Monday morning. We will continue to give out bulbs until we run out.

SEAA Group Meeting

May 3, 2007: SEAA held its final meeting for the 06-07 school year. At the meeting the group discussed this year's successes, made plans for next year and elected officers. The group will be lead by presidents Mike Gula, Rob House, Andrew Richmond, and Josh Stoffel. The secretarial position will be held by Dima Tokar and the Publicity Officer position will be co-held by Amy Calandrella and Marianne Conboy.
Read the rest of the meeting notes in Word Document Word or PDF.

SEAA Group Meeting

April 25, 2007: The last SEAA meeting of the semester will be on Thursday, May 3rd
at 7pm in the Campus Center Room 162.
Important things planned for the meeting: officer elections, final updates from committees, plans for next semester.

SEAA Group Meeting

April 19, 2007: SEAA met today and discussed changes in group structure, committees and scheduled an election for officers to be held at the next meeting. Read the meeting notes in Word Document Word or PDF.

SEAA Light Bulb Committee Releases a Cost/Benefit Analysis

April 14, 2007: SEAA's Light Bulb Committee releases a cost/benefit analysis for providing incoming freshman compact fluorescent light bulbs. The report was prepared by SEAA members: Rob House and Andrew Richmond. Read it in Word Document Word or PDF.

SEAA Group Meeting

April 13, 2007: Students for Environmental Awareness and Action will reconvene on Thursday April 19th at 7pm in Stockbridge 318.

Sustainable Film Series

All films start at 7pm at Gordon Hall, UMass

April 4th: Who Killed the Electric Car?

With a panel discussion about alternative transportation after the film.

April 11th: The Great Warming

Introduced by Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas

April 24th: Out of Balance: ExxonMobil's Impact on Climate Change

Introduced by Tina Clark of Clean Water Action

April 25th: The Next Industrial Revolution

Introduced by Jerry Epstein, co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute.

April 26th: Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

Introduced by John Gerber, Professor of Plant Soil and Insect Sciences

date last modified: 2009/04/27