Delta Delta Delta has decided to share their go green experience and enthusiasm with other members of the UW Greek community by creating the week-long “Greeks Go Green” event. Although the event is still in the planning stage, the idea is to create different events that will be held each day of the week, with a specific focus on improving the environment.

“Greeks Go Green” will kick-off on a Monday with a community block party, which will raise awareness of the event and issues that the week will focus on such as recycling, sustainable practices and conservation.

“One of the reasons I joined a sorority was to meet new people in my house and throughout the entire Greek community,” freshmen Caitlin Duffy said. “I think this week will give me a chance to meet new people while doing things to improve our environment.”

On Tuesday, an all Greek-clean will be hosted by Theta Alpha. The purpose of this event will be to clean up all the garbage littered throughout the streets of the Greek community.

To spice things up a bit, Theta Alpha will host a Mexican Fiesta Mixer at the house on Wednesday night. At the event, people from throughout the Greek community will be able to come to the house, eat some delicious Mexican food and check-out all of the new green improvements the Theta Alpha has implemented.

“I am excited to show off the steps Tridelta is taking towards being a more environmentally-friendly house,” President Ashley Sherwood said. “I know that our girls are proud of the changes they have made, and I hope that other people will see their positive reactions to the changes and want to do the same at their chapter.”

On Thursday evening, Tridelts will host a special meeting for the presidents’ of the Greek community to come together and discuss ways to implement green practices in their houses.

“Different houses face different environmental issues, so hopefully by coming together we will be able to help different organizations find solutions to their specific environmental needs,” Sherwood stated.

“Greeks Go Green” week will finish on Friday with one final Greek community clean, followed by an ice cream social to celebrate the achievements of the week.

Since several houses throughout the Greek community, including Tridelts, have already taken some measures to decrease their houses environmental impact, this week will also serve as a forum to share experiences about going green.

]]> http://abernathyk.wordpress.com/2008/11/21/tridelts-share-green-message-with-greek-community/feed/ 0 abernathyk Delta Delta Delta http://abernathyk.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/going-green-means-getting-dirty/ http://abernathyk.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/going-green-means-getting-dirty/#comments Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:13:45 +0000 abernathyk http://abernathyk.wordpress.com/?p=44 ]]> This Saturday, Delta Delta Delta members will put on a pair of sweatpants and roll up their sleeves to complete a day of volunteering with the “Clean and Green Seattle” organization.
According to the City of Seattle Web site, “Clean and Green Seattle” bring people together to make Seattle a brighter and cleaner place to live. The goal of the project is connect people with their city’s departments, non-profit organizations and private enterprises to make Seattle a more enjoyable place for everyone.

“I think it is important for our members to get out there and work with other community organizations to make a difference,” Theta Alpha President Ashley Sherwood said.

As of October 2008, there have been 88 major events, the City of Seattle site explained. Clean and green teams have:
• Collected more than 459,380 pounds of litter and debris.
• Recycled more than 18,500 pounds of recyclable materials.
• Used more than 112 tons of asphalt to repair potholes and streets.
• Painted out more than 6,240 graffiti sites.
• Planted 12,350 plants and flowers.

“Clean and Green Seattle projects are a great way for a community to come together,” Seattle Mayor Greg Nickles said to the City of Seattle. “We are a city of vibrant neighborhoods, and Clean and Green helps people, city departments and community organizations to solve problems.”

TriDelta members may not be ecstatic about donating their Saturday to cleaning up Seattle, but the benefits of volunteering outweigh a few hours of vedging on the couch.

“I hope that the girls who participate will feel a sense of accomplishment when they have completed the project,” Theta Alpha Vice President of Public Relations Mallory Bender said. “Working with others in our community also provides an opportunity for our members to net work and it is also great PR for our chapter.”

To view a video of Mayor Nickels working with the Clean and Green Project click here.

The Greener Greeks project was created to educate students about energy and water efficiency and creates ways to further seek environmentally friendly change, a UW Daily article by Edwin Ortiz explained.

The project was created by Chris Bruno, a member of the conservation project development team and former UW SEED director, and by Angie Gaffney, a member of the Chi Omega sorority.

“I heard about the Greener Greeks project from my friend in the Delta Zeta sorority,” Daaga said. “Delta Zeta is also in the process of making their house more green, and they said this program helped them take steps they might not have thought possible.”

Thanks to donations from Seattle Public Utilities and Seattle City Light, the Greener Greeks project spent Wednesday replacing any remaining incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs and changed all the shower heads in the house with more water efficient fixtures.

“So far the only complaints I have heard about the new shower heads is that the water pressure is different and takes some getting used to,” Daaga said. “What really matters though is that we can still take showers and we are reducing our negative impacts on the environment with little change to our daily routines.”

One of the Greener Greek volunteers, Katerina Tsybouleva from Delta Zeta, said she had been planning an idea similar to this program before she joined Bruno in his efforts.

“I organized an environmental sustainability task force for the Greek community and through the process got Chris Bruno’s contact information,” Tsboueleva explained in Ortiz’s article.

Theta Alpha was not eligible for one service provided by the Greener Greeks project – new toilets. The toilets will only go to selected house that use 1.6 gallons of water per flush.

Tuesday I came home and crawled into my bed to read my texts. I turned on my bedside light, expecting a nice, soft glow, but was shocked when a bright, white light blinded me! After I recovered from my blindness, I remembered that Tridelta was making moves in our attempt to go green. While I was in class that day, Tridelta’s handyman changed out all of the light bulbs in the house for more energy and cost-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs.

According to How Stuff Works, a normal light bulb only lasts about 750 to 1,000 hours in normal use and it also radiates a significant amount of infrared heat. Since the purpose of a light bulb is to generate light, the heat is wasted energy.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs save electricity and save the environment too. Since fluorescent bulbs produce about 75 percent less heat, they are safer to operate and they can cut energy costs associate with home cooling, a CBS News report stated.

While the new light bulbs were accepted because of their environmental benefits, many of the girls complained because they are too harsh and bright compared to traditional incandescent bulbs. Personally, I think most of the girls were unhappy with the new lights because they shed light on all of their little flaws that other lights might have hidden.

“It’s embarrassing but I didn’t realize how many freckles I had developed due to tanning till a fluorescent light was installed over my mirror,” freshman Caitlin Duffy said. “Maybe installing the new lights will have positive affects on the environment and future skin cancer rates.”

Compact fluorescent light bulbs are also more cost efficient than traditional bulbs. For instance, it is estimated that you can save about $30 or more in electricity costs over each bulbs life time.

According to CBS News report, the average U.S. household has 45 light bulbs; replacing that number of 75-watt incandescent bulbs with fluorescent light bulbs would save $180 per year. Since the sorority house is estimated to be at least 15 times the size of an average household, Theta Alpha can look to save about $2,700 per year.

“Saving money on our energy bill will allow us to spend money on other parts of the house that need more work going green,” Theta Alpha’s house mom Sandy “Mizzay” Anderson said. “Our house is over 100-years-old and it costs money to make an old house energy efficient.”

The women of Theta Alpha will have to get used to seeing their face in a brighter, more energy and cost-efficient light because we set a goal of going green, and we are motivated to meet our goal.

My sorority sisters may not be the most environmentally aware group of girls, but they are highly educated in fashion and clothes. For instance, I think it is fair to estimate that the total value of clothes within our sorority totals well-over several thousand dollars.

Theta Alpha has decided to utilize our clothing knowledge and expansive wardrobes to make the next step in our green movement. We have chosen to round up our old jeans and denim products and participate in the 2008 UW Public Relations Student Society of America’s (PRSSA) “Cotton: From Blue to Green” Denim Drive.

Mallory Bender, Theta Alpha’s Vice President of Public Relations, suggested the fund-raiser as a possible event at our officer council meeting Sunday night, which we immediately agreed to do, and forwarded the rest the information to the rest of the house via Facebook.

PRSSA’s Denim Drive is more than just a traditional clothing drive. For example, all the denim products collected will be recycled into environmentally friendly insulation to outfit help rebuild homes destroyed by natural disasters.

According to the PRSSA Web site, the goal of the Denim Drive is to accumulate 1,000 pairs of denim jeans and denim jackets that will help Habitat for Humanity build housing with Ultra Touch, natural cotton fiber insulation, for families displaced by Hurricane Gustav and Katrina.

“Many girls would like to volunteer and work with organizations such as Habit for Humanity, but they either cannot afford it or they can’t find the time to get away from school,” Bender said. “By donating our old and used denim, Theta Alpha members will be able to feel they contributed to the cause in a small, but significant way.”

As a result of the 2006 “Cotton: From Blue to Green” denim drive, and with help from Habitat for Humanity Baton Rouge, 12 new homes for families affected by Hurricane Katrina were built in the spring of 2007 utilizing Ultra Touch.

PRSSA will be collecting donated denim till Oct. 31, at various locations on campus. All denim materials are accepted, even those with color and decoration. Further information and drop-off locations can be viewed at the PRSSA Web site.

Check out cottons newest commercials here!

This past Monday Theta Alpha installed recycling bins throughout the house. The goal was to throw away all of our paper, cans and plastics into the correct receptacle, rather than throwing everything in one big, messy trash can. Unfortunately, I seemed to over estimate the level of environmental awareness throughout the house.

There are currently 99 young women living in Theta Alpha; however, I believe there are a minimum of 15 people who correctly understand the term “recycling.” It’s hard to say if this lack of knowledge is related to a lack of environmental education, or simply the inability to walk three more steps to the recycling bin.

Theta Alpha’s Chef Ella Johnson has witnessed people blindly throwing paper and soda cans into the trash can.

“It’s as if some girls are programmed zombies,” Johnson said. “Half the time I don’t think they even see the recycling bin right next to the garbage can. I don’t think they’d even hear or see me if I pointed it out to them.”

Theta Alpha’s inability to correctly recycle materials made me feel very troubled and I decided that something needed to change immediately. From my point-of-view, I think we are only harming the environment further by improperly using recycling and trash receptacles, which is the exact negative affects we were trying to combat in the first place.

Therefore, tonight I will be giving a “Recycling 101” presentation at our regular Monday night chapter meeting. My presentation will include a description and visual representation of items that are considered recyclable and non-recyclable. I will then point out the various locations of the new recycle bins throughout the house, so no one can say: “I didn’t know we had new recycling bins?” I will finish my presentation with a brief quiz that I will give verbally to the chapter members.

Theta Alpha members are intelligent women, so as long as they tune their brains into my presentation for at least a few minutes I have faith that our recycling skills will greatly improve.

When I entered college and I moved into the Theta Alpha chapter of Delta Delta Delta, I noticed that there was not one single recycling bin in the entire house. While this fact initially surprised me, I didn’t dwell on it; however, the idea of zero recycling bins did not sit well with some of my other eco-friendly sisters who began a strategic campaign to implement more green practices in our house.

“We already have garbage cans. I don’t see why we need recycling cans too,” stated Sandy “Mizzay” Anderson, the house mother of Theta Alpha who is responsible for the physical structure and functions of the sorority. “You girls can’t even throw regular trash in the garbage can, how will you decide what to put in the recycling bin?”

Although Theta Alpha’s waste disposal habits could use some improvement, an effort needed to be made because everyone has a responsibility to protect the environment. Plus, all members could use a refresher course on recycling basics.

“Without recycling, given current virgin raw material supplies, we could not print the daily newspaper, build a car, or ship a product in a cardboard box,” said editor of Resource Recycling magazine, Jerry Powell in “How to Recycle Practically Anything” by Sally Deneen. “Recycling is not some feel-good activity; it is one of the backbones of global economic development.”

After two years of campaigning for recycling bins, Theta Alpha has formally committed itself to the green movement. This past Monday, recycling bins were installed in the kitchen, study lounge and chapter room.

Now the real challenge will be teaching 99 girls to actually consciously use the receptacles. Can the members of Theta Alpha really go green or is this a mission impossible?