Odds and Ends

Step it Up 2007 planning continued today with community members. Its going to be a cool event on April 14th in front of the Congo Church. We have Bill Moomaw, Convening Lead Author, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2001, music performances, student speakers and a few other things lined up for sure. We're also inviting various representatives, mayors and other people who would be important enough to mention when we know who they are. This planning is being done with the religious community, Mt. Greylock, Williams students and others. The highlight will probably be a 30' tall graph of carbon levels in the atmosphere which will extend up the church steeple.

Williams president Morty Schapiro will be at Thursday Night Group this week. He agreed to come and talk about what it means for Williams to commit to carbon reduction and talk with all of us about our goals and plans. This should be a great avenue to get new members excited about TNG and really broaden our efforts.

A meeting with security this morning might yield a partial parking/student driving solution. We talked about creating a 'long-term' type lot intended for students who only use their cars a few times a semester. The rate might be lower in this lot and thus encourage students to park there to save some money. They would then be a lot less likely to use their car to get around campus. Of course this isn't fool-proof since plenty of students won't mind paying more to have a better chance of getting a good spot next to their dorm. Who knows.

We thought of some new ideas yesterday at a tele-conference during Berkely climate activists. Tell first years they can't have fridges! We tell them they can't have candles or toasters, so why not these energy hogs? Create a 'green' co-op as a demonstration. Send a 'real-life' energy bill to all seniors, showing them what they will be paying for power once they graduate. And already on the agenda but now more than ever will be discussions with the tour-guides and campus life to align the institutions goals with these basic contacts incoming students have with the school.

Stay tuned for updates from our evening with Morty!