SOS Meeting – Tuesday, September 2, 2008 Attendance: Carly Queen, Liam Rattray, Catherine Karra, Tara Bryant, Kevin Olson, Camille Pendley, Drew Pak, Keefer Dunn, Sheri Baucom, Katie Kim, Michael Digman, Benjamin Vannah, Andrew Wong, Carlos Rios, Gretchen Goldman, Amanda Marshall, Nell Fry, Travis Horsley, Andrew Curry, Heather Crespo, Keaton Belli, Molly Mclaughlin, Kevin Wiley, Andrew Chang, Andrew Jarrett, Sam Tettner, Stephen Christensen Introductions
o Why are you here? Researching the applications of sustainability, learning more about what’s going on at Tech, to be involved with the events going on both on campus and off campus o What do you hope to gain? How a group of people can help the environment, leadership through sustainability at Tech, team building, knowledge about environmental and social justice
GreenPeach Feedback
o Networking with people who can definitely help not only SOS, but students in general for research/employment, etc. o The food: local farmers donated produce for meals o Anti-oppression film and discussion, promoted bonding in the group to unite social and environmental justice, can possibly mimic in SOS to better tie together our group with other organizations on campus o Eco-village housing on Red’s farm (camping option for housing during the conference); cut transportation and being outdoors was great o Horticulture experience on the farm o Experts talking about specialized sustainable topics – urban farming, SODEXHO (great conversations with leaders from SODEXHO about food options and how to further it) o Education about topics including mountain-top removal: scrape off mountain tops for industry leading to runoff and destroying ecosystems and housing for neighboring people o Canvassing in Cobb County to spread awareness about a new coal-fired plant in South Georgia o Meeting new people at the conference (students, job seekers) o Solar powered late night concerts around a bonfire o Unlike most other conferences in that everyone was on a equal level: no lecturing, no looking down on each other Brainstorming: · What projects can we take on to reduce our dependence on energy from fossil fuels?o Continuing SODEXHO talkso Solar hot water installationso Educational initiatives about sustainable food in dorms, shuttles to local farmso Mandatory recycling or at least regulating recycling (maybe go through RHA and freshmen experience dorms)o Urban agriculture on campuso Easier accessibility for recyclingo Extended Earth Hour (party)o Housing face to face electricity and recyclingo Bike racks, Zipbike, bicycle forum, safety education, abandoned bikes from housingo Free store (like a salvation army)o Lecture series (non-traditional professors/academics, more down-to-earth and diverse speakers:permaculture, herbalists)o Gorilla educationo Fundraising, green event – January, SC programs councilo Education about how recycling is done (in depth)o Sustainable Move-Out (organized dumpster diving)o K-12 outreach with students, PTA, faculty, staff (climate change, joint with EAS department), community garden with education, tree plantingo Interdisciplinary topic-based group discussionso Tying sustainability into senior research designs (solar hot water heater on Junior’s Grill)o Biodiesel (current program with GT Dining has holes in it), sustainable transportation at Techo T-Bone Pickens (world’s biggest wind power farm)o Community Service: Trees Atlanta, carpoolingo Green Feeso Light pollution education and outreacho Shut down: new coal plants, new nuclear (NRE)o Green jobs for low income communities and ourselveso Collective liberation (patriarchy, chauvinism)o Environmental justice· How can we fund these projects?o Green Feeso Benefit concertso Fundraisingo SGA Breakout Sessions! (in brief)o Educational Outreach about Climate Change – (Liam Rattray, Carlos Rios, Kevin Wiley, Keefer Dunn, Andrew Wong, Tara Bryant ) K-12, community groups, parents, alumni, collaboration with StORM/EAS department – outreach with Fernbank Science Museum, goals: visit 5 high schools and 2 community groups with climate change lecture/activities, have a follow up event to measure the ratio of attendees; form a collaboration committee to liaison with other organizations at their meetings, social justice through showing the Color of Fear documentary about racism and white supremacy, having direct action follow-upo Recycling – lack of education and lack of accessibility, have a Recycle Day on Skiles to educate passersby on how and where to recycle, target freshmen with handouts at FASET and work with RHA and PLs for more dorm recycling, having more places to recycle in general, having a 1:1 ratio of garbage bins to recycling bins, have a centralized location (student center) to recycle special items: batteries, ink cartridges, cell phones, etc.o Food – expand the community garden, farm tour, vegetarian society expanding, SODEXHO meetings, ORGO (composting)o Energy – No New Coal campaign (students from other campuses (GA State) collaboration, greenpeach network), push solar panels on buildings on campus, $15-$20 green fee added onto tuition to go toward green initiatives on campus, having an optional donation mechanism added to GT Dining/bookstore/etc.o Transportation – bikes: bike racks, theft awareness and connectivity around campus, column in Georgia tech newspaper with stats (stolen bikes, accidents), having a website or forum for open communication Things to think about for our next meeting: