Sustainable Native New England Garden Planting at Massasoit Community College

Please join Professor Melanie Trecek-King and her Issues in Environmental Science students as they plant a Sustainable Native New England Garden on the Brockton campus quad on Thursday, April 30 at 10:00 a.m. This project is supported by a Raise Your Voice Presidential Civic Engagement Activity Fund grant from the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Campus Compacts.

The garden is part of an ongoing effort – spearheaded by Massasoit’s Sustainability Task Force Landscaping Committee – to rid the campus of invasive plant species and introduce native, non-invasive plants that are adapted to the New England environment and can thrive with minimal watering and maintenance.

Vice President of Administration Betty Ann Learned will speak at the planting about Massasoit’s sustainability initiatives since President Charles Wall signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment in 2007. Special guest will be Barbara Canyes, Executive Director of Massachusetts Campus Compact.

Win an Amazon Kindle2

With more than 240,000 books available, plus top newspapers, magazines, and blogs, riding the train or bus has never been more fun.
Sign up in the MassRIDES ridematching database or view your online profile today and automatically be eligible for this prize.

(Winners will be notified May 4th, 2009. One new and one existing applicant who accesses their profile at www.commute.com will be awarded a prize.)

Webcast: Chill Out

The National Wildlife Federation is hosting a webcast on April 15th entitled: Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming. The college campus with the most people registered will win a free concert by The Steps. The Steps are an up-and-coming band from Austin, TX that just had a huge premier at South by Southwest music festival. I realize that this is short notice but the deadline to register to win the free concert is April 5th.

Please register now at www.campuschillout.org

Earth Hour

The next Earth Hour will take place on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm, local time. Earth Hour is an annual international event created by the (World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund), held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. Currently, 82 countries and more than 2100 cities are committed to Earth Hour 2009, a huge increase from people participating in 35 countries for Earth Hour 2008.

I hope that everyone will take part!

Logo Design Contest!

Enter the
Emerald Earth Environmental Fair
Logo Design Contest
Submit your logo to Student Life by 3/13/09.
The winning design will be printed on Limited Edition t-shirts and the winner will receive a $100 gift card to the South Shore Plaza in Braintree!

Contact the Student Life Office for more details!

Massasoit Community College's Canton Campus deamed "good site" for a Geothermal Heating/Cooling System

As part of the Massasoit Community College Energy and Water Conservation Proposal, the Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) has determined that the Massasoit Canton Campus may be a good site for a Geothermal Heating/Cooling System. This system would involve a Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) that extracts heat stored in the upper layers of the Earth and delivers it to the building. During the summer, the GSHP system rejects the heat removed from a building, into the ground rather than into the atmosphere. This new system can potentially reduce the energy costs for the Canton Campus by 25% to 40%.

DCAM is paying for a test well at the Massasoit Canton Campus. The test well will be approximately 1500 feet deep. Drilling activities will begin this week. On Tuesday, January 13th at noon, rigging and heavy equipment will be arriving to complete the site orientation. On Wednesday, January 14th the first day of drilling will begin. On Thursday, January 15th we hope to take a video to share with our students. The drilling is expected to take approximately two weeks and when completed, we hope that our students will be able to witness the installation of the induction tube.

Massasoit's "Chair-ity" Project

The Massasoit "Chair-ity" Project is the result of a sustainability grant that was offered at the beginning of the Fall 2008 semester to art students at Massasoit's Canton Campus. The money ($250) awarded to Professor Janet Tooker, was used to buy sandpaper, brushes and paint to redo used, donated chairs.

Professor Tooker's assignment to the students was as follows: "You will be refurbishing an old wooden chair to create a unique piece of art which will reflect the influence of a particular artist from one of the periods we will study in History of Art II this semester." The sustainability issue is based on a statement from the Global Environment and Technology Foundation: "Rehabbing an existing piece of furniture requires 85 to 95 percent less energy than producing a new one."

The chairs will be auctioned to the public at the first Massasoit Community College Arts Festival held at the Canton Campus on May 16th and 17th, 2009. Proceeds from the sale of the chairs will go to the Canton Food Pantry.