Last week was "Eco-Week" - a series of events campus environmentalist group Eco-Sense hosted - which was worthwhile, despite not drawing very many participants, according to Eco-Sense member Mackenzie O'Donnell.
O'Donnell led Monday a "Recycling 101" presentation suggesting ways for dorm residents to make environmentally friendly choices.
"The presentation was great," she said. "It turned into a larger discussion with tons of ideas bouncing around [such as] encouraging your neighbors to buy foods from local farmers - offered at Dupont Circle absolutely every Sunday of the year, rain or shine."
While only two or three people who weren't Eco-Sense members attended, the event was intimate and intense, O'Donnell said.
"Not many people showed but it was worth the effort," she said.
Eco-Sense sponsored a series of environmental films at the Weschler Theater Wednesday, along with a presentation on its "Green to Green" purchasing plan campaign. Head librarian Bill Mayer discussed the importance of the Bender Library Green Team's initiatives, such as the team's push for campus-wide double-sided printing.
"Since September, in the print system for campus ... 265,000 print jobs have been sent," Mayer said. "That's over 17 million pages, and in this case a page is one printed side."
Double-sided printing would cut that figure in half, Mayer said.
Eco-Sense members made up most of the audience at "Going to Green." The group noted in its purchasing plan presentation that AU and its primary office supply vendor said they wished to follow the group's suggestions.
"To have them tell us that they wanted to try to take some of the aspects of the policy we wrote and incorporate that into their own practices, I think that's a really big deal," said Casey Roe, policy director for Eco-Sense.
Environmental researcher and AU alumnus Rory McIlmoil, "Black Diamonds" filmmaker Catherine Pancake and environmental researcher and lobbyist Ross Geredien spoke during Thursday night's Environmental Justice panel on mountaintop removal.
Genna Vullo, environmental justice chair for Eco-Sense, said she thought the event was successful.
"Even though there [wasn't] a huge amount of people here, it was a really intimate, intense discussion," she said.
Eco-Sense's Thursday event on the quad drew a larger crowd. Sudents had the opportunity to tie-dye clothes, eat popcorn and scale a tiki head-shaped rock-climbing mountain. Eco-Sense used the rock-climbing mountain to raise awareness about mountaintop removal mining and about its panel that night, according to Eco-Sense President David Smedick.
"The quad event was very successful," he said. "It was perfect weather, and we reached out to a very wide audience."
David Grossman, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, said he enjoyed the rock-climbing event.
"I think it's a great way [to inform people]," he said.
Eco-Sense also participated in the annual Campus Beautification Day. Athletic groups, sororities, fraternities, faculty, staff, and other students participated in the university-sponsored event, according to Special Events Co-Director Katherine Kirlin.
Campus Beautification Day was successful, she said.
"We had a great turnout," Kirlin said.
