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September 21, 2009

PC’s inaugural Lillian and Marshall Brown Program in International Studies will focus on sustainability. The college will examine how it as a community affects the environment and other communities with a series of lectures, events, and projects that will last the entire academic year.

“Operating from the thesis that our culture functions in many ways that are not sustainable, we hope to explore the changes we need to make,” said Charles A. Dana professor Dr. John Inman, this year’s Lillian and Marshall Brown Fellow.

Lecture Series

On September 22, former interim chaplain at PC, Al Masters, and sociology professor Charles McKelvey will provide a theological and sociological basis of sustainability. Masters will focus on the questions, "Is God Green and Does He/She Recycle?" McKelvey, who also directs PC’s Semester in Cuba program, will discuss "The Greening of the Reds: The Search for a Sustainable and Just World System." The event takes place in Belk Auditorium at 11 AM and is open to the public.

 On October 29 Daniel Parson, an organic gardener and director of PC’s new organic garden, will present "The Real Food Revolution: What, Where, & Who are You Eating?" Parson, recent Georgia Land Steward of the Year award recipient, will discuss food production and issues of sustainability that accompany the college’s current agribusiness system. Kevin Candrilli, executive chef in PC’s Greenville Dining Hall, will prepare samples of products from the organic garden. The campus-only event will take place in Mabry-Smith-Yonce.

On November 10 Ed Matricardi, the Regional Director of the Pickens Plan for South Carolina and seven other eastern states, will speak about the Pickens Plan, billionaire T. Boone Pickens’ exciting and controversial plan for energy independence. Rising junior Logan Berry is the SC representative for the plan. The event takes place in Edmunds Hall at 11:00 AM and is open to the public.

Events

October 22 Bike Show. Europeans ride bikes everywhere.  Bikes are the primary means of transportation in Asian countries.  To show PC students what is available to them, a bike show in Mabry-Smith-Yonce will feature mountain bikes, tandems, earth cruisers, and other two-wheeled modes of transportation.

October 23 Bike Event.  The Friday before Homecoming, teams of four will propel bicycles once shared by campus down West Plaza in hopes of winning the first-ever Blue Pedal Trophy. The event is intended to reintroduce the campus bikes and display bicycles as a fun, energy efficient, and nonpolluting form of transportation.

February 19-20 Green Car Show. Automobiles capable of getting 40 MPH will be on display at the front of Bailey Stadium. The car show will feature diesels, hybrids, and plug-in electrics. Michelin North America has been invited to highlight their green tire technology and to sponsor PC’s new Tire Inflation Station. The station provides a place where members of the campus and the community can properly inflate their tires at no charge. Details of the event will follow.

Projects

Gardening

In the last three years the number of people growing their own produce has spread like cucumber vines. Issues surrounding food safety, nutrition, and taste have led many to rekindle the relationship of man, plants, and soil.   Daniel Parson will continue to lead the development of the organic garden on campus. Dr. Inman’s freshman seminar class, “How Does Your Garden Grow?”, recently planted the first crops in the garden.  The produce will be sold to Sodexho, PC’s foodservices company. PC Garden produce will be served in both campus dining facilities, Greenville Dining Hall and Springs Campus Center, late in September through the fall growing season.

Microhouse

A great deal of energy consumption occurs in American homes, which are on average some of the largest living structures of any society. A microhouse will be built on campus to show the alternative to unnecessarily large habitats. The 10 foot by 12 foot structure will house one student and will serve as a model to the growing phenomenon sweeping the country. The student living in the microhouse will record energy consumption and other footprint impacts of the house as well as his or her reaction to life in such a structure. Construction begins in December.

Various activities

A variety of other sustainability-related initiatives will take place across campus throughout the year:

• Students can sign a pledge to practice environmental sustainability. The pledges are at two levels, a commitment to sustainability from freshmen and a graduation pledge from seniors.
• An updated sustainability website will include a reading page with books and films on sustainability and more.
• A special exhibit in the Harper Center Art Gallery will focus on sustainability.
• Programs of the GreenHose and Students for Environmental Education, such as the solar cart, the Power Hogs, or teams of students insulating leaky buildings across campus, will begin this fall.
• The on-campus recycling center has begun and is available for campus community members to transport plastics, glass, aluminum, and cardboard to be recycled.
• Sodexo has arranged to donate their waste cardboard to Open Door Ministries, a local non-profit that collects and sells cardboard to pay its operating expenses.
• A used-battery collection center will be established this year.

“Our hope is that we will find that sustainable practices benefit ourselves as well as others,” Inman said.