Apply Now – Summer ’08 Sustainability Exchange!

The Office of Sustainability is sending 2-3 students on a 6 to 8-week Sustainability Internship to the Australian National University or Oxford University this Summer!

Students will work closely with professionals at each of the universities to support the development and implementation of campus sustainability projects. Selected students will live in on-campus housing and work in the respective sustainability related offices for the duration of the program.

The internship is unpaid, but the hosting university will provide on-campus housing, and the Office of Sustainability will provide a $3,000  stipend for food and travel expenses.

Interested applicants must submit a resume, cover letter and 250-word essay describing how this opportunity fits into their studies.  Application deadline is Friday, February 29th, 2008!

Please send applications to Julie Newman at julie.newman@yale.edu .

For more information on this internship opportunity, click here.

Tunes for Trees – Plant Trees with iTunes!

If you buy music on iTunes, definitely check out tunesfortrees.com .

This little LLC is a partner with iTunes and works with organizations around the globe to plant trees – especially ones close to the equator, which are purportedly better carbon sinks.

The cost is no different, you just have to use http://www.tunesfortrees.com/ to seek out the songs you want to buy.

Give it a try!

Robin Chase Master’s Tea!

Got the winter blues? Looking to get out for a bit? Come to a master’s tea with Robin Chase,

4:00 Wednesday February 6 at the Trumbull College master’s office.

Robin will speak to her extensive experience reforming the American transportation system. The event is the first in a series of master’s teas organized around the theme of “Innovating Sustainability”, and is sponsored by Trumbull College, Sustainable Commuting, and the Office of Sustainability.

Robin Chase is founder and CEO of GoLoco, an online ridesharing community. GoLoco helps people quickly arrange to share car trips of all lengths between trusted friends, neighbors, and colleagues, and handles online payments from passengers to drivers for their share of the trip costs. GoLoco’s innovative combination of social networks and online payment systems recasts how we think about car travel, making it a time for socializing and with a new emphasis on trip efficiency, in order to reduce per passenger costs.

Robin is founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest carsharing company in the world. Zipcar’s use of the Internet and wireless technology enables rental cars to emulate personal cars. Zipcar’s disruptive technology gives its members on-demand access to cars by-the-hour, revolutionizing people’s relationship to their cars and improving the quality of urban life for all.

Robin also founded and leads Meadow Networks, a consulting firm, where she is frequently consulted by transportation and planning departments, city and state government agencies, and NGOs about wireless and mesh networking applications in the transportation sector, and impacts on innovation and economic development. She served on the Boston Mayor’s Wireless Task Force, and the Governor-elect’s Transportation Transition Working Committee.

Robin lectures widely and has been frequently featured in the major media including the Today Show, The New York Times, National Public Radio, Wired, Newsweek and Time magazines, as well as several books on entrepreneurship. She has received many awards, including the Massachusetts Governor’s Award for Entrepreneurial Spirit, Start-up Woman of the Year, Business Week’s top 10 designers, Fast Company’s Fast 50 Champions of Innovation, technology and innovation awards from Fortune, CIO, and Info World Magazines, and numerous environmental awards from national, state, and local governments and organizations.

Robin graduated from Wellesley College and MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and was a Harvard University Loeb Fellow. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband and three children.

President Levin Engages in Sustainability Debate: Submit Your Own Video Questions

 

On Monday, January 21st in Copenhagen, Yale’s President Richard Levin will be giving a speech entitled “Leading by Example: Creating a Sustainable Campus,” which will be followed by a debate in the University of Copenhagen’s Ceremonial Hall.

Anyone can submit video questions for President Levin, a selection of which will be shown at the debate and all of which will be posted on the University of Copenhagen’s Website, barring inappropriate submissions.

Shortly after the event, a webcast of the debate will be available on the University of Copenhagen’s website.

President Levin’s speech is the first in a series of public climate-lectures at the University of Copenhagen in the run up to the UN conference on climate change in 2009.

Click Here for the University of Copenhagen‘s page.

Read more about President Levin’s initiatives on climate change:

• TH Interview – Treehugger.com
• Global Climate Change: Taking the Battle to Campus – The Asian Age
• Yale President Richard Levin Calls for Action on Global Warming – Yale>>tomorrow

If you would like to submit

your YouTube question

to President Levin – click here.

The Story of Stuff & Sustainable Holiday Gift Ideas

Watch this great video with Annie Leonard — it’s an arresting account of the details and repercussions of product Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption, and Disposal. Spread the word, it’s really interesting!

The Story of Stuff

With that in mind, and with the holiday shopping season upon us, it may be better (and easier) to consider buying your loved ones services instead of products – after all, services don’t run out! Here is a range of ideas for

Sustainable Holiday Gifts:

Tickets to movies, musicals, plays, or concerts

Local Artwork

Tours, excursions, hikes

Classes or lessons (cooking, dance, martial arts, yoga, music, art, etc.)

Bus, train, or metro passes

Website or Blog Hosting

Skype credit, calling cards

Gift certificates for:

Spa & Massage

Rock Climbing

Haircuts

A Nice Meal

–

You could also combine some of these things to make a pretty neat gift package; for instance, you could get your loved one in New Haven:

– a train ticket to New York City,

-a gift certificate to a nice New York French or Middle Eastern restaurant,

– and a ticket to see Wicked or any other show.

They’re sure to have a blast, and who doesn’t love free stuff?

 —————

Update: December 18th.

Here are some more ideas for green holiday gifts:

– Adopt an Acre, Rescue the Reef, or Adopt a Square Mile.

– Swim with the Sharks (and explore the rest of the site for other ideas, like CityZen Chef’s Table, Radio DJ Experience, Tasting & Tea for Two, and more)

 and definitely check out:

– Green Dimes: For only 15 dollars, cut your junk mail up to 90% and they plant 10 trees!

“Step 1: Sign Up
As soon as you join, our team does all the work to get your name off dozens of direct marketer’s mailing lists. This will take care of a big chunk of the junk!

Step 2: Hate Your Catalogs? Love Your Catalogs?
Just let us know! Log in anytime to your GreenDimes account and click on our easy-to-use Catalog Screener to enter the catalogs and other mailings that you want stopped.

Step 3: You Register. We Monitor.
Each month GreenDimes monitors the Direct Marketing Association’s mailing list to ensure that your name gets off and stays off their mailing lists. In order for us to do this, you will need to register your name with the DMA. They charge $1 per name, but registering will make a big difference in the amount of junk in your mailbox.”

… Happy Holidays! 🙂

Student Sustainability Forum

For you Yale students (and organizations!) who’d like to be more involved in Sustainability at Yale (or for those of you who are already involved but don’t know about this event), the Student Sustainability Forum is having a meeting on November 7 here at the Office of Sustainability. 

If you’re interested, check out this page for details on this upcoming event, and click here for details about the Forum in general. Below is a map of 70 Whitney, where the Office of Sustainability is located.