Last night, I attended The Imagen Foundation Awards with Chill Out producer Melinda Esquibel of Mundo Maravilla, director Melissa Balin of the Brookturn Company, and NWF board member Lyvier Conss. (That's them with me and Jose Yenque in the photo at right.) The evening was filled with awards for amazing and talented actors, writers, agents, and a legendary civil rights and social justice leader.

Chill Out was nominated for “Best National Informational Programming” for the positive portrayal of Latinos and Latino culture in the entertainment industry. It's the first webcast to be nominated for this prestigious award, and we were up against four other incredible programs about varying topics. We didn't win, but we were so thrilled to be nominated and attending the ceremony.

A few highlights of the night included meeting Jose Yenque, one of the talented actors featured in the Chill Out webcast. Jose has been a great supporter and was so excited to be a part of our program, as it is such an important issue. We met the beautiful and young actress Caitlin Sanchez, the voice of Dora the Explorer. Tom Cruise surprised everyone by showing up to give one of the awards. Benjamin Bratt, Robert Orci, Jimmy Smits, Judy Reyes, Silvio Horta, Wilmer Valderrama, Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and so many more incredible actors, writers, producers and executives were there.

Of all the amazing women attending the awards, one stood out among the rest—national civil rights leader and humanitarian Dolores Huerta. She was being honored with the 2009 President’s Award for her work in social justice. Dolores has been a leader in the community for 50 years, co-founding the United Farm Workers of America and advocating that people transform their lives by becoming leaders in their own communities. The Dolores Huerta Foundation’s mission is to inspire and organize sustainable communities.

The Imagen Foundation Awards was a great time to celebrate the amazing and creative Latinos in entertainment and in the community, and we were honored to be recognized by an organization that supports the same goals as we do: a fair, diverse society that takes care of its people and environment.

Our Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming program has been nominated for an award from The Imagen Foundation for its positive portrayals of Latinos and Latino culture in entertainment.  NWF is thrilled to be nominated for this prestigious award! The Chill Out webcast was shown on over 400 college campuses this year and showcased the winning campuses of the Chill Out competition. 

The winning campuses have amazing projects and initiatives on campus to reduce global warming emissions.  The initiatives range from a strong transportation plan to a fuel cell power plant that powers part of the campus. 

The broadcast is narrated by an all-star cast of students, faculty and staff and a broad range of advocates and activists in today’s environmental movement, including: Academy Award-Winning producer Lawrence Bender; actor Courtney Gains ("Sibling Rivalry"); musician and composer Ethan Gold; comedian and host of Planet Green’s "Wa$ted" Annabelle Gurwitch; musician Nick Jago, Actor Efren Ramirez ("Napoleon Dynamite"); actor Alisa Reyes (Nick’s “All That”); Founder and CEO of Karmaloop.com Greg Selkoe; director, screenwriter and actress Angela Shelton; actor and stuntman Isaac Singleton Jr.; producer, first president of eBay and founder of Participant Media Jeff Skoll; Tony-Award-winning poet "Poetri" Smith; actor Douglas Spain (HBO’s "Walkabout"); actor Michael Welch ("Twilight"); actor Jose Yenque ("Traffic"); and actor Shawn-Caulin Young ("Dreams and Shadows"), and music by Austin band The Steps.

Chill Out is a low carbon footprint production, going well beyond the industry’s sustainable filmmaking guidelines, and has been recognized by the Environmental Media Association’s  Green Seal Program for using the film industry’s best environmental practices.

The awards will be presented at a black-tie dinner gala on Friday, August 21^st at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Check back Friday night to see if we won!

USA TODAY has a new story on campus sustainability, focused on the rise of degree programs that prepare students to work in sustainability fields, such as green construction or sustainable business:

"David Soto of The Princeton Review says student interest is driving colleges to create programs that offer training in sustainability. Two-thirds of students surveyed for the company's recent "College Hopes and Worries" survey said a college's 'environmental commitment' would be a factor in where they applied."

The story also highlights the rise in technical programs at community colleges, such as Kalamazoo's 26-week program in wind turbine operation:

"Jim DeHaven, vice president for economic and business development at the college, says the school is offering the program to meet the needs of wind farms that are "scrambling" for trained technicians.'They can really write their own future at this point because they're needed at all the wind farms,' he says. 'They don't want us to wait and put people through a two-year program or a one-year certification — they want a fast track to employment.'"

What's interesting is the assumption that students will be able to find jobs easily in these disciplines, and that trained workers are already in demand for certain energy fields. Even a recession won't dampen hiring in all sectors: economists say that certain careers, such as health care, are usually immune to all but the most dramatic market fluctuations. However, it's less common to see climbing demand during bad economic times. The shift may signify that green careers in energy, environmental engineering and other sustainability fields are not only popular among students, but also make up a growing segment of the workforce.

Day two of the Butte annual sustainability conference opened with a special keynote featuring Ken Grossman, Owner and President of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company – a very popular company with the Butte crowd! Grossman, an alumni of Butte, gave an impressive overview of all the sustainability practices in place at the Brewery, such as the recycling or reusing of almost all waste (99% of waste is diverted from the landfill), using motion sensor lights throughout the buildings, a 10,000 plus panel (solar) structure, and a cattle partnership with Chico State University where the cows are fed spent grain, spent yeast, and even spent beer from the brewing process. The Brewery also captures CO₂ emissions, compressing and cleaning them and using the carbon dioxide as fuel in the dispensing process. Sierra Nevada also has two sustainability coordinators to monitor practices and look for new opportunities.

A second presentation by Dr. Randal Beeman from Bakersfield College, a professor of history, talked about the role of the government in sustainability in history. Dr. Beeman highlighted a couple of ecological crises from the past – the dust bowl and the flooding of the Mississippi and Tennessee river valley in the 30’s. He says the U.S. has always reacted to crisis, instead of preparing for a crisis. The message? Let’s prepare for the warming climate by building a sustainable society –- sustainable homes, campuses and communities with sustainable practices. He emphasized that sustainability, specifically sustainable agriculture, needs to sustain both people and the land and support their regeneration.

Yvonne Christopher, faculty member for construction inspection at Butte College, shared her plans for a 12-building scenario village that will break ground this fall. This village will be built with green features and used for training purposes for local fireman and police, as well as Butte students interested in green building careers and construction.

Butte currently offers courses in energy efficiency and renewable energy, green building technologies and practices, and a green building and LEED certification course.

Kristy Jones is reporting from the 3rd Annual Butte College Sustainability Conference, in Oroville, California.

Former President Bill Clinton, at the third annual meeting of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) in Chicago today, shared valuable perspectives on investing in large-scale building retrofits for efficiency and clean energy on campuses, including the possibility of significantly contributing to the creation of the new, green jobs needed to revive the U.S. economy.

Efficiency retrofits and clean energy on campus, he noted, will create significantly more new jobs than comparable spending on fossil fuels in coming years. A single campus, such as Cornell University, may invest up to a gross $150 million over the next 30 years to achieve its greenhouse gas reduction goals, according to Joseph Grasso, Cornell’s assistant dean for finance and administration. Using the U.S. government’s job creation estimate of $92,000 per job created, Cornell’s investment will not only achieve a net energy savings over time, especially when new regulations require internalizing the cost of carbon emissions, but could create more than 1,500 new jobs in the region.

If all 650 signatories to the ACUPCC agreement invested only 1/3 as much as Cornell, the ACUPCC signatories would collectively represent a $30 billion jobs creation powerhouse, while reducing net energy costs and pollution on campuses and in surrounding community.

How to finance such investments? A new guide to be released soon by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) will detail a range of financing strategies for energy efficiency retrofits and clean energy projects on campuses.

Butte College’s 3rd annual sustainability conference opened with a welcome from the school’s president, Dr. Diana Van Der Ploeg. Her speech exhorted attendees to remember that sustainability is as much a national security issue as an environmental one, and that the shift is necessary for society.

Speaking to the 250 conference attendees here in Oroville, California, Dr. Ploeg described her work at Butte, managing a 928-acre campus (80 acres is reserved for farm use, and there is also a wildlife refuge) and serving approximately 20,000 students a year. The college, located on a wildlife refuge, is committed to sustainability - it uses LEED metrics in all building projects, is powered by 50 percent renewable energy, and incorporates sustainable practices into many other areas of the campus. Dr. Ploeg drives a Prius to the office every day.

Dr. Ken Meier, Butte’s Vice President of Student Learning & Economic Development, also presented, and touched on Butte’s culture of change that focuses on three primary aspects: social equity, environmental stewardship, and economic development. He says a fourth needs to be added – community. He says the role of the American community college is to work with and engage the community, and to serve as an example. “Sustainability it not possible without community involvement,” he said.

The first day of the conference featured speakers from Ohlone College, the Los Angeles Community College District, San Mateo Community College, Bakersfield College, and Co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Price Dr. Woodrow W. Clark II was the afternoon keynote speaker, presenting “On Climate Change and the Future.” 

One of the favorite presentations came from an Ohlone graduate, currently a student at UC Berkeley, on eco-behavior, hoping to answer the question – what does it take to change people’s behavior? Maria Javier surveyed several groups of students, finding that:

• The environment in which a person grows up seems to have a huge impact on how a person lives as an adult. For example, a student surveyed that grew up in Ohio, in a community that had a strong conservation ethic, was a better steward of the environment as an adult than other students surveyed that grew up in communities without a strong conservation ethic.
• Laziness or perceived threats to “luxury of life” are common reasons why people don’t behave in sustainable ways.
• If behavior is going to change, education is vital, we need government policies that enforce sustainable practices, and economic incentives or disincentives need to be instituted.

Maria also highlighted a site on eco-behavior, Fostering Sustainable Behavior – Community-based Social Marketing, which consists of five resources for those working to foster sustainable behaviors in conservation, energy efficiency, transportation, waste reduction, and water efficiency.

After a day packed full of presentations, attendees had the opportunity to tour the sustainable fields at Lundberg Family Farms.

Kristy Jones is reporting from the 3rd Annual Butte College Sustainability Conference, in Oroville, California.

“These green buildings have propelled us into the educational experience,” says Paul Matthews, vice president of facilities maintenance during yesterday’s green campus tour of Saint Xavier University and University of Illinois at Chicago.

Like many institutional leaders, Matthews could have opted to design and operate the campus’ two LEED gold rated buildings, O’Brien and Rubloff Hall, largely behind the scenes, with little connection to the students. Instead, Matthews made the student educational experience a core facet of the green building projects, providing training and experience that will give Saint Xavier graduates an edge in the emerging green jobs market. Graduate level interns are trained by Matthews to design educational displays, give tours of the building, help inventory campus greenhouse gas emissions and design the campus’ climate action plan.

It’s not mere busy work, says Matthews. The tasks completed by the students also help move the university towards meeting the targets and timetables of the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), a complex and difficult task that always needs more hands. 

This week marks the first edition of AASHE's Global Edition of the Bulletin. Alongside ClimateEdu, the Bulletin is one of the best sources of news on the campus sustainability scene, but until now has only covered stories in the US and Canada. The new international version will be released twice a year, sent by email for free to subscribers of the existing Bulletin.

The first issue, released yesterday, covers such topics as green building awards in Dubai and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as student projects in Sydney and biodiesel parks in India.

See More:

Shanghai Calling: International Collaboration for Sustainability

Youth Activists Vocal at Climate Talks in Poznan, Poland

Almost exactly one year ago, ClimateEdu's premiere issue included a story about several Utah organizations and universities that switched to a four-day workweek schedule on a trial basis, hoping to reduce GHG emissions and provide an extra benefit to employees. One year later, they have released their findings, and so far the program seems to be working.

A Scientific American article examines the results, noting that the state projects a 12,000 metric ton reduction in carbon emissions from commuting and building electricity use annually, and $1.8 million in savings from utility bills as of May, 2009.

In our original story from August 2008, we reported that "Not only is this change likely to keep a few more cars off the road in a state that has weak public transit infrastructure, it is also expected to save a significant amount of building-generated emissions by turning off most of the lights, heat, and air-conditioning in almost 1,000 non-essential government buildings every Friday. Preliminary reports estimate that shutting down six sample buildings for an extra day would lead to an annual CO2 reduction of more than 3,300 tons per year, and this number is likely to go up depending on which additional buildings are selected."

Although the $1.8 million that Utah has saved on utilities so far is shy of their original estimate ($3 billion), which may be partly due to lowering energy costs, the carbon dioxide emissions savings seem to be higher than officials planned. And employee morale is also higher, according to the Scientific American story. "'People just love it,' says Lori Wadsworth, a professor of public management at Brigham Young University in Provo. She helped survey those on the new Working 4 Utah schedule this May and found 82 percent would prefer to stick with it." Other research shows that employees are not fatigued by the new schedule, show less stress, and are taking fewer sick days. Anecdotal evidence even suggests that volunteerism is up, though it's not clear if that shift can be attributed to the change in work schedules or a general trend.

Other universities are experimenting with flexible schedules, such as Georgetown, Cornell, and the University of New Mexico, with mixed results. Not all regions will be able to save energy in their buildings this way, and tracking the amount of emissions saved can also be difficult, particularly when it comes to including commuting emissions in a climate action plan.

However, managers and legislators seem to feel it's worth a try. "As we move further into the 21st century, governments need to look for ways to become more efficient," says Michael N. Gianaris, a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly. "Moving to a four-day workweek should be at the top of the list. It helps the environment. People like it. It's a no-brainer."

Last week, President Obama announced the creation of the American Graduation Initiative, which is expected to funnel $12 billion to community colleges to educate underemployed or unemployed workers in preparation for the day when the economy swings upwards again.

"..[T]he hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won’t be coming back," said Obama. "They are casualties of a changing economy. And that only underscores the importance of generating new businesses and industries to replace the ones we’ve lost, and of preparing our workers to fill the jobs they create." 

The plan calls for an additional 5 million community college graduates by 2020--about 6 million are currently attending--and provides those students with a pathway to completing a four-year degree, if they so choose. About $9 billion will go towards two grant programs intended to better track promising strategies for teaching and learning and increase completion rates. Some money will also go towards renovating facilities, providing more guidance to students exiting high school, and expanding online educational opportunities.

So, is this good news for green jobs education and training, which we've talked about here, here, and here? Maybe.

While clean energy is a platform of the Obama administration, the $12 billion, which would be disbursed over the next ten years, hasn't been specifically dedicated to green jobs training. Until the budget committee makes its allocations, the focus on renewable energy training won't be clear, but so far it looks as if the program is making immediate employment, not clean energy, its primary concern.

However, the shift towards training workers for careers in sustainability may not need federal support, simply because it's already inevitable. A recent UN report predicted the creation of more than 20 million jobs worldwide in clean energy and other green fields by 2030, and many of those jobs are what's termed "middle-skilled," requiring a level of education that is greater than high school but less than a Bachelor's degree. (Job opportunities in health care are also expected to rise.)

Community colleges are expected to take on the bulk of this training because they are typically more agile and diverse than liberal arts schools, and have access to different populations of students. These schools also tend to be very connected to local employers, and have good data on the jobs available to their graduates, which means that in many regions, they are expanding their clean energy programs in response to demand. So, the AGI funds that go to those schools may help to support green jobs by default, though it's not yet the explicit support that advocates, including National Wildlife Federation, hope for.

We'll watch as the allocations are made in the next few months, and see where this goes.