The Environmental Coalition at Virginia Tech is hosting Virginia Power Shift 2008 at Virginia Tech. Go to www.vapowershift.org for more information and get involved!

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Earth Week is next week! Come out to our multitude of events!

CLICK HERE FOR THE
EARTH WEEK 2008 SCHEDULE
and join the facebook event !

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Between expanding the coalition, focusing on taking out styrofoam take-out containers, exploring energy issues, pushing for the PCC being signed, community service events, camping out, planning many great events at Earth Week 2008 and much much more, there has never been a greater time to get involved in the Environmental Coalition at Virginia Tech!

There are many opportunities for you to get plugged in:

-come to a general meeting Tuesdays at 7:00PM in Randolph 110
- come to a Earth Week meeting Thursdays at 5:00PM near the photocopy desk on the fourth floor of the library
- come to a planning meeting Sundays at 2:00PM near the photocopy desk on the fourth floor of the library
- contact a working group member and see what you can do to help their subject cause

---- Working groups include:
o Greeks Go Green
o Energy and Sustainability
o Dining Halls
o Building the Coalition
o Recycling

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On December 10, 2007 the Environmental Coalition at Virginia Tech asked President Steger to sign the Presidents Climate Commitment.

EC representatives thanked President Steger for his continual commitment with his environmental pursuits on campus.  They described how our coalition has grown from being a group of committed students seeking to keep the paper recycling program alive to the expansive multi-representational coalition it is today.  We’ve held Earth Day events every year since spring of 2003, sought out a green fee with over 7,000 supportive signatures, lobbied legislators at the state and national level, educated our members on a variety of issues, and helped make Virginia Tech the #1 represented school at both the statewide Youth Energy Summit and the historic nationwide Power Shift 2007 conference; the latter of which had over 100 Hokies participate in.

Being an unnaturally warm day, Dr. Steger heard some of the impacts climate change is already having across the world.  For the meeting, we had asked students to expand our motto of "Invent the Future" to "Invent the RIGHT Future" and say why it matters to them in a video petition. Together we show that our diverse community cares about the future of our world, and that we need to pursue the necessary task of sustainability TODAY.  The next best step towards sustainability on campus is the signing of the Presidents Climate Commitment, and we hope President Steger will agree.

Here is the video petition we presented to President Steger:

Virginia Youth Energy Summit (YES) at William and Mary, November 2006:

Hokies at national Power Shift 2007 conference at University of Maryland, November 2007:

Asking President Steger to sign the Presidents Climate Commitment, December 10, 2007:

We have asked President Steger to make a decision by January 31st, 2008, Focus the Nation day.  Focus the Nation is nationwide teach-in focusing solely on global warming, see www.focusthenation.org for more details.  The Environmental Coalition has signed up to host the event on campus and is currently developing an agenda which will be released soon.  One of the events for that day will be a large supportive gathering on the Drillfield called the “Green Effect” where we plan to cheer for a united cause to invent the right future.  The Green Effect is our way of incorporating the Hokie Spirit with positive environmental progress toward sustainability.  We look forward to having you take part in the day's events.

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In other news, we would like to thank the Political Science Club for recently voting to partner with the Environmental Coalition.  In a letter to President Steger, PSC President Aaron Lancaster said “By joining the Environmental Coalition, the Political Science Club intends to insert its non-partisan ideology into Environmental discussion and policy. The Political Science Club looks forward to helping and supporting the Environmental Coalition’s events and activities. Support may consist of (but is not limited to) moderating a discussion or debate on environmental issues, providing man power for events, advertisements for events and activities, and other measures of support that the PSC is constitutionally able to offer. The Political Science Club is excited to be the newest member to the Environmental Coalition!”