Welcome Back!!! This is going to be a historic year for the Environmental Coalition, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, the Commonwealth, and beyond! Together we'll be Inventing the RIGHT Future.

This is Jackie and Bryce, the President and Vice President of the EC!  We hope you all have had a wonderful summer and are ready to jumpstart the academic year!  There are many exciting developments in our organization which will make this a historic year for the Environmental Coalition, Virginia Tech, and even the state and beyond! 

Updates

Coalition for Campus Sustainability

The CCS is a newly formed coalition that was established by the Environmental Coalition but is its own independent network in working to achieve sustainable initiatives on the Virginia Tech campus.  The coalition now has 16 organizational members, which you can view on our website here: http://theecvt.com/coalition.php.  We’ll be having our first CCS meeting Thursday, September 11th starting at 6:00pm in room 219 in Squires.

Virginia Tech Climate Action Commitment

In lieu of the Environmental Coalition’s proposal of President Steger signing the Presidents Climate Commitment, Dr. Steger decided he wanted a Virginia Tech Climate Action Commitment.  He asked the Energy and Sustainability Committee to develop this plan by the end of this fall semester.  The plan will go through the university governance system and land on President’s Steger’s desk to sign at the end of spring semester.  The initiatives being discussed include incorporating sustainability in the campus master plan, a shared bike program, and a USGBC LEED Certified Silver building policy.  There will be workshop sessions during Sustainability Week for students, faculty, and community members to see what is being proposed and to allow feedback.  We have two Environmental Coalition members on the committee: Graduate Representative Sara Murrill and Undergraduate Representative Angie De Soto.

Virginia Power Shift – October 10-12th www.vapowershift.org

All summer long nearly 50 students from over a dozen schools from across the state have been working passionately on the statewide conference Virginia Power Shift 2008 hosted right here at Virginia Tech by the Environmental Coalition.  We have invited many speakers including presidential candidates Senator McCain and Senator Obama, will host dozens of workshops, have a panel discussion much like we hosted last year during Focus the Nation at Virginia Tech, and much more!  We’ve already confirmed famed NASA climatologist James Hansen to speak on Friday night (Oct. 10th)!   Expect over 1,000 students from across the state!  Even now we’ve heard from students from across the nation that have heard about Virginia Power Shift 2008 and wish they could go! 

We would love for you to help!  We will be discussing opportunities for you to help at our meetings, but in the mean time checkout www.vapowershift.org/involve.php  for opportunities on how you can get involved!

Jess, a previous EC President and now chair of the Food and Housing Committee, has asked us that if you would be willing to offer housing at your place either on or off-campus for the conference, PLEASE e-mail Marisa (noel@vt.edu) – the Food and Housing Committee member in charge of coordinating- and let her know how many people you can fit.  It can be floor space, couches, or even just a backyard to camp in.  We need to find housing for all the awesome Virginia students that will be here at Tech that weekend.  If everyone in the EC has space to offer that could take care of just about everyone. 

REGISTRATION IS OPEN – SPACE IS LIMITED!  Registration for the conference has been open, but due to time and space constraints we can only accommodate about 200 Virginia Tech students.  Already a tenth of the spots are full!  It is $15 to register until September 1st, and then it will be $20.