Green Tip of the Week: Saving Paper with Electronic Grading

This week’s tip is authored by Jonathon Little of Chemistry & Geosciences. 
  
Professors and students can save thousands of pages of paper per semester by grading electronically. MCC’s technology infrastructure provides students and professors with a network to save, share, and grade documents.  This past semester, I electronically graded essays for four Geography classes.  Students submitted their rough draft and final draft (*.doc) by saving their work to their student storage.   This saved about 1000 pages of paper this semester.  Professors have access to each student’s class folder (e.g., GEG 101).  Please go to the following web sites to:

1)      Learn how professors can access each student’s class folder 
<http://web.monroecc.edu/manila/webfiles/jlittle/documents/Faculty-AccessingStudentsFolder.doc>
2)      Learn how students can access and work from their student storage 
<http://web.monroecc.edu/manila/webfiles/jlittle/documents/SavingToStudent-Storage.doc>

Besides saving paper, students may misunderstand a professor’s comments on a paper when the comments are short and cryptic or when students cannot decipher the handwriting. Using computers can alleviate these two problems.

It takes a while to get used to providing feedback electronically, but it can be learned fairly quickly.  For more information on providing feedback in Microsoft Word, go to: <http://cai.ucdavis.edu/caihandouts/writingwithmword.html> 

Jonathon Little 
Geography Instructor 
Chemistry and Geosciences Department 

Green Tip of the Week – 4/30/08

This week’s tip is authored by David Boni of the Transitional Studies Department.  The Internet abounds with gas savings tips. You can decide if they are myths or reality after examining the evidence of experts.  For example I received these claims in a recent email:  claim #1. Only buy or fill up your car in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground, the denser the gasoline will be. When it gets warmer gasoline expands, so when buying in the afternoon or in the evening your gallon is not exactly a gallon.     Claim #2. Fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Here’s the website that takes a stand on the question of myth or reality regarding these claims and others: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp What most experts agree actually will save gas:  ·         Drive more efficiently. Don’t stop and start the engine unnecessarily.  ·         Don’t rev the engine. Don’t accelerate unnecessarily.  ·         Keep your car in shape. Keep tires properly inflated.  ·         Plan & combining trips.  ·         Choose a more efficient vehicle.  ·         Avoid filling the gas tank beyond the top. Overfilling results in sloshing over and out of the tank. Never fill gas tank past the first “click” of fuel nozzle, if nozzle is automatic. ·         Think ahead when approaching hills. If you accelerate, do it before you reach the hill, not while you’re already on it. ·         Keep windows closed when traveling at highway speeds.     Matthew Fox Sustainability Committee 04/30/2008

Green Tip of the Week – April 23, 2008

On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans celebrated the first Earth Day in order to promote environmental awareness and protection. Since then, EarthDay has been celebrated around the world annually. This year, you can do your part to honor the earth and promote environmental awareness and sustainable practices in your own home, workplace and community. The MCC Sustainability Group is proud to provide you with the following tips and resources to make it easier for you to “Go Green.”

 

Hopefully, you have considered some of our previous Green Tips and have changed the way you consume bottled water, drink coffee, use paper at work, compost in your yard, or perhaps even your commute to work. If not, today is the day to start!

 

If you would like to review our previous green tips, they are available on the MCC Sustainability Group’s web site:

 

https://mccgreengroup.wordpress.com/

 

Please consider attending some of the Earth Day events on campus this week: 

 

1- Go Green Lecture (April 23, 12-1pm, Campus Center Atrium) 

2- Sociology Film Series Presents: Who Killed the Electric Car? (April 24, 6pm, 5-100) 

 

The following document from the Sierra Club provides 10 ways that you can “Go Green” at work. Simple and practical changes that you can make today can make a big difference.

 

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/2007/03/10_ways_to_go_g.html

 

Recycling at work with the blue bins is easy, but do you recycle at home as well? Do you know all of the items that can be recycled in your town or city? If your blue bin at home isn’t full every week, you can probably do more. Follow this link to the City of Rochester’s list of recyclable items to make sure that you are doing the most you can to recycle your everyday, household waste:

 

http://www.cityofrochester.gov/des/index.cfm?id=269

 

If you are not a resident of the city, you can check with the department of environmental services in your town for their complete list of accepted items.

 

Finally, get outside! Enjoy the weather, take a walk, plant something in your yard or garden, and pick up trash in your neighborhood. Make a commitment to practice sustainability in your life every day.

 

Bethany Gizzi

Sociology

04/23/2008

 

Go Green Lecture

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 
12:00 P.M. to 1:00 P.M. 
Campus Center Atrium 

The Go Green Lecture will focus on the impact of plastic(s) on the environment.  There will be an overview of plastic(s), as well as, some tips for recycling plastic and what alternatives are available to using plastic.

For more information, contact Courtney Belluccio, Yolanda Johnson, Mike Sloyka, Bette Bovenzi, Toni Custodio, or Chris Wendtland.

Earth Day in the Atrium

Event: Earth Day  Date: Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008  When: 11:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.  Where: Campus Center Atrium  Earth day will highlight the various New York State parks with pamphlets, pictures, and maps.  The MCC Outdoor Activities Unlimited Club will also selling some pictures they have taken and promoting their club.   For more information, contact Courtney Belluccio, Yolanda Johnson, Mike Sloyka, Bette Bovenzi, Toni Custodio, or Chris Wendtland.

Green Tip of the Week – April 10 2008

Green Tip of the Week: Composting   Disclaimer:  Composting can be addictive.  I began composting because I garden, but now I garden because I compost.  With spring’s arrival, most people start thinking about flowers, birds, and picnics.  I start thinking about compost.  Composting is an excellent way to cut down on your household waste stream and add some quality to your garden soil.  The process could not be simpler: pile up your yard and kitchen waste in an out-of-the-way spot in your backyard and let it rot; once you get a good pile going, start a new one next to it so that the first can finish.  You can periodically turn the piles with a pitchfork, which mixes and aerates the compost, speeding up decomposition.  When the compost turns into what looks like black, crumbly dirt, it is ready to use.   If the system above doesn’t sound practical, there are countless alternatives.  People with limited space often build compost bins out of wood and chicken wire, or similar materials.  Some people buy specially-designed composters that look like horizontal, 55 gallon drums with legs.  Some people are too impatient to let the compost finish, and turn it into their gardens while it is still slimy and chunky.  All of these things are acceptable. All organic material will compost, but it is usually best to keep some things out of your pile.  Meat, dairy, and cooking oil will not only make your pile stink, but they may attract some strange and unwelcome critters to your backyard.  Animal waste, such as cat and dog feces, is worth avoiding for the same reasons.  On the other hand, kitchen waste such as coffee grounds, eggshells, fruit and vegetables make excellent compost material.  Grass clippings, fallen leaves, and weeds (before they have gone to seed) are also excellent materials.   Compost can be used in edible or ornamental gardens.  Most gardeners turn their compost into the soil, but if you practice conservation tillage, you can layer it on top of the soil, and it will work just as well.  While compost will replace some trace nutrients in the soil, its  most noticeable benefit is the way it improves the tilth of the soil by keeping it friable and improving its ability to retain water.  For more detailed information, please visit Cornell Cooperative Extension’s website:http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/smallscalecomposting.htm Matthew Fox Sustainability Group 04/10/2008

Green Tip of the Week – April 1 2008

Just for fun on April Fool’s Day, perhaps celebrating “What’s NOT Foolish” could be an interesting exercise.

Consider …

A typical motor-commute of 7.5 miles though Rochester city streets might normally take 20 minutes. Taking the freeway around might save 5 minutes, but could nearly double the miles travelled and shorten the warranty period of the car. That same commute on a bicycle (at a gentle, sweat-free pace) would normally take 35 minutes. Maybe a couple more to stop and chat with the neighbor out running, or walking the dog before work.

 

Getting up and leaving for work on a bicycle only 15 minutes earlier would get the bicyclist to work at the same time, but possibly sooner if the motorist on the same route has to stop at the gas pump ($$$) on the way. Sooner still, if the motorist can’t remember the debit card PIN number.

 

(Let’s leave it to the math department to compare the relative greenhouse gas emissions produced by the  typical motorist using 1/4 to 1/3 gallon of gas, vs. that produced by a bicyclist fueled by a bowl of Cherrios.)

 

The bicyclist probably won’t stop for coffee, saving another 5 to 10 minutes and a couple more bucks as well. The bicyclist won’t risk spilling coffee all over the car, or his/her clothing, or having an accident due to the spill.

 

What if they both have a flat tire on the way?

 

The bicyclist can repair a flat in 5 minutes using a patch kit, or 30 seconds using Slime and CO2 cartridge. The motorist will lose an hour waiting for road service. A do-it-yourself motorist will lose 15-20 minutes changing the spare, and another 30 minutes (and several bucks) taking the ruined slacks to the dry cleaners.

 

The bicyclist can lock the bike to a bike rack near the building entrance, while the motorist is still trying to get the card reader at the parking lot entrance to recognize an ID card. The motorist might lose another minute or two (and more gas) circling the lot looking for the closest place to park without getting a parking ticket.

 

OK … The motorist gets 100 extra steps by walking across the parking lot!

(But the bicyclist already scored 7000 steps on the commute … and that’s just coming IN to work.)

 

Hopefully, the motorists’ coffee has started to kick in, and slowly, the motorist feels ready for work.

The bicyclist already feels energized and ready for the day, while wondering why everyone else seems so grumpy today.

 

By the end of the day, the motorist feels absolutely stuffed trying to fit in FIVE WHOLE SERVINGS of fruits and vegetables, and is starting to question the marketing of Wegmans’ “Eat Well Live Well” program. Meanwhile, the bicyclist is practically starving after ONLY 5 servings and reaches for that Hershey bar, guilt free!

 

The motorist personally “runs out of gas” at the end of a long hard day and collapses in front of the TV at home.

 

The bicyclist get’s home late and misses dinner. It was a nice day, so he took the long way home.

 

Brian “I Love Chocolate” Managan

MCC Sustainability Group

Green Tip of the Week: Paper Use @ MCC

How much do you think about the paper that YOU use everyday here at MCC?? Most people would be surprised to hear some “paper” facts specific to MCC.

Currently, MCC buys and uses 780 cartons of paper a year. That amounts to 378 tons or 756,000 pounds of paper used by MCC annually with a hefty price tag of $86,940/year.

How much of that paper is recycled? Since all fiber-based materials are recycled together (office paper, cardboard, etc.), it is difficult to tell how much of the 80—100 tons of fiber recycled at MCC each year is paper. However, it is estimated that MCC misses AT LEAST 90 tons or 180,000 pounds of paper each year that goes into a landfill rather than to a recycling center.

Here are some estimates of “savings” associated with using a ton of recycled paper compared to the production of a ton of paper from virgin wood:

• Saves 2 tons of wood
• Saves 40—64% of energy use
• Saves 3 cubic meters of land fill space (that’s a volume equivalent to 792 gallons!)
• Reduces water pollution by 35% and air pollution by 74%

MCC does its part for the environment when it comes to paper by attempting to purchase only paper that contains 30% post-consumer fiber (recycled paper). The latest paper product purchased by MCC is Husky Xerocopy, a SFI (Sustainable Forest Initiative) certified product. This paper comes from sustainably managed forests that are environmentally friendly.

Here are some quick tips to increase your paper “efficiency”:

• Print and copy everything double sided.
• Send electronic versions of documents when possible.
• Decrease margins from 1.25” to 1” or even 0.7—0.5” when possible.
• Reuse single-sided printed documents as scratch paper or for draft printing.
• Print fliers and informational documents as needed. Don’t stockpile printed copies. When you do need to update these documents, fewer will be wasted… especially if you reuse them for scratch paper or rough drafts.
• Encourage students and colleagues to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
• Last but not least, recycle all office paper in the blue recycling bins or in the document shredder rather than the trash.

You too can help reduce costs at MCC, save landfill space, save trees, save energy, and reduce air and water pollution. Please incorporate some or all of these tips into your daily routine. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!!

Many thanks to Fred McCullough the Director of Building Services, Patrick Bates the Director of Purchasing and Bill Gruhn of ETS Printing Services for the MCC specific statistics.

Jennifer Hill
Biology
03/26/2008

Green Tip of the Week: Saving money and helping the environment

This week’s tip is authored by Jonathon Little of Chemistry and Geosciences.

Going green can save you cash while reducing the impact on earth. You can literally knock off at least ten percent of your electrical bill by turning things off. For example:

1. Turn off your computer and appliances (coffee pot, TV) when not in use you can reduce your energy. Your TV and computer, and anything with an adaptor, take energy when not in use. This is called “phantom load”. The annual collective phantom load from households in the USA is around 8 gigawatts – equivalent to the electricity production of eight large power plants.

2. Turn lights off when not in use

3. Change from incandescent lighting to CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) or LED

CFL bulbs save money and reduce carbon emissions

Green Tip of the Week: Bottled Water

Note: This week’s tip was written by Clayton Munnings, Campus Environmental Coordinator for SGA.

Another pervasive product with a severe environmental footprint, which can be eliminated by small lifestyle changes, is bottled water. In 2003, the average American consumed nearly 23 gallons of water.

For starters, plastic bottles are made from oil—an obvious problem. Oil is continually increasing in price and our peak oil production (many scientists believe) has already been reached, meaning scarcity will increase indefinitely. Why allocate an increasingly limited resource to the production of bottles? It is estimated that (if one includes all the energy into producing and transporting a bottle of water) that the amount of oil used to produce a single bottle would fill it 1/3 of the way.

The cost is reason enough to give up bottled water. The average price of a bottle of water is a buck. When one fills up a glass at the faucet, the cost of that water is a fraction of a penny. And quality is not a factor for Monroe County—we have some of the best water in the world. The quality of bottled water is equal to, perhaps less than, that of our tap water.

Lastly, proper disposal is rare. 40 million plastic water bottles go into the trash every day. Overall, only 12 percent of the plastic water bottles get recycled. The bottles are adding to landfills at an increasing rate. Recycling plastic bottles cuts down on the emissions that are inherent in burning fossil fuels to create new ones.

There are obvious solutions to this problem: purchase a Nalgene bottle or re-fill plastic water bottles more than once. Find a drinking fountain. And please, if you want to recycle your plastic bottle (or aluminum can) do NOT throw it into the knee-high blue recycling bins in your classroom. This will cause cross-contamination, because these recycling bins are meant for paper recycling only—the entire bin will be thrown in the garbage, paper included. Look for the chest high blue recycling bins that are for plastic bottles only. This is the proper way to recycle your bottles.