Bulletin Board

brunoandrasheed Environmentalist of the Year: Tom Bruno

Tom Bruno, shown here on the right, with fellow ENV Club member, Rasheed Lucas. Tom was honored as Environmentailist of the year on campus at Earthstick, 2013. He reflected: The environment has been my greatest passion. As I have grown and began to learn more about it and the importance of achieving sustainability I have been increasingly active in several initiatives. I am very proud of my field of study in Coastal Environmental Studies and think that focusing on protecting and restoring these critical areas will be important in managing human development in the future. The coastal environment is very dynamic and for generations we have attempted to permanently change it and only recently it has become a major issue as to how to adapt.
My experiences in several initiatives on and off campus have deemed me deserving of the Environmentalist of the Year award for 2013. For over a year I have volunteered for the Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island (CRESLI) in helping guide seal walks in Westhampton Beach. I also created a time series map of the change in location of a sandbar that lies in Moriches Bay where the seals hauled out during low tide. Last summer, I was employed by New York State Parks as an environmental steward in Montauk and protected Piping Plovers and other federally listed endangered and threatened species of birds and plants. While in Montauk I camped at Hither Hills State Park and grew a small garden. This past year I became Secretary of the Environmental Club and serve as an EcoLeader for the Office of Sustainability to implement sustainability initiatives on campus. During Winter 2013, I went to Costa Rica to study renewable energy and went on countless adventures while learning there. The study abroad experience provided me great knowledge and hands-on experience with renewable energy and how it could be implemented in the United States. This semester I am lab assistant for Jeffrey Levinton’s lab in Ecology and Evolution. I also currently intern at Sustainable Long Island which is a non-profit working on an economic revitalization project in Long Beach. This summer I plan on interning at CT Fund for the Environment -- a green infrastructure project. Part of the project’s focus is on improving the water quality of Long Island Sound as well as helping coastal CT be more resilient to hurricanes.

Hurricane Sandy Symposium - April 10, 2013

This symposium continued the discussion between academic and local communities of Long Island on the impacts of natural disaster, like Hurricane Sandy. The panel reviewed issues such as the post storm impacts (what have we learned), hazard preparation and avoidance, what is possible from future events, and what are some of the political and legal issues of our efforts. The format include talks from distinguished guest speakers and an open discussion from a panel forum.

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panelsandy From top left: Dr. Michael Sperazza, Geosciences & Sustainability Studies organized the symposium, Dr. Martin Schoonen, Geosciences & Sustainability Studies, Dr. Charles Flagg, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Mr. Michael White, Counsel at Anthony E. Core PC, former director of the LI Regional Planning Council, Dr. Malcom Bowman, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Ms. Anne Siders, J.D., Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School. The panel taking questions from the audience. The speakers were joined by Steven Englebright, State Assemblyman, and lecturer with Sustainability Studies. Faculty, Students, Staff, and Community members were welcome.

STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY STUDENT SELECTED FOR NATIONAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

PORTLAND, Ore. – May 15, 2013 – Stony Brook University student Richard Shelton has been selected as one of the nation's top rising young leaders in the sustainable energy sector by national non-profit organization Focus the Nation. Twenty students from across the country have been selected for their dedication, passion, and unique contribution to advancing sustainable energy in America. The young leaders—five each in the categories of Technician, Innovator, Politico, and Storyteller—will meet for one week on August 11th, 2013 on Oregon's Mt. Hood at the ReCharge! Retreat to explore an area of the country where energy is accelerating towards renewables.

Participants will hike Elliot Glacier, which has experienced 60 percent snowpack loss since 1982; tour the Boardman Coal Plant, scheduled to close by 2020; experience The Dalles Dam, located on the Columbia River and producing hydropower since 1957; and visit Biglow Canyon Wind Farm, which powers 125,000 homes in rural Oregon. Upon returning home, ReCharge! Delegates put what they learn at the retreat to use on their campus and in their communities by promoting sustainable energy solutions. Shelton is studying business management at Stony Brook and has been selected as a young leader in the Technician category. "[ReCharge! will] be an opportunity to learn valuable tools that I can bring back to my job as the project coordinator at Stony Brook University. There is a lot to be said about learning outside of the classroom or workplace and I think this would be an excellent opportunity to do so," says Shelton.

Focus the Nation created ReCharge! in collaboration with The Center for Whole Communities to address the need for rising leaders to approach energy challenges with innovative ideas and fortitude throughout their careers. ReCharge! is made possible through sponsorship by Bonneville Power Administration, EDP Renewables, KEEN Footwear, and Portland General Electric. Focus the Nation is the country's leading youth empowerment organization and supports rising leaders in launching careers that accelerate the transition to sustainable energy in all fifty states. Since 2008, the organization has helped more 300,000 young people engage in direct dialogue with business and elected leaders around energy solutions. For more information about Focus the Nation and ReCharge!, visit www.focusthenation.org/recharge or contact Sasha Tenzin at sasha@focusthenation.org.

Kathleen Furey, SUS alum is Education and Media Director of GMO FREE NY- (Genetically Modified Organisms)

Kathleen Furey, education and media director of GMO Free NY, has been busy criss-crossing Long Island, New York City and elsewhere in the state challenging GMOs and pressing for passage of the proposed law. Crops using GMOs were introduced commercially in the United States in 1996. But "Americans are still dining in the dark," said Ms. Furey in a recent presentation in Sag Harbor, New York. Ms. Furey, a graduate of Stony Brook University's Sustainability Studies Department with a degree in environmental humanities, said that now in the U.S., 885 of corn, 90% of sugar beets and 93% of soybeans are grown using GMO. Some 80% of "bottled, boxed or canned foods in the U.S." contain GMO ingredients. And livestock feed "is comprised mostly of GMO corn and soybeans." GMOs "dominate the agricultural landscape" of America today, she said. Read more about this topic at:

Media page: http://gmofreeny.net/inthemedia.html
Take Action page: http://gmofreeny.net/takeaction.htm

4/30/13: "Will NY Be the First State to Require Labeling of GMO Food?" -- Huffington Post
4/28/13: "GMO Food--Banning or Labeling It. And Is it Kosher?" -- The Times of Israel
4/26/13: "Frankenfish" -- Sag Harbor Press

NBC video from space on decades of global change: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/09/18150228-time-lapse-map-chronicles-decades-of-global-change-as-seen-from-space#.UYzhdyyW9KY.gmail

Masters Program available at SUNY Cortland: Please click here to find out more about the MS in Sustainable Energy from SUNY Cortland

test tube Sustainability Studies Faculty are awarded NSF grant : http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/happenings/facultystaff/sustainability-studies-faculty-receive-nsf-grant/

Sustainability Studies and Chemistry faculty member Kate Aubrecht and Sustainability Studies faculty members Arlene Cassidy, Jim Hoffmann, and Jim Quigley were recently awarded a grant from the NSF Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science (TUES) program for their project "Development, Implementation and Assessment of Novel Inquiry-based Interdisciplinary Materials on Sustainability for the Chemistry Curriculum". They will work collaboratively to create learning materials for three courses that address the chemistry of environmental processes, environmental degradation, energy production and the connections between chemistry-related and non-chemistry-related aspects of sustainability, such as economics and policy. Students will conduct meaningful research in the laboratory course by evaluating the effectiveness of solar-powered algal turf scrubbers to remove excess nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients from streams and coastal waters, as well as the suitability of using the resulting algal biomass as fertilizer.

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Check out some postings on blogs for Dr. Heidi Hutner

http://hutnersheroes.blogspot.com/?m=1

http://ecofeminism-mothering.blogspot.com/2012/06/clearwater-great-hudson-revival.html

http://ecofeminism-mothering.blogspot.com/2012/06/summer-course-overview.html

http://ecofeminism-mothering.blogspot.com/2012/06/poetry-by-my-student-michael-geddes.html

http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/04/30/fracking-as-a-toxic-trespass/

    contact page
  Local Newpaper picks up story about Sustainability Studies Program at SBU :
  Click here to read the article.

Check out what Campus Dining is Doing on Campus and their Commitment to Being Green :
http://campusdining.org/sustainability/sustainability_center.php

USA TODAY article on College students flocking to sustainability degrees, careers:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-08-02-sustainability-degrees_N.htm

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New York Times article on Green Jobs:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/fashion/new-wave-of-graduates-prefers-environmentally-friendly-jobs.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=green%20jobs%20attract%20graduates&st=cse

Environmental Stewardship and the Campus Community

Stony Brook is at the vanguard of the sustainability movement. Our commitment to a green future is evident everywhere on our 1,400 acres: from reducing our carbon footprint, to advocating recycling and using recycled materials whenever possible, to promoting alternatively fueled transportation. Please visit the below link for more information and campus initiatives. http://www.stonybrook.edu/sustainability/