Sustainability Week: New podcast, student art contest highlight environmental causes

Caitlin Shirts

October 19, 2020

schedule 3 min read
Photo/Artem Beliaikin

During Sustainability Week, Oct. 19-23, students can call attention to green initiatives by planting trees, making upcycled art, listening to a new environmental ethics podcast and attending virtual events.

The Sustainability Office, which works toward carbon neutrality and waste reduction on campus, sponsors this annual event. One of this year’s goals is to show that environmental awareness is about more than saving energy.

“Sustainability exists at UVU in ways that you wouldn’t immediately think of,” said sustainability coordinator Genevieve Richards. “I don’t think a lot of people think about ethics first when they think about sustainability.”

Chloe Loveland, a sophomore studying biology, hopes students will attend Sustainability Week to show the UVU community they value environmental issues.

“The hope is that more students learning about this will … rock the boat … and shake things up, and put more pressure on their university,” said Loveland. “We’re attending. We’re proud to be Wolverines. We’re here. We’re putting in the money. We expect UVU to care about the environment. We expect our university to stand up for what’s right and finding solutions.”

UCCU Center Lighting Upgrade

Sustainability Week is the planned start of the UCCU Center’s upgrade to LED lighting. The new fixtures will save energy and increase the light levels to NCAA regional broadcast standards.

Previously, fluorescent lights were supplemented with incandescent theatrical lights to meet broadcast standards. This caused uneven lighting and sometimes strobe effects as the ball moved through different rays of light.

“It will make broadcasts look better, but it will also make a better playing experience for the players and for the audience,” Richards said.

The upgrade is part of an ongoing project to replace all lights throughout the university with energy-saving LED lights. In the Hall of Flags, upgraded LED fixtures automatically sense the amount of daylight in the hall. As the sun moves across the sky, lights automatically turn off where the hall is naturally lit.

The Losee Center and the Computer Science building hallways have been replaced with LED fixtures most recently. 

Sustainability Week Events    

Oct. 20: Tree Planting. Students will help UVU Grounds and Landscaping replace sick trees around campus Tuesday. Sign up in advance to volunteer.

Oct. 21: Environmental Ethics Podcast Launch. A new podcast, presented by the Center for the Study of Ethics, will feature experts from across campus discussing environmental ethics.

Oct. 22: Water Wise Gardening Resource Site Launch. The UVU Native Garden and the Central Utah Water Conservancy District have partnered to provide this guide to “water-wise gardening.”

Oct. 23: Environmental Justice Panel. Faculty and students will discuss personal perspectives on environmental justice.

Week-long Event: Upcycled Art Competition. Students will make art with materials that would otherwise be thrown away. Submissions are open Oct. 19-30.

Online access to these events and the full schedule can be found at the Sustainability Office webpage.