Thank you for a fun and engaging Sustainabilty Month! View highlights from some of our 37 events in the video above.

The UB School of Social Work's annual symposium will address water rights, environmental justice, implications for social work, and human rights. This event will feature 3 important presentations by speakers who are experts in different areas of evironmental justice. There will also be panel that will feature local activists and responders to environmental issues.

Thursday, March 29, 2018

1:30 – 8:30 p.m. 

403 Hayes Hall, South Campus

In conjunction with DSS speaker James Balog’s visit to UB and Earth Day on April 22^nd, the Libraries will be featuring a book display with a theme of sustainability/climate change. The display will begin on April 2^nd  in the lobby of Lockwood Library and run for the entire month.

Some books of note are This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein, The Long-Legged House by Wendel Berry, and Deep Economy: The Wealth of communities and the Durable Future by Bill Mckibben. 

Think big. Think broad. Think collaboratively.

The World's Challenge Challenge calls on students to solve some of the problems facing the world. In teams of three, students from diverse backgrounds will choose one idea and relate it to one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the global community. It is an engaging opportunity for students to gain real-world experience through social innovation and entrepreneurship.

Film Screening/Documentary - in honor of Earth Day and UB's Sustainability Month.

Activists and thought leaders in the realms of science, economics and spirituality discuss how we can take action in the face of climate disruption. Featuring Bill McKibben, Joanna Macy,Roger Payne, Richard Heinberg, Gus Speth, Stephanie Kaza, Nikki Cooley and Ben Falk. Refreshments will be served.

Join us for our sustainability themed movie series Thursday, April 5 at 6pm in 305 Capen (inside Silverman Library). We are privileged to present Chasing Ice (2012, 1hr 15 min, documentary) directed by Jeff Orlowski.

A multi-year record of the world’s glaciers melting due to climate change is documented in stunning time-lapse photography. This Oscar nominated, 2014 Emmy award-winning film for Outstanding Nature Programming is breathtaking.

A brief introduction precedes the movie and a discussion after the movie will be led by Fred Stoss, Librarian: Biological, Ecology and Geosciences, & Mathematics. With degrees in biology, zoology and information studies, and nearly a decade of research work in toxicology and environmental health, Stoss has dedicated his professional and personal life to climate change, sustainability research and environmental advocacy.

This film is presented by University Libraries with co-sponsorship from UB’s Professional Staff Sustainable Living Committee and UB’s Sustainability office.

Time: 6 - 8 p.m.

Location:305 Silverman

North Campus

Sustainability has become mainstream, and business schools now discuss the importance of a sustainability perspective to every aspect of management. Yet many environmental problems continue to become more pressing. What are the next steps to take?

Hear from Andrew Hoffman -Holcim Professor of Sustainable Enterprise from the University of Michigan.

Noon-1 p.m.

102 Alfiero Center

Eco-Performance Lab is a creative workshop for a mixed group of artists and non-artists to confront
ecological crises through theater. Beginning with a presentation of research and culminating in short
performances made by participants, The Lab is an introduction to Superhero Clubhouse’s approach to
theater-making, offering tools to explore questions about who we are and how we move forward in
our new, turbulent reality. This exciting workshop is lead by Jeremy Pickard and Zelda Soussan, produced in partnership with UB Sustainability. 

1-6 p.m. 

The Boiler Room 

500 Seneca Street

Buffalo, NY 

with Susan Attridge, Recycling Coordinator of Buffalo's Department of Public Works

(Environmental Network club event, ALL invited. Questions, contact Pamela Chong, pchong2@buffalo.edu)

6:30pm  119 Clemens Hall

The School of Architecture and Planning is convening leading scholars and practitioners across the planning, architecture and real estate development professions to explore current conditions and future trends in housing policy, design and finance, and to consider new models for high-quality, affordable housing. The symposium kicks off a new program at the school to design and build affordable housing prototypes for Buffalo and cities like it across the U.S. 

Student Engagement is once again hosting a “UB Yard Sale” in the Student Union lobby on April 12^th and 13^th. All proceeds raised at this sale will be donated to the John R. Oishei Children's Hospital.

If you have some gently used items that you want to donate to our sale, we would love to take them off your hands! We will have volunteers available to receive and sort your donations in Student Union room 145 on April 9^th, 10^th and 11^th between 9am and 4pm.

We are looking for household items, kid’s toys and books, clean clothing, small appliances and electronics, school supplies, un-opened toiletries and cleaning supplies. This year we will also be accepting non-perishable food and toiletries to donate to the Food Bank of WNY. We will not accept opened food, bedding or broken items.

Don’t forget to come shop at the sale as well! We will be set up in the Student Union Lobby on April 12^th and 13th 10am to 6pm. We are only able to accept cash at the sale.

If you have any questions, please contact Rachel DiDomizio at racheld@buffalo.edu. 

Balog and the EIS team were featured in the 2012 internationally acclaimed, award–winning documentary “Chasing Ice” and in the 2009 PBS "NOVA" special “Extreme Ice.” “Chasing Ice” won an Emmy Award in 2014 and was short-listed for an Oscar. It has been screened at the White House, in the U.S. Congress, in the U.K. House of Commons and at the United Nations. It has been the subject of features on “NBC Nightly News,” “ABC Nightline,” “The Late Show with David Letterman,” PBS’s “Moyers & Company,” and “Real Time with Bill Maher.” National Geographic showcased the Extreme Ice Survey in 2007, 2010 and 2013.

UB Wellfest brings together vendors from the WNY area to address all dimensions of your wellness, including aspects of your financial well-being. This year's Wellfest is a comprehensive family event focused on wellness. Employees, faculty and family members are all welcome to attend. 

This free event can help you with all aspects of wellness:  emotional, physical, mental and social. Sponsored by Wellness and Work/Life Balance, UB Human Resources and Harmony Expositions, the leading worksite health-and-wellness company in Western New York, Wellfest will feature vendors from the UB community, as well as the larger WNY area.   

Enjoy free:

• Health screenings offered by UBMD
• Health demonstrations
• Chair massages
• Healthy food samples
• Prizes and giveaways 

Time: 10am-2pm

Location: Center for the Arts

To coincide with Earth Day, this year’s Summit celebrates women’s contributions to advancing sustainability. Join us for an unforgettable keynote interview between SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson and Liesl Folks, Dean of UB’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Discover what’s current in sustainability, science and policy with local thought leaders who are building sustainable solutions and influencing sustainable change. Meet organizations that support diversity and sustainability initiatives at our Information Fair. 

Don’t miss this opportunity to be inspired, grow and connect with us!

Join us for a free bike registration and tune-up, and learn all about UB BikeShare sponsored by UB Parking and Transportation, UB Sustainability, Campus Living, and UBPD.

11-2pm 

Thursday, April 19th at the Student Union

Friday, April 20th at the Main Circle Bus Loop on South Campus

STEM is not new. April 25th is the 65th anniversary of the landmark paper in the journal, Nature, authored by James Watson and Francis Crick that provide a chemical model of the DNA Molecule.

Rosalind Franklin pioneered and photographed the helix structure of DNA using X-ray crystallography more than 65 years ago. James Watson, Maurice Wilkins, and Francis Crick received the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (Franklin died in 1958 and Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously). What was Franklin’s contribution to the structure of the DNA molecule. Let's set the record straight.

A brief introduction precedes the movie and a discussion after the movie will be led byFred Stoss, Librarian: Biological, Ecology and Geosciences, & Mathematics. With degrees in biology, zoology and information studies, and nearly a decade of research work in toxicology and environmental health, Stoss has dedicated his professional and personal life to climate change, sustainability research and environmental advocacy.

This film is presented by University Libraries with co-sponsorship from UB’s Professional Staff Sustainable Living Committee and UB’s Sustainability office.

305 Silverman

6-8pm

The ecological crisis and social crisis are interconnected. Exploitation of the earth and injustice to the more vul-nerable members of society are rooted in the same causes.

Fossil fuel based Industrial agriculture is an example. It is contributing to desertification, the water crisis, biodi-versity erosion and Green house gas emissions as I have analysed in my book Soil not Oil. Destruction of Biodiversity and soil health is leading to hunger and malnutrition. Displacement of farmers is leading to conflicts.

30 years of Navdanya's work on conserving biodiversity and justice for small farmers shows how we can address the ecological crises and social crisis. We are producing more nutrition per acres, helping farmers increase their incomes while regenerating soil fertility, water, biodiversity, and repairing carbon and nitrogen cycles thus ad-dressing climate change.

The links to policy will also be addressed.

CFA Screening Room

2:30-3pm Networking

3-4:30pm Lecture and Discussion 

UB Sustainability will be exhibiting works from students in the Project Space at the Center for the Arts that reflect themes of the environment and resiliency. 

Exhibition runs from April 20-26th.

Opening reception
April 20th
6:00 - 8:00 pm 
The Project Space, Center for the Arts 

The next big clean energy ideas will be presented at the Transforming Our Tomorrow clean energy symposium. Students from across the state will present their work on changing the way we produce our energy to a more sustainable and resilient system. 

4-5:30 p.m.

306 Clemens Hall

We live in complicated and changing times—perhaps more than at any other time in modern history.  Long-term prosperity, growth and more holistic returns on investments are increasingly influenced by major megatrends like climate change, finite resources, a growing global population with diversified needs and the new lifestyle preferences of millennials and Z’s.  World leaders, innovators, investors, key thought leaders and forward looking higher education institutions are transitioning from a linear based economy to one that is more circular, regenerative, inclusive and effective.  This session will move beyond the stereotype of tree hugging environmentalists and dig deeper into how all of us at UB can strive to evolve, build resilience and minimize our environmental footprint by leveraging this more holistic broader sustainability approach that works to steward our natural resources, empower our staff, students, faculty and community while creating smart long term financially efficient strategies.  This purpose through people, planet and penciling approach is the core of our internal strategy to achieve the University’s overarching goals but is also a practical approach to thinking about our everyday business practices in a way that supports greater efficiency and cost savings in areas such as, but not limited to, procurement, financial reporting, budgeting and overall financial decision-making.

Location: Buffalo Marriott

Celebrate all things clean energy with Environmental SA, UB Sustainability and the Education and Leadership Fellows in Sustainability. See solar panels, hear from business leaders in the clean energy field, and participate in fun solar activities. Plus, free food! 

11-2pm

Student Union Lobby

Get on your bike and ride with Parking and Transportation! Enjoy a causual and fun bicycle ride to kick of the season.

Meets at 2:45pm at the Spaulding Lot (across from basketball courts)

Ride begins at 3pm sharp.

Bring your clothing, computers, monitors, televisions, networking devices, printers, scanners, microwaves, iPods, cell phones, telephones and more to the PSS' annual electronics recycling event! 

This event is for personal items only, not ones that are property of the university. Please do not bring liquids, bulbs, large appliances, or lawn equipment.

Sponsored by the PSS Sustainable Living Committee

7:30am-3pm

Center for Tomorrow Lot

The 14th Annual Celebration of Student Academic Excellence will be taking place on Thursday, April 26, 2018. Come join the UB community as we gather to recognize and celebrate the outstanding academic contributions of our students, faculty, and research mentors. The event will feature presentations from students participating in research and creative works followed by a formal recognition ceremony with President Tripathi honoring select individuals for their contributions to academic excellence.

The deadline to submit an abstract is Fri., March 16 at 11:59 p.m. Interested students can access applications on the online portal.

Questions, comments and concerns can be directed to the CURCA Graduate Assistant, Meghan Lipinoga, at prov.mllipino@provost.buffalo.edu.

This cohort study is designed to characterize the burden of pregnant women’s air pollution exposure and explore how it might affect miscarriage, gestational complication, birth outcomes and infant health. Intrauterine exposure to air pollution has been hypothesized to impart multiple-level health threats. First, airborne insults may cause pregnancy complications which are closely related to maternal and neonatal mortality. Second, airborne insults can interfere fetus development, lead to loss of pregnancy and affect birth outcome. Third, intrauterine exposure may also influence neonatal survival, infant development as well as the potential of developing diseases in adulthood. The proposed study aims to address environmental inequity in this vulnerable population. Project team members will recruit and follow-up 200 pregnant women from participating hospitals in Beijing. The aims of the pilot study include: 1) Recruit pregnant women from each participating hospital and retain the cohort through the follow-up period; 2) Assess the feasibility of using personal air sensor in characterizing maternal air pollution exposure at each trimester; 3) Collect and process biological samples.

4-5 p.m.

220 Hayes Hall 

South Campus

Think you know your Clean Energy Trivia? Test your skills and win some prizes!

11-1 pm

210 Student Union

Take part in the restoration of Lake LaSalle's riparian and wetland habitat by installing a variety of native shrubs, perennials, and tress to enhance ecological and community value. 

Two opportunities to help:

10:00a.m. -12:00p.m.

OR

1:00-3:00p.m.

North Shore of Lake LaSalle, across from Oozefest Pits 

The Experiential Learning Network (ELN) is showcasing their Sophomore Living Learning Community's projects this year. Each one is focused on sustainability and range from renewable energy to food waste. Come support your fellow UB students! 

2:30-4:30p.m.

107 Capen Hall

It is no longer clear how the axiom “money is power” still holds—if it ever did—in an era of cryptocurrencies, local currencies, free trade zones as financial instruments, “cheap nature” and resource extraction, offshore tax havens, and their leaks in things like the paradise papers. The terms “making” and “money” both mutate with their globally distributed technological, financial and legal frameworks now independent of national regulations.

Common to and between all these mutations, a new relationship to the physicality of money appears: what is the matter and materiality of money? What is the current physicality of value? Currency and matter both resonate with multiple significations today, and invoke the need to examine the “making of money” from multiple disciplinary perspectives. This symposium brings together a range of voices contributing to possible answers for these questions, from fields including Philosophy, Art, Architecture, Computer Science, Community Activism and more. Participants will variously examine different forms of money—objects, life and spaces—for their physicalities, or matters.

Through workshops, talks and panel discussions, “Matters of Currency” will shed new light on money-power relations as mirrored in changing relations to technological and material transformations in the world today.

MoneyLab #5: Matters of Currency
April 27–28, 2018
Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center
341 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202

What:  Build Day was a project started at ESW National where the focus would be for a campus ESW chapter would collaborate with a local organization in their community utilizing sustainable engineering practices. We are currently working with The Buffalo Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in order to create a solar powered auto irrigating garden table. This table collects the water from the solar panel, stores the water in a re purposed water barrel, uses the energy generated to auto irrigate itself and of course provides a space for the residents to congregate and garden during the summer months. This project has been a collaboration between ESW-National, ESW-UB, and Awesome Buffalo. Awesome Buffalo actually chose our design as a winner and is funding a large portion of the project! You can see our design and further information on the project here! 

Event: We will be constructing our design and taking part in a community celebration all in one day! Our focus for the day of the build is to be not only a celebration on the construction of this design but also a celebration of our two communities coming together! There will be our club there to answer questions about what we do, ESW-Cornell to talk about their awesome projects, yard games, light food, and even a possibility of live music! 

When:  April 28th, 2018 from 12pm - 5pm ( we don't expect the build to take that long but have the space reserved for that amount of time)

Where:  1014 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14209

Who can come?:  ANYONE! Obviously the more people that are there the less each individual may be able to construct but we want to welcome anyone who may be interested and will most certainly find something for everyone to do! 

When given a choice in a free market, Americans chose to live in densely populated cities having streetcars over owning and driving cars. In order to survive and thrive, the automotive industry concluded the ability to choose must be taken away, ending the free market. This is the story of how the choice between streetcars and private automobiles was eliminated, resulting in neighborhood destroying highway infrastructure, urban sprawl, and segregation.

A brief introduction precedes the movie and a discussion after the movie will be led by Jim Gordon, chair of UB’s Professional Staff Alternative Transportation Subcommittee.

This movie is presented by University Libraries with co-sponsorship from UB’s Professional Staff Sustainable Living Committee and UB’s Sustainability office.

Parking is free in UB Student, Faculty, and Staff parking lots after 3:00pm
NFTA ride sharing routes #35 and #44 use Flint Circle stop

6-7:30pm

305 Silverman

Speakers

Mark Shima

Mark is a leading international expert on next generation solar manufacturing, and has overseen factories in Oregon and across Asia. He now leads the Buffalo manufacturing site.

Liesl Folks (Moderator) 

An internationally recognized expert in nanotechnology and magnetism, holding 14 U.S. patents, Liesl oversees a nationally ranked program at UB that includes approximately 6,000 students.

Bill Ulfelder

With Bill’s leadership, TNC is raising unprecedented resources, investing in cutting-edge science, connecting with new audiences, and increasing awareness of key environmental issues. 

Location: Hotel Henry

The Office of Inclusive Excellence will hold UB’s first Inclusive Excellence Summit May 3-4, 2018 on UB's North Campus. 

Location: UB North Campus

Time: 8 a.m. -4:30 p.m.