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• “We thought we’d expand on the idea of health and do an event about creating a healthy environment at home.”

  Janiece Kiedrowski

  Chair, Professional Staff Senate

By LAUREN NEWKIRK MAYNARD

Published: October 7, 2009

A solar panel that powers your garage workshop without a blink from your electric bill. A rain barrel that waters the garden and helps relieve the local sewer system. A car you never have to take to the mechanic or fill with gas.

Information on these and other environmentally savvy products, technologies and services will be provided for UB employees and students at A Greener Shade of Blue and You Day, to be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 20 in the Center for the Arts atrium. The free event is sponsored by the Professional Staff Senate, UB Green, Campus Dining and Shops, and the Faculty Senate.

More than 30 local businesses and nonprofit organizations are participating to help consumers learn how to “green” their homes and lives with environmentally responsible, energy-efficient products and lifestyle choices. There will be door prizes, a raffle and presentations given by several environmental experts and consultants from Buffalo Niagara Riverkeepers, a waterways conservation non-profit; EcoLogic Home, a Buffalo-based energy-conservation consultancy; and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

The event is part of UB’s ongoing Greener Shade of Blue environmental awareness campaign that launched during former Vice President Al Gore’s 2007 appearance on campus, and modeled after PSS’s popular Wellness Awareness Day health fair for faculty and staff.

“We thought we’d expand on the idea of health and do an event about creating a healthy environment at home,” says Janiece Kiedrowski, chair of the PSS. She and other event organizers from units across the university hope to see the event grow.

In conjunction with the green expo, Campus Dining and Shops will hold a Pride of New York Showcase of local and statewide food vendors that partner with UB. Look for the tents—and some friendly cows—outside the CFA on the special events field adjacent to the Commons, where there will be displays and samples from Upstate Farms, Rosina Foods, Perry’s Ice Cream, Wardynski’s, Costanzo’s Bakery, Rich Products and Desiderio’s.

“With the help of our partners, who represent this region’s many eco-friendly resources, we want to provide UB staff, faculty and students with the tools to become better stewards and help build more sustainable communities,” says Jim Simon of UB Green.

Kerri Bentkowski Li, citizen action coordinator for Buffalo Niagara Riverkeepers, says her organization is proud to participate in A Greener Shade of Blue and You. “It's a great opportunity for faculty, staff, and students to learn more about our local watershed and the most pressing water-pollution issues impacting the Buffalo and Niagara rivers,” she says. “Participants will go home with relevant river-smart techniques that they can immediately apply to their own lives."

Event attendees are encouraged to donate old cell phones to one of two local reuse and recycling programs that benefit the Buffalo Zoo—whose program also helps protect African gorillas—and Haven House, a Buffalo shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic abuse. Two donation bins will be provided at the event.

For a complete list of vendors and more information about A Greener Shade of Blue and You Day, click here.