Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Response to the letter
Wickramatung's last letter offers words I think many preceding him in death in similar circumstances would have written had they thought of it. He showed that journalism, when done as he did, is a duty, and not necessarily just a job. I'm stunned at thinking about how ideals and ethics, if held to in earnest, will go down with you to the grave. I've already learned that if I was in it for the money, I wouldn't do it, but this also puts into perspective how far someone will go to live for what they say they believe in, and that challenges me to focus on being more intentional with my career goals.
Sustainability measures increase despite budget
Where a B- once crowned WSU’s sustainability report card only a year ago, a C has now replaced it. Dwight Hagihara, the manager of environmental services at WSU, said the results come partly from a report not being filed on student involvement by a student coordinator and also legal constraints dealing with shareholders.
Though flawed from having one section absent and another incomplete without an adequate shareholder base, the report still has some importance, Hagihara said. Found on the non-profit and nationally utilized college GreenReportCard.org website, WSU’s grade is explained based on survey results submitted primarily by Hagihara and concerning the University’s current sustainability measures during a year marked by concerns with budget issues.
Despite budget cuts in other WSU facets, however, the school’s Environmental Health and Safety department is looking ahead into 2010 to decreased energy costs and increased sustainability efforts.
As director of the EH&S, Hagihara knows the ins and outs of sustainability on campus.
In a conference room in the EH&S Department building on the edge of campus, Hagihara discussed with John Reed, the manager of environmental services, and Gene Patterson, the manager of public health/air and water quality, how even with cuts in the department’s budget, sustainable measures are still in place to save energy, water and money.
Hagihara said alternative building materials, energy and water saving measures and the implementation of recycled paper and paper reduction policies are contributing to a more sustainable campus culture, despite the possible misgivings of the online report card.
“A lot of these projects are preventing and eliminating waste,” he said. “We don’t like to waste energy, we don’t like to waster water. There is a tremendous push from the legislature and also from President Floyd to reduce paper use,” Hagihara added.
Reed said up-front costs for green alternatives are relatively small compared to the savings in money and energy generated through the current sustainable measures in place.
“Like energy conservation projects—they have a certain payback period, then after that, you’re essentially making money; saving money,” Reed said.
Water costs at WSU were cut by over 1,000,000 gallons in 2009 after equipment upgrades to two chiller plants and operational changes were made, according to the EHS annual report released at the end of last month.
Patterson noted that water usage was at its “second lowest since ’61,” a figure also ranking second lowest in nearly 50 states, according to a Feb. 2 WSU Today online article.
Money isn’t necessarily saved by the amount of water that is, though. In talking about saved water, Patterson noted that “cost wise, it’s cheap.”
“If you have to invest a whole lot of money to save this much water, it could be hard to justify,” Reed said. “Now what we did with this chiller plant, we’re saving all kind of energy money, and it’s just efficient in a lot of ways. So it’s cost effective, definitely,” he said.
Other sustainable measures on campus include the closure of Troy Hall, of which Reed said is going will likely remain “moth-balled” to save on energy until a solution for it’s use can be determined.
Hagihara said sustainability has three components the University focuses on.
“The one everybody thinks of is environmental,” Hagihara said. “There’s also economic and social. True sustainability should address those three issues,” he said. “It should be sustainable for the environment, for financially – economics, and for the social issues, so that no one group gets discriminated against. That’s the goal. There should be a balance,” he added.
Hagihara cited the WSU Dining Services purchasing of organic tortillas from a small Spokane company using wheat developed by WSU researchers as fitting the three-part sustainable model.
“The financial has got to be financially sustainable,” he said. “You don’t want to waste money. And nor do you want to have to benefit one group completely over another,” Hagihara added.
The Green Report Card did point out some shortcomings in the sustainability efforts.
“We’re bound by law on how our foundation and endowments are invested, Hagihara said. “That’s why we’re getting an F there,” he said of the shareholders section of the report. Hagihara said the University does not have the same freedoms universities have when it comes to shareholders and investments and legal issues need to be addressed in order to see change.
Even with the current sustainable measures on campus, the report card poses some problems to the University.
"It takes time and time is money," Hagihara said about filling out the reports and forms necessary to compile survey information for the report card.
Reed said another group asked for $700 as a donation for EH&S to prepare and submit reports, in a similar fashion to the Green Report Card.
“That’s how you get an A rating,” Patterson joked.
Reed said for other sustainability surveys, there isn’t an actual cost. “You don’t write out a check, but it’s time,” Reed said.
“If students are going out and reading the darned things, they’re going to make a decision about which university they’re going to go to--there is a marketing advantage,” Hagihara said.
“So like the Princeton Review has one, and we fill that one out for that reason,” Hagihara said. “But otherwise, as a manager of time and money, you have to ask yourself ‘what’s the cost benefit here?’ We’re responsible for state funds. You don’t want us to waste money, either. We’ll spend time with students,” Hagihara concluded.
Though flawed from having one section absent and another incomplete without an adequate shareholder base, the report still has some importance, Hagihara said. Found on the non-profit and nationally utilized college GreenReportCard.org website, WSU’s grade is explained based on survey results submitted primarily by Hagihara and concerning the University’s current sustainability measures during a year marked by concerns with budget issues.
Despite budget cuts in other WSU facets, however, the school’s Environmental Health and Safety department is looking ahead into 2010 to decreased energy costs and increased sustainability efforts.
As director of the EH&S, Hagihara knows the ins and outs of sustainability on campus.
In a conference room in the EH&S Department building on the edge of campus, Hagihara discussed with John Reed, the manager of environmental services, and Gene Patterson, the manager of public health/air and water quality, how even with cuts in the department’s budget, sustainable measures are still in place to save energy, water and money.
Hagihara said alternative building materials, energy and water saving measures and the implementation of recycled paper and paper reduction policies are contributing to a more sustainable campus culture, despite the possible misgivings of the online report card.
“A lot of these projects are preventing and eliminating waste,” he said. “We don’t like to waste energy, we don’t like to waster water. There is a tremendous push from the legislature and also from President Floyd to reduce paper use,” Hagihara added.
Reed said up-front costs for green alternatives are relatively small compared to the savings in money and energy generated through the current sustainable measures in place.
“Like energy conservation projects—they have a certain payback period, then after that, you’re essentially making money; saving money,” Reed said.
Water costs at WSU were cut by over 1,000,000 gallons in 2009 after equipment upgrades to two chiller plants and operational changes were made, according to the EHS annual report released at the end of last month.
Patterson noted that water usage was at its “second lowest since ’61,” a figure also ranking second lowest in nearly 50 states, according to a Feb. 2 WSU Today online article.
Money isn’t necessarily saved by the amount of water that is, though. In talking about saved water, Patterson noted that “cost wise, it’s cheap.”
“If you have to invest a whole lot of money to save this much water, it could be hard to justify,” Reed said. “Now what we did with this chiller plant, we’re saving all kind of energy money, and it’s just efficient in a lot of ways. So it’s cost effective, definitely,” he said.
Other sustainable measures on campus include the closure of Troy Hall, of which Reed said is going will likely remain “moth-balled” to save on energy until a solution for it’s use can be determined.
Hagihara said sustainability has three components the University focuses on.
“The one everybody thinks of is environmental,” Hagihara said. “There’s also economic and social. True sustainability should address those three issues,” he said. “It should be sustainable for the environment, for financially – economics, and for the social issues, so that no one group gets discriminated against. That’s the goal. There should be a balance,” he added.
Hagihara cited the WSU Dining Services purchasing of organic tortillas from a small Spokane company using wheat developed by WSU researchers as fitting the three-part sustainable model.
“The financial has got to be financially sustainable,” he said. “You don’t want to waste money. And nor do you want to have to benefit one group completely over another,” Hagihara added.
The Green Report Card did point out some shortcomings in the sustainability efforts.
“We’re bound by law on how our foundation and endowments are invested, Hagihara said. “That’s why we’re getting an F there,” he said of the shareholders section of the report. Hagihara said the University does not have the same freedoms universities have when it comes to shareholders and investments and legal issues need to be addressed in order to see change.
Even with the current sustainable measures on campus, the report card poses some problems to the University.
"It takes time and time is money," Hagihara said about filling out the reports and forms necessary to compile survey information for the report card.
Reed said another group asked for $700 as a donation for EH&S to prepare and submit reports, in a similar fashion to the Green Report Card.
“That’s how you get an A rating,” Patterson joked.
Reed said for other sustainability surveys, there isn’t an actual cost. “You don’t write out a check, but it’s time,” Reed said.
“If students are going out and reading the darned things, they’re going to make a decision about which university they’re going to go to--there is a marketing advantage,” Hagihara said.
“So like the Princeton Review has one, and we fill that one out for that reason,” Hagihara said. “But otherwise, as a manager of time and money, you have to ask yourself ‘what’s the cost benefit here?’ We’re responsible for state funds. You don’t want us to waste money, either. We’ll spend time with students,” Hagihara concluded.
# # #
Outline
1. Lede
2. Nutgraf - current budget v. sustainability
3. Sustainability measures
4. What is sustainability?
5. Back to the report card
2. Nutgraf - current budget v. sustainability
3. Sustainability measures
4. What is sustainability?
5. Back to the report card
Sources
John Reed
Manager of Environmental Services
johnreed@wsu.edu
Dwight Hagihara
Director of Environmental Health & Safety
hagihara@wsu.edu
Gene Patterson
Manager of Public Health/Air & Water Quality
gpatters@wsu.edu
Manager of Environmental Services
johnreed@wsu.edu
Dwight Hagihara
Director of Environmental Health & Safety
hagihara@wsu.edu
Gene Patterson
Manager of Public Health/Air & Water Quality
gpatters@wsu.edu
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Story pitch
The story I'd like to work on focuses on WSU's sustainability efforts during the current economic climate. This year WSU's sustainability grade on the sustainability college report card dropped. What I'll talking about is how WSU is working through keeping sustainability efforts up despite working with their current budget... this includes meeting silver LEED certifications for building and renovation projects, dining hall food purchase standards, etc. The question will be whether the university is able to continue choosing green and more costly options over cheap and more non-recyclable ones.
Some possible sources to look at:
Survey results for the sustainability report card
WSU Environmental Management System Report
American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment
Silver-LEED minimum building requriements
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Testing security
I would allow the reporter to test security if there was a reasonable suspicion that airport security was not adhering to TSA security standards, and, of course, there was no law saying one could not do that. I would also check into possibly having a marshall accompany the reporter, if I knew that that wouldn't blow their cover. People getting through security with box-cutters is newsworthy and it shows careless behaviors by security workers that puts others at risk. I would
Local festival director gears up for next event
PULLMAN - At the front desk in the Pullman Chamber of Commerce building, Mary MacDonald stands beside a couple who is considering moving to the city and explains to them what they can look forward to as residents. Talking to potential residents is not always one of her duties, however. MacDonald works as the director of the National Lentil Festival. With less than five months left until the event, MacDonald said planning for the 22nd Annual National Lentil Festival is already months underway.
“This is one of those festivals that lasts two days, but for me lasts more like ten months,” MacDonald said.
The Palouse native MacDonald has planned two previous festivals, both of which she said enter planning phases the October following the previous festival.
MacDonald’s planning efforts are not done alone. MacDonald heads a committee of 15 to 20 committee members each with specific responsibilities, including a cook-off chair, microbrewery chair and a Little Lentil King and Queen coordinator.
Previous to her appointment to the position, she said her serving on the US Dry Pea and Lentil Council in Moscow, paired with her experience as a fifth generation farmer and holder of leadership positions, helped prepare her for her current role.
Planning for MacDonald includes what she calls her near “three-inch-thick to-do list” and what she describes as “a lot of 18 hour days.”
For each of the two festivals she has organized, she said the most challenging aspects of the job come from recruiting enough volunteers, which she said often number an estimated 300 people.
MacDonald said the festival’s history shows how much it has changed.
The first festival was in 1989 and was originally held every two months until the festival committee decided a change was needed due to low turnouts, MacDonald said.
“It was great but really small and really mediocre,” MacDonald said. “Then we decided to put all our energy into one festival every year,” she said of the festival committee.
MacDonald said the idea of showcasing the lentil came from careful consideration of local agriculture and ultimately deciding on a crop not typically highlighted by a community.
“Nobody celebrates lentils because they don’t know what they are,” she said.
MacDonald said the uniqueness of creating a festival around lentils helped build more interest in it due to the curiosity it raises.
With an estimated 98 percent of lentils grown in the United States being produced in Whitman County, Pullman is living up to its reputation as the lentil capital of the country.
Pullman isn’t the only city showcasing crops as the iconic symbols of their community festivals, though.
Every year during the last full weekend in July, people flock to Gilroy, California for the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival. The City of Opelousas, Louisiana hosts the Yambilee Festival in honor of the local sweet potato crops. And in Fairborn, Ohio, crowds gather for corn shucking at the Sweet Corn Festival.
Events like these are part of an even larger industry, as the International Festivals & Events Association, or IFEA, notes on their website.
The IFEA website states that on a global scale, four to five million regular and re-occurring events and festivals are held each year, a number the site also claims contributes to a trillion dollar economic impact in US currency on the world market.
MacDonald, who attended IFEA’s 53rd annual international festival convention last year in Boise, Idaho, said festival organizers are constantly looking to find new ways of making their events better through improved sponsorship strategies, event ideas and also how to make festivals more environmentally sound.
As with other festival directors, developing a more “green” festival is something MacDonald said the Nation Lentil Festival Committee is working toward.
An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 people attend the National Lentil Festival each year, numbers MacDonald said were calculated based on average pounds of garbage generated per one attendee in the past.
With a push to become more recycle-oriented, the committee no longer uses the method of calculating attendees because of lower garbage generation, but instead looks to calculations made based on food consumption.
MacDonald said the overall benefits to the community are a high priority.
With a budget of about $50,000 granted by the City of Pullman on top of additional money brought in through sponsoring, the festival committee works to keep a sustainable event with low costs to participants paying for participation fees in the sports activities offered, MacDonald said.
MacDonald said most years the event breaks even in revenue, but sometimes is under and rarely slightly over the initial costs at the end of the event.
Despite these outcomes, community members remain confident in the overall benefits of the festival.
Monique Slipher, an employee at Bruised Books in Pullman, said she has worked during the festival in her 15 years of employment at different Main Street and nearby businesses and has seen a positive effect on the local economy.
“It draws a lot of people to town,” she said. “It’s probably the biggest thing in Pullman for the year,” she added.
Gunnar Nordquist, a WSU student who has attended the festival in previous years, said the festival provides an opportunity for the community to come together.
“It defines Pullman,” he added.
For now, MacDonald is continuing her campaign to build her sponsorship base and her festival organizing.
“For Pullman it’s a sense of pride,” she said. “Pullman is the home of WSU and the National Lentil Festival,” she added.
“This is one of those festivals that lasts two days, but for me lasts more like ten months,” MacDonald said.
The Palouse native MacDonald has planned two previous festivals, both of which she said enter planning phases the October following the previous festival.
MacDonald’s planning efforts are not done alone. MacDonald heads a committee of 15 to 20 committee members each with specific responsibilities, including a cook-off chair, microbrewery chair and a Little Lentil King and Queen coordinator.
Previous to her appointment to the position, she said her serving on the US Dry Pea and Lentil Council in Moscow, paired with her experience as a fifth generation farmer and holder of leadership positions, helped prepare her for her current role.
Planning for MacDonald includes what she calls her near “three-inch-thick to-do list” and what she describes as “a lot of 18 hour days.”
For each of the two festivals she has organized, she said the most challenging aspects of the job come from recruiting enough volunteers, which she said often number an estimated 300 people.
MacDonald said the festival’s history shows how much it has changed.
The first festival was in 1989 and was originally held every two months until the festival committee decided a change was needed due to low turnouts, MacDonald said.
“It was great but really small and really mediocre,” MacDonald said. “Then we decided to put all our energy into one festival every year,” she said of the festival committee.
MacDonald said the idea of showcasing the lentil came from careful consideration of local agriculture and ultimately deciding on a crop not typically highlighted by a community.
“Nobody celebrates lentils because they don’t know what they are,” she said.
MacDonald said the uniqueness of creating a festival around lentils helped build more interest in it due to the curiosity it raises.
With an estimated 98 percent of lentils grown in the United States being produced in Whitman County, Pullman is living up to its reputation as the lentil capital of the country.
Pullman isn’t the only city showcasing crops as the iconic symbols of their community festivals, though.
Every year during the last full weekend in July, people flock to Gilroy, California for the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival. The City of Opelousas, Louisiana hosts the Yambilee Festival in honor of the local sweet potato crops. And in Fairborn, Ohio, crowds gather for corn shucking at the Sweet Corn Festival.
Events like these are part of an even larger industry, as the International Festivals & Events Association, or IFEA, notes on their website.
The IFEA website states that on a global scale, four to five million regular and re-occurring events and festivals are held each year, a number the site also claims contributes to a trillion dollar economic impact in US currency on the world market.
MacDonald, who attended IFEA’s 53rd annual international festival convention last year in Boise, Idaho, said festival organizers are constantly looking to find new ways of making their events better through improved sponsorship strategies, event ideas and also how to make festivals more environmentally sound.
As with other festival directors, developing a more “green” festival is something MacDonald said the Nation Lentil Festival Committee is working toward.
An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 people attend the National Lentil Festival each year, numbers MacDonald said were calculated based on average pounds of garbage generated per one attendee in the past.
With a push to become more recycle-oriented, the committee no longer uses the method of calculating attendees because of lower garbage generation, but instead looks to calculations made based on food consumption.
MacDonald said the overall benefits to the community are a high priority.
With a budget of about $50,000 granted by the City of Pullman on top of additional money brought in through sponsoring, the festival committee works to keep a sustainable event with low costs to participants paying for participation fees in the sports activities offered, MacDonald said.
MacDonald said most years the event breaks even in revenue, but sometimes is under and rarely slightly over the initial costs at the end of the event.
Despite these outcomes, community members remain confident in the overall benefits of the festival.
Monique Slipher, an employee at Bruised Books in Pullman, said she has worked during the festival in her 15 years of employment at different Main Street and nearby businesses and has seen a positive effect on the local economy.
“It draws a lot of people to town,” she said. “It’s probably the biggest thing in Pullman for the year,” she added.
Gunnar Nordquist, a WSU student who has attended the festival in previous years, said the festival provides an opportunity for the community to come together.
“It defines Pullman,” he added.
For now, MacDonald is continuing her campaign to build her sponsorship base and her festival organizing.
“For Pullman it’s a sense of pride,” she said. “Pullman is the home of WSU and the National Lentil Festival,” she added.
# # #
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