This section contains all the highlights from previous meetings, in case you missed them. Don't worry, we'll forgive you. Just make sure to come next time!

Hey folks! The week is almost over! I hope you all have tizight plans for the weekend. I know I do. They involve more disc golf and racquetball. It's NIIIIIIICE.

Thank you to everyone who showed up to our first meeting yesterday! I counted over 20 people, which is freakin' sweet! Hopefully, we'll continue to have such awesome attendance in our new awesome location. As always, we'll meet next Tuesday at 5PM in the Greenhouse. Here's a rundown of what we discussed yesterday:

• We talked about the Duke Energy Cliffsides project hearing and our wonderful turn out. A large group of Earth Clubbers got together last Friday night at the Flying Saucer to hammer out a short letter to send to the NC Utilities Commission telling them to deny Duke Energy's request to expand their Cliffsides coal plant project. We read the letter aloud and after getting everyone to sign it, we gave it to Brad for further editing and additions. A big thanks go to him for taking the time to work on it!
• We discussed the Spring Student Organization Showcase, which will be next Wednesday, January 24th, from 11 AM to 1 PM. We talked about getting everyone we can to come out and chill at the table for a while. We're going to distribute handbills about the An Inconvenient Truth showing and display our survey results for the entire campus to see. We'd love to have as many people show up as possible to help out, so reply or shoot us an email if you think you'd like to help.
• The Recycling Office will be showing An Inconvenient Truth in the Storrs Auditorium, which is on the first floor, on January 29th at 4:30 and 6:30. Earth Club will have a table outside of the auditorium with all sorts of neat pamphlets, so stop by and visit.
• The 4th Annual Southeastern Student Renewable Energy Conference will be held the weekend of February 16-18 at Clemson University. We would love to get as many people to come as possible. I think I mentioned that we have a goal of 10 people. It's $20 to register before February 7th, and we're trying to work out a deal with the Recycling Office to see if we can get them to pay half of the registration fee. Meals and lodging are included in the fee, as well as a badass t-shirt. We'd like to register everyone who's able to go before February 7th, since it'll cost $30 after the 7th. Send us an email if you'd like to join us!
• The Recycling Center has started planning for Earth Day, and Elena and I are on the committee. If you have any ideas about what you'd like to see at Earth Day, let us know! We're going to have a table, and we're considering bringing samples of vegan and vegetarian food like we did last year. We'll start planning Earth Club's role in Earth Day in the near future.
• Tara is looking into getting Earth Club to adopt a nearby stream. We'll let you know more about that when we have more details.
• We're thinking about having a disc golf tournament later in the semester. Let us know what you think.

That's about it for now! We'll have our planning meeting on Friday at 5 PM in my apartment, Squires 141. Everyone is welcome! We may even go out to dinner afterward or something, who knows. Have a good weekend, and if anyone is up for playing disc golf or racquetball this weekend, shoot an email or call my phone. A group of us usually go every weekend, and anyone is welcome.

Yours Green-ly,

John Avery

Hey folks! I just want to remind everyone that our first meeting of the Spring is tomorrow at 5 PM in the Greenhouse, which is behind McEniry. We'll meet in the parking lot and move inside from there.

See you tomorrow!

John Avery

Hey folks! I cannot tell you how thrilled I was with the turnout last night for the Duke Energy coal plant hearing. Earth Club was out in FORCE. We had 9 people representing us last night. NINE!!! That's incredible!!! We showed the community that environmental activism and awareness is not dead amongst the students of UNCC. Believe me, that is something of which we can be proud. AND Ivory has a live shot on News 14, which will probably be on throughout the day. In the words of Ali G, "das wicked!"

However, we unfortunately did not get a chance to speak at the actual hearing because of two reasons: the length of time it took to get everything settled within the venue and the incredible amount of people who appeared to speak. Thankfully, that does not rule out our chance to provide testimony to the NC Utilities Commission. We have until the 19th to send them a letter, so anyone who is interested in doing that should let us know. I figured we might draft a letter and get as many members to sign it as we can.

On the weekend of February 16th-18th, the 4th Annual Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference is going to be held in Clemson, SC. Earth Club definitely needs to make a HUGE showing for this. 3 of us went last year, and it was a blast! It's a chance to meet other students from around the Southeast who are working to accomplish the same goals we are, and to listen to prominent activists around the region speak. If we can get 9 people to show up for the coal plant hearing, we can get at least that many to come to Clemson. We're working out a deal with the Recycling Center to pay for the registration cost. Here's the info: http://www.climateaction.net/ssrec

Tomorrow, I will be doing the menial task of putting up posters around campus for next week's meeting. Anyone who would like to help me is more than welcome to come along. I'll probably start putting them up around 11ish. Maybe we can have a sing-along....or not.

Key dates to remember:

• January 15th - The Recycling Center is sponsoring a campus clean-up for Martin Luther King Jr. day from 9 to 1, I believe. Come out and join us!
• January 16th - Our next meeting will be at 5PM in the Greenhouse. We'll meet outside and wander in together.
• January 24th - Spring Student Organization Showcase from 11-1. We'll need volunteers to help us set up and man the ol' table. It doesn't demand a lot, really.
• January 29th - An Inconvenient Truth showings at 4:30 and 6:30. We'll have a table outside, so we might be able to agree on shifts for who could watch the table in between showings.

Holy crap, that's a lot of events!! This semester is going to be AWESOME!!!!! See ya out there, Earth Clubbers! John Avery

Hello, Earth Clubbers! I hope everyone's first day of classes went well.

Just so everybody is clear about this, we're not having a regular meeting on Tuesday. However, a few of us are meeting tomorrow in my apartment, Squires 141, at 5PM to discuss the hearing and a few other items of significance to Earth Club. Everyone is more than welcome to join us! We're thinking about making dinner, but we're not sure what. Help us out!

Next week we're meeting at our regular time, but not in our regular place. For this semester, we've reserved the classroom in the greenhouse for our meetings. It's an awesome classroom, so thank Dr. Mellenchamp is you happen to stop by the greenhouse.

We're still meeting on Wednesday at 5PM in front of the Belk Tower to carpool to the Duke Energy coal plant press conference and hearing. The festivities start at 6 PM in front of the main branch of the public library uptown. From the looks of it, Earth Club is gonna have quite a large presence. If you're not able to meet us at 5, but you still want to go to the hearing, email me and I'll send you directions. We have a few signs for people to carry to the press conference if you'd like one. Oh yeah! We're gonna have stickers!

So, in other news, we're showing An Inconvenient Truth in the Storrs auditorium on January 29th at 4:30PM and 6:30PM, with a panel discussion afterward. A HUGE thanks go to Kathy and Devin at the Recycling Center for arranging this event, which will coincide with Campus Climate Challenge's "Rising to the Challenge: A Week of Action." http://climatechallenge.org/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=77

Tell everyone you know to come to this event.

Also, the Spring Student Organization Showcase is on Wednesday, January 24th, from 11AM to 1PM. We're going to show everyone the results of our survey as well as get the word out about the An Inconvenient Truth showing, and just show everyone how incredibly awesome we are. :)

Also, the Recycling Center is sponsoring a clean-up on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is next Monday. I'll have more details about it in the next email.

That's all folks! Have a wonderful week and I hope we see you at the hearing!

John Avery

Howdy folks! I hope you all have had a wonderful New Year's and whatever else you might celebrate. I know I sure did. :)

The NC Utilities Commission Hearing regarding the $3 billion budget for Duke Energy's proposed coal power plant in Rutherford County will take place on

JANUARY 10, 7:00 PM Main Library, downstairs 310 N. Tryon Street * PRESS CONFERENCE Outside at 6 pm Parking at 7th Street Station (Reid’s); $5.00

We need people to show up for this event. This will be the public's last chance to influence the NC Utilities Commission's decision on whether or not to grant Duke permission to build their coal plant, so we need to make a strong showing.

In lieu of a meeting the first week, Earth Club will meet at the Belk Tower at 5PM on the 10th, next Wednesday to carpool to the press conference and hearing. Please let me know ASAP if you can attend and if you'd be willing to help drive.

June Blotnick from Carolinas Clean Air Coalition reiterated to me that they desperately need students to speak at this event, so if you'd like to speak, come prepared with something awesome to say. It doesn't have to be much. I got up there last time and kept repeating that I loathe using an inhaler. :)

Enclosed are the flyers with information on the event. If you'll be in the university area in the next few days, you can help put these flyers up so that students will see them right as they return to class. It'll be awesome!!

I'll send out an email in the next week about our first meeting. It's gonna be an awesome semester!!

That's all for now folks! Shoot me an email if you're able to go the hearing. Thanks again everyone, and be safe returning to school!

John Avery

Wow. What an incredible semester we've had. Check out all of the stuff we've done, in no particular order:

• Student Organization Fair
• Attended and spoke at Duke Energy Coal Plant Hearings
• Organized a Campus Clean Up
• Crowders Mountain Clean Up
• Masterfully cooked vegetarian cuisine and held a teach-in
• Held a Recycled Craft Night
• Kilowatt Ours Showing on Campus
• Went on a Trip to see An Inconvenient Truth
• Have had the Dogwood Alliance and Forest Ethics give a teach-in about Genetically Engineered Trees
• Attended a clean energy conference in Chapel Hill
• Helped with the Recycling Department's Take It or Leave It Tour
• America Recycles Day
• UNCC Green Days
• Took a Survey of Students about clean energy on campus (tabling and dorm storming)
• Entered MTV U and GE’s Ecomagination Challenge
• Remodeled our website
• Got a new logo approved

We've definitely built some momentum, and I see no reason why we can't continue on an upward trend. Our name has definitely spread throughout campus. It's awesome!!

In order to keep building to our momentum, we'll need some awesome-tastic events for next semester. If you have any ideas, please send them our way. Here's a little preview for the Spring:

• The awesome Spring Student Organization Showcase
• Showing An Inconvenient Truth with a panel discussion afterward
• Getting our plans for an organic garden off the ground
• Attending the Southeastern Energy Conference at Clemson in February
• A teach-in about mountaintop removal
• And, of course, EARTH DAY!!!!!

Moving on, I'm sure you remember the Victoria's Dirty Secret Campaign. Well, Victoria's Secret announced yesterday that it would start using at least 10% recycled paper for their catalogs AND stop using virgin timber from the Boreal Forest in Canada. We've done a little bit of work with Forest Ethics on this campaign and others, and this ROCKS! Here's a link to the press release: http://www.victoriasdirtysecret.net/article.php?id=321

Make sure you send a thank you note to the CEO. :)

Also, the Recycling Department is planning to put together a power-point presentation on Recycling Education and would love some ideas for it. If you have any ideas about what could go into a presentation of this nature, please send them our way. The Recycling Dept. would also like to make a video about Recycling at UNCC and needs help from students, so please let me or Devin Hatley know if you would like to participate. This would be a great project for next semester.

I've been thinking about and I want your opinion, should Earth Club have a mascot name? You know, like a sports team. If you have any ideas, you know what to do. This article on TreeHugger.com certainly helped me think about this, as more and more sports teams overseas are either going green or at least opening a dialogue about it: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/australian_foot.php

Of course, the New York Jets kicked off a campaign encouraging their fans to recycle, which is always nice. If you know of any other sports teams in the US who are doing something about their carbon emissions, do tell.

I would like to thank everyone that helped make this semester a success. All of your work on the surveys and cleanups and everything in-between has been stellar, and I hope you'll continue to hang out wish us, because we like you. :D It's been wonderful, and I think we have a chance to do some great things in the spring. You all are awesome!

Well, that does it for this update. I'll probably send one or two out over the break, but for now, good luck on all of your exams and be safe. And green. Or safe and green.

Happy Holidays! (green) John Avery

Our November 7th meeting went very well. We gathered to discuss the success of our surveys and how we will use the data to aide our resolution to Student Senate. We have 589 surveys completed right now, and our goal is 600. Wednesday is going to be our last official day for surveying, so hopefully we'll get our surveys back by Friday. So, if you have completed surveys that you've gotten others to fill out, please contact us at earth@email.uncc.edu and we'll come collect them from you. Also, we're going to tally the data this weekend, so let us know if you want to help out.

We will be tabling this Wednesday from 10:30-2 in front of the Belk Tower, however, the Recycling Center will be out there from 8:30-10:30, and they will be helping us handout surveys. Come by and see us!

We also discussed readying our organic garden for the spring. In the next couple of weeks we're gonig to try and clear out the old foliage and prepare the soil for planting next semester. Let us know if you would like to exercise your green thumb!

America Recycles Day will be held by the UNCC Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling next Tuesday, November 14th, from 11 to 2 in front of the Belk Tower, and Earth Club will have a table. Hopefully , we'll have the results of our survey on display, so come by and see them!

That's all we discussed at the meeting. If you have any questions or comments, email us. Thanks!

Our October 24th meeting has come and gone, and was very productive. We started out by discussing our new campaign to convince students to agree to a small increase in student fees that will go towards purchasing clean, renewable energy for UNCC and making energy-efficient campus renovations.

The first step in this process is to determine how much money students would be willing to contribute to sustainability at UNCC through a small survey. We spent much of the meeting brainstorming for survey ideas. We discussed that next week would be our week to ask students to fill out the survey. We also decided that we would go to the dorms and hand out surveys (a.k.a. “dormstorming”) after next Tuesday’s meeting. Costumes will be optional, although some of us will definitely be decked out. We also briefly mentioned that we will have a table at the Belk Tower on Wednesday, November 1st from 11:00 to 2:00, and we will be asking students to fill out surveys. We will also “dormstorm” again later that evening. There will be many opportunities to get involved throughout the week filling out surveys.

We also talked about the Environmental Academy meeting on October 30th from 2:30 to 3:30 in Cameron 274. A few of our members will attend to see what they have on their agenda and to show our support for the faculty members involved.

Thats about it for this week's meeting-- make sure to join us at our next one! The meeting information for next week is, as usual, posted in the 'meetings' section to the right.

Welcome to the Earth Club's new website. The new website is part of a plan to expand our role at UNCC and encourage our campus to become more sustainable. We're excited about our new look and hope you will continue to support us at our meetings and events. There are several new things about the site -- I encourage you to take some time to look around. I'm looking forward to the coming events and sincerely hope that you will join Earth Club as we continue to help UNCC become a leader in environmental awareness and action.

-John Avery, President