A huge THANK YOU to go out to the Center for German and European Studies in cooperation with the Campus Sustainability Initiative, the Environmental Studies Program, the Sustainable International Development Program, and Students for Environmental Action. The Green Unity Gala was a HUGE success yesterday!
This event was funded by the German Embassy to the USA, devoted to raising awareness about Climate Change in celebration of 20 years of German Unity, an initiative of the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. and the Transatlantic Climatebridge.
President-elect Fred Lawrence spoke, as well as several members of the Brandeis faculty.
Janna Cohen-Rosenthal, the Sustainability Coordinator at Brandeis spoke of several successes, such as the Brandeis Sustainability Fund. The BSF granted 5 student proposals funding to be achieved next semester.
Yifan Wang, a member of the Greening the Ivory Tower course, created a video documenting the community service and individual projects students from the class achieved over the semester.
Cece Watkins and other members of the STARS committee explained how Brandeis is currently being evaluated for sustainability in several fields. Be sure to check out their full report in January 2011!
The Brandeis debate team presented a fabulous debate for and against nuclear energy and what the choice means for the future of Germany. The arguments on both sides were compelling, interesting, and left me wanting to learn more!
Dinner was a delicious locally grown vegetarian feast with German desserts!
The Gala was serenaded by the fantastic voices of Voice Male and Up the Octave!
At the end of evening was an exciting raffel with many prizes, including a new bike won by Rebecca Ludwig!
I know I had an amazing time at the Gala, and I was impressed by all the hard work Brandeis students have done to better the campus. I am excited for our future, and for the Brandeis community to continue to grow in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way!
Thank you, Esther, for this wonderful report! I want to say that the high quality of the nuclear debate really blew me away. In fact, all students involved with this program were simply fantastic. I want you all to know that you have a fabulous advocate in Janna Cohen-Rosenthal, and if there is one person who deserves the most credit for everything it is Professor Eric Olson, who worked tirelessly from start to finish on making our series a success. And to all of you out there: we have a big job to do! Let’s keep working on growing our community of committed activists! This is your future and the future of your children and grandchildren! If you want to get involved, just email me at vonmering@Brandeis.edu.