MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

MAY 27, 2010

Green for good—on campus and around the world

NOTES FROM ISRAEL

"Green" and "sustainable" aren't just

buzzwords at Michigan State

This is the third column in a series in

University. They're part of a mission

which Charles Salmon, the Ellis N.

that is rooted in the university's

Brandt Endowed Chair in Public

land-grant beginnings and today

Relations at MSU and former dean of

extends from energy-efficient campus

MSU's College of Communication Arts

facilities and operations to world-

and Sciences, shares stories from Israel, where he is

leading sustainability research and

on sabbatical.

academics to food and even to fashion.

Two weeks in April

"Part of our mission is to look at our

April 12

resources and use them in the most

commands attention in Israel. On Holocaust

sustainable way so they'll be there for

Memorial Day, which typically falls in April, the siren

the future," says Jennifer Battle,

assistant director of the Office of

Campus Sustainability. "As we figure

The unmistakable wail of a loud siren

—

sounds sharply at 10 a.m. to remind Israel and the

MSU graduate Jillian Granz designed an environmentally sustainable gown that was
selected by Suzy Amis Cameron to wear to the Academy Awards.

out how to do that, we can share it

with everyone."

While Spartan scientists and leaders conduct research

The country briefly and immediately comes to a

and renovation projects meet Leadership in Energy

standstill at the sound. Even on the normally

and Environmental Design, or LEED, standards.

bustling and congested Namir Road, adjacent to

and create circumstances that help develop a

A major contributor to the greening of MSU's campus

sustainable future around the globe, thousands of

is the new Surplus Store and Recycling Center, which

MSU faculty, staff, and students also work every day to

opened last September and accommodates three

reduce the environmental footprint of the campus.

times the amount of materials as the former recycling

This spring, MSU began a new tradition with its first

green commencement ceremony. May graduates

wore caps and gowns made from recycled plastic

bottles, which saved 16,500 yards of fabric. Each cap

and gown was made from 13 bottles, which means at

least 58,500 20-ounce plastic bottles were recycled to

outfit the 2010 spring graduating class. Other green

measures included handing out token diplomas made

from 30 percent postconsumer content paper and

printing commencement programs on 100 percent

postconsumer content paper.

Commencement ceremonies happen twice a year, but

other efforts to improve sustainability on campus are

evergreen. Many are part of the university-wide Be

Spartan Green initiative, which works to decrease

MSU's energy consumption and to reduce, reuse, and

recycle. The initiative takes a systemswide approach to

sustainability, which includes reducing electricity and

water use, incorporating greener transportation

methods on campus, and making sure new building

world of losses suffered in the Holocaust.

facility.

"The university is like a living lab," says Battle. "We can

make changes quickly and try innovative approaches."

Students play an important role in the initiative,

helping conduct research and energy audits on

campus as well as providing education and raising

awareness. They're also proving that sustainability can

be fashionable.

my Tel Aviv flat, vehicles stop in their tracks at the

sound of the siren. Drivers stand quietly at atten-

tion next to their cars in the middle of traffic lanes,

while pedestrians stand on street corners, for one

minute, oblivious to the traffic signals.

When the siren ends, semi-organized chaos—oth-

erwise known here as traffic—abruptly resumes on

roads throughout the country following this

somber moment of reflection and respect.

April 19

—

At 8 p.m., a loud siren once again sounds

throughout the country. Here, in the crowded

courtyard of a high school in Ramat Aviv, an elderly

man walks arm in arm with a teenager toward the

Jillian Granz, a Canton native who graduated in May

platform, striding in cadence with the solitary beat

with a degree in apparel and textile design, won the

of a drum. As they climb the steps, another teen-

worldwide Red Carpet, Green Dress contest to design

ager reads the name of the man's son, who died in

an environmentally sustainable gown for Suzy Amis

combat. Photos of the son, his wife, and his children

Cameron, wife of Avatar director James Cameron, to

appear on two big screens on either side of the

wear to the Academy Awards. Granz, whose design

platform: bittersweet mementos of a life and a

used a material known as peace silk—which allows silk

dream that ended all too soon.

worms to complete their life cycle—and a no-waste

pattern, traveled to Los Angeles to attend a fitting

with Amis Cameron as well as a pre-Oscars party to

unveil her creation.

After the first pair crosses the platform, another

climbs the steps, a new name is read, and new

photos appear. It is Memorial Day in Israel, and

somber celebrations like this are occurring at high

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