Eco Columbia

Earthzine is hosting its third annual essay and blogging contest for undergraduate and graduate students.

The online publication is looking for original essays that address local or global solutions to environmental challenges. To see more examples, and work from past winners, visit Earthzine’s website.

Essays should be no longer than 2,500 words and are due by 12/22. Submissions will be posted online in the spring and the writers will be asked to lead a blog discussion centered on their essay.

Winners will be announced on March 20th and will share $1,200 in prizes. First place is $500, and all winners will receive an Earthzine t-shirt and certificate. More details are available online, along with details regarding other contests and calls for work.

Forty years after the Environmental Protection Agency first hired freelance artists to document the need for environmental change, the National Archive is asking students to do it again.

Students are being asked to select a photo from the online archive of these photos (some of which are also available on Flickr) and create an artistic response. Prizes will be awarded to the winners of six categories–based on age and medium. Accepted mediums include graphic art, video, and poetry.

Check out the official rules and submit your entry by January 6, 2012! Judging will take place throughout January and winners will be announced on February 6th!

Designed by Jason Curescu.

Check out the new design for the Columbia Recycling Program’s screenprinting initiative. Designed by Jason Curescu, a transfer student in the Graphic Design department, the cassette tape was inspired by the event’s theme of reuse.

When he initially started brainstorming ideas for a design, Curescu tried to think of items that can be reused and then ultimately recycled. ”I chose the cassette because it’s something that rarely gets used anymore and…you can always reuse old cassette tapes [by recording] new stuff over the old music,” he explains.

Curescu’s design will be used at next week’s Screenprint a Lower Carbon Footprint event. Hosted by the Recycling Program, the event is free for students and staff and will feature screenprinting, t-shirt hacking, and patch making. More details can be found here.

On Thursday October 20^th, The Columbia College Recycling Program will be hosting “Screen Print a Smaller Carbon Footprint,” an event to show students the importance of reducing waste and reusing materials instead of throwing them away.

By making small changes to old clothing, something completely new and desirable can be created. We will demonstrate this by allowing students to have a secondhand shirt—acquired from past Columbia events or area thrift stores—and have student-created designs screen-printed on them.

Every year, the Recycling Program chooses a student design and adds another screen to this station. We need your help to create a new design that’s inspired by an environmental topic. (Examples of previous designs can be found here.)

The winner will receive an 8GB iPod Nano donated by the campus Apple Store.

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It’s time for a new theme here at Eco Columbia, where the next two weeks will be all about transit!

As always, you can take any topic related to transit and run with it. Write a poem, record a song, make a short film, or send us a piece of art. We want to hear what you love about your bike, what you hate about your train stop, or what you’re doing to cut down on emissions during your commute. The sky is the limit so be creative!

One winner will get to choose between a 7-Day CTA pass or a $25 gift card to West Town Bikes.  (more…)