Ride for a Sustainable Tennessee

Ride for a Sustainable Tennessee

Like bikes? Want to raise money for the TN network of student activists? At the end of the summer, in the first two weeks of August, there is a bike ride through Eastern and Middle Tennessee. The ride is a fundraiser and outreach tool for Tennessee Alumni and Students for Sustainable Campuses (TASSC). This is the most awesome state network of student environmental groups this side of the Mississippi, and this is the perfect opportunity for you to get involved and ride your bike for a week. As we pass through major cities (Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Johnson City, and more) the riders will meet on a central campus with student activists from the area. My goal is to end the ride critical mass style up to the legislature and lobby for clean energy legislation and alternative forms of transportation. If you are interested in joining the adventure in its entirety, spots are limited. However, we need as many people as possible on bikes for rides through major cities and especially through Nashville. There is the possibility of organizing a one day fundraising ride that can join up with the main group as we ride through, if you are interested. If you have any desire to make Tennessee more sustainable and ride bicycles, email me at sjorda10@utk.edu. This ride could be the best experience of your summer! Yours truly, Sam Jordan

Bleed Blue, Live Green: Duke Students rock Focus the Nation and ESPN

If you know me at all, you know I’m a Carolina basketball fanatic and you know it’s a little painful for me to write about a job well done by Duke basketball fans.

Rivalries run deep here on Tobacco Road and it’s not everyday that the Cameron Crazies (the nickname for Duke students who go to extremes to cheer for their men’s basketball team in Cameron Indoor Stadium) don anything other than their usual dark blue paint. But for the NC State game on January 31st, the Focus the Nation team at Duke (rockstar Kelsey Shaw and company) convinced fans to wear green t-shirts that read “Bleed Blue, Live Green” and cheer for solutions to climate change along with their (overrated) team.

The shirts were not the only green aspect of the game. Students and other fans were asked to sign the Duke Sustainability Pledge, a commitment to researching and implementing climate friendly lifestyle changes. Furthermore, the University Athletic Department purchased carbon offsets equivalent to the electricity, steam and transportation consumed by the game, working in partnership with the renewable-energy company NativeEnergy.