For Immediate Release: February 19, 2008
Contact: Annette Barnette
Public Relations & Marketing Director
Glenville State College
Glenville, West Virginia
(304) 462-4115
inclement weather has been rescheduled. The meeting will be held on February 25, 2008.
Glenville, WV – Blue and white may be the Pioneer colors of Glenville State College, but the school will also soon be going green. The ‘Glenville Goes Green’ campaign is set to officially begin on Monday, February 25th at 4:00 p.m. in the Mollohan Campus Community Center Auditorium. Local residents, area business officials, students, organizations, faculty, campus departments, non-profit organizations, and governmental agencies are cordially invited to attend. The forum will mark the beginning of green initiatives being promoted both on and off the GSC campus.
The guest speakers for this event will be Pam Curry and Marilyn Harrell with West Virginia’s Center for Economic Options. CEO is a catalyst for entrepreneurs to develop socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable enterprises that foster individual and community wealth. The Center is developing a statewide network called the Green Business Network. The goal of the GBN is to connect young people, colleges, and emerging green businesses with the overall objectives of increasing environmental sustainability and green enterprises as a sector of the West Virginia Economy. According to a recent Forbes magazine report, West Virginia ranked last in the nation on ‘greenness.’ Representatives from both Glenville State College and the Center for Economic Options hope to change that reality. GSC has already unofficially started the ‘Glenville Goes Green’ program. In the past, the Glenville State College Environmental Organization, comprised of students and faculty, has placed recycling bins around campus and has conducted environmental awareness campaigns. Building on those initiatives and in cooperation with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, a lighting audit has been requested to reduce energy costs at GSC. College employees have also written a grant to the West Virginia Division of Forestry for trees which will be planted on campus by volunteers and staff during April as part of ‘Glenville Goes Green’ month. Recycling, energy conservation, carpooling, reduction of water usage, and pollution prevention strategies will also be promoted.
The goal of the February 25th meeting will be to create a GSC-based team that will take the lead in creating an interdisciplinary approach to identifying green businesses, exploring sustainability issues and resources, and investigating potentially new green concepts. The Center for Economic Options hopes to create a needs and feasibility study by late spring based on the findings of the participating teams, which also include WVU and Marshall as well as five other higher education institutions. The resulting study will form the basis for seeking grants to implement green programs statewide.
For more information on the ‘Glenville Goes Green’ kick-off meeting at Glenville State College, contact Kipp Colvin at Kipp.Colvin@glenville.edu or (304) 462-4114.
