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Vice President of Administration and Finance Karen L. Leach and Steven J. Bellona, associate vice president of facilities and planning, spoke at a Private Higher Education CFO Summit Meeting for the New York State Dormitory Authority in New York City on Sept. 25.

A group of Hamilton faculty from a variety of disciplines spoke in the newly renovated Kirner-Johnson Auditorium about "Environmental Justice and Sustainability" on Sept. 9.  The event, sponsored by the Diversity and Social Justice Project and the Levitt Center, provided few answers to pressing questions of sustainability but helped clarify the challenges that face humanity in preparing for the future. 

Hamilton College students and employees have a new tool to reduce their carbon footprint.  The College has teamed with Lucid Design Group of Oakland, Calif., to develop an interactive Web site that displays energy usage for buildings in real-time. The system also stores data so that, over time, energy-use comparisons can be made to previous days, months and years. 

Those who were on campus last semester will most likely remember the end-of-year "Ham's Cram & Scram," where students from the Recycling Task Force collected recyclable/reusable items from residence halls. Now the fruits of the volunteers' labor will be for sale at the Cram & Scram tent sale on Aug. 26 and 27.

Hamilton College is conducting its first "Ham's Cram & Scram" from May 14-24. The project is designed to reduce the College's end-of-year waste by recycling and reusing items that would typically be thrown out at the end of the academic year.

This year's class gift has reached record levels, exceeding $50,000 in contributions from seniors, parents and trustees. Senior participation in the class gift is nearing 93 percent, making this the 15th year that the senior class gift has exceeded 90 percent participation. 

Two groups at Hamilton helped the College celebrate Arbor Day on April 25. The Hamilton Environmental Action Group (HEAG) and Hamilton College Arboretum planted a white pine tree between Kirkland Residence Hall and Minor Theater. Earlier in the day the Arboretum Society participated in a tree planting dedication at Clinton Elementary School. Todd Homer from the Hamilton grounds staff helped the students plant the tree at the school. Clinton students designed posters around the theme "Why Trees Are Important Everywhere" and those who participated received a tree seedling from the Hamilton Arboretum Society to plant at home.

Hamilton's Environmental Action Group (HEAG) is hosting several events to celebrate Green Week, April 28 – May 2. On Monday, community members can participate in a Glen Cleanup at 4 p.m. On April 29 HEAG will present a screening of "Everything's Cool," a film about global warming, at 8 p.m. in the Science Center Auditorium. The Community Garden Project will meet on Wednesday, April 30, at 4 p.m. at the garden, east of the Ferguson House parking lot.

Work on Hamilton's community farm garden got underway on April 18, as volunteers turned out to remove rocks from the ground. The Hamilton Farm Garden, located east of the Ferguson House parking lot, hopes to offer a place for all community members to garden. For more information, details on donations, or to get involved please contact: garden@hamilton.edu

In celebration of Earth Day, Hamilton College food service provider Bon Appétit is declaring April 22 Low Carbon Diet Day for lunch. Commons and McEwen, the college's dining halls, will serve lunch foods that help illustrate key principles of how food production and consumption can help reduce climate change.  Bon Appétit general manager Pat Raynard explained, "it's more about removing foods from the menu and making substitutions than using certain foods. Our challenge is to make students understand what we're doing for one meal on this day and how our food choices can have a great impact on the environment."