Sustainability Day Jan. 26

Millersville University (MU) is hosting a Campus Sustainability Day on Tuesday, Jan. 26 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the Student Memorial Center Atrium.  The event will feature a water taste-testing challenge throughout the day. At 12:15 p.m., there will be a ribbon cutting with President John Anderson to kick off The Water Bottle Challenge, designed to reduce the need for bottled water at MU.

“Students who are engaged in The Water Bottle Challenge will be given reusable filtered water bottles and their water drinking habits will be monitored by a team of researchers,” said Dr. Nadine Garner, director of the Center for Sustainability. “The goal of the project is to understand the habits of college students in regard to their water consumption and to eliminate the use of thousands of disposable water bottles.”

The Campus Sustainability Day will feature various exhibits focused on sustainability initiatives at MU, which will highlight the efforts of the Center of Sustainability and campus departments including finance and administration, geography, education, dining and facilities, art, and environmental health and safety. There will also be free samples of organic products and various giveaways including a drawing for a bike, handmade Peruvian shoes by Inkkas and an ultra-lightweight solar charger by Solar Paper.

The blind taste test will be of city water and Millersville University water to see if people can tell the difference.  The University has its own well and since the system is smaller than for a city, the water isn’t in the pipes as long and the chlorine level can be right where it needs to be for safety and disinfecting, but doesn’t need to be super chlorinated – which can affect the taste.

“We hope that Campus Sustainability Day raises awareness about the great things Millersville is doing to become more sustainable while inspiring individuals to join in the fun,” said Chris Steuer, MU sustainability manager. “Taking time to think about more sustainable ways of doing things can lead to better outcomes that lessen our environmental impact, cut costs and improve the quality of our campus experience. At Millersville, students can generate and test ideas, learn from them and leave a better place for the next generation of students.”

For more information about the event or the sustainability efforts of MU please visit, www.millersville.edu/ccerp/sustainability/index.php and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Center-for-Sustainability-Millersville-University