Progress Plaza to offer Main Campus students fresh convenience

The North Philadelphia community is welcoming a new supermarket to the neighborhood at the corner of Broad and Oxford Streets.

Progress Plaza, owned by the Progress Investment Associates, will welcome a Fresh Grocer supermarket at the start of the Spring 2010 semester.

The investment will allow students on campus to shop at a grocery store nearby.

“The ability to purchase fresh fruits, vegetables, seafood and meats at affordable prices is an important prerequisite to a healthier neighborhood/community,” said Chairman of Progress Investment Associates, Wendell Whitlock.

Another benefit for students is the opportunities to work and make a little extra money while living on campus.

With a supermarket so close to campus, students won’t have to worry about driving to get food or carrying heavy bags long distances.

“The new supermarket would be awesome. Instead of having to walk far into the neighborhood, we can literally walk down the street,” junior risk management and actuarial science major Usamah Rashid said.

Kenny Ashe, the vice chair of PIA, has been involved with the Marketing of Progress Plaza and has worked on what this new supermarket means to North Philadelphia and the surrounding areas, including Temple.

“This neighborhood has not had a quality supermarket in over 10 years. Therefore, it could only be a positive impact on the Temple student body’s close proximity, easy access to the supermarket that sells food, household items and provides a diverse range of customer service-oriented options,” Ashe said.

With the support of President Ann Weaver Hart and a proposal made by Fresh Grocer, PIA took the project to a new level with the incorporation of green building plans.

“The Fresh Grocer is compelled to do their part and is dedicated to operating their stores with an ongoing commitment to the environment and believe incorporating green building features in their new ground-up locations,” Ashe said. “The new store features a state-of-the art refrigeration system designed to reduce energy consumption by 40 percent [versus] present-day comparable system designs.”

Along with reducing power consumption by 35 percent, Fresh Grocer has designed a “green screen” that allows native plants to grow and form living walls. The vegetated walls will purify the air and reduce heat in the city’s air.

This supermarket seems ideal for students looking to expand their diets and change their lifestyles, even if it is a bit late for some soon-to-be graduates.

“I wish the supermarket was around when I was a freshman. However, I will definitely take advantage of it during my final semester this spring,” BTMM major Danielle Sacco said. “I feel that the new supermarket on campus will encourage students to cook for themselves, as well as make healthier choices.”

The Plaza is scheduled to officially reopen Dec. 11, 2009, and the Fresh Grocer will become the anchor for Progress Plaza as efforts are made to improve the community and move forward with green initiatives in the city.

“We are looking forward to partnering with Temple University’s Office of Sustainability,” Ashe said, “and we endeavor to do our part to help fulfill Mayor Nutter’s mandate to be the greenest city in the nation by 2015.”

Monica Sellecchia can be reached at monica@temple.edu.

Sustainability Day informs, showcases on-campus green initiatives

Temple students did not have to walk far last Wednesday to learn about the environment and eco-friendly organizations in the Philadelphia area.

The university’s second annual Sustainability Day took place around the Bell Tower, which was surrounded by a variety of vendors, clubs, departments, associations and companies all devoted to some aspect of the green movement. Numerous students paused on their ways to classes to actively engage in the activities and take a few moments to learn about sustainability.

Many vendors were eager to educate students and Philadelphia residents about their organization and what they could do to help out their cause.

Verde Styles, an environmentally friendly T-shirt company, sold shirts at a discount price of $10 to students. For each T-shirt the company sells, Verde Styles promises to plant a tree.

Cage-Free Temple, a new effort from concerned students, asked students to sign a letter to the administration that would have Temple Dining Services make the switch to only using cage-free eggs. With an office on Chestnut Street, the Sustainable Business Network was looking for Temple students and staff to volunteer. The company focuses on promoting eco-friendly businesses in the greater Philadelphia area.

Clean Water Action, PhillyCarShare, Zip Car, Waste Management, New Age Blast Media and 350 Philly were among the other organizations and clubs present.

And not all students stopped by tables for the free stuff. Many asked questions about how they could get more involved in these organizations and how they could be less wasteful and more resourceful.

“I think it’s important for not only for students but the entire community to learn more than just about recycling,” said Katherine Elmhurst, a graduate extern in the Office of Sustainability.

The Office of Sustainability collaborated with the university to make Sustainability Day possible. Currently, the office is working on many new environmental initiatives, such as Bike Temple. Although the office has always encouraged students and staff to take public transportation, Bike Temple is University-wide program that encourages bicycle-owners on campus to use their bikes as often as possible.

Other projects include plans to make Temple buildings more eco-friendly, integrating sustainability into more of Temple’s academic courses, and holding more teach-ins and lectures about environmental issues. The College of Engineering holds many of these lectures that are open to everyone and are usually advertised on Temple’s Web site.

Right now the office is working on the Climate Action plan in collaboration with the university in an effort for Temple to achieve carbon neutrality. Elmherst said this effort should be completed around May.

“It’s hard for students to realize all that Temple is doing,” said Korin Tangtrakul, president of Students for Environmental Action. Compared to other local universities, she said, “we often get tossed aside.”

But the various departments, offices and clubs at Temple are trying their best to get everyone involved and more passionate about the environment.

SEA is working on reducing the amount of plastic bags that get thrown away on a regular basis. The group aiming at getting food vendors to stop using them, and eventually, it hopes to persuade the 7-Eleven stores on Main Campus to do the same. Tangtrakul said this effort is going to take time and patience, but it will be well worth it in the end.

Gaul talked about the importance of having a day dedicated to sustainability efforts because “it makes people more aware of the environment and green activities.”

Whether Sustainability Day motivated you to just become a little greener or to become one of the next prominent environmental leaders, the best place to start is here on Main Campus.

Laura Fanciullacci can be reached at laura.fanciullacci@temple.edu.

Green fee may help clean smoker trash

Students and the Office of Sustainability say Main Campus faces an overflow of cigarette butt trash.

Main Campus students en route to classes on any given day will notice trails of cigarette butts. Despite the university’s efforts to maintain the litter — the many on-campus stone containers — Temple still has many cigarette butts in the streets, on the sidewalks and by the entrances of buildings such as the Student Center and Anderson and Gladfelter halls.

Office of Sustainability Director Sandra McDade said the problem isn’t just maintaining litter but maintaining smoking in general.

“Really, I would say you shouldn’t smoke at all,” McDade said. “What people are doing with cigarette butts is a byproduct of a bigger issue.”

Students said the disposing of cigarette butts becomes problematic because many stone containers are often filled, leaving only the ground as an option for getting rid of the cigarette butts.

“I’ve seen people walking [around campus], and they don’t feel like carrying the cigarette butt, so they just go to a trash can,” freshman English major Julia Scheib said.

Junior education major Natalie Ramos-Castillo said she doesn’t smoke cigarettes often, but when she does, she tries to dispose of them in the stone containers.

“If they’re around, I try to use them, but if they’re not, I [put them out] and put them in the trashcan,” Ramos-Castillo said.

Ramos-Castillo said she noticed other students using trashcans to dispose of their cigarette butts as well, especially if the stone containers are not emptied. She warned against it as a primary means of cigarette butt disposal, especially after she witnessed a fire outside Barton Hall last Thursday as a result of a cigarette butt melting the bottom of a trashcan.

Campus Safety Services could not be reached for confirmation on the fire.

McDade said she wasn’t sure about the procedures for maintaining the stone containers but that students should complain to facilities if the containers go unemptied.

Compared with other campuses, Temple’s cigarette litter may be problematic.

Ramos-Castillo said she visited Ohio State University and noticed little to no cigarette litter on its campus.

“It’s the cleanest campus I’ve ever seen, and it’s probably because they have a lot more money, but they’re really clean,” she said.

The University of Pennsylvania boasts clean sidewalks on its campus, free of cigarette butts. The university has fewer cigarette butt disposals – approximately 3-foot-tall thin, metal containers, located outside only a small handful of buildings, including Claudia Cohen Hall, near 36th and Spruce streets.

Penn sophomore Vince Mannino, a computer engineering and economics major, said it’s because students on Penn’s campus don’t smoke, and if they do, it’s a rarity.

“The correlation [between smoking and students] shows that Penn students are more environmentally concerned and smoke less,” he said. “The higher the income, you smoke less, the better the education, you smoke less.”

According to surveys in last year’s Princeton Review Best 368 Colleges, Temple was said to be a campus where “almost everyone smokes.”

This year’s edition, Best 371 Colleges, the survey said “[almost] no one smokes,” despite the number of cigarette butts that cover the ground.

Students for Environmental Action President Korin Tangtrakul, a senior geography and urban studies and environmental studies major, said if an evaluation is completed that speaks to a need to alleviate the problem with more cigarette butt containers, she will find whether the proposed Green Fee may assist in the future.

Tangtrakul said the issue is related to campus culture.

“I have a hard time putting words to it,” she said. “But I don’t think Temple students are afraid to throw cigarette butts on the ground.”

Joshua Fernandez can be reached at josh@temple.edu.

TTN Video: Student Reaction to Green Fee

Video by Matt Huber and Matt Petrillo

CEO encourages students to become green activists

Future leaders of the world gathered in Ritter Hall to listen to the president and CEO of the International Green Energy Council.

On March 19, Temple hosted Ralph Avallone in an effort to educate students, faculty and staff on how to live a greener lifestyle. Avallone addressed two major concerns: global climate change and the “Great Green Revolution” in the job market.

“The time to act is not tomorrow but today,” Avallone said. “The global climate change is the greatest problem humans have created for themselves, and the momentum has been snowballing for years.”

Avallone and the International Green Energy Council visited the campus to further educate and inform students about future careers in the green industry.

Opportunities are available to those who are willing to take the extra step to find them, Avallone said, especially when it comes to improving the environment.

“We can take the steps and apply practices to save our planet and protect humanity,” Avallone said. “[We should] use less energy, drive greener cars, green our homes and demand that corporate leaders and our elected officials act today.”

Avallone said the “Great Green Revolution” has the potential to be the focus of students nationwide.

Because we are only working with one Earth, the time has come to engage in energy conservation, Avallone said.

Recently, there have been talks about what can be accomplished to prevent the effects of global climate change.

“Humans use about 24 acres of land per year per person,” Avallone said. “On this course, we would need three Earths to sustain this.”

This global climate crisis has received plenty of attention on Main Campus, with various environmental and green business organizations leading the way in grassroots projects.

Temple is looking to invest in renewable energy, especially after President Ann Weaver Hart signed the President’s Climate Commitment last year.

“Temple has created an office of sustainability that is devoted to promoting awareness amongst the Temple community. We as ambassadors are involved in helping to bring awareness to our individual schools and colleges,” said Eda Manrodt, administrative specialist for the School of Communications and Theater.

The push for students to get involved in the green movement has leaked into the classroom, as well. Students are learning about green business, sustainability and energy.

“The green revolution is not a fad, and the more young people that become familiar with these new technologies, the more marketable they will be to employers,” said Jeffrey Rupertus, Web and media assistant for the Office of Sustainability.

The need for green-educated employees has led to the creation of green jobs corps groups across the country.

“In this time of economic belt-tightening and hiring freezes, something as relevant as green [technology] will help you stand out from your peers,” Rupertus said. “It is an industry that the U.S. government has projected to grow at 37 percent for several decades.”

By spreading the message for environmental awareness, Temple can have a strong influence on greener living.

“Unless everyone takes some personal responsibility to change their energy footprint and turn to green initiatives, this change cannot happen,” Manrodt said.

For more information on the International Green Energy Council visit greenenergycouncil.com.

Monica Sellecchia can be reached at monica.sellecchia@temple.edu.

Sustainability office to help campus go green

Since “going green” is on more students’ minds these days, Temple’s newest office is attempting to address the idea of an environmentally friendly campus.

On July 1, Temple announced the opening of the Office of Sustainability, a new administrative unit that plans to lead the university’s efforts in promoting environmental responsibility throughout Main Campus.

Sandra McDade, director of the office, was previously part of the Sustainability Task Force, which assessed a variety of sustainable practices for urban universities.

McDade said she applied for the new job because of her passion for the environment and sustainability, and she wanted to make a difference at Temple.

In April, President Ann Weaver Hart signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, promising to reduce Temple’s impact on the global warming crisis.

Students for Environmental Action, an active campus organization focusing on sustaining the environment, convinced Hart to sign the commitment. SEA is pleased that the university has the office.

“The Office of Sustainability will make an amazing difference on campus,” SEA President Jessica Gruber said. “Already, Sandra McDade is taking great steps toward making the campus sustainable. She is working with many student groups and different groups within the administration and is hoping to create many changes that will make a huge difference,” the junior environmental studies major said.

McDade said the new office plans to educate the Temple community about sustainability, enforce conservation practices and reach out to other student organizations this school year.

“We are very excited to work with the office this coming semester,” said Jacquelyn Fagan, a junior environmental studies major and the events coordinator for SEA. “After succeeding in getting the [commitment] signed and establishing this office, we now have the support we need by the administration to make some important changes on our campus.”

SEA plans to work on a variety of campaigns to improve sustainable practices on campus and create awareness to students, faculty and the administration.

SEA education committee chair Paloma Vila doubts the intentions of the university in establishing the office.

“It’s still hard to know if the office was created because President Hart and the rest of the administration really feel it is important for a major university like ours to be responsible about how we go about doing business and set an example for others, or if they’re just buying into the whole ‘going green’ gimmick like so many companies and organizations you see these days,” said Vila, a junior civil and environmental engineering major.

This year, the Princeton Review included a “green rating” to its guide for colleges, with Arizona State University, Binghamton University and University of New Hampshire topping the list.

“Honestly, I think we just need to make sure that we can walk the walk and not just talk the talk,” junior sociology major Audra Winn said. “Our plans and goals are fantastic, the work we’ve done as a student group is certainly admirable, and we just need to keep raising the bar higher in order to succeed.”

Jessica Lawlor can be reached at jessica.lawlor@temple.edu.