Greening USM - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Nov 4, 2008

Greening USM

Date: Nov 4, 2008

Well of course there is - recycling in itself is better than not. But, to be more exact there are a number of ways the new recycling program will benefit our campus.

First, we get paid by weight for the materials sent to Sumrall Recycling. Second, we save money on labor from efficiencies created by getting physical plant out of the recycling work order business. Next, we save money on our contract with Waste Management due to less materials actually going through their system. And lastly, but most importantly, by developing one of the largest, easiest programs in the nation we have set the cornerstone of validity within the minds of our campus community allowing for greater mobility to achieve compliance with the ACUPCC and become the thought leaders of sustainability within our state and region.

History · Status: Offline

"by developing one of the largest, easiest programs in the nation we have set the cornerstone of validity within the minds of our campus community allowing for greater mobility to achieve compliance with the ACUPCC and become the thought leaders of sustainability within our state and region. "

Huh??

Date: Nov 5, 2008

History wrote:

"by developing one of the largest, easiest programs in the nation we have set the cornerstone of validity within the minds of our campus community allowing for greater mobility to achieve compliance with the ACUPCC and become the thought leaders of sustainability within our state and region. "

Huh??

Our program has four characteristics:
Universal
Comprehensive
Desk-side
Single-stream

There is a can in every office, classroom, resident room, and many common spaces. These cans can receive paper, plastics, metals, printer cartridges, cardboard, lightbulbs, and most of the industrial items are collected from physical plant. All items go into a single-stream eliminating the need for sorting. The items are picked up by custodial and place at a central location in each building for pick up by the recycling operator.

In developing such a system the process has become easy increasing participation. No other system of such scope exists in our nation - other than maybe Georgia Tech (sort of, not really).

The last part, about leadership, is directly from our vision and mission statements.

History · Status: Offline

Thank you for the translation.

Date: Nov 5, 2008

Anonymous wrote:

History wrote:

"by developing one of the largest, easiest programs in the nation we have set the cornerstone of validity within the minds of our campus community allowing for greater mobility to achieve compliance with the ACUPCC and become the thought leaders of sustainability within our state and region. "

Huh??

Our program has four characteristics:
Universal
Comprehensive
Desk-side
Single-stream

There is a can in every office, classroom, resident room, and many common spaces. These cans can receive paper, plastics, metals, printer cartridges, cardboard, lightbulbs, and most of the industrial items are collected from physical plant. All items go into a single-stream eliminating the need for sorting. The items are picked up by custodial and place at a central location in each building for pick up by the recycling operator.

In developing such a system the process has become easy increasing participation. No other system of such scope exists in our nation - other than maybe Georgia Tech (sort of, not really).

The last part, about leadership, is directly from our vision and mission statements.

All that is whatever it is, but is there a positive result? Is USM saving money in any way? Or is all this merely a feel-good project?

Date: Nov 5, 2008

But, more important, did the "thought leaders" ever recover our stolen yellow bicycles?

Date: Nov 5, 2008

I can see the advantages of recycling, but if our "thought leaders" (sorry, administrator jargon always cracks me up) really want to save a buck or two, put some $5 MECHANICAL TIMERS on the light switches in our classrooms (preferably 120 minutes). When I come in on weekends (or at night), and see so many lights left on, that is about the biggest waste of bucks (and damage to the environment) that we can do.

Curmudgeon · Status: Offline

Some of that verbiage suggests that Lisa Mader is back on board.

Date: Nov 5, 2008

Curmudgeon wrote:

Some of that verbiage suggests that Lisa Mader is back on board.

Hey now, that's uncalled for . . .

Yes, the bikes have been collected and yes, recycling more than pays for itself (as explained earlier). Energy management (motion/heat switches) are all part of the plan - it just takes more than three months to do EVERYTHING everyone thinks of. The sustainability initiative will touch every corner of campus eventually and hopefully sooner than most expect.

Date: Nov 5, 2008

Thought leader
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Thought leader is a word used to describe a futurist or person who is recognized among their peers and mentors for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable distilled insights (thinklets).

Thought leadership is an increasingly vital driver of business success. The term was first coined in 1994, by Joel Kurtzman, editor-in-chief of the magazine, Strategy & Business. The term was used to designate interview subjects for that magazine who had contributed new thoughts to business. ......

Thought leadership is also an emerging discipline in its own right. Our ability to understand its core practices, then to effectively apply them, are the keys to positioning ourselves and our companies for next level growth."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_leader

Can an executive MBA in Thought Leadership be far behind? Would it require a thesis of many thinklets?

Date: Nov 5, 2008

Anonymous wrote:

Thought leader
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Thought leader is a word used to describe a futurist or person who is recognized among their peers and mentors for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable distilled insights (thinklets).

Thought leadership is an increasingly vital driver of business success. The term was first coined in 1994, by Joel Kurtzman, editor-in-chief of the magazine, Strategy & Business. The term was used to designate interview subjects for that magazine who had contributed new thoughts to business. ......

Thought leadership is also an emerging discipline in its own right. Our ability to understand its core practices, then to effectively apply them, are the keys to positioning ourselves and our companies for next level growth."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_leader

Can an executive MBA in Thought Leadership be far behind? Would it require a thesis of many thinklets?

Sure, as long as a prerequisite exists that an applicant be a hippie tree-hugger - I'm game. That would make a lot of sense since the triple-net bottom line of sustainability is social, economic, and environmental.

Let's make it a one year program with comps and an externship.

LVN · Status: Offline

I just wish some of you "Anonymous" posters would make up names for yourself. It's hard to track these conversations.

Date: Nov 6, 2008

http://www.rhymer.net/dictionary.htm

"Disturbingly, many of these are genuine, real life usages, springing freshly neoligised from the slack jaws of our politicians, business leaders and other opinion formers. You too can demonstrate thought leadership by adding them to your speech."

I like recycling. But I do wish that business and administrative folks bagged (pun alert) the vacuous jargon.

Mitch

Date: Nov 7, 2008

Why does it need to be "bagged"? If it's too smart for you, stop reading it. I guess there's a reason why you aren't one of those business/administrator types.... Or better yet - do some research and be someone who comes up with ideas instead of questioning the efforts of others. (Notice I didn't tell you to be a forward thinker since that jargon seems to be too vacuous for you!)

You people need to stop complaining about everything and find ways to be supportive and encouraging! Good grief - not a message on this stupid website finds anything positive about anything!

Boudreaux · Status: Offline

Me an Thibodeaux are both "thought leaders". Course der quality of dem thoughts don count, no. Der quantity of dem thoughts is what makes dem learders, yea. Thibodeaux an me gonna apply fer jobs as CEOs of dem financial institutions. Der quality of our thoughts are just as good an maybe better than dem guys, yea.

LVN · Status: Offline

Boudreaux, where ya been cher?

Anonymous-between-Mitch-and-Boudreaux: you must be new.

-- Edited by LVN at 20:00, 2008-11-09

Date: Nov 9, 2008

Anonymous wrote:

Why does it need to be "bagged"? If it's too smart for you, stop reading it. I guess there's a reason why you aren't one of those business/administrator types.... Or better yet - do some research and be someone who comes up with ideas instead of questioning the efforts of others. (Notice I didn't tell you to be a forward thinker since that jargon seems to be too vacuous for you!)

You people need to stop complaining about everything and find ways to be supportive and encouraging! Good grief - not a message on this stupid website finds anything positive about anything!

Hey LVN! This board sure has changed.

MB

Date: Nov 10, 2008

LVN wrote:

Anonymous-between-Mitch-and-Boudreaux: you must be new.

-- Edited by LVN at 20:00, 2008-11-09

Not new - just never commented before now.
You people have too much time on your hands and too much criticism for this message board to be effective. I would LOVE to see a USM administration with nothing but AAUP message board commentors. Then you'd see how tied your hands were on EVERYTHING and how hurtful rumors you post never improve any situation.

Instead of sitting around tearing down the decisions of others, get involved in the decision making process and help make Southern Miss what you think it can be.
Seriously - find ways to build up and not tear down. This "greening" is a positive for USM, the students and the Hattiesburg community.

Invictus · Status: Offline

The Ole Miss "Daily Mississippian" recently published the Green Scorecard, comparing UM with other SEC schools. I thought it was a pretty good thing. It was pretty plain English.

If the university can hype up some "press" over this, be grateful it's good press about a good thing, instead of the incessant spin-doctoring of stupid, bad things we saw for so many years. I do agree that what was quote above was pretty convoluted. That's one thing we don't want to recycle.

-- Edited by Invictus at 20:43, 2008-11-10

ram · Status: Offline

Anonymous wrote:
...
You people have too much time on your hands and too much criticism for this message board to be effective. ...

Interesting observation. Help me distinguish you from "you people."

With all these anonymous postings, it's hard to follow a conversation, if it even is a conversation.

Is it time to go back to registration?

HEST · Status: Offline

There is a can in every office, classroom, resident room, and many common spaces.

I never got a blue can for my office. Although getting up to walk to the nearest one is probably better for me, I would like to get one for my office. Can you point me in the right direction? No one in my building, including custodial staff, seems to know how to get one.

Date: Nov 11, 2008

Anonymous wrote:

LVN wrote:

Anonymous-between-Mitch-and-Boudreaux: you must be new.

-- Edited by LVN at 20:00, 2008-11-09

Not new - just never commented before now.
You people have too much time on your hands and too much criticism for this message board to be effective. I would LOVE to see a USM administration with nothing but AAUP message board commentors. Then you'd see how tied your hands were on EVERYTHING and how hurtful rumors you post never improve any situation.
Instead of sitting around tearing down the decisions of others, get involved in the decision making process and help make Southern Miss what you think it can be.
Seriously - find ways to build up and not tear down. This "greening" is a positive for USM, the students and the Hattiesburg community.

Dear poster:

No one was tearing down the recycling effort. We are quite happy about it. However, some of us were (perhaps too subtly) pointing out that using confusing and convoluted language can muddle up the PR for an otherwise solid effort.

I'm not sure what you were trying to say in your most recent message, but you sound hurt and frustated and feel the need to vent. I know some of the posters on the thread. Be assured that they are loyal and extremely productive members of the USM family who have contributed quite a bit in service, administration, and research over the years. I don't read or post to this board much these days (one risks personal insult from anonymous posters such as yourself), but it is important to remember (contrary to your perspective) that this board did play an important and effective role in the history of USM.

MB

Date: Nov 12, 2008

Send an email to green@usm.edu and tell them you need a desk side can and note your building and office number and they'll bring it to you. If there are others in your building who do not have cans, please note that as well.

p.s. While the custodial staff has been trained on their role in the recycling process, they probably do not know how to get cans as this does not fall under the Physical Plant. Just send all requests to green@usm.edu and it will get taken care of.
Thanks!

Date: Nov 13, 2008

College hall already has timers - rather sensors - that turn off the lights if no one is in the room. Progress is being made, and it is good progres!!! Dr. Saunders has done a tremendous job thus far, and things seem to be getting better and better.

These things take time. Be patient and get involved! =)

Date: Nov 13, 2008

CJS wrote:

things seem to be getting better and better.

but NOT in the library.

Austin Eagle · Status: Offline

Invictus wrote:

....I do agree that what was quote above was pretty convoluted.

-- Edited by Invictus at 20:43, 2008-11-10

Pretty convoluted? That's it? You're either mellowing with age, or morphing into a kinder gentler Invictus. That passage was virtually unintelligible. It reminded me of a Chinese water torture management lecture I once suffered through, intended to provide structure and guidance to pedestrian research scientists. The poor guy didn't utter a coherent sentence during his presentation but the talk was peppered with enough new age buzz words to keep us rapt. One of my personal favorites was "envisioneer," which may have been a precursor to today's "thought leader." Did someone mention a new USM master's program in thought leadership? I couldn't find it in the main catalog. Must be offered exclusively through the D'Lo campus?

On a serious note, kudos to USM for their new recycling program.

AE, aspiring thought leader weirdface

LVN · Status: Offline

A kinder, gentler Invictus and AE as a "thought leader" -- whoa! What is the world coming to?? wink

Invictus · Status: Offline

Look, I write obfuscated Perl code for kicks. Whether that is kinder & gentler than making homebrew C4, I dunno, but I do have myself down to a mere four chili rellenos a week now. My point is that jargonistic obfuscation is not necesssarily unintelligible to the educated reader who has plenty of time to spend decrypting the content.

I do have a recycling problem, though & maybe if I stop by, someone will let me drop the following items into their blue can: 1 fifth whisky bottle half filled with brown liquid & labeled "DDT" (we think the former gardener drank the other half) & one 40 gallon drum about quarter filled with liquid labeled "firing oil" but reeking of what I think is heptachlor. Heptachlor has a half life of 28 years & it's the ONLY thing I've ever used that will totally eradicate a fire ant colony. Both substances have been illegal for over 35 years, but considering the neighbors are cooking methamphetamine, I'm not particularly worried about EPA.

If anyone has a really bad fire ant problem or needs to grow a third hand, feel free to drop me a line.

-- Edited by Invictus at 22:01, 2008-11-15

Web Master · Status: Offline

ram wrote:

With all these anonymous postings, it's hard to follow a conversation, if it even is a conversation.

Is it time to go back to registration?

Yes.