What it means to be green

Going green, this issue of Georgia Magazine, is the result of a fortuitous series of events that occurred last year. In February, UGA announced the creation of the Odum School of Ecology, the first free-standing school of ecology in the world. The new designation elevated the programs that had been offered through the Institute of Ecology—which Eugene Odum founded in the 1950s—to a new level, giving them a higher priority at UGA and a stronger national presence.

Later in the year, Lane Press, which is under contract to print Georgia Magazine, became Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. The FSC has established standards covering economic, social and environmental concerns for the wood fiber industry.

While we already printed on paper made with a percentage of recyclable materials, we saw an opportunity to use the magazine as an example of social consciousness, as well as a vehicle to showcase UGA’s commitment to the environment. Featured in this issue are stories from a wide spectrum of schools and colleges that show how faculty, staff, students and alumni are doing their part to conserve, preserve, recycle, and sustain the world around us.

With the exception of a few stories, which we felt were too significant to postpone, this issue is themed around green.

In addition to content, this magazine has been produced using every measure available to reduce its carbon footprint.

Lane Press, based in Vermont, has spent the past decade refining its techniques to become more environmentally responsible. Less than 2 percent of the power used by the company comes from carbon fuel sources that produce greenhouse gas. Lane uses ink with a maximum percentage of vegetable oil that can withstand heatset web press operations. Its ink is purchased from a company that prohibits the use of substances, such as formaldehyde and flame retardants, known to be harmful to the environment. Unused ink is recycled or sent to an outside company, which burns it cleanly as fuel.

This issue of Georgia Magazine is printed on FSC-certified paper, which contains 10 percent recycled materials. The paper was produced by Appleton Coated of Wisconsin, using electricity generated by renewable resources, including wind and water power and biogas, organic materials converted into energy by a methane-powered generator.

Using these measures, this issue generated a savings of:

• 55 trees
• 37.9 BTUs, enough to provide almost half the energy needs of one household for a year
• 47,752 pounds CO2 (greenhouse gas), as much as is emitted by 4.36 cars in a year
• 19,972 gallons of water, enough to fill 400 standard size bathtubs
• 3,305 pounds of solid waste, about half the amount of solid waste an average family of four will generate in a year

Being green isn’t cheap, we learned. But hopefully as demand for green power grows, supply will increase and the cost will go down.

We are grateful to the UGA colleges, schools and departments that provided financial assistance to make this green issue possible:

Odum School of Ecology www.ecology.uga.edu

College of Environment and Design www.sed.uga.edu

College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences www.caes.uga.edu

Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources www.warnell.uga.edu

Faculty of Engineering www.engineering.uga.edu

Leigh Ellis, Skimmers in red, watercolor

A special thanks to Arnoldsville artist Leigh Ellis (BS ’82), who painted the watercolor on the cover. Ellis began her career 20 years ago in biological illustration. In April, she will teach a one-week course, “Painting in the Rainforest,” at UGA’s Costa Rica campus. For more on Ellis, go to www.studiointhewood.com.

© Copyright 2004 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA