A New School Year

Welcome back for another great year at Missouri S&T! SO what has happened in the lives of the ECO Miners? Well we have become a RSO! A huge accomplishment and a great start to a new year!

We have big plans for this year and we hope to have a large group of students to help! 

Just a few of the things we are planning include:

• No Impact Project, where hopefully we can get a group of students to agree to give up one thing a day for 5 days to reduce our carbon footprints.
• Free Coffee Wednesdays! We will be giving free coffee to anyone who brings a reusable mug to fill it up in!
• Park and or Dump Site Cleanups
• Recycle Mania
• Earth Day
• Earth Hour

There are other things that may or may not happen but we will keep you up to date when they do! We are always looking for new ideas and fresh faces so do not hesitate to contact us if you are interested!

-Lucy

Welcome Meeting!

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to the blogspot!! If this is your first time here, I'll take a short time to describe what we are all about on this blog site!

Eco Miners is a completely student founded organization based around sustainability and making our campus live up to OUR generation's expectations. We are going to end up with a slew of problems if we don't act now to do what we can to prevent further destruction to our planet.

During our welcome meeting this evening (Wed. Jan 26, 2011) we will be going over some of our current projects and how we are helping the campus currently. We are involved in projects like: Recycle Mania, Earth Day, Earth Hour, and PowerShift2011. All of these projects are nationally (some internationally) recognized and we intend to find more exciting projects to display our dedication to making our planet a better place. We will go over just a couple of the events during the meeting but you can read more on the blogspot or email me at jahphf@mst.edu for details!

Looking forward to an exciting semester changing our planet for the better!

-Jordan

National Action for a Clean Energy Future

A crisp, wind-chilled 40 degrees greeted the four Eco Miners staking the 200 pinwheels across the Havener Center lawn to mark the beginning of the ‘Day of Action’ on November 18. The fliers had been posted, the cookies had been baked, the National Action for a Clean Energy Future banner had been posted, the "Moving S&T Beyond Coal" newspaper article had been published in The Missouri Miner, and the more than 70 student petitions had been collected when part two of the Eco Miners Beyond Coal events began to take shape.

Each day of November until the event, we promoted the Beyond Coal campaign and our upcoming events by tabling at the Havener Center. There we were able to construct the pinwheels for our day of action and effectively start the conversation of moving S&T beyond coal. Throughout this process, our bright yellow Beyond Coal shirts were catching the attention of many and sparked great conversations with students, faculty and community members alike. We were taken by the number of people interested in the campaign, and excited by the great conversations that we held with many fellow students on campus. More than once, we had friendly folk stop by to ask, "How much are the shirts?" And more than once, curiosity would peak the interest of those passing by and we would have to answer the most common question, “So what’s this Beyond Coal campaign all about?” These questions, and more, were answered at the action on November 18 with free Beyond Coal t-shirts and a series of speakers.

In anticipation of the events planned for the action outside of the Havener Center, free hot chocolate and abundant baked treats gathered a great group of students around the Eco Miners sharing information about the Beyond Coal campaign and the national day of action. Speaking about the S&T administrative decision to research alternative sources of energy, Eco Miners Communications Manager and Greek Representative, Jordan Hindman stated, “Eco Miners recognizes the current need for coal; however, confronts the numerous unsustainable aspects of it.” Many of the conversations contributed to the petitions supporting a coal-free S&T that were collected during the event. Others continued conversations from the coal documentary film, “Dirty Business” shown on campus by Eco Miners the night before.

Special Screening: "Dirty Business" Coal Documentary

Eco Miners will be showing a special screening of the coal documentary "Dirty Business" as a late night event on Wednesday, November 17th, at 10 PM in Toomey 199. There will be FREE prize giveaways including reusable coffee mugs and one seriously delicious cake. Snacks and drinks, including hot chocolate, will be provided for everyone that brings a reusable cup and or mug. 


To introduce the Missouri S&T Beyond Coal campaign a brief presentation will also be given during the event to share the exciting details of Moving Missouri S&T Beyond Coal!


This film will be shown as a community event to share the true social and environmental costs of coal power and tells the stories of innovators who are pointing the way to an alternative energy future. [Watch the movie trailer here.] This is a highly reviewed new documentary and we are all excited to see it!  So bring your friends and invite all to enjoy it as a late night event and take the change to meet our Eco Miners group!

Moving Missouri S&T Beyond Coal

Students and young people have been at the forefront of every major social justice movement in recent history—and now we are leading the fight for clean energy.

Campuses Beyond Coal is a campaign to transition every campus in the country away from coal to 100 percent clean energy sources, a critical step in ending our nation’s dependence on coal. Universities should be leaders in technological innovation and sustainability, creating the models for a more sustainable society. We should be investing in the future, not technologies tied to the past. By moving our schools beyond coal, we will take a lead, starting right here, in building a clean, renewable and secure energy future.

Eco Miners has brought the Beyond Coal campaign to S&T! On November 18th, we will be participating in the National Action for a Clean Energy Future as part of a movement for a brighter, cleaner, and healthier future. On this day of action, we will support a coal-free S&T by gathering hundreds of pinwheels in the Havener Center lawn for a highly visible demonstration and celebration of a clean energy future!

To be a part of the action is easy! Eco Miners will be tabling everyday of the week between now and the day of the action. Stop by to decorate your own pinwheel, grab a FREE cup of hot chocolate, and see how you can get a Beyond Coal T-shirt just for showing up!

To join our efforts, you may contact us by emailing Eco Miners Co-chairperson, Eric Farrow at efarrow24@gmail.com. (Include subject line, "Coal-free S&T".)