April 3, 2008

Whitworth Community Invited to Participate in Sustainability Challenge April 13-May 1

In an effort to encourage the Whitworth community's continued involvement in sustainability, the university is hosting a Sustainability Challenge April 13-May 1. The challenge is open to two-person teams comprising anyone associated with Whitworth University, including students, faculty, administrators, staff, Sodexo employees and outside vendors.

Whitworth's 2nd annual Sustainability Challenge is sponsored by the university's sustainability committee and will feature weekly events and prizes, as well as grand prizes awarded to the top teams at the conclusion of the challenge. The two-person teams may register for the challenge, view a calendar of events, and track their participation by visiting www.whitworth.edu/sustainability.

"The goal of the sustainability challenge is to raise awareness of the many ways that people can make choices to live more sustainably," says Sustainability Challenge organizer Patrick Van Inwegen, associate professor of political science at Whitworth. "While institutions can make policies about sustainable practices, it's really individuals choosing to live more sustainably that will have the profound impact of creating a world where meeting our current needs doesn't come at the expense of others' ability to do the same."

Sustainability Challenge events will include:

• Bike rides to Indian Painted Rocks and Bowl and Pitcher, in Spokane
  
  
• The Good Deeds for Trees Club will host a crochet night in the HUB: Learn how to crochet or knit and contribute to a square of a blanket that will be sent to a family in need
  
  
• Field trip to Spokane's Waste-to-Energy Plant
  
  
• Field trip to one of the local family farms in the Shepherd's Grain alliance, which supplies Whitworth's bread products
  
  
• GetLit! Festival presentation by David Suzuki, who has written more than 40 books and is an internationally respected geneticist, broadcaster and environmentalist who hosts the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's popular science television series, The Nature of Things. Suzuki will discuss his writing and will read from his new book, The Big Picture: Reflections on Science, Humanity, and a Quickly Changing Planet. Whitworth is one of the sponsors of the presentation, which will take place on Saturday, April 18, at 8 p.m. at the Bing Crosby Theatre, downtown. Also at the event, William Dietrich, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, historian, naturalist and professor at Western Washington University, will read from his nonfiction essays on nature and the Pacific Northwest.
  

Possible prizes include:

• Gift certificates to local restaurants, coffee shops and bookstores
  
  
• Organic food baskets
  
  
• Catered dinner for 10 featuring organic, locally grown food

Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private, liberal arts university affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The university, which has an enrollment of 2,600 students, offers 53 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Contacts:

Patrick Van Inwegen, associate professor of political science, Whitworth University, (509) 777-4844 or pvaninwegen@whitworth.edu.

Emily Proffitt, public information officer, Whitworth University, (509) 777-4703 or eproffitt@whitworth.edu.