We’d like to introduce you to our next two Sustainability Champions: Morgan Maguire and Schiller Liao! Every two weeks, we will be revealing two more champions, so please visit the page and keep your eyes out in Horizon for the newest pair. Help us give a big thanks to these eco-friendly folks, and let them inspire you to become more sustainable!
Morgan Maguire, Executive Assistant to the VP of Advancement: Sustainability and creativity go hand-in-hand for you, Morgan! You’ve sewn your own flatware wraps that you use to carry a fork, knife, and spoon with you wherever you go, cutting down on the waste created by disposable utensils. The wraps can also double as placements when you’re eating lunch at your desk or in a fast food restaurant. At home you conserve paper by taking recycled bath towels and cutting them into paper towel-sized pieces. Once they’ve lived a good life you make sure to toss them in your composter. You collect rain water to use for watering small bushes and flowers, use vinegar and baking soda for some household cleaning and eco-friendly cleaning products for all other needs, and repurpose used containers such as turning bleach jugs into scoops. Your old towels and blankets are taken to animal shelters and clothing is donated to women’s causes. Living just two miles from campus and consciously grouping your errands puts an average of just 1,000 miles on your car per year, and you hop on your bike whenever possible. Once on campus, you make sure to recycle items such as file folders and one-sided pieces of paper, often retrieving paper from recycling bins that could be used to print a draft or for taking notes. If inspiring others locally to be more sustainable wasn’t enough, you write letters to companies who you’d like to do business with if they were more environmentally-friendly. Keep on impressing us, Morgan!
Schiller Liao, Facilities Project Manager: As the project manager for several of the recent green buildings on campus, you’ve helped to ensure that these buildings and their construction are up to the latest sustainable standards, including the UFCU Alumni Gym and John Brooks Williams Natural Sciences Center- South. As a result, the Sciences Center was awarded the Austin Energy Green Building (AEGB) 3-star rating certificate in October 2013 and the UFCU Alumni Gym is well underway to obtain the same 3-star certificate in the near future. Your belief in sustainable design extends beyond campus and into your home; your air conditioning schedule is divided into four sections over 24 hours based on your work schedule and the current season to avoid unnecessary cooling and heating when there isn’t anyone at home. You also reuse clean water from your kitchen, such as what’s used to wash vegetables and rice, to water the grass and garden to not only conserve water but save on your utility bills. Thanks for all that you do, Schiller!