Spring Break
Running For The Environment
EcoHusky5000 To Raise Money For 'Green Projects'
Timothy Bleasdale
Issue date: 3/30/07 Section: News
Although the weather forecast for Sunday is overcast and a cool 50 degrees, there is little chance of rain - making it the perfect spring day to take a jog. However, if you're a bit more adventurous, you might head out to Horsebarn Hill to run in the 2007 EcoHusky5000 race.
The EcoHusky5000 - which was co-organized by Office of Environmental Policy (OEP) intern Katie Gherard, a 6th-semester environmental science and ecology and evolutionary biology double major, and former OEP intern Melanie Murphy - is a 5-kilometer road race with a course designed to "showcase some of UConn's most beautiful landscapes."
The race, which is open to all who wish to participate, was started last year by former OEP interns Nick AuYeung and Dan Britton as a way to transform their passion for running into a way to help green projects on the UConn campus. AuYeung and Britton designed the 2006 race to also provide a "venue for publicizing environmental initiatives and [raising] money for green projects," a tradition that will be carried on this year.
The race planners have not yet decided which program will receive the proceeds from this years' race.
"This year we are considering two potential projects," Gherard said. "One option is retrofitting an existing campus bus stop to run on solar power. We hope this would spur the university to further consider widespread alternative energy retrofits."
The other green project under consideration is the installation of recycling redemption machines in the on-campus apartment complexes.
"Currently there is only one redemption machine on campus, at the Co-op," Gherard said. "Not many students use this machine, but many travel off campus to Big Y and Grand Union to redeem recyclable cans. If the machines are available on campus, EcoHusky feels that the rate of recycling among apartment students would increase."
Murphy and Gherard said this would increase the university's environmental performance and encourage sustainable behavior while providing students with a convenient way to earn back a little money.
The EcoHusky5000 - which was co-organized by Office of Environmental Policy (OEP) intern Katie Gherard, a 6th-semester environmental science and ecology and evolutionary biology double major, and former OEP intern Melanie Murphy - is a 5-kilometer road race with a course designed to "showcase some of UConn's most beautiful landscapes."
The race, which is open to all who wish to participate, was started last year by former OEP interns Nick AuYeung and Dan Britton as a way to transform their passion for running into a way to help green projects on the UConn campus. AuYeung and Britton designed the 2006 race to also provide a "venue for publicizing environmental initiatives and [raising] money for green projects," a tradition that will be carried on this year.
The race planners have not yet decided which program will receive the proceeds from this years' race.
"This year we are considering two potential projects," Gherard said. "One option is retrofitting an existing campus bus stop to run on solar power. We hope this would spur the university to further consider widespread alternative energy retrofits."
The other green project under consideration is the installation of recycling redemption machines in the on-campus apartment complexes.
"Currently there is only one redemption machine on campus, at the Co-op," Gherard said. "Not many students use this machine, but many travel off campus to Big Y and Grand Union to redeem recyclable cans. If the machines are available on campus, EcoHusky feels that the rate of recycling among apartment students would increase."
Murphy and Gherard said this would increase the university's environmental performance and encourage sustainable behavior while providing students with a convenient way to earn back a little money.
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