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UW-River Falls Hosts Sustainability Conference April 9-10

April 2, 2010---Continuing its road to self-sustainability, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls will host the 2010 Upper Midwest Association for Campus Sustainability (UMACS) Conference April 9-10 in the University Center. Students, faculty and staff are invited to learn and share ideas on how to develop more sustainable college campuses. Schools across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa will be in attendance.

This year’s conference, “Nuts and Bolts and Stories of Success,” emphasizes that “sustainability comes first with faculty, students, and active campuses--we’re talking nuts and bolts,” says Kelly Cain, director of the St. Croix Institute for Sustainable Community Development at UWRF.

Topics covered during the conference include energy conservation, climate change action, food systems, energy efficiency, and carbon foot printing. Cain says the benefits to UWRF are numerous.

“It gives the campus a leadership role and an opportunity to showcase what it’s done,” he says. Indeed, River Falls has done a lot. When it comes to electricity efficiency, UWRF students are fully self-sustaining.

Cain hopes that the success of the conference comes not just from current action, but also from future discussion as well. “I hope this helps with conversation: what will emerge locally as a campus, and regionally as a group of communities,” he said.

“Above all, this is all about student and faculty opportunities,” says Cain. Participants at the conference will be able to share their own ideas, attend workshops, and hear from two keynote speakers.

Paul Rowland, executive director of the AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education), and Honor Earth Executive Director Winona LaDuke, will both present personal stories of sustainability success.

For more information, contact kelly.d.cain@uwrf.edu or call 715-425-3479.

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