TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Everything Came Up Green In The Sun Dome

ADVERTISEMENT

By MIKE WELLS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 13, 2008

Updated: 04/13/2008 12:18 am

TAMPA - A partnership between the University of South Florida and community leaders concerned for the environment blossomed in the Sun Dome on Saturday.

Going Green Tampa Bay Expo showcased nearly 100 providers of eco-friendly products and services to residents and small-business owners.

The event was the brainchild of USF, the Hillsborough Planning Commission and the Urban Charrette, a nonprofit organization of local design professionals and community leaders who advocate for a sustainable urban core.

Visitors were given ideas about renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable design and green building. Workshops included information on urban bicycling, biodiesel fuels and water conservation.

Phyllis and Everett Henderson of Tampa, intern architects with the design firm GouldEvans, went to the expo as visitors to look at building products.

"We are always looking for ways to add something Earth-friendly to our projects," Phyllis Henderson said. "We're interested in the topic in general and we wanted to see what they had to offer."

During the Expo, USF President Judy Genshaft signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, which aims to address climate-change issues. Participating schools are trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and integrate sustainability into the curriculum.

So far, 500 schools have signed on, including the University of Florida, Stetson University and Florida Gulf Coast University.

USF aims to be a leader in the field of sustainability - the practice of meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

The school pairs business and environmental science students together on projects to reconcile competing interests in land use, namely tourism, development and agriculture, said Sharon Hanna-West, a graduate faculty member of USF's College of Business.

"Every student, regardless of what degree program they are in, needs to have some kind of environmental literacy," she said.

She credited former Vice President Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" movie with raising awareness among the public, but she said the recent upswing in interest in saving the environment is not a passing trend.

"To me, this movement is not like the one we saw in the '70s," Hanna-West said. "It's deeper. We've learned to better calculate the impact and damage and to project what's going to happen in the future.

"It's a new era, and I think this one's really permanent," she said.

Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT