This Judd Apatow guy is really going places.

Frank McCourt and David Sedaris are better writers than Miley Cyrus.

Indie rocker identifies with Wes Anderson, likes The Life Aquatic.

"Green" is an adjective with a variety of meanings and uses in our language!

The Eye encourages you to buy certified organic and fair trade coffee

Tipster Jason Patinkin writes to us with two tips. The latter is a complete schedule of Earth Week, which begins today. The week of activities includes tons of free food, tours of environmentally-friendly buildings, and a ton of lectures. Check out the full schedule after the jump.

Patinkin also direct our attention to what he refers to as a "staggering" amount of free pizza in Lerner. "2 advising deans are answering questions in East Ramp Lounge and have about 15 famiglia pizzas. They're there till 3. RIGHT NEXT DOOR in the West Ramp Lounge from 12-1:30, the eco-reps will have 5 V&T Pizzas for their every popular "Simple Things You Can Do to Help the Environment" Discussion," he writes of the pizza-bounty. Apparently just one pie has been eaten.

April is not just Poetry Month, it's also Earth Awareness Month. W.M. Akers reports on NYU's valiant awareness-raising nude protest/celebration.

A civic-minded group of students took to the streets outside of the main NYU buildings today, exhibiting their bodies and their concern for the environment. Timing their small march to coincide with the gap in between the 11 AM and 12:30 PM classes, they made a circuit of six blocks several times, chanting and cheering in support of Earth Month.

They gathered at the east side of Washington Square a few minutes before noon to trade shirts, pants and brasseires for colorful war paint. Most of the men wore shorts and running shoes, while the women wore pants or athletic shorts and a bra or body paint. It was a few degrees too cold for comfortable nudity, and assorted nipples greeted the air cheerfully. Though they looked a bit silly, the participants had their message ready, as though they expected people to ask why they were running around topless.

Tipster Josh Mathew informs Bwog that Westside Market "will soon be using only biodegradable plastic bags and that customers will also have the option of purchasing reusable bags for 99 cents." An environmentally-sound way to transport your fresh, delicious, and fairly-priced groceries from 110th to your dorm. How lovely.

Meanwhile, what say you, Morton Williams? Your convenience can only blind us from your mediocrity for so long. And then perhaps a time will come when we will be consistently motivated to walk the extra six blocks to Westside Market. The winds of change are blowing south.

Those gungho-y-est of campus organizations, CCSC and the EcoReps, win this week's Bwog award for most funnest use of Microsoft Excel with their new website. One bar graph reveals that the average Carman resident excretes over 5 pounds of carbon a week. A pie chart proves that John Jay is an energy-gobbling monster, which Bwog's resident common sensicalist attributes to the kitchen appliances of JJ's and the dining hall, and which Bwog's your-book-smarts-won't-get-you-far-in-the-real-world arm attributes to high elevator use in such a tall building. For those less concerned with the time-burning joys of pie-charting and bad-joking, here's a feed of environews and the reason our roads will some day reek of french fries.

Last week's felling of the tree in front of Earl sparked a mild-mannered quasi-protest act by an unidentified group of individuals who have placed a papier-mache Lorax on the stump of the Tree That Once Was.

Bwog would never suggest, however, that in order to create the papier-mache Lorax, the merry protesters would have had to have used paper, one of man's favorite tree-based substances.

One of the amazing things about water bottles are the limited expenses that come along with owning one. Some might actually call this the basis of the water bottle's appeal: It's a one-time expenditure, and after you buy one for $5, you never have to pay for water again, as water fountains are conveniently free.

On that note, we ask you to direct a critical eye towards Barnard. In efforts to discourage students from buying bottled water, BC is going to be offering students the chance to refill their plastic water bottles for 50 cents-per-fill with Poland Spring water, effectively capturing about half of the cost and none of the freshness of bottled water.

This filling station trial run will last until the 15th and might culminate with the ousting of bottled water from Java City altogether. The College has already started polling--though only 28 people have participated--the BC student body on the initiative.

The choice between harming the environment and paying for what's essentially tap water has never been so murky.

Zahra Khimji and Bwog editor Maryam Parhizkar write about a very long cycling trip with a very noble mission.

While in the United States people are constantly striving for ways to save the environment and stop global warming, Iranians too are striving for ways to promote peace environmental awareness. Somayeh Yousefi and Jafar Edrisi, an athletic couple who first met on a mountain peak near Tehran in 1998, are just such people -- this year, the Iranian cyclists began their journey to promote peace and environmental conservation, one country at a time.

Professor Dennis Dalton, well-known in the last few months for taking part in the recent hunger strike, introduced the event. "This word, peace -- that matters most to me," Professor Dalton said, while physically pointing to the word on the large banner hung on the table in front of the room. Dalton warmly welcomed the cyclists, stating that although we must work to resolve conflict that we had gotten into with Iran, "violence spreads like a cancer . . . we are plagued with that cancer now, and we must cure it."

Yousefi and Edrisi then proceeded to explain their mission, which involves cycling around the world and creating a "green line" of newly planted trees along the way to promote peace and environmental awareness. "No one will be living in a peaceful world without the environment," Yousefi, the English speaker of the two, said. Yousefi and Edrisi have been tracking every step of their trip and blogging whenever they have the chance. Starting from Iran, they have cycled through major parts of Europe such as Greece, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and have crossed the Atlantic ocean (by flight, of course!). As of today, the couple has planted a total of 14 trees, with 2 in New York State.

Last week, Bwog made passing mention that the Students for Environmental and Economic Justice were selling t-shirts on college walk. By way of a follow up, we'd like to say just how much we love their screen-printed, second-hand tees--they're clever and environmentally/economically conscious!

But what really piqued Bwog's interest was the cause said t-shirts are repping: the University's full conversion to wind power. According to SEEJer Laura Seidman, C '10, the group is petitioning Columbia to buy their power specifically from wind sources. Our power is curently supplied by ConEd; all we'd have to do is request that ours come exclusively from the company's wind turbines and pay the extra 2 or so percent such power would cost. NYU has a similar arrangement, and SEEJ thinks it's time for us to get on board as well. It would cost each student around ten extra dollars a year--although Bwog wonders whether there isn't some local high-roller who'd kick in $500 million to cut down on energy use altogether.

Back when Bwog had a crack-like Sim City addiction, it learned that wind turbines are slightly more expensive but about as effective as coal and oil plants. Same in the real world? Chat up SEEJ and find out.

-ARR

The Eco-Reps, that cadre of kids who'll always cheerfully remind you to recycle, need help. Applications are due this Saturday, September 15th at midnight.

Apply here, and check out their nifty new site while you're at it!

Details were thin in PrezBo's announcement regarding Columbia's decision to curb its carbon habit, which should have dropped in your inbox sometime today. Ever curious, Bwog took its questions to sustainability czar and New Yorker of the Week Nilda Mesa, who made everything a little more concrete.

What data has Columbia gathered on its current carbon emissions? How does the University plan to monitor progress, and are there intermediate targets?

We are in the process of beginning the exhaustive data collection effort. It involves many departments of the University, and will focus on the areas of energy, waste, transportation and refrigerants. Given the complexity of the University, and that this is new, to get accurate figures will take some time. We will be in good shape though, with the measures we already began this year to put in systems to collect the data, such as metering the buildings separately at Morningside, Lamont and Baker Field. We will indeed have intermediate targets over the next 10 years. It's a very exciting time.

Where will the reduction in emissions come from?

We will know better once we have an accurate inventory identifying the sources. We expect our reductions will mirror the city's patterns, and will come from such initiatives as installing light sensors and more energy-efficient lighting, installing double-paned glass, and purchasing energy-efficient appliances and boilers, some of which we have already begun to do. Recycling will also be a component, and we are looking at the feasibility of purchasing renewable energy such as wind. It's a big effort, and we'll succeed if everyone does their part on even the little things like turning off lights and computers.

How much will this commitment cost the University to implement?

We will know better once the inventory is done and we have a good sense of where the opportunities are. We expect we will save money in many instances over the long run because fuel costs are so high.

- LBD

Thirty percent in ten years: nice round numbers. That's the amount by which Columbia and seven other colleges pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions today under Mayor Bloomberg's glitzy PlaNYC program for greening the Big Apple. The announcement came with some high praise from President Bollinger: "No idea is bigger or more important to our collective future than Mayor Bloomberg's determination that New York be a leader in responding to the challenges of climate change," he said in the press release.

This stuff is complicated, but in simple terms, that's a bigger commitment than any of the major presidential candidates (and most of the minor ones) have made for that timeframe. Bwog's question: do we even know how much carbon Columbia emits now?

We'll get back to you on that.

Meanwhile, Public Affairs also used the release to highlight some nifty things that Columbia's climateers and recyclemaniacs have been up to this year (did you know we actually won something?). Check Nilda's site for more info.

- LBD

Fairweather Bwogger Sara Vogel reports from the frontlines of Transportation Alternatives' Tour de Brooklyn bike ride with a gruesome tale of famished athletes after a free lunch.

Dyker Heights is far. Two trains and a bus far, and it always seems farther on Sundays. But Adria and I rubbed the sleepies from our eyes Sunday morning and waited for public transportation to take us to Dyker Heights Park anyway for some high quality NHS-style community service. We began slathering bagels with peanut butter and jelly for the flock of bikers that would be using the park as a rest stop on the Tour de Brooklyn that morning.

We even got to cut two cases worth of oranges with these nifty slicers, and to chat up the dozen or so high school volunteers from Brooklyn Tech about the newest MTV Laguna Beach spin-off, set to exhibit the young lives of their classmates next year.

And then the bikers arrived.