Missouri Master Naturalist Conference Keynote
/The keynote speaker at the Missouri Master Naturalist state conference was Phil Valko – the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Sustainability at Washington University. He was an engaging speaker…starting his talk with a Missouri nature trivia quiz (number of springs and caves, etc.) and conservation history.
The major topic of the talk was sustainability at Washington University. I had already noticed the number of native plants in the areas of the campus I encountered during the conference. It was great news that they had successfully reduced the campus energy use and emissions while increasing the campus space! They have electrified their fleet and have solar panels on their charging facility.
The campus as its own thrift store to promote reuse – particularly during student move in and out at the university.
The campus also is an arboretum. It has 133 of the 153 trees native to Missouri and 63 of the 113 shrubs! The arboretum also has many non-natives….and the current logo for the arboretum features the ginkgo.
Washington University created a mobile app (Project Clean Grid) that displays a specific type of grid emissions data called marginal emissions that focus on the real-world impacts of using electricity – which power plants actually respond when you use more or less electricity and how much carbon they emit. By avoiding the dirtiest times (red and orange), high-carbon power plants run a little less. Shifting your usage to the cleanest times (green) makes use of lower-carbon power sources in your region and can even result in more renewable energy flowing onto the grid in regions with significant amounts of clean energy. I downloaded the app and have started to be more aware of the grid where I live.
