GVSU students help make Rothbury green

Over the Fourth of July weekend, tens of thousands of concertgoers will gather north of Muskegon for the second annual Rothbury Festival. While grooving to the sounds of Bob Dylan, The Dead, Willie Nelson, the String Cheese Incident and dozens of other bands, attendees will have the opportunity to learn how big of an individual environmental impact they have, thanks to some Grand Valley State University students.

Four Grand Valley students will staff a tent at the festival that features an interactive carbon footprint computer program. They'll also give out information on 10 sustainable activities that are easy to do.

Rothbury bills itself as a four-day, environmentally sustainable music and camping festival and Grand Valley State University is a national leader in sustainability, so it was only natural for the festival to approach the university to participate. "They want an educational component at the festival, and that's what we're bringing to it," Grand Valley Sustainable Community Development Initiative project manager Bart Bartels said.

Bartels added that people may be surprised "how many Earths we would need if everyone consumes what the average American does."

Rothbury's mission is to create a state-of-the-art, large-scale sustainable event that uses green technologies and strives to produce near-zero waste. The festival will feature a think tank series of speakers who will explore the topic of the emerging green economy. Grand Valley Sustainable Community Development Initiative director Norman Christopher will participate in one of those sessions.  Grand Valley's Geology Department will also host a tent at the festival.

Grand Valley has been recognized nationally for its sustainability efforts and was the only Michigan school cited in the Kaplan College Guide 2009 list of “cutting-edge green” colleges and universities. The university was the recipient of the U.S. Green Building Council’s 2008 Recognition Award and the Sustainable Endowments Institute’s 2008 National Sustainability Innovator Award.

For more information about Grand Valley State University's Sustainability Initiative, visit www.gvsu.edu/sustainability . For more information about Rothbury, visit www.rothburyfestival.com .