Going Green Tampa Bay Expo at USF

USF Promotes Green Living During Week of April 7

TAMPA, Fla. (March 21, 2008) -- St. Patrick's Day may fall in March,
but beginning April 7, everything will be coming up green at the University
of South Florida.

USF will be hosting Sustain-A-Bull, a week-long series of events
dedicated to promoting a greener lifestyle in the Tampa Bay area.

The events, which are free and open to the public, begin on April 7
and culminate with the Getting Green by Going Green Expo in the USF Sun
Dome on April 12. USF is one of several sponsors for the expo, along with
Tampa Electric Company, Lykes Brothers, Inc. and the Hillsborough County
City-County Planning Commission.

The expo includes panel discussions and workshops ranging from making
compost to water conservation. Michael Lokey, of Lokey Trucks and Isuzu
of Tampa Bay, will display his bio-fuel-powered race car and demonstrate
how to make bio-fuels.

Sharon Hanna-West, an MBA programs faculty member at the USF College
of Business and one of the coordinators for the event, said the interest
in the expo shows that environmental concerns are a priority for USF and the
surrounding Tampa Bay community.

"One of the most important aspects is the connectivity between the
university and the community," she said. "The amount of common passion
and common cause is amazing. I think this is an idea, a cause that people
believe in, and share in common."

The expo coincides with the annual Spring Plant Festival at the USF
Botanical Gardens, also held April 12, from held 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The
Spring Festival and plant sale is the largest fundraiser for the
gardens.
Free transportation will be available for festival patrons to travel to
the expo and vice versa.

Kim Hutton, events coordinator for the gardens, said she thinks having
the festival and the expo on the same day will be good for both events.

"We're just really happy about that because they can do both events,"
Hutton said. "And it will bring just the type of people we want - the green
people."

Some of the festival's guests are sure to appeal to a green crowd at
the Expo, said Botanical Gardens director, Laurie Walker.

"We do have the Hillsborough County Extension office and The Native
Plant Society," Walker said. "You can't get much greener than that."

Some Sustain-A-Bull events during the week include: the Climate
Roadshow Tour, featuring the World Wildlife Fund's chief climatologist, Lara
Hansen; Climate Change and Health, World Health Day, featuring the documentary
"Too Hot Not To Handle"; and From Green Homes to Green Museum, which
includes presentations by students from Green Infrastructure for Sustainable
Communities.

Hansen said the most difficult part of her job is trying to convince
people how urgent the problem of climate change really is.

"People think there's time to wait and see what's going to happen but
there isn't," Hansen said.

For more information on the expo and Sustain-A-Bull events for the
week, please go to Going Green Tampa Bay's website at
www.goinggreentampabay.com.

-USF-

Sean Ledig :
Sean Ledig
Media Relations Coordinator
University Communications & Marketing
sledig@admin.usf.edu

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