“The New Faces of FUEL”

• In the past year(October 2016-present), the student organization, FUEL has gained completely new office members and has undergone a name change from Future-Minded University Students for Environmentally conscience Living (FUEL), to Future Urban and Environmental Leaders (FUEL).

• The new FUEL club seeks to increase environmental awareness and understanding so that our campus, and life at home can have a healthier relationship with the environment and the surrounding community. FUEL does this by revolving their events around urban planning, resource conservation, and sustainable living practices

• FUEL has also attended the annual SMAP (Student- Michigan Association of Planning) Conference on February 20th, 2015, as well as the following year. The 2015 conference was the first time that any UM-Flint students have attended this conference. The conference consisted of real world examples of both proper and improper planning techniques by focusing on various topics related to urban development, urban design, and transportation.

• FUEL has two Flint River Clean-ups per year in which students, and faculty volunteer their time to clear the Flint River banks of litter. This helped the overall ecosystem of the river, created a much more inviting place, and raised awareness of the detrimental effects that littering has on the environment. Our next clean-up event is April 15th. We appreciate all the help we can get! 

• FUEL has held many other events such as environmental movie nights, which are followed by discussion, as well as smoothie nights to promote healthy living since healthy living is sustainable to the environment. FUEL also holds multitude events for ‘Earthweek’. Earthweek will serve as lead-up events for UM-Flint’s annual Earth Day Celebration on April 16th,2016. Earthweek events will be taking place every day between April 11th and 16th. Please see the schedule tab for more details. 

• FUEL has also led a few large scale Zero Waste events. Aside from incorporating zero waste methods into our every day club operations, we have made Earth Day 2015 a zero waste event, we have made Edible Flint’s Garden Tour a Zero Waste Event, and we have made the annual food giveaway a zero waste event. The Food Giveaway was our largest zero waste event yet, with a whole semi-truck load worth of cardboard and a pickup truck load of compostables. With only two bags of ‘trash’.