Instead of just purple and gold, ECO at LSU is bringing the color green to the tailgate tomorrow.The Environmental Conservation Organization is hosting an environmentally friendly tailgate in the Campus Federal Bank parking lot to spread knowledge of recycling to other tailgaters around campus.Claire Ohlsen, ECO at LSU media coordinator said ECO’s goal is to “educate tailgaters about what to recycle, why to recycle and how to recycle.”Ohlsen, mass communication and Spanish senior, said most of the trash on game days, such as beer bottles, beer cans and water bottles are recyclable and can be reused instead of going to landfills.Katherine Boy Skipsey, ECO at LSU co-vice president and mass communication sophomore, said 15 or more ECO members and other volunteers at the tailgate will hand out more than 200 blue recycling bags to get tailgaters to separate their recycling from their trash.The green tailgate will be zero waste and carbon neutral. It will have solar panels, donated by Gulf South Solar, to power the music, as well as locally grown vegetarian food and a pot of jambalaya, Ohlsen said.”We’re not asking for volunteers to spend the whole day [collecting recyclables],” Ohlsen said. “If they could go back to their tailgate and get their friends to know what to recycle … that’s all we ask of the volunteers.”Boy Skipsey said the tailgate is part of a larger movement of the 350.org campaign to celebrate the International Day of Climate Action, which is the same day as the LSU-Auburn football game.”It’s an international movement,” Boy Skipsey said. “[The 350 campaign is] dedicated to finding a solution to the climate crisis. It’s to push our leaders to come to a fair treaty on cutting carbon dioxide emissions.”Boy Skipsey said 350 is the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide parts per million in our atmosphere. The atmosphere is currently at 390 parts per million, she said.Boy Skipsey said the Kyoto Protocol, which President George W. Bush did not sign, will expire in 2012, and the world leaders will meet to craft a new global treaty on cutting emissions.”The problem is that the treaty is not strong enough yet,” she said. “This movement wants to create a sense of urgency for our planet.”Ohlsen said people all over the world hold an event, protest or campaign on this day to create awareness of the amount of carbon emissions.ECO is partnering with Repower Louisiana, a state branch of Repower America, a campaign focused on passing comprehensive federal clean energy legislation. Repower America is part of the Alliance for Climate Protection organization founded by former Vice President Al Gore.”[Repower Louisiana is] a campaign, and we’re pushing for clean energy legislations this year,” said Ashley Braquet, Repower Louisiana representative and University of Louisiana-Lafayette architecture graduate student.Jack Harris, Repower Louisiana state communications director, said Repower America’s goal is to get comprehensive federal clean energy legislation passed in both houses of congress and signed by President Obama before the December 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.Braquet said the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act just hit the senate.At 3 p.m. on Saturday, the volunteers of the green tailgate will pose for a picture with all the bags of recycling they collected and a 350.org sign. Ohlsen said they will submit the picture to the 350 campaign.”Our hope, for future campus events, is that people will recycle on their own,” Ohlsen said.—–Contact Mary Walker Baus at [email protected]