Month: October 2017

A lyric from a song by my favorite band Fall Out Boy goes “But there’s a light on in Chicago, and I know I should be home.” I was listening to this song when it hit me: there are lights on all the time on Furman’s campus. Obviously, we need street lights so people feel safe walking on campus at night, but inside the buildings is a different story.

I spend a lot of time in Trone at night with meetings, and my biggest pet peeve is when I walk downstairs to retrieve my bike and look into P2X. All the lights are on, and the big TV in the back is on, but I never see anyone. They may be in the back unloading packages, which I understand, but maybe they could turn off the lights in the front part of the room where students usually wait for packages. To give Trone some credit, I know some of the offices and the student organization commons have timers and sensors, so after a certain amount of time, the light will turn off. I think the sensor light system could also be beneficial in the dorms for the hallways, bathrooms, and laundry rooms. Another quick note that isn’t just about lights is that some of the projectors in Furman Hall are still on at night, even when the rest of the lights are off, and I’m not quite sure how to fix this problem, but I’m sure there is some technology that allows for a time system for the projector to turn off after a certain time.

The lights outside of Furman need a little change, too. In particular, the lights on the sports fields are incredibly bright. I have passed by these fields at night, and the fields looks like daytime. I don’t know if there is a way to use a more efficient light or find a way to alternatively power the lights. I always wondered if there is a way to connect more of the PAC exercise machines to the power system, and maybe some of those machines could help provide some of the energy for those lights. Another thing I was thinking about is if during the day, a power source could charge to be used when the lights are on at night practices.

While I am not sure how to solve all these problems, I think it is certainly a topic worth discussing and not a topic to be taken lightly.

 

Peace, love, and Greenbelt,

Katherine Kristinik

 

Picture Source:

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32384622617.html

If you’re anything like me, you probably jam out to John Mayer every morning to get inspired for the day. If you’re even more like me, you listen to “Waiting on the World to Change,” so ridiculously loud that you could probably wake up your neighbors.

 

Until recently, I didn’t quite understand how easy it was to begin living a sustainable lifestyle. See here’s the thing, we’re always talking about waiting for the world to change but the honest truth is, the world isn’t going change without initiating any type of change.

 

I always had this preconceived notion that living sustainably requires an immeasurable amount of effort and a dramatic life change.

 

Let me be the first to openly admit that my assumptions couldn’t be further from the truth.

 

I am afraid of change, big or small. I like sticking to current circumstances and being comfortable. But what if I told you that stepping out of your comfort zone could be one of the best decisions you’ve ever made.

 

After our very first class, I realize how similar I was to my classmates. See I also struggle with using plastic water bottles instead a permanent water bottle. I also drive myself to class or the gym on occasion. I also have way too many unnecessary lights turned on at one time and my biggest secret: sometimes when I’m cold I heat up my blanket in the dryer.

 

My first step was switching over to a permanent water bottle provided by the lovely EES department at Furman. At first it was hard, I’m not going to lie. I had to keep up with my water bottle and wash it and refill it. On the other hand, I am saving a fortunate on not buying plastic water bottle or the gas to go buy the plastic water bottles. My second was to make sure all my lights were turned off. When thinking about it, that saves so much money too.

 

But at the end of the day, its not about the money or the lifestyle we should be worried about. It’s all about this beautiful planet called Earth. See, I dream about having a big family with kids. What if the decisions I made yesterday, today, and tomorrow affect the environment that my kids will grow up in one day? Well they do. It starts with us. It starts with taking that first step: big or small. I still struggle everyday, but it’s worth it. It’s worth starting this “new lifestyle.” Take your first step today, it’s the only way the world changes.

 

Fabby Gonzalez, 2019

Furman’s campus is beautiful. Perfectly trimmed grass and bushes, pretty flowers everywhere. It’s beautiful… until you get to the Greenbelt. The landscape of the Greenbelt consists of really tall but patchy grass, and a few trees. While the landscape provides the houses with good shade and privacy, there is a big problem, as any Greenbelt resident has noticed, with clay runoff.

The grass planted around the houses is very tall, but is a clump type grass that allows for a lot of extra space between each plant, and because the houses are on an incline, any rain that runs down the slope takes a lot of clay with it. Now, if any of you have ever been riding down a state highway, or an interstate, you may have noticed the grass that grows fairly tall and blows as trucks pass it; this is bahiagrass. Bahiagrass is planted along the roads for multiple reasons: it is extremely tolerant to high heat, and it grows and spreads very quickly to eliminate any kind of erosion along the roadways.

I believe that the landscaping around the Greenbelt should definitely take planting this type of grass around the houses, in addition to the grass and plants that are already there. Bahiagrass goes to seed very quickly, and any time the wind blows it spreads itself out until, like you see along roads, it is covering every bit of dirt. Beyond just the erosion issues, bahiagrass can grow very tall (though not as tall as the grass that is already planted), and it can grow very thick as well. This grass would NOT be cut by the landscapers, and would therefore grow up to 2-3 feet tall, and would cover all of the dirt in a very short amount of time after planting. This tall grass would shade the soil, which would keep soil temperatures low and allow the grass to continue growing and spreading, which would in turn lower the level of clay erosion, and make the soil around our quaint little village healthier and sturdier.

-John Martinson

Source: https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/sustainag/cc-gm/bahiagrass.html

 

Acid rain sounds like a made-up idea from a sci-fi movie; when acid rain comes, people run for cover to keep the rain from melting their skin. The truth is, acid rain is real and is affecting our environment every day!

Acid rain is not an alien made torture device, it comes from human made toxins. When excess sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the atmosphere, the compounds react with water releasing hydrogen ions that decrease the pH of the rain. The normal pH of rain is around 5.6, but acid rain has a pH of approximately 4.3! To give a comparison, tomato juice and black coffee have about the same level of acidity. Acid rain dramatically affects ecosystems, especially aquatic environments. Many sea creatures cannot survive in acidic environments. It not only kills the animals sensitive to the acid, but it also disrupts the food chain by eliminating food sources for other animals. Acid rain can also damage plants by removing essential nutrients from the soil, such as magnesium. The picture above shows the detrimental effect of acid rain on a forest in Poland. It destroyed all the foliage, as well as the habitat for all the creatures that used to live there.

How can we stop acid rain from destroying our planet? Well, excess sulfur and nitrogen oxides mainly come from burning fossil fuels by means of factories, vehicles, and power plants. On a global level, we can stop it by shifting towards using more renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind power. But more importantly, individuals can make daily changes to stop using excessive amounts of energy that comes from burning fossil fuels. One way to do this is to use alternative forms of transport to gasoline cars. You can buy an electric car, carpool, or bike! You can also try to use less energy by turning off heating and cooling systems when they aren’t necessary or by turning off electronic devices and lights when they are not being used. Individually making small changes does not seem like it will make a difference, but if everyone makes an effort, we can collectively make a tremendous change.

Olivia Larner

Sources:

https://www.epa.gov/acidrain/effects-acid-rain

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/acid-rain/

 

In the spirit of Pumpkin Spice Latte season, I thought it would be a good time to discuss the affects of where our coffee actually comes from.

As a college aged student, 40% of us typically drink at least 1 cup of coffee everyday. Americans consume 400 million cups of coffee per day, equivalent to 146 billion cups of coffee per year, making the United States the leading consumer of coffee in the world.

Coffee production ultimately starts with the farmers. They are the most essential factor into how we get our daily cup yet they are the ones getting paid less for what we buy, and the middle men end up making the most money off of both sides.

Millions of coffee farmers end up living at or below the poverty line due to this unfair trading practice. When coffee prices fall below the production cost the farmers can lose everything.

Does that seem like a fair trade?

When fair trade practices are enforced, farmers get a fair price for what they grow and can be able to be more self-sustainable.

So what can you, as a consumer do about it?

Well…you can start by purchasing your coffee from small roasting companies rather than from major corporate coffee companies. This will ensure that the fair trade movement will help farmers rather than harm them. Claiming that a company is a fair trade one can be one of the most well-respected labels to have in the world.

In the Cabin, we have a whole coffee/tea station that gets used quite often. However, the K-cups that we use for the Keruig do not always come from fair trade coffee companies. The Green Mountain Coffee K-Cups have the “Fair Trade Certified” logo, but our Starbucks K-cups seem to not have the logo.

Check for on the packaging next time you’re buying some K-cups or bags of beans and that will tell you whether or not the farmers they buy from are getting a fair price for what they produce. This is a good technique to use when looking for the right branded coffee to buy.

So next time you want to satisfy your coffee fix, try going to a local coffee shop nearby where they brew up fair-trade beans!

-Amie Newsome

(Coffee Shops left to right in pictures at the top: The Village Grind, Methodical, Tandem, Swamp Rabbit Cafe, Due South)

Sources:

http://fairtradeamerica.org

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/29/americas-coffee-obsession_n_987885.html

http://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1102&context=honors

If there’s anything I’ve learned from my time in the Greenbelt so far, it’s that there’s no one, singular way to live sustainably–there’s a lot of different options for different people. I know that I personally have a hard time abstaining from buying products that aren’t “green.” However, in the past few months, my eyes have been opened to so many options for more sustainable shopping experiences.

The Farmer’s Markets downtown and in TR are such a great way to get involved with the community while simultaneously buying local green products. They sell everything from potted plants to soaps and lotions. The products are all cruelty free, which is very important to me (and in retrospect should have seemed obvious). And while I know a lot of students think Farmer’s Markets are really cool, I feel like I never really see young people there. We live in a really cool city and there are lots of options for fresh produce, crafts, and foods that are good for the environment and the local businesses.

My other favorite sustainable shopping place is through thrift stores. According to Tagpop, an online thrift shop, less than 15% of the clothing used by Americans is recycled even though around 95% could be reused. It’s so easy to just buy new clothes, but that ends up being a lot of textile going to waste when we outgrow things or get tired of wearing them. How often do we set aside clothes and put them in bags or buckets and mean to donate them, but never do? It just accumulates.

Instead of buying my clothes from the mall or in boutiques, I really enjoy getting it from stores like Tagpop or Goodwill or other second-hand or vintage stores. You can find some really great articles of clothing or housewares that way. It’s better for the environment because I’m removing textile waste by buying clothes that are pre-loved instead of something brand new. Plus, it’s easier on my college budget!

I’m not perfectly sustainable. But living in the Greenbelt has taught me that there are little ways I can make my lifestyle better, and if that means buying plants from a vendor in the street or skipping on a cute dress downtown, I can definitely handle that!

Source: https://www.tagpop.com/pages/mission

 

–Cammi Stilwell

…drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?

Even if you’ve never heard Katy Perry sing these lyrics in her song, “Firework,” you’ve definitely seen a plastic bag aimlessly drifting through the wind. But have you ever stopped to think about why it’s even there in the first place? Because with one small lifestyle change, it wouldn’t be there at all.

Last week, I purchased my first reusable grocery bag. Honestly, I bought it on a whim, and mostly because I felt a responsibility to be sustainable in Greenbelt housing. Later on, however, I decided to research grocery bags and see if the purchase was worth it. I discovered that the United States alone uses 30 billion plastic bags and 10 million paper bags each year. Manufacturing these bags requires close to 14 million trees and 12 million barrels of oil. Each of the bags then takes up to 1,000 years to degrade in a landfill, and the ones that don’t end up in a landfill or recycling center cause 100,000 deaths in sea turtles & other marine animals annually.

Some countries have banned or heavily taxed plastic bags to discourage consumers from taking them for granted. One U.S. plastic bag manufacturer proposed a 3 or 4 cent tax on each bag to encourage consumer to take responsibility for their groceries. It would push cashiers to conserve bags when packing groceries, and reduce the overall usage.

I was shocked after reading these facts. I used to think I was doing a good job by reusing my grocery bags for trash can liners every week, but I never stopped to realize that they still ended up in the landfill and contributed to the problem. I spent $1.00 on my reusable grocery bag, but it can be used thousands of times and eliminate a HUGE number of plastic bags.

I definitely struggle with remembering to bring it to the store with me, but if that action saves a plastic bag from drifting through the wind, I’ll accept the challenge.

-Haley Park

 

Sources:

http://www.rensselaercounty.org/enviroment%20management%20council/plastic%20bag%20facts.htm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags_2.html