Furman Greenbelt Sustainable Living Community

From the Maillot Jaune to the Lanterne Rouge, cycling presents the constant challenge of who can suffer the most.  Cycling greats such as Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault were notorious for their ability to suffer the most. In many ways, cycling can be a microcosm to understanding key competencies in sustainability just as Merckx and Hinault understood how to succeed in cycling.

From a systems perspective, a cyclist performs a reinforcing feedback loop without even realizing it. The simple action of pushing the pedals in a cyclical motion allows them to move from point A to point B. What’s so intriguing about this is that the rate of the feedback loop is either dictated by the cyclist or by the road itself. As an avid cyclist, I am constantly presented with this challenge of riding on the flats or suffering up the mountainside. There have been plenty of times where I could not make it to the summit, but one thing I have understood through all these failures are lessons that have made me stronger.

Cycling can also be described under as normative competency in sustainability. My grandmother was an avid cyclist and she sent me a letter of some lessons she learned on her ride across the country. One example of her trip were the many stories of Americans who helped her along the way. One story was about how, “A Minnesota couple brought us warm cookies in the evening, fed us breakfast the next morning, and later gave us a ride to the train station during a storm. [or a] farm family allowed us to camp in their yard, provided us with lots of scrumptious fresh vegetable, and insisted that we use their shower.” These small acts of kindness that my grandmother experienced exemplify the idea of understanding the values of others. In order to solve many of the ‘wicked’ problems sustainability scientists deal with, we must pay attention to the culture of others.

Sustainability competencies and their similarities to cycling show our connection to the world. We are reliant on one another to push the goals of sustainability forward, but just as in cycling, we are reliant on ourselves in order to succeed. – Austin Powell

 

Meeting Tour de France Winner Bradley Wiggins in the 2010 TDF

(P.S I was stupid and forgot to write down which date I had for blog post, but I think it was this week??? So sorry if it isn’t. I am moronic sometimes.)

Blood and Guts and Chocolate Cake

We all know our food production system in America is quite honestly a disgusting disaster. What I mean is we get what we want to eat, yes. We are, after all, a nation in the throes of an obesity epidemic. But in order to provide all of that meat, all of those juicy, McDonalds hamburgers, all of that finely crafted Gorgonzola cheeses, we needed to engender a monster. And so, America’s agricultural system was born. The CAFO.

Primarily, we utilize CAFOs/AFOs to raise our animals for slaughter. You can think of a CAFO as a large prison, where the cells are tiny, dirty, and beyond crowded. The animals are literally prisoners, sometimes beaten, sometimes driven to cannibalism, and sometimes unable to move for weeks at a time. Their waste trickles down to manure lagoons that occasionally experience major disaster, spewing tons of raw manure into run offs and further polluting water sources. The odor from these lagoons lowers property values, and the pollution causes health problems such as asthma that affects nearby towns, which are generally of the lower class and or poverty stricken. Besides the typical respiratory problems, the pollution also contributes to the spread of disease and pathogens. The large amount of antibiotics being pumped into our animals to keep them somehow somewhat healthy in the pure hell they reside in is affecting us by building up our antibodies to a swathe of antibiotics.

We have created a money making machine, one capable of supplying Americans with the endless amount of eggs, meat, cheese, and milk we desire. But at what cost?

To be sustainable, can we reduce our meat consumption? Can we forgo that delicious bit of goat cheese and instead gradually rid ourselves of animal products? Or maybe we simply could start buying from local farms, where we know the animals have been tended to well and with love. It has to start somewhere. Avoid the McDonald’s and the Burger King and instead head to a local farmer and purchase a portion of a steer there, and make your own steaks, your own burgers.

It is, after all, a step in the right direction, although the wrong path calls to us in its siren song of convenience. It is possible, I promise.

-Camiell Foulger

WORKS CITED

“CAFO vs. Free Range.” CAFOs vs. Free Range, Organic Consumers Association, www.organicconsumers.org/categories/cafos-vs-free-range.

Gurian-Sherman, Doug. CAFOs Uncovered: the Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding Operations. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2008.

Unbelievable photographs of the devastation in East Texas have been plastering our screens for over a week now.  Hurricane Harvey is leaving his legacy with record-breaking rain, multiple landfalls, and mindboggling flooding.  It is no doubt one of the worst storms I’ve lived to see, and could be one of the worst in our knowledgeable history.  But before we dismiss this catastrophe as just another natural disaster, we should examine the reason behind the severity of the wide-spread destruction.

          

Before and after pictures of Houston

Houston, where much of the record flooding is taking place, is the United States fourth largest city, home to more than 6 million people in the entire metropolis area.  The founders were looking for a place of opportunity for government and commerce, and the confluence of the White Oak Bayou and the Buffalo Bayou seemed perfect in 1836, until there were 16 major floods in the next 100 years.  This prompted major flood control, which not only helped keep the town together, but also catalyzed major growth.  And with major growth comes less and less pervious space for water to be absorbed.

Since 2001, there have been three 500-year floods in the Houston area.  Now to be fair, if there was no Houston infrastructure and the area was left to be its natural prairie/marsh self, there would still be 500-year floods where the land would be far beyond its capacity to absorb large amounts of water.  However, the increasing flood intensity cannot be ignored.  Houston and many other cities are known for spontaneous and fast development, including major sprawl.  This culture of unlimited development butts heads with nature, and the effects are not trivial.  On top of the increased impervious areas, storms will continue to intensify due to climate change, and coastal cities will experience more powerful storm surges.

While we need to focus on immediate needs and bring people to safety, the situation begs the question of how development will respond to lessen the impacts of inevitable future flooding.  If large cities are home to some of our largest problems, I believe they can produce some of our best solutions.  Our cities aren’t getting any smaller, so we need to think creatively about how to be more resilient.  For example, cities like Houston can encourage increasing and preserving natural prairies, creating green spaces, and restricting development in flood plains.  Even our home of Greenville should exercise caution and thoughtfulness as our population continues to grow and production facilities increase.  We need to become more adaptable and forward thinking because nature is not stopping anytime soon.

View of Greenville’s downtown Falls Park

What do you think Greenville can do to become more resilient?

-Hannah Dailey

 

Last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in the DH, a few students showed the estimated statistics of how much food waste Furman University produces during lunch. I originally showed up to support my roommate, Celia, who was one of the students involved; however, after looking at the numbers, I really began thinking about how much waste I personally produce. I do not go out and buy food only to let it rot in the refrigerator, but I know that I probably do take too many plates of food in the DH. Of course my intention is not bad, usually I just cannot decide or think I am really hungry, but that does not justify the amount of food that I do waste. It is time to be more conscientious. Here are some solutions that I plan to use in order to fix the problem. Take less food. There is no point in taking three plates of food when I probably will not eat it all.  More food is available, if the first plate was not enough. With that being said, take time eating. As I learned from the presentation, it takes twenty minutes for a person’s stomach to realize that it is full. Therefore, it is best to eat slowly so that I do not grab more food that I will not eat. I know that changing my habits alone will probably not have that much of an impact, but I am hoping that his blog post will inspire someone as Celia’s presentation inspired me.

– Felicity Williams

My greenbelt experience would not have been complete without the Furman farm, which happened to be right in my backyard (while I was living in the Greenbelt). The Furman farm grows produce for the dining hall on campus and has student employees who work on the farm. My experience with the Furman farm involved a volunteering opportunity that was provides to me because I was a resident of the greenbelt. When I volunteered I picked vegetables such as okra and tomatoes, both of which are grown organically. The harvesting process was enlightening, I was able to learn which plants were ready for harvest and which weren’t depending on the size, shape, and color of the vegetable. Overall, this experience gave me an appreciation for where my food comes from and the hard work that goes into preparing it. 

-Miles Hauser

We have more eyes than two

To see more than Earth’s view.

But like the sky’s hue

Our perspectives are so blended

That our vision is unlimited

Until the ego comes by

To taint the pool that is you.

Greed, Impatience, Anger, Fear,

All projections of the mind

To help you stay here.

 

It’s sad,

The ego is too short-sighted to see

That you only switch gears

At the stop of your heartbeat.

So when life seems to flee

& Your ego tells you to chase,

Just remember that your days are only numbered inside your mental space.

-Jacque Evangelister

Ever since Henry Ford revolutionized the car-making process with his assembly line manufacture in the 1910s, the automobile industry has been one of the key components of the U.S. economy. Environmentalist, Clive Ponting, points out that the motorization of America was not a fully organic process, because in 1936 “General Motors, Standard Oil of California and the tire company Firestone formed a new company called National City Lines whose purpose was to buy up alternative transport systems and close them down.” Railroads across the country began to shut down despite the fact that car transport consumes six times the energy per passenger mile and the infrastructure uses four times the land area compared to rail. Unlike citizens of other industrialized nations, Americans were increasingly forced to travel by bus or by car as roads expanded and railroad tracks ceased to be built during the 20th century.

Through an analysis of 26 cities from 1960-2000, Australian researchers at the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute have determined that cities “should be supporting the investment in quality rail transit systems and building up urban densities around them, rather than increasing road capacity” if they are “seeking to limit car dependence.” America has been entrenched in a car-dominated society for decades; consequently, shifts in automobile transportation preferences and breakthrough innovations in driving technology are the only alternatives to improving public transportation through expensive rail systems. Though an America with a modern high-speed rail system would be the most efficient and environmentally friendly form of transportation infrastructure, it simply is not feasible given America’s size, lack of government support, and path dependence on automobiles. Under ideal conditions in which “electric vehicle capital costs, battery costs, and maintenance costs are at the low end of predictions, and fossil fuel prices rise to the high end of predictions, a rapid shift to electric vehicles may cost no more than continued use of internal combustion engines,” according to researchers at the Tinbergen Institute and Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets. While America cannot compete with the efficiency of rail travel, it can come close to being on par with rail travel’s environmental impact if investment in renewable energy continues to flow.

The federal government should react to shifts in transportation culture by enacting legislation that requires automakers to synchronize their autonomous vehicles into fleets and platooning systems that improve fuel efficiency, traffic flow, and travel times. Many Americans have a strong connection to their cars, and it will be difficult for Americans to wean themselves off the feeling of independence that automobiles provide. Trends do indicate however, that access is replacing ownership among drivers, and soon the market for automobile ownership will be replaced by a market for ridesharing services. In the new market, journalist Clive Thompson argues that it will be much easier for “a fleet of robot cars to go electric than it is for individual car owners to do so,” thereby indicating that governments should closely monitor how autonomous vehicle companies will work with one another to improve efficiency on the road. A future with start-up assist systems could make traffic congestion near an accident much more efficient by forcing all cars to accelerate at the same time. Platooning, or reducing “headways between vehicles in a string without compromising safety” takes start-up assist to the macro level. The platooning approach to traffic will allow more cars to fit on the road, allow those cars to travel at higher speeds, and improve fuel economies as a result of reduced drag and momentum loss. Made possible through the exchange of braking and acceleration data, simulations have shown significant traffic flow improvements from this use of autonomous driving technology. Perhaps self-driving vehicles will eliminate deaths caused by drunk driving and other reckless behavior as they are adopted as the primary form of transportation.

Community organizers, city planners, and sustainability activists must continue to push for greater governmental support in public transportation infrastructure and aid in the transition to autonomous and electric vehicles as climate change concerns rise. Significant steps must be demanded such as introducing car emissions standards that evolve over time, reducing or removing taxes on the import of electric vehicles, and providing electric vehicles with access to restricted transit lanes. These initiatives in conjunction with fleets, platooning, new parking efficiency, and ideals of car-free cities will change America’s attitudes toward automobile transportation and improve air quality. If the private sector and government entities work together, they can create an American transportation system that is still reliant on cars, yet significantly closer in efficiency and reduced carbon emissions of Japanese and European rail-based transportation systems.

-Owen

During the Friday afternoon meetings in the Greenbelt community, we discuss ways we can live a more sustainable lifestyle, fun facts we learned during the past week, or simply what comes to mind about our environment and other aspects of our lives. One of the most interesting tidbits of information we discussed was when we were talking about the differences between bottled water and tap water.

People buy bottled water because they want quality controlled, clean water. However, people are much more likely to get infected drinking bottled water than tap water. Companies that put out bottled waters fall under the regulations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the policies regarding quality control and testing are the same as for any other food. On the other hand, tap water and the water reservoirs are under the city’s regulations and are tested multiple times a day; this results in a much cleaner source of water than bottled. While this was already an interesting fact, we also learned that according to the American Water Works Association, Greenville, SC, has the cleanest tap water in the nation. I found this to be the most fascinating fact of Greenville and of drinking water in general. Since then, whenever I see someone buying water, I throw some facts at them and tell them how much better tap water is.

On top of being better for us, it is also much better for our environment. You can get one water bottle and be set for life, instead of wasting multiple plastic bottles a day.

 

So I encourage all of you to go out and buy a water bottle and start drinking tap water!

 

-Adel Takacs

When will it stop?

When will the use and abuse have its end?

Don’t men already have enough?

There’s only so much Earth can lend.

 

The one who has given men everything

Men give her nothing.

The one who has given men food,

Men call her crude.

The one who has given men water,

Her oceans we slaughter.

The one who has given men shelter,

Her air men swelter.

But, the one who has given men air,

Men can no longer impair.

 

But food, water and shelter isn’t enough.

We need more buildings and technology to show how cool men are.

“Live life to the fullest!” “You only live once!” may be man’s excuse.

But it’s only so accurate in that man’s end is not too far.

Does that justify the abuse?

 

Man’s leaders will tell them: “It’s fine. No need to worry.”

“Climate change doesn’t exist and the end is certainly not soon.”

There are bigger things to talk about. Make America Great Again.

But will America be so great if men did nothing to stop their impending doom?

 

Pressure to use less only results in strife.

Men say, “Wow, you tree huggers are delirious”

“Look man, I don’t care. I have a life!”

But life is not an entitlement. It’s only a gift.

Earth will take it back. So, it’s time to get serious.

 

So stop it now. Save the trees; build less.

Earth has begun to grow a little tired of men’s selfishness.

How long do you expect a woman to put up with man’s demand?

“Whatever, let’s see!” But, in a few years, man may be eating out of an empty hand.

 

Remember that Earth doesn’t rely on men; men rely on her.

When men have met their end. She will still be here.

She will not be hurt and man’s demise, she will not deter.

But I’m sure even all of this still fails to instill men with fear.

 

So what will it take? The answer is beyond me.

I guess no one’s afraid of death

So I ask again; when will it stop?

When the last man has reached his last breath.

---

“Ugchh, Uckhh…This is the end.”

The human race committed suicide,

And all could have been prevented if Earth’s resources we didn’t so irrationally spend.

But we didn’t care. So, we suffered the consequences. We just withered and died.

Why? Because we will never Stop.

Joshua B. Perry

Life is full of decisions. Should I get eggs? Should I get bacon? Should I skip breakfast and just sleep in and say screw it all because nothing really matters? No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. None of this is a good idea. I’m not saying that getting eggs, bacon, or sleeping in are bad in themselves, but what is bad is act of second guessing your original instinct. The same way of thinking goes for a test. I always find that whenever I second guess myself on a test question, especially multiple choice, my first intuition was usually correct. The only thing that prevents us from becoming the best possible version of ourselves is, quite ironically, ourselves. I can relate this same feeling to playing music. Music is really simple. By simple I don’t mean the technical simplicity of the mathematical relationships between the notes or however music theory would describe simplicity, but I mean more the simplicity of the feeling. Obviously learning to play a musical instrument takes time and dedication to master the physical requirements (like finger dexterity or lip strength), but once you have the muscle memory, an endless amount of music is literally available at your fingertips. With so many options to put your fingers (like the eggs, bacon, or any other of the guh-shmillions of life decisions we each go through every day) it can seem so overwhelming that you just second guess your first instinct and play something that is a little behind in “time” which is really you just hesitating your ability to naturally have rhythm. As long as a consistent time is kept in between beats in your soul, aka getting into the groove, you can chop up the micro moments into however many you want into whatever pattern feels good into infinitely small pieces and still be able to always resort back to that groove when your head bobs back down. But you aren’t even really resorting back to that groove because you were always in it as long as it’s going in your body and you feel it. But that is the key is the feel part about it. I feel (lol no pun intended there) like people haven’t put as much time into teaching music this way and thinking about it like this because it’s really hard to explain because we really don’t know why music does to us what it does. Why do vibrations feel good, like what!? Vibrations cause our brains to release certain chemicals that make us experience emotions, and I don’t think that the correlation between “sad” songs and the sadness you feel is a societal created effect. I think that music has an innate quality that affects each person in a unique way and we really don’t understand why. The songs reflect how that person was feeling when he or she made it, and how connected that feeling was to the music and how in the moment and honest and open he or she was when playing it. The more “into the music” the person is, the better it sounds (and feels for the player) because other people are able to feel what that person was feeling. But, back to my main point, the thing that made that music good is that the person playing was going with their first instinct when playing. You can’t fake a sad song (well you could but people could sense it), you have no choice but to be honest with yourself when playing it. This is why I think that sad songs often sound more “soulful” because that person is putting more of their true selves through the music. Take that same honesty and openness that creates the best music and apply it to everything in life. Just trust your true honest self and what you know is right, and flow with it without any anxiety or hesitation, and the most beautiful “life music” or whatever you want to call it because it’s all music, will be created. “Whatever the mind can perceive, the body can achieve”-Bo AKA the chill old dude who rides his bike around at Furman and plays mandolin. I truly believe that this statement is 100% true, it’s just that we rarely see it happen because of all of the distractions in today’s world and all of the things that bring us down causing us to doubt our own capabilities. You are you, so just do stuff. (was gonna say “just do it” but didn’t want to quote nike).

-Thomas DesChamps