Monday, November 29, 2010
Reclaiming Recycling at Oxy
As many of my fellow classmates have noted in their blogs, the current recycling program at our college is uninspiring and unacceptable for any university, let alone one that claims its school colors to be black, orange and "green" on the front page of its website. As a member of the group working on raising awareness and improving recycling on our campus, I have been given an eye-opening lesson into the disfunction that presently is our on-campus recycling system. As others in my group have mentioned, many popular and perfectly recyclable items (all to-go containers, Green Bean plastic cups, etc) on campus are not accepted by Oxy's designated recycling company, SoCal Recycling. Not only does this company not recycle these items but if a bag of recycling contains to many of these types of materials, then they will simply throw the whole bag away. It is shameful and hypocritical that Oxy calls itself a "green oasis" in urban Los Angeles and yet neglects as basic a sustainability principle as recycling by selecting a bare-bones recycling partnership with a company that only takes CRV materials. We can and need to do better! Luckily there are many within our faculty, staff and student body who want to do the right thing and support a top-teir recycling program at our college. Both Housing and Facilities go above and beyond in their efforts to make our current broken system work as best they can. We need further student engagement in the disposal of our own personal waste and stronger leadership at the administrative level to guide our school toward the goal of environmental sustainability. We cannot simply rest on our school's historic progressive ideals and actions. We NEED a 21st-century recycling system at our school if Oxy is going to remain a leader in environmental advocacy and social justice.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
waste and recyling (by alex)
(posted on behalf of alex)
Being a part of the recycling group, I paid special attention to the Disposal section. Everyone else has talked a lot about the book so I have decided to share a little story with you that relates to the book. I hope you enjoy:
I was having a nice Socratic dialogue with one of my friends a few weeks ago about recycling and how horrible Oxy’s program is. He shared the frustration with me but admitted that he neither recycled nor put his garbage in the bins. He simply leaves it out. My immediate reaction was, naturally, “wow, you’re a bad person” (I’m keeping this PG). But when he explained to me his reasoning, I found it to be very profound and interesting. He doesn’t recycle or throw away his trash because proper placement of discarded items is not the issue. For the most part (that is, excluding hippies like us), people have disposal services for sanitation and to preserve order. If we did not have these services, people would just throw trash on the street and we would have cities flooded with garbage (if you don’t believe me, read about the Five Points neighborhood in the early 19th century). We can agree, then, that these services are a good because we maintain (for the most part) clean, healthy, and orderly environments. The consequence of this, however, is that we simply put our trash in a bin and then it becomes someone else’s problem and no longer our responsibility. By hiding our trash in a bin, it gets taken to the landfill which is the area we have designated to pollute instead of our home. Leonard talks about the host of environmental problems there, including toxics seeping into the groundwater, the excess of methane gas, and the use of incinerators. But these are for the most part inconsequential for us. Once we put them in the bin they are out of sight, out of mind. Back to my friend, he pollutes the campus to counter this, to put the consequences of trash “in sight and in mind”. He sees his actions as a form of culture jamming, whereby someone sees the trash and so is forced, even if only for a second, to consider pollution and how trash is affecting their life.
Is he justified in doing this? You tell me. If only one person is doing it then it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. But I think this story does force you to ask some questions about the production system as a whole that Leonard outlines in her book. Particularly, it asks us to reshape our perception of personal environmental responsibility. I hope this picks at your brain a little bit, and I hope that maybe we can one day figure out a way to solve this problem.
Being a part of the recycling group, I paid special attention to the Disposal section. Everyone else has talked a lot about the book so I have decided to share a little story with you that relates to the book. I hope you enjoy:
I was having a nice Socratic dialogue with one of my friends a few weeks ago about recycling and how horrible Oxy’s program is. He shared the frustration with me but admitted that he neither recycled nor put his garbage in the bins. He simply leaves it out. My immediate reaction was, naturally, “wow, you’re a bad person” (I’m keeping this PG). But when he explained to me his reasoning, I found it to be very profound and interesting. He doesn’t recycle or throw away his trash because proper placement of discarded items is not the issue. For the most part (that is, excluding hippies like us), people have disposal services for sanitation and to preserve order. If we did not have these services, people would just throw trash on the street and we would have cities flooded with garbage (if you don’t believe me, read about the Five Points neighborhood in the early 19th century). We can agree, then, that these services are a good because we maintain (for the most part) clean, healthy, and orderly environments. The consequence of this, however, is that we simply put our trash in a bin and then it becomes someone else’s problem and no longer our responsibility. By hiding our trash in a bin, it gets taken to the landfill which is the area we have designated to pollute instead of our home. Leonard talks about the host of environmental problems there, including toxics seeping into the groundwater, the excess of methane gas, and the use of incinerators. But these are for the most part inconsequential for us. Once we put them in the bin they are out of sight, out of mind. Back to my friend, he pollutes the campus to counter this, to put the consequences of trash “in sight and in mind”. He sees his actions as a form of culture jamming, whereby someone sees the trash and so is forced, even if only for a second, to consider pollution and how trash is affecting their life.
Is he justified in doing this? You tell me. If only one person is doing it then it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. But I think this story does force you to ask some questions about the production system as a whole that Leonard outlines in her book. Particularly, it asks us to reshape our perception of personal environmental responsibility. I hope this picks at your brain a little bit, and I hope that maybe we can one day figure out a way to solve this problem.
more thoughts on recycling (by alex)
(posted on behalf of alex)
I have been working with the recycling group to improve the Oxy’s recycling program. I’m sure you have read my other group members posts so I will try not to be too repetitive, but we can’t emphasize enough how regressive the system is here. The company that we have now, SoCal Recycling, exists as a for-profit company. Oxy uses them because their services are free. We throw things into the bin, they pick them up and sell them back for money. We do this because it is the easiest and cheapest solution. But, as we tend to see when it comes to environmental issues, that mentality is not quite appropriate. Because Oxy has taken no steps to educate us, the students, on their recycling policy, we continue to recycle the way we do at home, which at least where I’m from is just throwing everything into one bin and letting the company take care of it. Because most of us continue to do this at Oxy, SoCal is considering dropping us because it so much of what we attempt to recycle is to them only considered trash.
It has been my job to contact outside companies. When I spoke to SCR, they told me that they only take CRVs (and on a side note offered to pick up out paper recycling as long as we had a machine that would bale it. Lol). I spoke to the city’s official recycling company and they weren’t very helpful. Apparently LA has the best recycling program in the country, but the woman I talked to wasn’t sure if they could pick ours up or how much it would cost. They then sent us a list of other companies to look at without giving us a quote.
As you can see changing the recycling policy at Oxy is very challenging. While we have gotten the ball rolling, I plan to continue this project next semester and I hope some of you will join us. In the meantime, get the word out to your friends while we are getting the signs up. Hopefully when people find out how ridiculous it is they will start to voice their discontent.
I have been working with the recycling group to improve the Oxy’s recycling program. I’m sure you have read my other group members posts so I will try not to be too repetitive, but we can’t emphasize enough how regressive the system is here. The company that we have now, SoCal Recycling, exists as a for-profit company. Oxy uses them because their services are free. We throw things into the bin, they pick them up and sell them back for money. We do this because it is the easiest and cheapest solution. But, as we tend to see when it comes to environmental issues, that mentality is not quite appropriate. Because Oxy has taken no steps to educate us, the students, on their recycling policy, we continue to recycle the way we do at home, which at least where I’m from is just throwing everything into one bin and letting the company take care of it. Because most of us continue to do this at Oxy, SoCal is considering dropping us because it so much of what we attempt to recycle is to them only considered trash.
It has been my job to contact outside companies. When I spoke to SCR, they told me that they only take CRVs (and on a side note offered to pick up out paper recycling as long as we had a machine that would bale it. Lol). I spoke to the city’s official recycling company and they weren’t very helpful. Apparently LA has the best recycling program in the country, but the woman I talked to wasn’t sure if they could pick ours up or how much it would cost. They then sent us a list of other companies to look at without giving us a quote.
As you can see changing the recycling policy at Oxy is very challenging. While we have gotten the ball rolling, I plan to continue this project next semester and I hope some of you will join us. In the meantime, get the word out to your friends while we are getting the signs up. Hopefully when people find out how ridiculous it is they will start to voice their discontent.
Apathy
I feel that people are becoming more aware of the problems that discourage a sustainable evironment. This is a very frusturating aspect to making the world a better place for everyone. A lot of people just feel that it is not their responsiblity and take an apathetic stance toward recycling and other initiatives. If we could start small and take baby steps in the directions of sustainability we could accomplish a lot. Force feeding things like energy reduction and housing materials is not a effective way to get the point across. There needs to be a mass movement toward cooperation to accomplish sustainable development. A reduction in red tape politics at the local and national level would also increase the support for sustainable living. Jumping through hoops is the biggest obstacle for groups wanting change. Just facing the political side of this project posses a threatening barrier for many people wanting to contribute leading them to become apathetic toward the entire problem we all face.
School lighting
The project is going well. We are now in the process of collecting the data we need to submit our recommendation. To do this we will look at the amount of lumens are being used both in the classroom/offices and the hallways of Fowler Hall. We think that too much light is being used and we feel that if some of the light bulbs were removed from rooms and hallways the school could save a lot on electricity costs. As part of our side project we are laminating signs to be placed next to the computers to remind users to turn them off when not in use. Our plan is straight forward and could effectively save the school some serious cash.
Composting Details
Like Anna said, we have been working on purchasing a unit that would dehydrate most of our pre and post-consumer food waste. Because she gave a great overview of the project I will talk about some more specific aspects of what we have found out.
One thing that we have been interested in while researching the dehydrating unit is what type of capacity it has for compostable dishware. We thought it would be excellent if the machine could not only reduce our food waste, but also our waste from the Green Bean, the Cooler and the Marketplace for take home containers. Unfortunately, it looks like for each batch of food that is “cooked” or dehydrated, only 20% of it can be compostable dishware, such as the cups that we use in the Green Bean. Any type of corn-based silverware could not go in the machine because that would need to be chipped as it is almost completely dehydrated already. We would need to get another machine in order handle compostables, or research further about having compostables picked up, which would be a great idea for a project in later semesters.
After talking to Amy Munoz we realized there were some other things to take into consideration that we had not previously considered. She mentioned that finding space to put the machine could be problematic. Even though it is not that huge, Amy said that the marketplace is pretty much maxed out on space right now. If we cannot fit it in the dish room, moving pre and post consumer food waste is going to be more difficult if it has to go downstairs for example. She also had us think about how difficult this would be for the staff, she pointed out that so many people have been working for us for over ten years so re-training for a whole new system can be difficult. However, she said that if this is going to make things easier, than it will be much better received. Her ideas were really helpful in making us think about things we would not have otherwise. She was also very supportive and excited about the idea, which Anna and I found really promising.
Limitation and hopes for the future
Especially after coming from 6 months abroad, I have time and time again realized that the Oxy culture does not really promote the sustainability and diversity values that it often totes. Though huge steps have been made with plans for solar energy and local/organic foods offered in the marketplace, it is apparent to me that there is a general apathy among students and faculty overall. In the current context of economic hard times and financial crunch, the need to invest in cost-saving long term costs is important. On the other hand, creating a mechanism to "green" our campus's energy use is a bit futile, since energy use is increased with more students, more appliances per student and increased technology used in classrooms throughout disciplines. By shifting our focus to cost-saving and energy reduction projects, we can create significant change!
--Kathryn Griffith
Composting Update
Elizabeth and I have been working to try and implement a composting device in the marketplace. The appliance we've been looking at is called the eCorect, which is a copier sized machine that dehydrates both pre and post consumer waste and can take up to 220 pounds of waste per day. After a cycle of 12-18 hours the machine produces a dirt-like substance that can be used on the Oxy grounds. Theoretically, this machine could eliminate up to 95% of Oxy's food waste. The end result is not quite a compost, but could be if we added wood chips or something similar to the machine, however it is still entirely usable.
We have met with Bruce Steele, who was actually the one who recommended this machine, Amy Munoz, the marketplace manager, as well as Steve Remeyer, a representative from the company that sells the eCorect.
We walked around the market place with Steve and looked at the logistics of where the eCorect could be placed, and asked him questions about odor, restrictions on what can be put into the machine, etc. Steve seemed confident that if we were approved by the school to go forward with this project the machine could be installed very quickly; it really only needs to be plugged in.
Amy Munoz is supportive of the project, as it would reduce our food waste and thus the cost of food waste removal. It would also increase the level of sustainability in marketplace food practices.
One conern we had was the amount of power that would potentially be used, however the power usage is low, and probably would have a lower carbon foot print than the amount of energy used to transport waste off campus.
Currently we are working to set up a time that works for us to again meet with Steve, the ecorect company representative at a facility that currently has an operating eCorect machine. Hopefully Bruce Steele, possibly Amy Munoz and Michael Stephens will also accompany us on this trip.
-Anna D.
We have met with Bruce Steele, who was actually the one who recommended this machine, Amy Munoz, the marketplace manager, as well as Steve Remeyer, a representative from the company that sells the eCorect.
We walked around the market place with Steve and looked at the logistics of where the eCorect could be placed, and asked him questions about odor, restrictions on what can be put into the machine, etc. Steve seemed confident that if we were approved by the school to go forward with this project the machine could be installed very quickly; it really only needs to be plugged in.
Amy Munoz is supportive of the project, as it would reduce our food waste and thus the cost of food waste removal. It would also increase the level of sustainability in marketplace food practices.
One conern we had was the amount of power that would potentially be used, however the power usage is low, and probably would have a lower carbon foot print than the amount of energy used to transport waste off campus.
Currently we are working to set up a time that works for us to again meet with Steve, the ecorect company representative at a facility that currently has an operating eCorect machine. Hopefully Bruce Steele, possibly Amy Munoz and Michael Stephens will also accompany us on this trip.
-Anna D.
greener bean update (by raquel)
{on behalf of raquel)
So as previously mentioned, we have indeed run into a few snags along the path of completing our project for the semester. Something that I have noticed from taking a class like this and also from trying to implement change is that, no one dislikes the idea of green initiatives- the problem is getting people who care enough to do something about it. It is easy for us to sit in a classroom and talk about all the things we would like to fix but we all know that talking and doing are two completely different things. Living amongst self-proclaimed liberals who “care deeply about the environment” yet throw away recycling because the bin is 10 ft further, keep all the lights on at home 24 hours a day, let the shower heat up for 10 minutes, and more, it becomes quite evident that being “green” is a trend. This sort of behavior is what Occidental engages in but on a much larger scale. It is frustrating to think about but it is in fact the case, Occidental College is a business who like most other businesses, cares more about their profits and reputation then their global impact. I think we can all agree that decreasing Oxy’s carbon footprint, isn’t the issue closest to the hearts of the those with the most leverage to do so. All this said, it is no surprise to me whatsoever that many of us have run into problems in our attempts to make what other people would consider, miniscule changes.
As Sarah said, we had received the go ahead in ordering mugs and plates for the Green Bean only to be halted by a minor technicality. I think that the most frustrating thing about this scenario has to be knowing that if this was something that the college or campus dining considered important, it would be completed instantly. But I will say that after four years at Oxy I would have probably passed out if things had run smoothly. All this said, we have completed our Green Bean Green Guide, which is ironic because its printed on paper, but anyways, with suggestions on how to make small changes that can help reduce waste. I do feel good about this project though because I do know that since I will continue to manage the Green Bean through graduation in May, it will be completed. Basically at this point all we need is the Green light (pun intended) from the inspector and we will be ready to use the mugs.
--Raquel Carrion
So as previously mentioned, we have indeed run into a few snags along the path of completing our project for the semester. Something that I have noticed from taking a class like this and also from trying to implement change is that, no one dislikes the idea of green initiatives- the problem is getting people who care enough to do something about it. It is easy for us to sit in a classroom and talk about all the things we would like to fix but we all know that talking and doing are two completely different things. Living amongst self-proclaimed liberals who “care deeply about the environment” yet throw away recycling because the bin is 10 ft further, keep all the lights on at home 24 hours a day, let the shower heat up for 10 minutes, and more, it becomes quite evident that being “green” is a trend. This sort of behavior is what Occidental engages in but on a much larger scale. It is frustrating to think about but it is in fact the case, Occidental College is a business who like most other businesses, cares more about their profits and reputation then their global impact. I think we can all agree that decreasing Oxy’s carbon footprint, isn’t the issue closest to the hearts of the those with the most leverage to do so. All this said, it is no surprise to me whatsoever that many of us have run into problems in our attempts to make what other people would consider, miniscule changes.
As Sarah said, we had received the go ahead in ordering mugs and plates for the Green Bean only to be halted by a minor technicality. I think that the most frustrating thing about this scenario has to be knowing that if this was something that the college or campus dining considered important, it would be completed instantly. But I will say that after four years at Oxy I would have probably passed out if things had run smoothly. All this said, we have completed our Green Bean Green Guide, which is ironic because its printed on paper, but anyways, with suggestions on how to make small changes that can help reduce waste. I do feel good about this project though because I do know that since I will continue to manage the Green Bean through graduation in May, it will be completed. Basically at this point all we need is the Green light (pun intended) from the inspector and we will be ready to use the mugs.
--Raquel Carrion
Fruit Trees!
I have been working on trying to expand the UEPI garden to the lot behind rangeview. While this expansion is still the primary goal of our group, it is unrealistic that we will receive approval and be able to begin working with the space this semester. That being said, we are not giving up hope, but are thinking of other ways we can make the campus more sustainable with smaller expansions of the garden throughout campus.
This morning we met with Bruce Steele to discuss replacing the existing, inedible orange trees located in front of Haines. There are a variety of different types of orange trees that can be planted in the area, such as Pixie Tangerines, Blood Oranges, and Washington Navels, all of which will be tasty and edible. On both sides of the walkway to the steps of Haines, there are two grassy areas, surrounded by hedges that would be ideal spots to replace the existing fruit trees/plant new ones. We were also thinking of possibly putting picnic tables or benches in these areas, to create a space for students to hangout.
While we do not have the layout of the trees placement, we were thinking about 5-7 trees could fit on the larger lawn and 3 could fit on the smaller. One of the main problems we are anticipating with the proposal of this change is the removal of the grass. The grass would need to be replaced with some other type of ground covering, such as mulch or gravel or the more expensive option of brick.
Another problem we are anticipating is the issue of rodents, but covering the base of the tree trunks with a 1-foot length expandable metal duct can easily mitigate this. Additionally, the height of the trees may be an issue, as well as possible shading of the existing hedges, and installing drip irrigation.
Another location we are trying to plant fruit trees is behind Chilcott, by the edge of the grassy lawn. This location may be more realistic to change, as it isn’t as visible. There are multiple ways we could use this space, either to simply plant the trees into the existing ground not removing the lawn or removing about 4 feet of the lawn adjacent to the path. In either case, this space can serve as a trial to test the resiliency of the orange trees. We were also thinking of planting asparagus or some type of bulb on the other side of the handrail.
The cost of these trees is very minimal; the main issue is dealing with the irrigation and up-keep of the trees. It is possible that members of feast would have to take responsibility of watering the trees, which presents a problem during parts of the school year when most students are not present. Moreover, should FEAST take care of the trees, the responsibility would have to be passed down to new members when existing ones graduate.
Like Lily, prior to taking this class, I had never spent time in the Feast garden. Having a garden on campus is a unique opportunity most students at Oxy fail to take advantage of. Hopefully through transforming these areas, FEAST and the UEPI garden will gain more attention and support.
Join our facebook group if you haven’t already! http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=120188928037734&v=info
Water Bottle Fill Stations
Trying to coordinate everyone so that this project gets completed has been interesting. It was quite difficult to try to get everyone on the same page about where to put the filling stations, and what type of filling station we are going to install. Most of this is just from how difficult it is to communicate with a lot of busy people. It is a project that is going to take some work, but I think we've laid good ground work to getting at least a filling station in the Cooler and the Library. I feel it's most important that the one get installed in the Cooler. Because this is a place that sells water, and has no place to fill reusable bottles. It is currently the only eatery on campus that does not have an easy way to fill a reusable water bottle. Hopefully as more of these fill stations get installed the use of bottled water on campus will continue to decrease.
Unfortunately, we have run into some bumps in the project. Mostly because we cannot agree on a type of water bottle fill station. Bruce has researched some, that are really cool, but quite expensive. They would be very effective and attract people, because they look cool, but they cost of it, may not out way the benefits. It would be easy to just replace the spigots some of the current water fountains into ones that are able to fill water bottles. These may not be filtered or have automatic filling, but these low-tech options would work just as well, at a fraction of the cost.
Unfortunately, we have run into some bumps in the project. Mostly because we cannot agree on a type of water bottle fill station. Bruce has researched some, that are really cool, but quite expensive. They would be very effective and attract people, because they look cool, but they cost of it, may not out way the benefits. It would be easy to just replace the spigots some of the current water fountains into ones that are able to fill water bottles. These may not be filtered or have automatic filling, but these low-tech options would work just as well, at a fraction of the cost.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Metro Project
As Charlie said, we've run into a few problems, but there is still hope!
The most recent of the problems is start up costs. After several meetings with the card office to work out the best way to streamline the TAP card application process, the initial estimate given was $2,400. We conceded that this cost would be too high to request from a $20,000 at the tail end of the application deadline. Although we were unable to fully get the program on it feet this semester, we have come up with a basic outline for what the tap card application process at oxy could look like in the future.
The first thing we hope to do it put together Metro packets for the orientation bag each frosh receives. This would include a TAP card application, info regarding Metro use at oxy and direct the student to the new public transportation website (for now its the blog we created until the web re-design is complete).
On the website will be a step by step process telling the student what they need to do in order to complete a VALID TAP application.
The card office has a agreed (pending costs etc.) to be involved a few important steps. First providing the student with a photo of themselves and also using the student's account (Bengal bucks, or flex) to take care of a small fee for the photo and the $1 application fee required by Metro.
The next step would be to go to the registrar and get a proof of enrollment before returning the completed form back to the card office where it will be mailed to Metro.
It sounds like a lot, but it definitely simplifies the process for students and makes paying for the card easier in using the students oxy account rather than out of pocket money (you'll need it to refill your card!) The student TAP card is definitely worth it anyway as it cost half of what a normal card does to refill.
So that's is obviously just a beginning step towards bringing metro to oxy. Other ideas building off of this are, to name a few: --Subsidizing faculty and staff cards (Cal Tech gives you cash in hand, if you present your TAP card at a designated site after commuting)
-Subsidizing cards for students who do not bring cars onto campus
-Building a relationship between oxy and metro (this is really important if we want to receive discounts from Metro, especially for staff and faculty since there are not discounted TAP cards available unless the school is associated with Metro)
I'm excited about getting more people to use Metro and public transit, but the most important thing to do is build up the hype and get people interested. So please follow our blog, tweet it, put it as your facebook status, tell your freinds about and of course use it to get your metro info. Here's the link again...Oxy Rides Metro!
-Malachi Krishok
The most recent of the problems is start up costs. After several meetings with the card office to work out the best way to streamline the TAP card application process, the initial estimate given was $2,400. We conceded that this cost would be too high to request from a $20,000 at the tail end of the application deadline. Although we were unable to fully get the program on it feet this semester, we have come up with a basic outline for what the tap card application process at oxy could look like in the future.
The first thing we hope to do it put together Metro packets for the orientation bag each frosh receives. This would include a TAP card application, info regarding Metro use at oxy and direct the student to the new public transportation website (for now its the blog we created until the web re-design is complete).
On the website will be a step by step process telling the student what they need to do in order to complete a VALID TAP application.
The card office has a agreed (pending costs etc.) to be involved a few important steps. First providing the student with a photo of themselves and also using the student's account (Bengal bucks, or flex) to take care of a small fee for the photo and the $1 application fee required by Metro.
The next step would be to go to the registrar and get a proof of enrollment before returning the completed form back to the card office where it will be mailed to Metro.
It sounds like a lot, but it definitely simplifies the process for students and makes paying for the card easier in using the students oxy account rather than out of pocket money (you'll need it to refill your card!) The student TAP card is definitely worth it anyway as it cost half of what a normal card does to refill.
So that's is obviously just a beginning step towards bringing metro to oxy. Other ideas building off of this are, to name a few: --Subsidizing faculty and staff cards (Cal Tech gives you cash in hand, if you present your TAP card at a designated site after commuting)
-Subsidizing cards for students who do not bring cars onto campus
-Building a relationship between oxy and metro (this is really important if we want to receive discounts from Metro, especially for staff and faculty since there are not discounted TAP cards available unless the school is associated with Metro)
I'm excited about getting more people to use Metro and public transit, but the most important thing to do is build up the hype and get people interested. So please follow our blog, tweet it, put it as your facebook status, tell your freinds about and of course use it to get your metro info. Here's the link again...Oxy Rides Metro!
-Malachi Krishok
Monday, November 8, 2010
Bureaucracy and the Transit Group
Unlike some of the other groups, our failing is not with missing infrastructure, or even with large amounts of missing money. Our failure is with bureaucracy.
Over a month ago, I e-mailed Metro asking how one becomes a TAP vendor, with the view of (this has later fallen in priority with our group; we instead have chosen to focus on expanded ease of Student and Vocational TAP cards). Simple question. I have yet to receive a response. Derek and Malachi have also e-mailed Metro, and they have received similar results.
At Oxy, it seems like we have to jump through hoop after bureaucratic hoop. Tamara Rice has clearly been no help in this endeavor. This means we have to deal with administration officials ourselves, often four or five people in a single week. Even though Jim Traquada appears to be amicable to the project, we continually have to go back to him before we can get anything done.
Also, I tried to get a little Metro Trip Planner applet for the blog Derek, Malachi and I have created, so I tried to create a blogger gadget. Could I embed the Trip Planner URL into a Google applet? No. Could I find an embeddable, url-safe version to put in? No. Can I e-mail them to find out to do it and expect a speedy reply, let alone any one at all? No.
Anyways, please join our blog, Oxy Rides Metro for all the transit information and links you need…expect for the ones that don’t work.
--Charles Bennett
Over a month ago, I e-mailed Metro asking how one becomes a TAP vendor, with the view of (this has later fallen in priority with our group; we instead have chosen to focus on expanded ease of Student and Vocational TAP cards). Simple question. I have yet to receive a response. Derek and Malachi have also e-mailed Metro, and they have received similar results.
At Oxy, it seems like we have to jump through hoop after bureaucratic hoop. Tamara Rice has clearly been no help in this endeavor. This means we have to deal with administration officials ourselves, often four or five people in a single week. Even though Jim Traquada appears to be amicable to the project, we continually have to go back to him before we can get anything done.
Also, I tried to get a little Metro Trip Planner applet for the blog Derek, Malachi and I have created, so I tried to create a blogger gadget. Could I embed the Trip Planner URL into a Google applet? No. Could I find an embeddable, url-safe version to put in? No. Can I e-mail them to find out to do it and expect a speedy reply, let alone any one at all? No.
Anyways, please join our blog, Oxy Rides Metro for all the transit information and links you need…expect for the ones that don’t work.
--Charles Bennett
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure @ Oxy
AB 32 calls on California to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. One method identified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to help the state meet its emissions goal is the widespread adoption of electric vehicles. California wants 1 million EVs on the road by 2020, but at the moment, there are several obstacles preventing EVs from being a completely viable option.
One of the biggest obstacles is the lack of a sufficient electric vehicle charging infrastructure. While most EVs can be charged overnight at home, some manufacturers say that motorists experience "range anxiety" - the fear of being stranded once the battery runs out of electricity. Many others do not live in homes with garages and have no practical way to charge their vehicle. Establishing a California-wide EV infrastructure will address some of these concerns, and Oxy can be a part of this greater movement to change how our vehicles are fueled by installing a couple of EV chargers on campus.
Links:
Villaraigosa Announces Southern California Regional Plug-In EV Plan
Project Get Ready
The EV Project
One of the biggest obstacles is the lack of a sufficient electric vehicle charging infrastructure. While most EVs can be charged overnight at home, some manufacturers say that motorists experience "range anxiety" - the fear of being stranded once the battery runs out of electricity. Many others do not live in homes with garages and have no practical way to charge their vehicle. Establishing a California-wide EV infrastructure will address some of these concerns, and Oxy can be a part of this greater movement to change how our vehicles are fueled by installing a couple of EV chargers on campus.
Links:
Villaraigosa Announces Southern California Regional Plug-In EV Plan
Project Get Ready
The EV Project
Friday, November 5, 2010
Recycling Bin Improvements
I am working with the recycling group to improve and promote recycling at Occidental. My personal focus has been on surveying the recycling bins on campus to decide where we should add more bins and how to change the arrangement of current bins.
In walking through the dorms I noticed that there were actually a good number of recycling bins, albeit terribly labeled and often placed in poor locations. On almost all of the bins there was no labeling whatsoever, and on those that did it was mostly misleading. For example in Haines there is a bin that says "Aluminum Only" right next to a bin that says "Aluminum, Plastic and Glass." We now know that these bins are all for aluminum, plastic, and glass, thus these labeling issues confuse students and undoubtedly lead to lower recycling quantity. Hopefully by creating new, uniform signs this issue will be alleviated in that at least students will know what should be recycled where.
The other huge issue i have noticed is placement of bins. Often there are a few bins in the hallway of residence halls but none in the bathrooms, where there is only trash. This makes it so recycle bins are much closer than trash bins for most residents, and as a result a lot of trash is thrown in the recycling, contaminating it. Unfortunately, after talking with Bruce Steele, head of Facilities at Occidental, it is apparent that this situation will likely stay as it is. There are very strict fire codes set up by the city of Los Angeles that restrict the number and type of trash/recycling receptacles in hallways. Because of this it is often impossible to place recycling or trash where they would be used most effectively. Perhaps in response to this we could remove recycle bins that are far from trash bins, and instead put them next to the trash. This would hopefully decrease the contamination of the recycling. Ideally I would like to see Oxy implement a one-to-one ratio of trash to recycling, so that everywhere there is a trash there is a recycling bin next to it. However after hearing about the fire codes, this is unlikely to happen.
In other locations around campus there are few if any recycle bins. For example there is only a couple in all of Johnson and Fowler. This is outrageous especially considering that the most common items thrown away in classrooms are paper and bottles. We must increase the number of recycling bins in these locations.
Another possible improvement would be to purchase covers for all of the recycle bins that restrict the recycling to only bottles. So-Cal recycling takes only bottles so it makes sense to restrict the bins to fit only cans/bottles. Unfortunately this idea may be too difficult to implement because there are at least 4 types of recycling bins on campus, and finding tops for all of these would be tedious and costly.
In the long run I would like to see Occidental implement trash/recycling/composting-in-one containers. I have seen these at almost every other campus I have visited. They include three square bins connected to each other, effectively labeled trash, recycling, and compost. These bins, however, would require that 1) we have a recycling company that takes all types of recyclables together and 2) we have large scale composting. Both of these actions may be years down the line, but it is something to keep in the back of our minds.
In walking through the dorms I noticed that there were actually a good number of recycling bins, albeit terribly labeled and often placed in poor locations. On almost all of the bins there was no labeling whatsoever, and on those that did it was mostly misleading. For example in Haines there is a bin that says "Aluminum Only" right next to a bin that says "Aluminum, Plastic and Glass." We now know that these bins are all for aluminum, plastic, and glass, thus these labeling issues confuse students and undoubtedly lead to lower recycling quantity. Hopefully by creating new, uniform signs this issue will be alleviated in that at least students will know what should be recycled where.
The other huge issue i have noticed is placement of bins. Often there are a few bins in the hallway of residence halls but none in the bathrooms, where there is only trash. This makes it so recycle bins are much closer than trash bins for most residents, and as a result a lot of trash is thrown in the recycling, contaminating it. Unfortunately, after talking with Bruce Steele, head of Facilities at Occidental, it is apparent that this situation will likely stay as it is. There are very strict fire codes set up by the city of Los Angeles that restrict the number and type of trash/recycling receptacles in hallways. Because of this it is often impossible to place recycling or trash where they would be used most effectively. Perhaps in response to this we could remove recycle bins that are far from trash bins, and instead put them next to the trash. This would hopefully decrease the contamination of the recycling. Ideally I would like to see Oxy implement a one-to-one ratio of trash to recycling, so that everywhere there is a trash there is a recycling bin next to it. However after hearing about the fire codes, this is unlikely to happen.
In other locations around campus there are few if any recycle bins. For example there is only a couple in all of Johnson and Fowler. This is outrageous especially considering that the most common items thrown away in classrooms are paper and bottles. We must increase the number of recycling bins in these locations.
Another possible improvement would be to purchase covers for all of the recycle bins that restrict the recycling to only bottles. So-Cal recycling takes only bottles so it makes sense to restrict the bins to fit only cans/bottles. Unfortunately this idea may be too difficult to implement because there are at least 4 types of recycling bins on campus, and finding tops for all of these would be tedious and costly.
In the long run I would like to see Occidental implement trash/recycling/composting-in-one containers. I have seen these at almost every other campus I have visited. They include three square bins connected to each other, effectively labeled trash, recycling, and compost. These bins, however, would require that 1) we have a recycling company that takes all types of recyclables together and 2) we have large scale composting. Both of these actions may be years down the line, but it is something to keep in the back of our minds.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Progress on an Oxy Transit Information Website
Over the winter break, Oxy will be undergoing a full overhaul of its website. Last week, our group presented the following requests to the communications department regarding information about public transportation opinions in and around Occidental.
1. Incorporating a Google Transit box on the my.oxy homepage (default set on public transit directions).
2. A revamped sustainability page (or separate website) with information for students regarding Metro discounts for college students and how to purchase Metro cards at Oxy. Information about Metro discounts and Zipcars should also be found on the "Current Students" (http://www.oxy.edu/x300.xml) page perhaps as "Metro Discounts and Car Sharing" under the Student Resources Column.
3. Including public transit directions under the "Directions" page (found at http://www.oxy.edu/x5495.xml)
We believe these requests will help boost Occidental's use of mass transit and the popularity of both the bike sharing and Zipcar programs. These suggestions are currently under review by the communications department, though they indicated a strong level of support for all of them. We should find out within the next week which suggestions will be incorporated into the new website.
1. Incorporating a Google Transit box on the my.oxy homepage (default set on public transit directions).
2. A revamped sustainability page (or separate website) with information for students regarding Metro discounts for college students and how to purchase Metro cards at Oxy. Information about Metro discounts and Zipcars should also be found on the "Current Students" (http://www.oxy.edu/x300.xml) page perhaps as "Metro Discounts and Car Sharing" under the Student Resources Column.
3. Including public transit directions under the "Directions" page (found at http://www.oxy.edu/x5495.xml)
We believe these requests will help boost Occidental's use of mass transit and the popularity of both the bike sharing and Zipcar programs. These suggestions are currently under review by the communications department, though they indicated a strong level of support for all of them. We should find out within the next week which suggestions will be incorporated into the new website.
I worked on drafting survey questions last week to evaluate the Eco Clamshell Pilot Program and have come across some issues with the program that have emerged the longer the program has been operating. One of the main issues I have identified is the problem with rinsing the container before returning it to the Market Place. Dorms have kitchen sinks, but they don't have garbage disposals to remove the left over food, resulting in a build up of old food clogging the drains. Even worse, some students are rinsing their containers in the bathroom sinks, whose drains aren't even large enough to allow the food to go down the drain. This is putting a strain on the cleaning staff who is forced to pick old food out of the drains on a weekly basis.
There is one clear solution to this problem: having students take their container to the cashier to get a token, and then dropping their container on the conveyor belt to be rinsed and washed by dining hall staff. There is one main problem with this solution. The program is still limited to a certain number of people, and under this system we cannot be sure that unenrolled students will not use other members' "returned" containers to get a token for themselves. As soon as the program is open to the whole campus, this new system will be an easy fix to eliminate the need to rinse containers before returning them.
I have started reading through the survey responses and many people have identified the issue of washing the container as the most major deterrent and inconvenience with the program. Many people have come up with possible solutions to help solve these issues. I expect to analyse the surveys in 2 weeks and in the mean time, I am drafting questions for interviewing the dining staff.
Emma Sorrell
Water Bottle Refill Stations
Trying to create more vertical refilling stations around campus has been an interesting and eye opening experience to the many logistical elements that go into a project like this. Our group has been trying to get the funding to not only purchase the units to convert the water fountains but the labor to do so. We have made good progress and are hoping that the units will be installed by December. Since all of the freshmen have been given water bottles we don’t have to worry as much about getting water bottles into the hands of the students. What we need to do is just getting the message out to students that there are going to be these vertical water bottle refill stations and that they should try and use them to lower the environmental impact Occidental has on the world, especially plastic water bottle consumption
On another interesting note, in the public restrooms in Range View the lights turn on by motion sensors. I thought this was really good considering I haven’t seen this implemented in any other public restrooms around campus. Having lights that turn on by motion sensors is a great way to conserve electricity.
I am also wondering why Occidental does not have more solar panels on buildings. I think Occidental will need to highly invest in solar energy even past the solar array. What do you think?
-Alex Forster
Recycling Revolution at Oxy
As Kosa posted below in "Scary Recycling Stuff," Recycling on our campus is indeed in need of serious help, and our groups original aim was to promote student recycling and increase the volume of recycling on campus.
Early in the semester, I met with Bruce Steele and Michael Stephens from facilities to learn about how recycling works here at Oxy. Mr. Steele and Mr. Stephens were very helpful and informative, but what I learned about recycling on campus was actually rather disturbing. Because we have two separate recycling companies for paper and for mixed recyclables, they MUST be separated or much of the recyclables end up in the landfill. After our grip audited the recycling situation on campus, surveying the recycling bins, we've realized that the vague signage makes recycling very unclear to students. Further, after contacting our main recycling company, SoCal Recycling, we learned that they ONLY accept CRV recyclables, which is essentially limited to beverage containers (meaning no takeout containers from the marketplace are ever recycled by Oxy!), and further, they accept nothing with any contamination. Due to the lack of communication between Oxy recyclers and SoCal recycling, the recycling company is slowly turning into our trash pickup company, as most of what they receive from us they are unable to recycle.
Part of our solution that we have enacted is to make a system of signs and labels for our recycling bins, showing students what belongs in the bins and what they have to put elsewhere (aka the garbage). While this will undoubtedly help the volume of recyclables that SoCal recycling receives, it is still a system that sends a large amount of recyclable goods to the landfills (plastic food containers, plastic packaging, bags, etc.) Thus, we are now moving towards the adoption of a new recycling system/company at Occidental, one that accepts all recyclable goods, similar to the city of LA's system.
This task is much bigger than we initially thought with our simple recycling education campaign. However, Occidental is so far behind the times with recycling, that this is no longer an issue that can simply be shrugged off. That being said, this issue is much larger than 5 UEP 246 students can handle on their own. While we are currently awaiting a response from Bruce Steele and Michael Stephens about adopting a new recycling company, we need as much support as possible. Please, continue to recycle any and every glass, aluminum, and plastic bottles/cans, recycle paper only in the paper recycling bins, and spread the word to everyone about the recycling situation that's occurring on our campus!
Mural In the Bike Station
Getting a mural started on campus is way harder than I had ever expected. The most difficult thing about the process is getting in contact with important people and making sure your partners are committed. Recently, my muralist who designed the mural bailed on me and now I have to design the mural all by myself or find a new artist. This set me back so much! I am very nervous that I will barely finish this mural by the end of the semester. All I want to do is make a nice mural for the bike station to promote bike sharing on campus! I believe that if I can make this mural happen it will help the bike community on campus so much!
Biking on campus may not be the easiest form of transportation due to our campus' hillside landscape, but having bike is great for getting around lower campus and all of Eagle Rock. Once bike sharing increases on campus, people will realize how fun and useful it can be! It would be a lot fun to plan a biking trip to the grocery store or even the park. I feel like we need to educate the students about bike sharing and even educated the students about cool locations where they can bike to from campus. Many freshmen do not know anything about the area surrounding oxy, but if we show them it will spark an interest. Maybe this will be another project for the bike sharing club next semester.
Take it easy and make oxy greener.
Chris
Gardens and Green Grades
I'll admit that until this semester I had never spent time in the F.E.A.S.T. garden. hidden near UEPI, it is easy to forget that its even there. Yet for prospective students a college's green rating is becoming more important. So why not make more effort to showcase Oxy's garden and expand it to the proposed site near Rangeview? A larger garden site would contribute to Oxy's green reputation and provide more room for students to become involved in the garden. In addition, last year, I hosted a prospective student who was impressed by the orange trees outside of Haines and disappointed to learn that they do not produce edible fruit. A new proposal to plant fruit trees on campus would not only result in edible fruit but would make oxy more attractive to visiting students. Much of the time, green initiatives are seen as tradeoffs between sustainability and cost or other concerns. Therefore, ways in which Oxy can become more sustainable and more attractive to prospective students should be taken advantage of. While Oxy’s green report card score from the Sustainable Endowments Institute has been improving, there is still much that can be done to make the campus more sustainable.
As for the proposed garden site, this effort is stuck waiting for approval from the administration and unfortunately there are those who seem opposed to the idea. The process of finding information about the potential fruit trees is also slow. But, to some extent I expected these kinds of difficulties. What I didn’t really foresee, despite my own limited experience with the garden, was the lack of student awareness of the current garden. While many students express interest in the garden and other sustainable projects on campus many have never spent time there or even may not know where it is. It seem that people feel that it is hidden away and they don’t know much or anything about the garden. While the proposed additional location would make the garden more visible, an increase in student involvement with the current garden might also be necessary to demonstrate why there should be an additional location. Because progress with new garden site has slowed, this unexpected issue of raising awareness of both the current garden and the proposal to expand it has become the biggest challenge.
As for the proposed garden site, this effort is stuck waiting for approval from the administration and unfortunately there are those who seem opposed to the idea. The process of finding information about the potential fruit trees is also slow. But, to some extent I expected these kinds of difficulties. What I didn’t really foresee, despite my own limited experience with the garden, was the lack of student awareness of the current garden. While many students express interest in the garden and other sustainable projects on campus many have never spent time there or even may not know where it is. It seem that people feel that it is hidden away and they don’t know much or anything about the garden. While the proposed additional location would make the garden more visible, an increase in student involvement with the current garden might also be necessary to demonstrate why there should be an additional location. Because progress with new garden site has slowed, this unexpected issue of raising awareness of both the current garden and the proposal to expand it has become the biggest challenge.
Approval Schmoval!
Working on my class project of bringing ceramic mugs and plates to the Green Bean has given me a small (but significant) taste of what it is like to try to initiate policy change in business in the real world. Raquel and I have found the mugs and plates we want to order, got approval from someone in campus dining, and were all ready to order our new products where we received news that now the health inspector has to approve our sinks in order to wash plates and cups. Just as we thought we were ready to go, we’re now waiting. Moreover, every person we have been talking to about this issue of approval directs us to someone else to talk to, who in turn directs us elsewhere, getting nowhere in the process. What is shocking is that we are working with people at a very small institution relative to large companies where green initiatives are trying to get approved, and therefore I can’t even imagine how difficult it would be in those instances. I am finding myself frustrated because we are excited, we want to do this work, and are willing to put in whatever time and effort is necessary, but how this project progresses from now on is essentially out of our control. This, naturally, is disappointing. As a result, I have greater sympathy for people trying to make policy change in large corporations, and greater appreciation for the struggles they have overcome once change is made.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Scary Recycling Stuff
This post finds me in the midst of working on a project with a few others in the UEP Environmental Problem Solving class to revamp Occidentals recycling program. The original aim of our project, was to educate our campus community on ways they can improve their recycling habits, and also to work with the administration to get more recycling receptacles in better locations. Our first task however was to do a personal survey of Occidentals current recycling system. To say the least what we found was frightening. Until a few weeks ago, I was walking around unaware of the fact that most of the time when I think I am recycling on this campus I am actually further contributing to the landfills. Firstly, there are two separate companies that service Occidentals recycling needs. One company deals with paper, and another deals with our plastic, aluminum, and glass. When someone on Oxy's campus for example throws paper in the bottle recycling, that paper goes in the trash. I think this is a huge problem because students at Occidental often confuse recycling on Oxy's campus with the recycling methods they may have at their home (where often times all recycling goods can go in to one bin). Secondly the company that collects our glass and plastic recyclables, can only handle crv's (basically only cans and bottles), and cannot handle our marketplace plastic containers, or for that matter containers with food contamination at all. I know personally that I was guilty of both of the offenses I mentioned previously.
Until we further get the word out make sure you alert your friends that they need to stop mixing recycling items! Hopefully by the end of the semester we will have sufficiently informed our campus on the current system and also reformed it in some way.
-Kosa Goucher-Lambert
Until we further get the word out make sure you alert your friends that they need to stop mixing recycling items! Hopefully by the end of the semester we will have sufficiently informed our campus on the current system and also reformed it in some way.
-Kosa Goucher-Lambert
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Chapter Five: Disposal
The Disposal chapter in Anne Leonard's Story of Stuff really helped me consider some of the priorities that we should have when identifying the way we handle our waste. I am one of the many who believes that a large-scale difference is made by a series of small-scale changes. The disposal chapter however made me consider where these changes would be most effective, and more specifically the changes I should make pertaining to my class project. For my project I elected to work on campus-wide recycling initiatives. While my initial intentions were solely to add more recycling receptacles around campus, I think that educating the student body along with this should be a focus.
In the disposal chapter Leonard discusses the distribution of where our waste comes from. The most shocking fact to me was that 76% of all waste is industrial waste, as compared to 2.5% municipal solid waste (garbage). While production methods need to be changed, the obvious use and wastefulness of our society was still very evident. I thought that Leonard's discussion of the stigma of used goods in wealthy countries (such as the US), as compared to less wealthy countries was very accurate. People in this country including myself usually are not particularly keen of the idea of using something that is old. People don't like the idea of acquiring something that is old, let alone using something over and over again. Additionally it is no secret that the US produces a staggering amount of waste. The average person accounts for 4.6 pounds of waste everyday, which is up from 3.6 pounds in 1980. Just one portion of this waste is plastic bottles, where there are 150 billion single use beverage containers used every day. Something that is unbelievable when you really think about it.
Obviously there is a huge gap here between the amount of things we consume, and the actuality of what it takes to produce these goods. People in our society use far too much, but that doesn't change the fact that much of it can be recycled. The fact that the majority of waste comes from the production process makes me think that it is much more important to limit the amount that we buy new materials then I ever did before. For this reason I think it will be critical to couple my recycling project with an education portion as well, so we can get people to use less then they do right now. I think for the most part people just don't understand that buying containers everyday and recycling them is not enough(although its an improvement over just throwing them away). While I still believe I need to make every effort I can to help ensure that items that can be recycled are, I think it is equally as important to make sure people know how much it hurts the environment to buy any item at all. Another fact from the Story of Stuff was that for every amount of waste we throw out, 40 times that waste was created for it to even be produced. That being said, the first thing is to make sure we don't continue to add to the problem.
--
Waste is defined by where something is, not what it is.
-Kosa Goucher-Lambert
Extraction: The Story of Stuff
Annie Leonard's chapter on extraction, or the process of removing resources from the earth to make all of our "stuff", offers an often-ignored perspective of the flaws in our culture of excess. For me personally, it's easier to think about the consequences of "stuff" in terms of steps further down the line - the pollution produced by the factory that makes a cell phone, the exploitative human labor used to craft that pair of running shoes.
As college age students I think we often take pride in being globally aware citizens, we know that we should buy organic food, try and avoid driving cars, recycle our containers, bring reusable bags to grocery stores, these all are all acts that I and I know many of my peers do frequently. Yet trying to find an environmentally, globally aware college student without a lap top, a cell phone, an i pod, and a number of other similar items would be hard to do. The corruption and human devastation behind the metals in these common and seemingly essential items are well hidden, probably due to corporate efforts to keep them so. It’s possible that the cell phone I was just talking to my parents on helped fuel conflicts in the Congo. This had never before cross my mind.
Leonard makes the point that such items are also designed to be short-lived, and our consumer society drives us to also want to get the newer, better version of things even when the older version is still function. I mean, who doesn't want the i phone 4? I think it’s important to understand the implications of owning so much “stuff”, and understanding the cost, not in a monetary sense, of the things go into making our “stuff”. This probably isn’t going to convince me to forgo a cell phone, but I’ll make sure I get all the life I can out of the one I have.
-Anna Dalton
As college age students I think we often take pride in being globally aware citizens, we know that we should buy organic food, try and avoid driving cars, recycle our containers, bring reusable bags to grocery stores, these all are all acts that I and I know many of my peers do frequently. Yet trying to find an environmentally, globally aware college student without a lap top, a cell phone, an i pod, and a number of other similar items would be hard to do. The corruption and human devastation behind the metals in these common and seemingly essential items are well hidden, probably due to corporate efforts to keep them so. It’s possible that the cell phone I was just talking to my parents on helped fuel conflicts in the Congo. This had never before cross my mind.
Leonard makes the point that such items are also designed to be short-lived, and our consumer society drives us to also want to get the newer, better version of things even when the older version is still function. I mean, who doesn't want the i phone 4? I think it’s important to understand the implications of owning so much “stuff”, and understanding the cost, not in a monetary sense, of the things go into making our “stuff”. This probably isn’t going to convince me to forgo a cell phone, but I’ll make sure I get all the life I can out of the one I have.
-Anna Dalton
Chapter Five-Disposal
As I was reading The Story of Stuff I was constantly taken aback by the amount of "stuff" that we throw away. Obviously, this is not some recent discovery but it is still surprising to have the pure amount of disposed goods laid out for us in actual tonnage. Industrial production waste makes up a great majority of the totals disposal yet, in the US, very little is required of large producers to clean up their own messes and operate more efficiently. Much of the monetary burden for taking care of the waste lies unfairly on the American taxpayer. As can be imagined, the largest waste producers in the US have their interests represented strongly at both the state and national levels and legislation to meant to minimize industrial waste is seen by the industry as detrimental to their short term profits and thus fiercely opposed. There are a few large companies, namely Interface, that have taken substantial steps to reduce their own waste and develop innovative new means of operating in more sustainable fashions, but unfortunately the industry by and large lags behind these few shining examples. Legislation has proven to be an effective option for waste reduction reform in a wide variety of foreign countries, as well as our own, and we as American citizens and voters should make an effort to encourage our legislators to support further measures to protect our water, air and health as well as lessen the destructive power of our species' presence on our planet.
Consumption at Oxy
This past week I went on the 'Toxics Tour,' a tour led by the Communities for a Better Environment (CBE). The tour took our group around Los Angeles looking at the factories in highly industrial areas such as Vernon and Huntington Park, eventually leading us down the 710, alongside countless semi-trucks, past the oil refineries, to the port of Los Angeles. The port is the heart of the distribution Annie Leonard touches on in chapter three of The Story of Stuff. If you haven't seen it yourself, I would recommend taking a trip over down to the port. There are so many shipping containers, it takes a second to realize how big they actually are, each "could hold all of the contents of a three-bedroom house" as Leonard says. Its amazing to see the massive amounts of what we consume at the hub of distribution. It wouldn't be far fetched to wager that most of the goods inside these containers are headed to a Wal-Mart, Costco or the Target in Eagle Rock Plaza frequented by Oxy students.
As horrible as our dependency on the globalized distribution of goods we consume is, Annie Leonard does offer great alternatives. I checked out a couple of the websites she suggested and think it would be a good idea to share these resources with students at Oxy.
GoodGuide "provides the world’s largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of consumer products."
This site is a great way to hold yourself accountable for what you purchase, and also could be a good way to hold the college accountable for what they are making available to us.
This is "a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people). Membership is free."
My family has used this to get rid of old appliances etc. This would be a great resource for students at the beginning of the school year (as an alternative to constant Target runs) and end of the school year as an alternative to throwing everything away.
Chapter 1: Extraction
In The Story of Stuff, Annie Leonard proposes a complete paradigm shift in which we look at the world not through the lens of economic growth and pure unfettered capitalism -- but through an alternative framework that focuses on serving the planet and the majority of its people instead. Our current model, she writes, is simply unsustainable, "compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (xxxiii).
This dose of reality, I suspect, will be hard for many of us in the developed world to accept. For one, too often we define our success by the amount of Stuff we can buy. Secondly, our immediate livelihoods depend on jobs that, for the most part, depend on consumption and exploiting the world's resources. It's difficult to think about the long-term, when for many Americans, their current economic needs are barely met. This makes saving the planet (literally) too daunting of a challenge -- too far away and abstract -- which leads to inaction until finally it's too late, when we have reached our limits and people start pointing fingers at each other.
However, Leonard says it's not all hopeless. As consumers, we can one by one start to demand more sustainable solutions, eventually achieving critical mass. Incremental changes in consumer behavior and consumer demand can make a huge difference when multiplied out by millions. A starting point for Oxy could be figuring out just where our paper comes from, as Leonard notes that for every ton of paper, 98 tons of other resources are used (1). Perhaps as students, we can push for sustainable procurement policies -- e.g., require recycled toilet paper -- that minimize this waste.
This dose of reality, I suspect, will be hard for many of us in the developed world to accept. For one, too often we define our success by the amount of Stuff we can buy. Secondly, our immediate livelihoods depend on jobs that, for the most part, depend on consumption and exploiting the world's resources. It's difficult to think about the long-term, when for many Americans, their current economic needs are barely met. This makes saving the planet (literally) too daunting of a challenge -- too far away and abstract -- which leads to inaction until finally it's too late, when we have reached our limits and people start pointing fingers at each other.
However, Leonard says it's not all hopeless. As consumers, we can one by one start to demand more sustainable solutions, eventually achieving critical mass. Incremental changes in consumer behavior and consumer demand can make a huge difference when multiplied out by millions. A starting point for Oxy could be figuring out just where our paper comes from, as Leonard notes that for every ton of paper, 98 tons of other resources are used (1). Perhaps as students, we can push for sustainable procurement policies -- e.g., require recycled toilet paper -- that minimize this waste.
Friday, September 24, 2010
In chapter 3 of Annie Leonards "Story of Stuff," she discusses how mass produced goods are distributed to consumers across the country and world. She highlights how costly the mass production phenomenon is, both because of long transportation distances and increased consumption. At Occidental I see the two most effective tactics to decrease these costs is to increase local food consumption and educate residents about reducing needless buying.
The Marketplace has already begun to buy more of their food from local distributors, but this is only a small portion of the total. One idea to help increase this would be to encourage students to write letters and/or send emails to the Marketplace staff requesting larger amounts of local food. This could be easily spearheaded by a single person by having them draft the email/letter and then distribute it to their peers. Additionally, students could make an effort to purchase more of the locally provided goods--Usually the blackboard at the front of the marketplace says what the current local goods are. Additionally, Marketplace administrators could be contacted to discuss selling food from the on campus garden at the Marketplace.
To help the students of Oxy reduce their consumption, I suggest launching an educational campaign. This campaign could discuss the high costs of consumption similarly to how The Story of Stuff does, by showing the path that goods take to get to consumer. To distribute this information, we could utilize many of the campus resources. To list a few: The Oxy Weekly, the Catalyst television show, posting flyers in dorms, etc. Residential Education could help us with this by distributing flyers through RA's and having them post them around the dorms.
The Marketplace has already begun to buy more of their food from local distributors, but this is only a small portion of the total. One idea to help increase this would be to encourage students to write letters and/or send emails to the Marketplace staff requesting larger amounts of local food. This could be easily spearheaded by a single person by having them draft the email/letter and then distribute it to their peers. Additionally, students could make an effort to purchase more of the locally provided goods--Usually the blackboard at the front of the marketplace says what the current local goods are. Additionally, Marketplace administrators could be contacted to discuss selling food from the on campus garden at the Marketplace.
To help the students of Oxy reduce their consumption, I suggest launching an educational campaign. This campaign could discuss the high costs of consumption similarly to how The Story of Stuff does, by showing the path that goods take to get to consumer. To distribute this information, we could utilize many of the campus resources. To list a few: The Oxy Weekly, the Catalyst television show, posting flyers in dorms, etc. Residential Education could help us with this by distributing flyers through RA's and having them post them around the dorms.
Chapter 4: Consumption
With so much of the world’s population and many in the United States unable to meet their basic human needs, I find it appalling how much we, Occidental College students waste. At the conclusion of every school year, numerous articles of clothing, shoes, binders, textbooks, hangers, plastic containers, pretty much anything you can think of are simply thrown out. Last year I lived in Sterns, and our entire hallway became one giant trashcan, overflowing with items from the improperly used recycling bins (not that they were usually used correctly anyway). I’m sure most other students living on campus experienced the same situation in their dorms.
In examining what people were throwing away, I found many of the items to have been never used, such as the Dr. Scholl’s shoe inserts, make-up bushes, lotions, razor blades, etc. Most of the other items in the pile were gently used and certainly the majority of the items could have gone to people in need, rather than a landfill. I understand that many people who live across the country, out of the state, or even those who have to fly home do not want to deal with the expense or hassle of having to store or pack these items, especially when they can easily be re-purchased. For many others, these items are thrown away out of sheer laziness, instead of donating or saving them. As Annie Leonard states, “consumers are not just resigned to the practically disposable nature of this Stuff; we’ve come to accept it” (162). While our RA’s decided they would collect clothing and bedding to donate to Goodwill, or another thrift store, I highly doubt anyone was going to take the time to sort through the other miscellaneous items in the hall. As other students have proposed and we’ve discussed in class, Oxy should create a secondhand/ thrift store to reduce to amount of usable goods going to landfills and enable students/ community members to reuse them. A service could even be set up with RA’s or students that are interested in implementing the store, to go to the dorms to collect and haul the items.
As clearly demonstrated through this example of overconsumption, we need to re-evaluate our spending and stop buying more than we need. Additionally, our arbitrary perceptions of waste and the social stigma associated with reusing needs to change. “Waste is defined by where something is, not what it is. It’s about context, not content” (183). While most items can be reused, those that don’t want to should at least give others the opportunity. As corny as this idiom is, “one man’s waste is another man’s treasure.”
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Chapter 3: Distribution, Selling an Image Not a Product
Chapter 3 in Annie Leonard’s The Story Of Stuff focused around the distribution of Stuff as she refers to it. I have read previous research regarding the distribution of material goods throughout the world and what kind of environmental impacts it has. This chapter though helped show some other aspects of distribution that I was not as familiar with. The opening section talks about how large companies like Nike and Apple aren’t exactly selling you the product they directly. They are trying to sell you the image or brand of their company that is encompassed in the stuff the consumer buys.
I am working on creating more water refill stations around campus with some classmates in the UEP 246 section. This idea of selling the brand or image of a company has a very strong role when it comes to bottled water. Many people falsely believe that bottled water is better for you, when in fact many bottled water companies have the same water quality as the tap water most people already receive. Not only students at Occidental, but also millions of people in the United States have a stigma about tap water. Due to genius marketing, bottled water companies have made the public think that purchasing bottled water is not only healthier but a sign of higher class. This advertisement has led bottled water into a four billion dollar industry. Although the bottled water market is shrinking within the Occidental campus due to price increases on bottled water, I think that there will need to be a shift in thinking when it comes to the difference between tap water and bottled water.
Disposal and Occidental College
Every year at Occident College tons of waste is created (food waste, paper waste, water waste, plastic waste, etc.). Although a few percentage of students are from other parts of the world or try to not create waste, the majority of this school has an American mentality when it comes to waste. Americans do not see the potential in trash! Trash is a very resourceful tool if people learn how to utilize it correctly. According to Anne Leonard, "communities that own the least amount of stuff [is when you see] just how subjective [the] line is between waste and resources" (184).
Occidental college produces a lot of food waste. Luckily, the school is learning about composting and the benefits that come along with it. When the school composts wasted food, it goes directly to the school's garden. This creates an eco-friendly cycle of new food. However, Occidental College has not taken advantage of the garden per-say. The Marketplace (the school's Cafeteria) does not sell or cook the food from the school's own garden. Hopefully, this will change in the future to make the school more sustainable.
At the end of each year when students move out of their dorms and go home for the summer, they leave very useful "junk" behind for the trash people to pick up. Some of this "junk" may contain working ipods, lamps, sheets, school supplies, ect. Most of the stuff people throw out at the end of the year is in perfect condition and can be used by anyone. From personal experience, I know this junk is extremely resourceful. I got a nice lamp for my desk this year. To fix this problem, the school should sift through the stuff at the end of every year and possibly give it was to goodwill or sell it to students.
The United States produces about 254 million tons of trash every year and of that 254 million tons, only 85 million of it is recycled (229). Recycling is a very good step into the light of sustainability. Over that past couple of years, Occidental has been enlightened to recycle paper, plastics, glass and aluminum. In order to increase recycling on campus, colored recycling cans have been placed all over the campus. For the most part, this system is working for the campus, but there is not enough education on campus about recycling and there are not enough recycling cans in convenient areas. Students on campus need to be shown what exactly is recyclable and what is not. Often, student will throw trash in the recycling bins, defeating the purpose of the cans. The second problem is that students will not recycle a bottle if there is not a recycling bin in sight.
In the end, what is comes down to is that we should not be focused on how much we recycle or how much resources we can get out of trash, but how little we can waste. Leonard states that, "focusing on the wrong end of [waste and recycling] can point our efforts in the wrong direction" (229). I believe it is important for Occidental College to look into the Zero Waste programs to learn how to decrease the school's footprint. "Zero waste advocates look at the broader system in which waste is created, from extraction to production all the way through consumption and disposal. In this way, Zero Waste is a philosophy, a strategy, and a set of practical tools" (234). From these programs the school will learn to reduce consumption, make resources out of trash, recycling, ect.
Community vs. Isolation
A lot of people are touching on the issue of community here at Occidental and Its relation to the campus's sustainability. What I want to touch on is student space and its relation to community. Because community affects sustainability and space arranges community I believe the design of student space has a significant impact on the campus's sustainability. Over the last two years I've come across a few oddities which I believe inhibit community.
1. Rangeview
This is the dorm which is the largest, newest, and cleanest. Despite the attributes, rangeview feels like a hotel. Hotels are nice but you should not be staying at one for longer than a week.
2. Lack of furniture around dorms
Many of the dorms have areas just outside the doors perfect for tables, chairs, and benches. You can't expect students to gather and relax on a slab of concrete. Why have a patio if it's never used?
3. lack of side walks
The campus is clearly designed for cars. The lack of sidewalks are not only inconvenient but dangerous.
4. Johnson "student center"
Despite being the "student union" not many students ever go down there. At one time it was a hub of student recreation. The pool tables are now gone and the bookstore has appropriated the best part. Imagine if students had the space for a pub or a program like Oberlin's clothing swap and free store:
Clothing Swap and Free Store
At the end of spring and fall semesters, a group of 10 student employees called the College Recycling Assistants hold a campus-wide event called “The Big Swap." At the Spring 2006 Big Swap, College Recyclers collected 388 bags of clothing, books, and dorm room items. The items are collected from each dorm by the College Recyclers and taken to a centralized location in the student union building. For about a week, the Recyclers keep everything that has been collected in this main space and people are able to come and take items they can put to use. At the end of that week, College Recyclers then take the remaining items to local charities. This greatly reduces the number of useful items entering the waste stream when students clean out their dorm rooms and off-campus houses at the end of each semester.
While in the past this “swap" only took place twice a semester, the college has now located a permanent space for a “Free Store" in the basement of Pyle where reuseable items of all kinds can be donated or taken for reuse. The new Free Store had its grand opening on February 22, 2007. It provides an excellent avenue for reuse of materials on campus, diverting useful items from the landfill and consequently reducing the extraction of natural resources.
1. Rangeview
This is the dorm which is the largest, newest, and cleanest. Despite the attributes, rangeview feels like a hotel. Hotels are nice but you should not be staying at one for longer than a week.
2. Lack of furniture around dorms
Many of the dorms have areas just outside the doors perfect for tables, chairs, and benches. You can't expect students to gather and relax on a slab of concrete. Why have a patio if it's never used?
3. lack of side walks
The campus is clearly designed for cars. The lack of sidewalks are not only inconvenient but dangerous.
4. Johnson "student center"
Despite being the "student union" not many students ever go down there. At one time it was a hub of student recreation. The pool tables are now gone and the bookstore has appropriated the best part. Imagine if students had the space for a pub or a program like Oberlin's clothing swap and free store:
Clothing Swap and Free Store
At the end of spring and fall semesters, a group of 10 student employees called the College Recycling Assistants hold a campus-wide event called “The Big Swap." At the Spring 2006 Big Swap, College Recyclers collected 388 bags of clothing, books, and dorm room items. The items are collected from each dorm by the College Recyclers and taken to a centralized location in the student union building. For about a week, the Recyclers keep everything that has been collected in this main space and people are able to come and take items they can put to use. At the end of that week, College Recyclers then take the remaining items to local charities. This greatly reduces the number of useful items entering the waste stream when students clean out their dorm rooms and off-campus houses at the end of each semester.
While in the past this “swap" only took place twice a semester, the college has now located a permanent space for a “Free Store" in the basement of Pyle where reuseable items of all kinds can be donated or taken for reuse. The new Free Store had its grand opening on February 22, 2007. It provides an excellent avenue for reuse of materials on campus, diverting useful items from the landfill and consequently reducing the extraction of natural resources.
The Story of Stuff
Annie Leonard's The Story of Stuff is a useful text that influences the reader to reevaluate their own lives, and where each individual fits into the spectrum of our planet's dire environmental issues.
Leonard's chapters focusing on consumption and waste were most salient to me. I normally consider myself very waste conscious, making sure to "recycle" as much as possible. However, Leonard's explanation of the issues of consumption made me realize that my efforts to recycle are completely undermined by my disregard for the first "two R's"-reuse and reduce.
I suffer from the same state of mind that most Americans do: we always need more, and we constantly need something better. I consider shopping to be a hobby of mine, which is problematic on many levels. As I read The Story of Stuff, reflecting on my own consumption habits, I immediately thought of when I worked at the popular clothing store Forever 21. Forever 21 is known for having a huge variety of clothing at very low prices, and one of their unique attributes is that they get new shipments every day. For one, this means that enough merchandise is bought from the store to have room for hundreds more items to arrive every day. Also, whenever I was put in charge of merchandising for the day, I would spend hours opening boxes, plastic bags, unwrapping saran wrap, and disposing of the packing peanuts and other packing materials. Apart from the cardboard boxes, none of the other materials were recycled, rather just thrown in the dumpster. These process of unpacking the new shipments and disposing of the packaging is a process that happens every day, 364 days a year. On top of just unpacking shipments, there's still countless waste factors that go into operating this Forever 21-the plastic bags given to the shoppers, the textiles and materials that all of the clothes are made up of, and of course the "old" clothes of the consumers that are being replaced by their new Forever 21 purchases. And of course, this is just one store in the middle-of-nowhere-Indiana. I am overwhelmed to think of this on a global, let alone national level.
One solution I am already utilizing, even though I recognize that we can no longer try to "consume our way out of this mess", is to shop secondhand. Vintage (as we can observe amongst the Oxy "hipster" scene), is actually widely embraced in the fashion and style world. Rethinking what we call "waste" is one small, but necessary, step to ameliorating our consumption-induced crisis.
--Roxanne Butler
The Story of Stuff
Leonard presents an interesting, transcendentalist approach to our current environmental calamities. While we are bombarded with news of ways to produce our products more efficiently, Leonard argues that it is not energy or resource inefficiency that is our problem, but rather unsustainable modes of consumption. It is our quest for the new type of electronic, or faster car, or the coolest new toy, perhaps a facet of our post-industrial consumer society, that is not only wreaking havoc on our environment, but on our mental and physical health as well.
But Leonard is not naive enough to suggest that an intrinsic element of the American economy will disappear anytime soon. She provides numerous examples, from better shaped cell-phone chargers, to the promotion of libraries, that channel our drive for "stuff" into more environmentally-friendly means. "Change," she states, "will come...eventually." The question is, will it come soon enough?
Her discussion in Chapter 3 regarding distribution was quite interesting. The only way in which real change will emerge is from an eventual change in the consumption habits of the consumer. While one might suspect that environmental and financial considerations would always stand in opposition, Leonard points out that that is increasingly not true. In a world more reliant on pesticides and transportation for food, a sizable market for organic and locally-grown food has emerged. This market is also not simply rooted in environmental concerns, but also has health concerns of pesticides and financial concerns of transporting food from across the world. It is this type of developming market, coupled with increasing energy costs in world with depleting fossil fuels, that will drive an eventual environmental revolution.
But Leonard is not naive enough to suggest that an intrinsic element of the American economy will disappear anytime soon. She provides numerous examples, from better shaped cell-phone chargers, to the promotion of libraries, that channel our drive for "stuff" into more environmentally-friendly means. "Change," she states, "will come...eventually." The question is, will it come soon enough?
Her discussion in Chapter 3 regarding distribution was quite interesting. The only way in which real change will emerge is from an eventual change in the consumption habits of the consumer. While one might suspect that environmental and financial considerations would always stand in opposition, Leonard points out that that is increasingly not true. In a world more reliant on pesticides and transportation for food, a sizable market for organic and locally-grown food has emerged. This market is also not simply rooted in environmental concerns, but also has health concerns of pesticides and financial concerns of transporting food from across the world. It is this type of developming market, coupled with increasing energy costs in world with depleting fossil fuels, that will drive an eventual environmental revolution.
The Story of Stuff
My UEP 101 class last year spent some time discussing Annie Leonard’s The Story of Stuff, after watching her online video. The video only briefly summarizes the supply chain, but after reading chapter 3 on distribution I have a much better understanding of the way the system works at this step, and the problems that exist. Leonard begins by introducing the concept of “lean manufacturing and lean retail” (108). Companies are streamlining all of their production in an attempt to cut costs, including cutting workers’ bathroom breaks and forgoing factory safety features (109). Lean retail, the second part of the problem, refers to the business practice in which companies only produce goods as they are demanded. This system may be beneficial for the corporation and help them to save costs, but it hurts the workers by not providing consistent work (Leonard, 111). Professor Dara O’Rourke argues that “in the same way that Toyota workers are empowered to pull the stop cord on their assembly lines, we could have an entirely transparent system of supply chains in which all the stake holders (and community members) are encouraged to identify flaws throughout the system and halt production until that problem has been taken care of” (111). O’Rourke’s idea reminds me of what we are trying to do here on campus through Environmental Problem Solving, the Sustainability Fund, the garden, etc. The students have the power to address problems that we see and demand change. O’Rourke’s vision for change is a system in which “firms are pressured to produce goods not as cheaply as possible, but in ways that optimize labor, social, and environmental benefits” (111). The biggest issues here on campus are the environmental impacts of our energy and water use, consumption, and waste production. Leonard emphasizes that the distribution of consumer goods has just as much of an impact on the environment as the extraction, production, and disposal. Oxy has made some progress towards trying to buy more locally produced goods. Hopefully, during the course of this semester we can help Oxy become more sustainable by playing the role of the stake holders in O’Rourke’s system and identifying the flaws and initiating change.
Community Instead of Consumption
What I found to be the main point of Leonard's chapter on Consumption, is that as human beings, more stuff isn't what is going to make us happier. People believe that it will because of advertising and what people tell us. But in reality we need to be more conscious about creating lasting and genuine human relationships. A main point of the chapter seemed to be that a strong community will bring you happiness far more than that new Apple product or a new pair of shoes. I believe that here at Oxy we do have at least some sense of a community. There will be times when you see people spending a hour or two hanging out with friends in the Cooler or on the Quad at lunch. But at the same time, there are often times, when people are just sitting in their rooms on their laptops mindlessly browsing the internet. I believe that Oxy strikes a nice balance between consumerist and community. We are Americans and as such, we have mostly been raised to be consumerists, but if we can see the value in the tight community of a small college, then there is hope for us, in terms of consuming less. As a member in this community people need to remember to take a break from the books every once and a while and take an hour to just hang out with friends.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Consumption and Community
Reading Leonard’s chapter on consumption an idea that stuck out to me was her assertion that we need more than simply greener alternatives to what we already consume. She states, “trying to consume our way out of the mess we’re in is a familiar dead end” (174). I probably like many others at Oxy, do tend to fall into this mode of thinking. Much of the time my reaction is to try and find products that are produced in ways which are less exploitative or polluting and instead to consume greener, fair-trade products. But in the end this is still a form of consumption. According to Leonard, this concept of “greensuption” or “conscious consumption” should be practiced when we shop but “being an informed and engaged consumer is not a substitute for being an informed and engaged citizen”(175). Leonard’s solution to this in part participating in strong communities, which means, “we buy less stuff, use less energy consume fewer resources because we can share things and help one another”(176). This is where I feel that programs at Oxy can make a big impact on our consumption. Instead of simply shifting to buying greener products programs like bike sharing and zip car have the potential of contributing to Oxy’s sense of community and making the campus more environmentally friendly. So that instead of buying a more fuel-efficient car, students can join programs like zip car. To me, the idea of a secondhand store or exchange where students could drop off items they no longer want and pick up things they may need plays into this idea of building strong community resources as a way of reducing consumption. Not only will this be good for the environment, but also, according to Leonard, the decrease in consumption and having a strong local community will make us happier.
Sustainability, Ch. 4
I read Chapter four, the part about consumption. What with her introduction focusing on connectivity of all issues, the work-watch-shop cycle introduced in the introduction, and the general tone of the chapter, I came to the conclusion that reading any similar chapter would have contained almost the same message. Throughout the novel, Leonard is adamant that she is not attacking big business, and she IS right about that…what she is really attacking is the triumvirate of big business, government and culture, the latter two heavily influenced by the former. In fact, she attacks the culture, and the consumers who buy into it, much more than she goes after Walmart or Exxon, and when she does go after business, she takes shots at the Cold War military industrial complex and 1920s ad gimmicks rather than present ivory towers. I found it interesting that she advocates for New Urbanism (especially a return to the pre-Industrial Revolution small town) without saying it outright very often.
--Charles Bennett
--Charles Bennett
Distribution/ Consumption
I want to start by tackling chapter 3 of Leonard's book on the distribution side of the spectrum. It seems the idea is to buy and sell as cheaply as possible maximising the profit while keeping the consumer happy paying rediculously low prices. This concept is as accepted too often by many Americans who love paying bottom dollar for everything. H&M is just one company metioned in her book that is a major contributor to over production and distribution of items. The focus has now been placed on addvertising and brand names rather than quality and longevity of products. Im not sure how to explain this other than an ideological change in hoaw people are buying and selling. Distribution changes have been directly correlated to the super market phenomenon and has both a positive and negative impact on consumers. Convienence is extremely important to the customer the ablitity to buy everything from cat litter to cookies has completly changed how people shop. What exactly will snap people back from this illusion that more is better or the cheapest item is the best? I have a bad feeling that abusing the system of globalization will have some lasting effects.
Ditching Secondhand Stigma
Reading Leonard’s chapter on Disposal got me thinking about the ways in which Oxy students dispose of their plethora of unwanted, dated, and/or broken items throughout the year, and in particular the end of the school year. Leonard explains that we as consumers are constantly throwing out perfectly good items because we don’t want to store them, we don’t know how to fix them, they aren’t cool anymore, etc. I must admit that I have been guilty of such actions, throwing something out at the end of the year because I don’t want to have to deal with mailing it back to Canada, or buying a new set of bedding for my dorm room each year because I didn’t want to have to deal with the old one over summer and such items are easy, and cheap, to replace. I also know that I am certainly not alone. Leonard states, “Waste is defined by where something is, not what it is. It’s about context, not content” (p.183). In other words, the idea of waste does not simply revolve around the actual object, but rather who views it as waste. Therefore, if it is knowledge that my waste could very well be considered something that is new and valuable to someone else, I really think Oxy should consider establishing a secondhand store/exchange where students could drop off items in good, working condition that they no longer want for whatever reason. I imagine the quantity and quality of clothing, books, electronics, furniture, and school supplies that would fill the store would be astonishing, and allow Oxy students to see that “used” and “secondhand” can be cool. Not only would the store prevent the unnecessary disposal of a wealth of valuable items much before they need to be, but it would hopefully teach students about the value of sharing and reusing, something that they could carry for the rest of their lives.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Advances In Alternative Transportation to Look for in the 2010-2011 School Year
While significant strides have been made in terms of alternative transportation at Oxy over the past school year, there is still room for much improvement. The founding of the bike sharing program and the approval of the forthcoming Zipcar program on campus demonstrate a sincere commitment from both students and administrators alike to improve alternative transportation resources at Oxy, but much more can be done to improve transportation alternatives. Some advancements can not be made until the administration lends a hand, but in the meantime, students can do a great deal to promote more sustainable lifestyles among the student population. The following is a brief run-down of what students can expect to see rolled out in the coming school year to improve alternative transportation options at Occidental.
1. A bigger, better bike-sharing program. The recent launch of the bike sharing program campus has already been proven to be a big hit among the student population. Evidence of this can be found in how much bikes have been rented out -- strolling past the bike sharing rack one can see that very few bike sharing bikes are available at any point during the day. Campaigns will be conducted this summer in order to procure more bikes for the program. With luck, the program will be able to raffle a few bikes in the fall so that a number of lucky students can have a bike for the entire semester, and the remainder will still available for daily checkout. Aside from better serving the student population looking for bikes, this new dimension of the bike sharing program would provide greater incentive for students to take care of the bikes, as they will be in the possession of one student for the entirety of the semester.
2. A fully functional bike shop and repair space in the bike sharing program cage. A number of the bike sharing bikes have already taken a beating since the program's launch, and many of those bikes have yet to be fixed and put back out for further use. The delay in returning these bikes to a functional state is due, in part, to the lack of resources in the bike cage. Over the summer, the cage will be built out into a function bike shop -- complete with a workbench, bike stand and wheel truing station. The new setup will allow bike sharing mechanics to more promptly repair bikes and return them for use, as well as offer open shop hours once or twice a week where students can come in and learn how to repair their own bike. The goal is to not only educate the student body about how to maintain their own bikes, but also to utilize the space as the hub for alternative transportation culture at Occidental College.
3. A very active bike club. The Occidental Bike Club, founded this year, had a slow start. However, after its first meeting just a few months ago, the club has led a few rides, including trips around Northeast Los Angeles and participating in the NELA Second Saturday Spoke(n) Art Ride. With the coming semester, however, the Bike Club plans to have week or bi-weekly rides. In addition to improving students' knowledge of Northeast Los Angeles and the safest bike routes, the club will be vital in promoting more cohesive bike culture on campus.
For questions or suggestions pertaining to improving student-lead alternative transportation initiatives, do not hesitate to contact Askasham Pace, Max Levine or myself. In the meantime, we look forward to better serving the Occidental community in the coming year.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Climate Healers - Solar Ovens
Climate Healers is a Non-Profit working in India to combat the climate crisis. Around 2 billion people burn 1.5 billion tons of wood annually for cooking alone. Those who live close to a forest tend to use the most wood, averaging 1.5 tons per person per year. The demand for wood as cooking fuel is responsible for 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions annually.
Climate Healer's approach to this problem rests on the observation that most of these 2 billion people live in regions where solar energy is plentiful. However, they cannot afford to purchase solar cookers for their daily use. Therefore, Climate Healer's provides solar cookers to the communities along with cell phones at no cost to members of the community. The cell phones are configured to measure the usage of the cookers as they get charged, and then rewards are issued in the form of cell phone talk time proportional to the usage.
By using cell phones to track the usage of the cookers, Climate Healers is able to achieve a quick feedback reward mechanism to keep the donors to the organization energized and motivated.
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