Thursday, February 18, 2010
Looking to the Future -- Student Lead Sustainability at Oxy
As many classmates have noted, the establishment of the Sustainability House this semester marks an important turning point for green culture at Oxy. My hope is, however, that in months (and years) to come the house can become a student-lead hub for not only for sustainable practices, but for the progressive culture of Occidental College as a whole. Taking cues from places like the LA Eco Village and Wanna Start a Commune, the Sustainability House could become a hub for a variety of progressive topics pertaining to Occidental and Los Angeles.
While living on campus at Oxy has a very insular feel, the members of the Sustainability House have been thrust (albeit only a block or two) into the neighborhood and are therefore in a unique position to act as liaisons between the progressive community of Los Angeles and Occidental. Much like the LA Eco Village, the Sustainability House is already working to serve as a model for green living to the Oxy community, but it could also serve as the headquarters or at least the meeting place for other activities -- promoting awareness about local politics, demonstrating/touring the green aspects of the house to the Occidental community, training new student leaders, hosting arts and other cultural events and overall becoming an epicenter of student driven activism for the neighborhood rather than just the campus.
One way in which this process can start would be for the progress made/activities held at the Sustainability House to be documented and kept in a blog. This way, community members and students could track the various initiatives undertaken at the house and learn with the house members as they transform their residence into a space which fosters community and responsible environmental practices.
For further reference or ideas on how some of these ideas might be executed, please check out:
LA Eco Village Blog
Wanna Start a Commune - (their website is currently down, but will connect you to their facebook, which is a great resource/community of great ideas!)
While living on campus at Oxy has a very insular feel, the members of the Sustainability House have been thrust (albeit only a block or two) into the neighborhood and are therefore in a unique position to act as liaisons between the progressive community of Los Angeles and Occidental. Much like the LA Eco Village, the Sustainability House is already working to serve as a model for green living to the Oxy community, but it could also serve as the headquarters or at least the meeting place for other activities -- promoting awareness about local politics, demonstrating/touring the green aspects of the house to the Occidental community, training new student leaders, hosting arts and other cultural events and overall becoming an epicenter of student driven activism for the neighborhood rather than just the campus.
One way in which this process can start would be for the progress made/activities held at the Sustainability House to be documented and kept in a blog. This way, community members and students could track the various initiatives undertaken at the house and learn with the house members as they transform their residence into a space which fosters community and responsible environmental practices.
For further reference or ideas on how some of these ideas might be executed, please check out:
LA Eco Village Blog
Wanna Start a Commune - (their website is currently down, but will connect you to their facebook, which is a great resource/community of great ideas!)
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Sustainability House
I am often frustrated by the inability of the theoretical world of academia to apply classroom concepts to real world practices. However, I feel that the UEP program excels in overcoming this educational barrier. For this reason I am excited by the prospect of getting involved with the new sustainability house. Establishing a themed house offers students the ability to practice environmental principles in their daily life by given them a means to take a hands on approach in “greening” their living space and building environmentally friendly living habits. This is not a new concept, as sustainability houses or related campus housing programs are common throughout the country. A quick google search yields results from a multitude of schools that have supported similar housing projects.
Universities and institutions of higher learning need to be leaders in the environmental movement, and I feel these kinds of houses are one of the most interesting ways in which this is being accomplished. The strongest asset involved with these projects is the level of student participation. Instead of an institutional green initiative or any kind of related environmental measure on campus, a project like this is driven by the students and yields visible results for those involved. I’m excited to be a part of the almost endless possibilities that have been opened up through the establishment of the sustainability house.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The Dutch Way
While thinking about Oxy’s bike sharing program I began to reminisce about my time abroad in Amsterdam where bikers dominate the road. Unlike here in LA, and the majority of the U.S., it is less common drive a car than it is to ride a bike in the Netherlands. Sure, Amsterdam’s infrastructure is much more conducive to cyclists than LA, but for Oxy students why not make the switch to bikes, at least for local travel?
Then I remembered reading about a recent Dutch initiative to reduce automobile usage and greenhouse gas emissions by imposing a driving tax that would charge drivers seven cents a mile. The plan would use GPS systems in every car to keep track of mileage and charge drivers automatically. The charges would be higher during high traffic hours and for large and commercial vehicles. The Dutch cabinet approved the plan last November but is awaiting approval by parliament. It is estimated that the driving tax would cut traffic by 15 percent and reduce emissions from transport by 10 percent. If this plan is approved by the Dutch parliament, it can be assumed that Dutch cyclists will only further dominate the roads.
Thus, in following Dutch ingenuity, how about we impose some sort of “tax” on driving? By “we” I would like to say the U.S. government, but if such a law is struggling to gain national support in the Netherlands I assume it has no chance in the U.S.; instead, I mean Oxy. Maybe students would reduce their use of motor vehicles if they were held partially accountable for the impact that their driving has on the environment. After all, Oxy is one of the few schools that allows students to park for free on campus. Even a small fee might deter students from bringing a car to campus. To further this deterrence, we must provide students with an alternative. This is where the bike-sharing program comes into play.
I understand that charging students to drive, or more realistically to park on campus would be an unpopular initiative, so maybe doing things the other way around by first providing an alterative to driving. If the program is successful then maybe we won’t need to charge students to drive, but rather students will choose not to on their own.
Then I remembered reading about a recent Dutch initiative to reduce automobile usage and greenhouse gas emissions by imposing a driving tax that would charge drivers seven cents a mile. The plan would use GPS systems in every car to keep track of mileage and charge drivers automatically. The charges would be higher during high traffic hours and for large and commercial vehicles. The Dutch cabinet approved the plan last November but is awaiting approval by parliament. It is estimated that the driving tax would cut traffic by 15 percent and reduce emissions from transport by 10 percent. If this plan is approved by the Dutch parliament, it can be assumed that Dutch cyclists will only further dominate the roads.
Thus, in following Dutch ingenuity, how about we impose some sort of “tax” on driving? By “we” I would like to say the U.S. government, but if such a law is struggling to gain national support in the Netherlands I assume it has no chance in the U.S.; instead, I mean Oxy. Maybe students would reduce their use of motor vehicles if they were held partially accountable for the impact that their driving has on the environment. After all, Oxy is one of the few schools that allows students to park for free on campus. Even a small fee might deter students from bringing a car to campus. To further this deterrence, we must provide students with an alternative. This is where the bike-sharing program comes into play.
I understand that charging students to drive, or more realistically to park on campus would be an unpopular initiative, so maybe doing things the other way around by first providing an alterative to driving. If the program is successful then maybe we won’t need to charge students to drive, but rather students will choose not to on their own.
Digging For Chickens
When we went to the UEPI garden to help FEAST last Thursday I helped dig out a trench that would house the cinder blocks that needed to go under the chicken coop. The cinder blocks were needed under the chicken coop to act as a barrier to animals digging under the coop and assaulting the helpless hens. While we were in the garden and I was digging I thought two things - one was a horrible play on words about how I dug digging and the other was how I was impressed with the progress made in the garden by FEAST.
It is nice to see the model of a community garden coming to fruition on campus after hearing about the benefits of community gardens in nearly every UEP class that I have taken. The garden helps encourage sustainability in multiple ways. All of the supplies used in the garden are bought locally, no pesticides are used to grow the vegetables, the locally grown food feeds the volunteers that work to grow the vegetables, and there will soon be free range chickens.
While I am not a foodie like crew that spearheaded the creation of the community garden, the value of having a community garden on campus is not lost on me. Having good food that you grew yourself is an obvious benefit but the garden can also act as an educational tool. Prof. Villianatos mentioned that the green living campus house was considering creating their own garden. The work of FEAST can help in the creation of their garden in offering pointers on what works and what doesn't. The garden can also be used for educating the neighborhood about how they might be able to translate our garden into their own efforts to grow at least some of their own food.
It is nice to see the model of a community garden coming to fruition on campus after hearing about the benefits of community gardens in nearly every UEP class that I have taken. The garden helps encourage sustainability in multiple ways. All of the supplies used in the garden are bought locally, no pesticides are used to grow the vegetables, the locally grown food feeds the volunteers that work to grow the vegetables, and there will soon be free range chickens.
While I am not a foodie like crew that spearheaded the creation of the community garden, the value of having a community garden on campus is not lost on me. Having good food that you grew yourself is an obvious benefit but the garden can also act as an educational tool. Prof. Villianatos mentioned that the green living campus house was considering creating their own garden. The work of FEAST can help in the creation of their garden in offering pointers on what works and what doesn't. The garden can also be used for educating the neighborhood about how they might be able to translate our garden into their own efforts to grow at least some of their own food.
Remembering the Past
This post is building upon Max Levine's post about a car-free day or set of days in Eagle Rock, that may serve to promote biking and bike culture. As Max stated, this kind of event was piloted in NYC, but it has actually been implemented as part of state transportation policy in Bogota. In 2000, Bogota's voters passed a referendum for an annual "car free day," which occurs every February 1st. Given what Max wrote about Mumbai, perhaps the campus could publicize this kind of event as a global movement.
In addition, it would serve us well to remember the actions of advocates before us, and to work with the tremendous resources we have on campus and within the UEP department. In fact, several years ago, members of the faculty worked with community groups, stakeholders, and CalTrans in order to close off automobile access to a section of the Arroyo Seco freeway. This allowed bicyclists, pedestrians, picnicking families, and others, to reclaim the space.
This type of reclamation, and the way in which the leaders of this action worked with various stakeholders to accomplish what we may perceive to be unthinkable (shutting down a major freeway in Los Angeles), can teach us a lot about how to move forward with a car-free day. I agree with Max that this is not only a good idea, but also a feasible one. Perhaps, by starting to tap the resources we have within our own department, we can find new avenues, inspirations, and methods for bringing about the change we seek.
In addition, it would serve us well to remember the actions of advocates before us, and to work with the tremendous resources we have on campus and within the UEP department. In fact, several years ago, members of the faculty worked with community groups, stakeholders, and CalTrans in order to close off automobile access to a section of the Arroyo Seco freeway. This allowed bicyclists, pedestrians, picnicking families, and others, to reclaim the space.
This type of reclamation, and the way in which the leaders of this action worked with various stakeholders to accomplish what we may perceive to be unthinkable (shutting down a major freeway in Los Angeles), can teach us a lot about how to move forward with a car-free day. I agree with Max that this is not only a good idea, but also a feasible one. Perhaps, by starting to tap the resources we have within our own department, we can find new avenues, inspirations, and methods for bringing about the change we seek.
Solar @ Oxy Update
So a quick background for those that are new to this project. Occidental has been in the process of planning the development of a solar array on campus. The serious idea of a solar array was first brought up in the spring of 2009. Throughout the summer and fall of '09 a committee of faculty, staff, and students worked on the proposal for a solar array. Since that time there have been multiple discussions/proposals with and to the board of trustees. As of February 2010, the board has fully supported the idea and plans for a solar array. So why don't we have a solar array yet? Well, we haven't been able to come up with all the funding for an array. Multiple plans and strategies have been thought through but we have not been able to find a feasible way to pay for it. The next board meeting is in April and the hope is that we will have come up with a way in which to financially support an array.
Just some logistics of the proposed solar array: it will be located on the southern and western slopes of Mount Fiji along with on top on the parking lot located next to the upper soccer fields, it will generate approximately one megawatt of energy (still making it one of the largest arrays on any college campus in the country).
Just some logistics of the proposed solar array: it will be located on the southern and western slopes of Mount Fiji along with on top on the parking lot located next to the upper soccer fields, it will generate approximately one megawatt of energy (still making it one of the largest arrays on any college campus in the country).
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