ME!

My name is Josh. I was born just across the road at Riverside Community Hospital, about 30 (Eeeeek!) years ago! My family is third generation Riversidians (Word!?) My Grandfather planted some of the big orange groves with his father out near Victoria, which luckily is still greenbelt, kind of. I have lived all over southern California; I spent my formative teenage years in San Diego. My years in San Diego, and fishing trips to the Sierra with my Grandpa were very important in cultivating my respect for the environment.
In 2002 I joined the Army, and for seven years of my life jumped out of airplanes, and spent copious amounts of time going after “bad guys”, when it came time for me to leave that life behind I decided to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail (or AT). The AT runs from Georgia to Maine, while I was walking, and walking, and walking I decided that two key elements would have to be met for me to be happy with a career in the future, I would have to be helping people, or the environment, or both.
To do this I had to improve my skill set, namely learning skills that didn’t just include kicking in doors, so here I am! I want to combine my love for Sociology and the Life Sciences into some kind of super awesome superpower that will help me help people live more sustainably, change our consumption culture, and de-mystify the stigma against being “Green”, its not bad! I want to help myself, and my community, get to where we are sustaining ourselves on one Earth, rather than needing several at the detriment to some poor folks living more efficiently than ourselves!
I like hiking, long walks on the beach, cooking, fixing things, riding my bike, playing with my super awesome dog Jade, growing facial hair, flannels and tattoo’s. I think the biggest thing I want to learn during this class is the framework in which these Sciences are currently residing in, who is in there and what they are doing, and how we can use these people and brains to change the world!



Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Final blog?

What do I think is the most pressing environmental issue after this semester? Why? What can we do about it? What is the most interesting thing I learned this semester?

After this outstanding semester, after taking environmental Science AND Ecology, I would say the most important environmental issue at this time is culture and education.

Our culture is one of wastefulness. We have been burdened with a crippled conscience that allows and propagates consumption at all costs. Lack of education and an overwhelming cultural message of consumption is rendering our youth incapable of recognizing threats to the most necessary elements of life: Water, soil, plant life, biodiversity, nutrients and even temperature. The media messages that are constantly rammed into our subconscious tell us that consumption and material possessions are to be valued over all, even if the cost is detrimental to fundamental life systems.

Simple things that we have not learned to identify as destructive are impacting the world around us significantly. Bottled water for example, even though it is not regulated as strictly as tap water, it is consumed in mass quantities, regardless of the impact to the environment. The plastic in water bottles may contain contaminants that are unhealthy to humans, only one in five water bottles is recycled, and the amount of petroleum products used to produce the packaging annually (17 million barrels of oil) is a finite resource. These water bottles will be around to haunt us for thousands of years and may end up in our food chain through bio-accumulation. This is only one example of the many destructive products we demand as a culture on a daily basis.

This culture of consumption is detrimental for certain but will become even more detrimental as other cultures, cultures that may have been operating within their ecological means look to us at the United States as a model for what they want their life to look like. As they increase consumption global resources will be spread thin resulting in conflict over what is left. Additionally these resources are finite and will become exceedingly scarce as demand increases, a recipe for disaster.

What can we do about such a problem? I am not certain. Stopping a worldwide wave of consumption culture is undoubtedly going to be the greatest challenge to our species for the immediate future. I believe the most effective measure would be to ”be the change we need to see”, if America and the rest of the developed countries in the world make a concerted effort to change the way we live we may be able to show the rest of the world that the blind fervor of consumption is not the path to happiness. We need to educate our citizens and specifically our youth. Education will be the push we need to disregard misinformation, and become proactive.

I saw the effect we have as western culture when I was deployed to Iraq. One day as I saw kids running down the street in cheap sunglasses and fake Nikes, beside Iraqi security forces trying their best to look like Americans, with gear slung allover them, looking “cool.” I realized that we as Americans didn’t need to fight wars anymore, we just needed to show up and look cool, because then everybody will want what we have, then we just have to sit back and sell it to them, and watch the world fill up with more trash.

Trash is the basis for one of the most interesting things I learned this semester, specifically plastic. After going to the landfill, learning what gets recycled and at what rate. After seeing plastic bags blowing across the dump, and looking down to a ground packed with plastic. After watching Wasteland, after taking a hard look at my own refuse. I realize we must stop using plastic. It’s a resource made of oil, which took millions of years to create, and we just form it and craft it into the most mundane items, items that will be most likely thrown away and down-cycled. My future goal is to eliminate this toxic and wasteful substance from every aspect of my life.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Waste reduction

In this installment I will be going through two, two day cycles. The first two days I will record and measure household waste. The second two day period I will take additional steps to reduce waste and record and report my progress. This could be a little boring because I think I do a good job already! The following is what I do now, and what I want to start doing.

Waste reduction strategies,

what I already do:

  • First I try to reduce consumption, if I don’t need it I don’t buy it (Some exceptions due to subliminal messages) This includes vegetables from the farmers market, no packaging!
  • I recycle everything I can. I have three cardboard in which I separate paper, glass/aluminum, and plastic/etc.
  • I wash all most of my recyclables to insure introduction into the recycling stream. I pay attention to what is and is not recyclable for city turn in.
  • I compost all non-meat, and non-dairy food waste, I make awesome soil!
  • I reduce plastic bag usage by using re-usable bags.
  • Recycled paper products (toilet paper), I don’t use paper towels.
  • I re-purpose everything, if it can still be used for something, I will figure that “Something” out.

Some of the things I need to start doing

  • Buy in bulk, re-use containers.
  • I want to invest in some rechargeable batteries.
  • Do a better job using durable items until they are completely un-repairable. Try not to buy new stuff just because it is neat.
  • Buy a sewing machine and teach myself how to sew so I can repair things.

My Results:

- How much waste did you produce during the first three-day period? How much of that was made up of recyclables? What types of items were contributing most to your trash production?

Most of my waste is either junk mail paper, which is recycled or miscellaneous plastic wrappers from food packaging. I usually re-use any plastic bottles or glass jars but still a fair share of plastic containers ends up in the recycling. In there now I have a vegetable oil bottle, a plastic cup from somewhere, and to much random plastic wrappers! For my first period I filled up about an eighth of a paper box in plastic/ random stuff and paper.

- What types of waste-reduction strategies did you find?

I really want to buy into some re-usable batteries! Also I read a cool idea: put a plastic bucket in your shower to capture splashes, then use that to water with. Awesome. Also, I really want to learn how to use a sewing machine, any body want to teach me!?

- Which of the above strategies did you implement? How much waste did you produce during the second three-day period? How much of that was made up of recyclables? What types of items were most difficult for you to eliminate from your waste flow?

I really didn’t change my habits, I could not really find any quick fixes I could make. I feel like I have it dialed in. With myself and my girlfriend (Part-time resident) I produce about one big recycling container full a month, sometimes a bit less. And about one half of a garbage bin. Its amazing how much waste you can reduce by paying attention to what you buy.

- Which of these trash-reducing strategies are you willing to continue?

I will continue with what I am doing. I want to shop at the farmers market more, and buy rechargeable batteries. I think mostly it all comes down to refusing to purchase things that are over-packaged. I wont shop at Trader Joes because they are so bad at over packaging, my tomatoes really don’t need to be in a plastic tray wrapped in plastic, thank you. I can buy those same tomatoes for the same price or less from a local organic farm, all I have to do is make it to the market downtown on Saturday or the sears parking lot on Friday.

NOTE: I reduced this from three days to two days for two reasons, the holidays and my waste output, I was pressed for time and I knew I wouldn’t be able to reduce to much unless I just stopped doing anything!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

A day without.... kind of.

For this assignment, I must minimize my energy usage as much as possible for a 24-hour period. This is my day, semi-off the grid:

I thought this assignment was going to be a piece of cake, but alas I was scattered, it was HARD. I think it was hard for me because I already do a fair job of keeping energy usage down, I wear a jacket in my house, I turn of lights and open blinds, I wash on cold, do dishes minimally and re-use everything I can. The biggest bone of contention was my cell phone and my computer. One of my classes is a hybrid, and it includes A LOT of homework, if I am not doing Spanish homework it is like a higher power itself has come down and graced me with clemency, it consumes me. Friday was vets day so I figured I could hang ant the house, keep things turned off and just buckle down and get some homework done, so that’s what I did. Usually I will run the TV or Pandora while I do homework because I live alone and it gets quiet, but I didn’t turn on the TV, and I didn’t plug in my speakers, I just quietly did homework in front of my glowing screen. I occasionally interspersed this with very green-ish things, I tended to my compost, raked up some leaves, swept the porch. I did a little laundry on cold but I did put it in the dryer because I haven’t taken the step towards natural drying due to laziness and room constrictions. Phone issues was my second problem, I was meeting my girlfriend at her place in the evening for my birthday/veterans day dinner and I had to coordinate with her throughout the day, but my offset was that she was the one using up all the energy! Ha-ha! So phone & Computer, AND refrigerator. I took a HOT shower because I have sworn allegiance to myself after so many cold showers in Iraq that I wont do that to myself anymore (I’m a glutton) but I was quick. THEN I jumped in my truck and drove 30 miles to Forest Falls, yes my girlfriend lives in the mountains, waaaaaay up in the mountains, convenient. It is awesome though because I get to go to the MOUNTAINS and see her, ill live. There upon that rock filled valley we ran the heater, ate good food, and used candles. I am such a proponent of reducing my footprint and getting of the grid, I cringe when I am realistic with myself; I am probably just as bad as most gluttonous, consumeristic Americans and I know it. I do have little things I do to try and reduce in this land of abundance we call California. I ride my bike when I can, I compost, I eat healthy, I try to shop at the Farmers market and use re-usable bags. I re-use everything I can; I try to reduce waste and my intake of goods. One day I want to be able to live off grid, produce my own energy and live lightly, but I don’t foresee ever getting rid of the electronic shackles that bind me, the computer and the cell phone……… maybe one day. Short term goals for me can be: Dry my own laundry, ride my bike more, and don’t take anymore hybrid classes!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Bottled vs. Tap water

On this blog entry: Learn the pros and cons of tap vs. bottled water.

Where does your home’s tap water come from? First off, WHOA! I am really surprised that Riverside met most of its water supply needs by utilizing

Groundwater sources located in the San Bernardino, Bunker Hill, and Riverside Basins!


Super cool!

“Additional water is purchased from the Western Municipal Water District (WMWD). WMWD is a customer of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) who obtains their water from Northern California Rivers and imports it via the State Water Project.” (riverside.gov)

Not all of it comes from our local sources but it is still impressive that the majority of it does even more reasons to pay attention to groundwater pollution.

What did you learn about the safety of your tap water? I remembered reading a while back that Riverside had some of the worst water in the nation, so I was surprised that our cities water assessment looked so nice. There are a lot of nitrates and some other nasty stuff but when you’re reading the public utilities water assessment you kind of get a warm and fuzzy that there are some really good things going on and everything looks really up to snuff. So I delved a little deeper and looked around the ole interwebz and found EWG’s (Environmental Working Group) website, the one that said such nasty things about our water.

You can see their nasty report here: http://www.ewg.org/tap-water/whatsinyourwater/CA/City-of-Riverside-Public-Utilities/3310031/

Seems we run over recommended guidelines for all kinds of gross chemicals:

Pollution Summary

30

Total Contaminants Detected (2004 - 2009)

Aluminum, Barium (total), Chromium (total), Copper, Nitrate, Silver (total), Chromium (hexavalent), Vanadium, Simazine, Dibromomethane, Trichlorotrifluoroethane, Foaming agents (surfactants), Chloroform, Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs), Combined Uranium (pCi/L), Arsenic (total), Lead (total), 1,2-Dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP), Bromoform, Bromodichloromethane, Dibromochloromethane, Dichloromethane (methylene chloride), Trichloroethylene, Radon, Combined Uranium (mg/L), Combined Radium (-226 & -228), Radium-226, Radium-228, Alpha particle activity, Perchlorate

6

Agricultural Pollutants
(pesticides, fertilizer, factory farms)

Nitrate, Arsenic (total), Perchlorate, 1,2-Dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP), Foaming agents (surfactants), Simazine

8

Sprawl and Urban Pollutants
(road runoff, lawn pesticides, human waste)

Nitrate, Copper, Lead (total), Arsenic (total), Dichloromethane (methylene chloride), Foaming agents (surfactants), Silver (total), Trichlorotrifluoroethane

21

Industrial Pollutants

Aluminum, Barium (total), Chromium (total), Nitrate, Silver (total), Chromium (hexavalent), Vanadium, Dibromomethane, Trichlorotrifluoroethane, Foaming agents (surfactants), Combined Uranium (pCi/L), Arsenic (total), Lead (total), Dichloromethane (methylene chloride), Trichloroethylene, Combined Uranium (mg/L), Combined Radium (-226 & -228), Radium-226, Radium-228, Alpha particle activity, Perchlorate

6

Water Treatment and Distribution Byproducts
(pipes and fixtures, treatment chemicals and byproducts)

Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs), Chloroform, Bromodichloromethane, Dibromochloromethane, Bromoform, Dibromomethane

16

Naturally Occurring
(naturally present but increased for lands denuded by sprawl, agriculture, or industrial development)

Nitrate, Copper, Barium (total), Lead (total), Arsenic (total), Radium-228, Radium-226, Alpha particle activity, Combined Radium (-226 & -228), Combined Uranium (pCi/L), Chromium (total), Combined Uranium (mg/L), Aluminum, Radon, Chromium (hexavalent), Silver (total)

6

Unregulated Contaminants
EPA has not established a maximum legal limit in tapwater for these contaminants

Vanadium, Dibromomethane, Trichlorotrifluoroethane, Lead (total), Radon, Perchlorate

Ouch! This is the stuff that is more scrutinized than bottled water!? You see the FDA regulates bottled water, in some shady back door deal kind of way.

FDA regulates bottled water as a food. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) provides FDA with broad regulatory authority over food that is introduced or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce. Under the FFDCA, manufacturers are responsible for producing safe, wholesome and truthfully labeled food products, including bottled water products. It is a violation of the law to introduce into interstate commerce adulterated or misbranded products that violate the various provisions of the FFDCA. (fda.gov)

You see, the FDA keeps an eye out to make sure the products are “Safe” but they don’t really do anything else. This allows the bottled water companies like Pepsi and Coke to go ahead and say it’s safe on the honor system, pump it into plastic bottles and sell it to you, the trusting consumer. The EPA regulates our tap water, and it is tested over and over again to make sure the contaminants found within are at safe drinking levels. Ill take the EPA’s testing over the word of Coca Cola any day.

In the USA, we hear about how bottled water is supposedly more convenient. But what are some of the concerns and drawbacks of bottled water?

Pollution and lots of it. The bottles have to be made, they are petroleum products. It takes a lot of oil to produce just one water bottle, along with all of the waste created during its manufacture. Also, where do those bottles go? According to the Container Recycling Institute, in the U. S., 144 billion bottles were wasted in 2005! That’s bottles that are not getting recycled, they are getting land filled and shipped overseas and ending up in the ocean, not good. It takes Approximately 18 million barrels of crude oil to replace these bottles! War for oil, for bottles of water? I don’t think so. Refill, re-use and recycle!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Food!

Blog Assignment #5

Food!

For this Blog installment I have to pick a food, and I have to trace it as far back as I can to its source. This is a scary proposition for someone that is such an epicurean, so I decided to try to pick something safe. I failed!

My food: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Ingredients:

MILK CHOCOLATE (SUGAR; COCOA BUTTER; CHOCOLATE; NONFAT MILK; MILK FAT; LACTOSE; SOY LECITHIN; PGPR, EMULSIFIER); PEANUTS; SUGAR; DEXTROSE; SALT; TBHQ (PRESERVATIVE)

I thought this product had a fairly small amount of ingredients for a processed food, I also thought since it was manufactured in America, Hershey PA to be exact, I would be more inclined to not get squeamish about its origin, I was sorely mistaken. Cote d’Ivoire is a country on the Ivory Coast in Africa; it is one of the world’s largest producers of cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate used by most major candy manufacturers. The problem with Cote d’Ivoire and its cocoa manufacturing process is that they use slaves, child slaves.

There is a surprising association between chocolate and child labor in the Cote d'Ivoire. Young boys whose ages range from 12 to 16 have been sold into slave labor and are forced to work in cocoa farms in order to harvest the beans, from which chocolate is made, under inhumane conditions and extreme abuse. This West African country is the leading exporter of cocoa beans to the world market.

(TED case study # 664, 2002)

But, shareholders of the Hershey Co. voted unanimously in 2007 to not disclose their sources of cocoa or any other ingredients. The company also uses third party certification programs to make it difficult to pinpoint the origin or working conditions where their cocoa is sourced.

Many companies use third-party certification programs in order to ensure that certain labor and environmental standards are met in the production of the cocoa they use in their chocolate. There are a number of certification programs related to cocoa production and many of them involve labels that communicate to consumers what standards were used in the production of the cocoa they are about to enjoy. (Laborrights.org)

The good news about Hershey’s co. sourcing: I received an email from a consumer representative regarding the source of their peanuts.

Most of the peanut we purchase come from US (southern states). Occasionally, depending on the supply, we could purchase peanuts from outside of the US (less than 1%) from places like Argentina. We find feedback like yours to be very helpful when making decisions about our product line, so you can be certain that we will share your comments with our Marketing Department.

I was pretty excited about this! Although the peanuts are not organic they are sourced more locally than Africa, which reduces transportation impacts, considering cocoa from Africa must be shipped overseas in large cargo ships, burning diesel, peanuts on a train seems like a less harmful alternative.

Speaking of organic: The cocoa sourced from Africa is most likely drenched in pesticides and herbicides. The usage practices in this area have not been properly monitored, there has been a meager amount of education to farmers and known dangerous chemicals have been in use for certain all the way into the 1990’s. What does this mean for the American consumer? The two main ingredients in this product come from a very chemical heavy background. Along with the pesticide/herbicide usage in the origin of this product you have other chemicals that have a questionable background. PGPR or Polyglycerol polyricinoleate is an emulsifier, derived from castor oil with other chemical additives, apparently it is safe in small amounts but there are a lot of unverified sources on the web that warn of it being unsafe, and causing some harm in laboratory animals.

Cocoa Butter, derived from the cocoa bean, the same ones from the slave kids in Africa, and not the kind you put on your skin! Is an additive that helps the chocolate hold its consistency, its basically just extra fat. Soy Lecithin is derived from soy beans (Lots of pesticides!) and also is there to make sure the Chocolate holds its form and consistency, also extra fat! The other ingredients are milk based and I could probably do a whole other report on those sources, most likely cows in centralized feeding farms, lots of antibiotics and not very good for you.

Overall I was pretty bummed out on my Reese’s. I should have known! Now there will be no more peanut butter cups from Hershey’s in my freezer, Ill have to find another more ethical source to keep in there! Goodbye Reese’s and good riddance.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoa_butter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose

http://blog.fooducate.com/2009/07/07/what-is-soy-lecithin-and-why-is-it-found-in-so-many-products/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyglycerol_polyricinoleate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulsion

http://www.naturalnews.com/031318_TBHQ_food_preservatives.htm

http://www1.american.edu/ted/chocolate-slave.htm

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/474400/cocoa_suppliers_wont_be_named/index.html?source=r_science

http://www.icco.org/about/press2.aspx?Id=p0w16526

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

How sustainable is our campus?

Wow this is a big assignment! I could basically work a full time job within the breadth of this question, ill see if I can summarize….. And not get too geeked out!

The first thing I would address when it comes to sustainability on our campus would be energy. Our energy on this campus comes from the city, which receives power from various resources. 57% of our energy comes from coal, renewable at 15% and nuclear at 16%, they call this the “Grid mix”. As you can see our energy consumption at the school is not very sustainable. I have been surprised at the lack of solar energy consumption at our campus, I don’t believe we generate any of our own energy from renewable resources. Our resource consumption has to be staggering; I always see lights on that don’t need to be, and air conditioning on when it is not needed. TV’s in the cafeteria run 24/7 even when no one is watching them. Our energy responsibility is lacking greatly. In a city that is bombarded with solar radiation at such an astounding rate it would be nice to see an investment in solar energy, providing jobs for installation, maintenance, and manufacturing would be an added benefit. This would reduce the schools carbon footprint greatly and prepare us for the future.

The cycling processes that happen on this campus also need to be addressed. Our water consumption is very wasteful. The H2O cycle could be changed dramatically. Plants that are only ornamental could be replaced with native drought tolerant species. Areas that are landscaped could have fruit bearing trees, providing us a food source and shade. For the amount of water expended the campus it should look like a rainforest! which in turn would provide habitat for a wider array of biodiversity! Lots of concrete could be torn up and in its place common areas installed that would provide shade and food, this would also help with H2O cycling because we could reduce run off and/or capture that runoff and use it for irrigation, or run it through water tables that would clean it and release it back into our environment instead of channeling it away with sewage to the river. With all of this new growth and life we would be amending our soils with refuse from the trees and plants, providing a higher nutrient environment for more growth!

Recycling is another factor that would be indicative of our commitment to a sustainable system at RCC. Currently RCC only recycles paper. All plastic, aluminum, and glass is recycled by the community or the students themselves. Any institution that is committed to making a community better and more livable should have a robust refuse collection program were diversion rates for recyclables is fairly high. Our waste generation is enormous, students at RCC generate such a large amount of recyclable refuse that a student ran program cannot keep up, over a period of one semester last year, the RCC sustainability club collected recyclables regularly and recycled over 300 lbs. of plastic, this is a large number but if you consider the fact that 300 lbs. was probably representative of a very low diversion rate (Probably less than 10%) we are creating a huge amount of waste. Not only do we generate a large amount of recyclables that are not being diverted, our cafeteria generates a large amount of non-recyclable refuse such as Styrofoam and plastic ware. Currently a push to replace these materials with compostable materials is happening (Sign the petition, there’s a link up top!).

Overall our commitment as a community at the campus is virtually non existent. The transient nature of the students does not cultivate a strong desire to invest time into improving this system, I think that is an idea we see reflected in the southern California culture, we create so much waste and consume so much material but we are not inclined to take the time to think about it or take action to change it, like they have done on other campuses.

I want to transfer to UC Santa Cruz next fall, so when I looked for sustainability assessment that was the first place that came to mind. What I found was amazing! UCSC has a Sustainability Office! A whole department committed to greening the school. They have interns that have resumes that read like an eco-warriors. The greatest thing? These institutions were the result of students and faculty that wanted to make a change. They have implemented a long range development plan which includes sustainability as one of its guiding principles. The school has signed a climate impact agreement with the city to reduce carbon emissions and its footprint. The campus buys credits to offset its energy consumption and at this time is considered as running on 100% renewable resources (Although I am not sure how that works, they have a power plant on campus and the city, much like riverside produces 16% renewable energy). These credits are bought by a student mandated tax on themselves!

The UCSC campus has a “no cooling for comfort”

Policy in new and existing buildings. Cooling

Equipment is limited to areas with high heat loads

(e.g., computer rooms), heat-sensitive equipment

(e.g., laboratories), or areas where high human

Occupancy results in high heat loads (e.g., lecture

halls).

The campus has a fairly in-depth energy monitoring program where they have been tracking energy consumption since 2000. The overall energy consumption has maintained at almost 9% per square foot which is fairly impressive due to the amount of growth the school has seen in the past 10 years. Speaking of building: the school has a commitment to exceed the new LEED building codes by 20% in all future growth. (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) an internationally recognized green building certification system) the campus is also committed to maintaining natural landscapes.

Integration of Campus and Forest

A startling and beautiful feature of UCSC is the

weaving together of buildings, courtyards, and

redwood forest throughout campus. While

conventional construction methods can often disturb

landscaping well beyond a building’s footprint, UCSC

requires that the approach taken to both design and

construction of its buildings allows building footprints

to nestle amongst the campus’ large trees.

55% of the campuses total land is designated as protected natural landscape.

Recycling programs at the school are struggling to reach a mandated 50% diversion rate for recyclables, including oil from fleet vehicles, and other electronic waste. The school is currently at 35% and expects to reach the 50% mark when a comprehensive composting program is developed, a good place for leftovers which may possibly exceed 25% organic coming out of the campus cafeteria! The school has a program ran by their facilities dept in which recyclables are collected at pick up points around campus, students and faculty are responsible for emptying internal recycling bins into these pick up spots, sounds efficient to me! Paper is sold to a recycling firm and proceeds enter back into the system, the school currently produces 1.5 lbs. of paper per person in its departments. 80% of e waste and furniture is diverted into a re-use program where it is sold and diverted from landfill.

The schools food supply is also quite impressive:

• Due to UCSC’s leadership in food services

sustainability, Dining Services staff have been

mentoring and consulting other Universities through a

webcast (titled Academic Impressions: Sustainability

& Dining), conference presentations, and site visits.

• The innovative local-sourcing of produce from small,

organic farming operations with commitments to

social responsibility provided over 13% of produce

served by dining services in 2006-2007.

• About a quarter of the produce served on campus is

third-party certified organic – 23.8% in 2006-2007,

26.3% so far in 2007-2008. Approximately half of this

produce was from local farmers, though the exact

figures are unknown.

UCSC, unlike RCC has a waste diversion program in their cafeterias which promote lowering non-recyclable waste, like the use of compostable tableware.

Low-Waste Disposables

• The dining halls issue every incoming first-year

student a refillable, reusable bottle. Filtered water is

available in the soda machines to encourage students

to avoid purchasing bottled water.

• Dining halls use only reusable plates, cups, and

silverware.

• For to-go containers, Dining Services has

implemented use of compostable boxes.

• UCSC Catering uses disposable tableware derived

from sugarcane that can be pulped and returned to

the soil as compost. Catering provides collection

containers at some events to separate and collect

these items, but currently there is not oversight

regarding how those items are disposed.

And this is where my proposal for RCC comes in. If UCSC can do it we can, we must make the move to more sustainable materials in our cafeteria. The first goal of doing this would to be to research how much plastic and Styrofoam RCC is using in its cafeteria. A quick look at our financial records would indicate how much waste we are generating and also how much money we are spending on that waste. These raw numbers should be enough to bend some ears of the people making these purchasing decisions. The next step will to be creating a comprehensive cost analysis of how much the switch to compostable materials will cost, who will supply them, and all pertinent information for purchasing should be included. The goal will be to match or undercut the costs of the materials we are using now, labor costs would not change and even though these materials would not be diverted into recycling we would be land filling a material that will eventually degrade and not be found in some fishes stomach in the pacific a hundred years from now (If there are still fish in there). A petition will be circulated to show community support (remember to sign!). When the financial assessment and waste analysis is complete, they will be put into a report with the petition, and be submitted to all major appropriate offices/people on campus. Hopefully this line of action will provide us with the opportunity to make a change on this campus for the better!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

THe Observation....

I wanted to go someplace cool for this assignment, I was thinking Box Springs Mtn., sit on a rock up top, check out the Cliff Swallows and the lizards. I ended up having entirely too much homework to do, so my front yard was a good stand in. I wanted to get out early so I could see everything before it got warm. At 7 am me and my lovely companion were sipping coffee under an overcast sky, with strict orders to remain silent, we observed. This is what I saw:

The setting: My front yard has several trees, one Oak, two Junipers (Very tall, 60 ft.?) one Olive tree, one Ash tree, and a Mulberry. The grass and weeds are mostly dry and dead.

First thing I saw was an ant crawling on me, not surprising since they have been on a war path this week, I think the lack of moisture is really impacting them, I think they are Argentine Ants, I look down and see a trail bisecting the ground underneath my chair. Gopher mounds are scattered across the yard, dry piles of sandy soil. The crows are around, yelling loudly and quarreling over who gets what tasty morsel; they keep their distance, alighting on my neighbor’s roof. A Hummingbird comes in and lands on a branch above us, it chirps and takes a rest for a moment before it is humming away. A mockingbird is hunting quietly through the branches of the Ash tree, staying close to the branches. I spot one of my resident squirrels all the way up the trunk of the palm in the front left of my yard, all the way up into the canopy! It’s a risky move considering how many hawks are in the area. Shortly after I stopped observing a Cooper’s hawk came flying overhead, easily identified by its long straight tail. The same Squirrel, or another now makes its way through the Mulberry and spots us, flicking its tail it decides whether we are a threat. He Squirrel jumps from the Mulberry to the Juniper, to the Oak, stopping for a snack. The Junipers have cones that are a favorite of the Squirrel family, soon it has moved to the Juniper, dropping leftover cone pieces as it forages for seeds. Across the roof of the house it runs, over to the Ash, watching us the whole time. The Crows pick through the field next door, loudly. Our time is up, a good amount of action for a cool morning in the front yard. Afterwards the neighbor’s cat, Mr. Magoo came over to stalk careless gophers. That’s my yard, awesome!

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