Zero-Waste and Plastic-Free

A common phrase these days is 'Zero Waste'.  A difficult goal to be sure.  Zero Waste. That means, at the end of the day, every day, you have NOTHING going to a landfill.  I found this great Zero Waste Blog, which works toward creating a zero waste home.  One thing I really appreciate from the blog is their list of Rs.  Traditionally, the rule is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. But that does not cover it all, if you wish to be completely waste-free.  So they have added Refuse and Rot. So to quote the blog...

"The zero in "zero waste" makes it sound scary and hard to achieve. It is actually not as as hard as it seems, and it is as simple as following these Five R's, in order:

• Refuse what you do not need.
• Reduce what you do need.
• Reuse by using reusables.
• Recycle what you cannot refuse, reduce, or reuse.
• Rot (compost) the rest."

Emphasis on the fact that these rules are IN ORDER. So ROT only what you can't recycle, RECYCLE only what you can't reuse, REUSE only what you can reduce, and REDUCE only what you can't REFUSE.  

A main component in all of these steps is plastic.  Plastic is everywhere you look these days. It is unreal how difficult it is to avoid plastics. I found this Plastic-Free Guide which is a great source that explains ways that we can REFUSE and REDUCE our dependence on plastic. 

I am working on this project myself, although iced coffee cups are my downfall when I'm out and about.. Baby steps, though.  I have been paying more attention with my purchasing. I buy milk in cartons, even without the little plastic cap. Rather than buying individually portioned products, like yogurt, I buy it in bulk and divide servings in reusable containers to take to work. And look for products that use as little packaging as possible. Packaging, though, is another post for another day. 

Sustainability in K-12 Schools

Okay- so I have been blogging about my internship and initiatives, just not on here.  The Student Conservation Association (SCA) and ARAMARK both have social connection type websites, where we can connect with other interns throughout the country.  So far, I have done most of my updating and blogging on those. So now I'll summarize all the fun stuff I'm doing here in Providence, and quickly cover the past two months.

I can't believe it's only been two months!

As is my goal with this blog, my main goal here in Rhode Island is to spread environmental education.  Although I have many smaller projects I am working on constantly, like light bulb recycling and food waste reduction, I have three main projects that take up most of my time.  My projects are data collection, recycling, and farm to school.

Data Collection -- actually more fun than it sounds.  Because Aramark has had environmental initiatives in the past but did not put them in writing, my job is to collect information on past (and current) initiatives and create a visual awareness guide.  With this guide, we will be able to show what the company has done for the environment and K-12 schools in Rhode Island, and educate people as to what we are doing behind the scenes, that they do not necessarily see or understand.

Recycling -- ARAMARK has the facilities account in the City of Providence, so I am working with 37 schools in the district to increase recycling and education among students and faculty.  Right now I am working with the City's Office of Sustainability on starting up a Recycling Competition between the schools, which will last until winter break, and encourage the schools to recycle.  I will create a post just on this competition, once we have the details ironed out a little more.  My goal is to put together a K-12 Recycling Best Practices Guide, that other school districts can use to increase their recycling.

Farm to School -- We have the food accounts at 13 school districts across the state. At these schools, my main project is to increase local purchases at the schools.  The process is very involved, as we have to work through Sysco, our vendor, and cannot purchase straight from farms.  There is a Farm to School Manager who I have been able to work with on a number of occasions lately, and I am thankful to have her help and experience with working to increase farm to school purchases. A lot of what she does is also education, and I got the chance to assist her at a Children's Workshop (picture below), where we introduced new, local fruits and veggies to elementary-age children.

Chef Kimberly of Farm Fresh RI - Reading 'Tops and Bottoms' to the kids.

This week I am working on putting together a folder on information for each of the principals.  The folder will include materials from a flyer for the recycling competition to 'how to' guides for getting students involved and measuring each school's recycling data.

Well, back to it!

A crazy six months

Hello out there!!

It's been over six months since I last posted. I'm clearly really good at this blogging thing... I'm going to work on getting better, especially now that my every day revolves around sustainability. So here's what's happened in the last six months...

At the end of December, 2011, I moved back to Gainesville from Punta Gorda, where I started back up working for Aramark in food services on the UF campus.  Through that position, I was able to work with my manager on some sustainability projects for the store.  An experience I was thankful to have.  I found out about  environmental internships for Aramark that take place across the country, so I applied.  After a very good phone interview, I found out a week later (last week in April) that within three weeks I would be packed up and moving to Providence, RI to start my internship with Aramark in the Providence Public School system.

I have just finished the second week of my internship and LOVE it so far! Not only am I working in Providence, on the facilities side, with recycling, energy savings, etc. I have also been able to work outside of the city with other municipalities on the food side, where I am able to work on Farm to School programs and hoping to get some composting programs started. My main, overriding project is to collect data on both facilities and food to create an education/awareness campaign on the environmental initiatives that Aramark has implemented so far, and the difference it has made in waste reduction and energy savings, etc.

Anyways, so that's my wrap-up. I've also JUST started an indoor compost bin (yesterday), and will post about it once I get a little further into the experiment.

Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover

"Greenwashing is the practice of making an unsubstantiated or misleading claim about the environmental benefits of a product, service, technology or company practice.

Greenwashing can make a company appear to be more environmentally friendly than it really is. It can also be used to differentiate a company's products or services from its competitors by promising more efficient use of power or by being more cost-effective over time." 

(Get to source by clicking the word Greenwashing)

I stumbled upon a website about greenwashing, and realized that it might be something that not a lot of people are aware of.  As sustainability has become such a buzz word, companies have realized that if they use certain words/colors/marketing schemes, they are likely to increase their profits.  Sadly, this does not mean that they are actually improving their business or products, just that they want more money.  Here are the images I found on a site called One Green Planet:

I cannot make this any bigger. :( I hope that it can be read, if not, I suggest going to the link above.  Definitely worth the extra click. 

I really like this chart.  It shows what to look for and what to avoid when making purchases.  It is a good overview of greenwashing, and how to know if a product is actually a sustainable choice.  

I also have a book called Big Green Purse (the website is also a good source), that has very detailed sections on what the best products are, from cosmetics and cleaning supplies to paint and vehicle options.  I suggest checking it out.  It has proven to be a good reference book to have on my shelf.  

Green Streets

I wrote a paper on green streets for a course I took at UF, I recently brought it back out and reworked it a bit to use as a writing sample for an application.  However, looking through some of my old papers, I realized that they are exactly what I am trying to do through this blog, which is educate and spark interest. So I have many topics to (re)explore now! Here is my writing sample on green streets...

Traditional street layouts include impervious surfaces and curb and gutter systems, which increases stormwater runoff and pollutants in the water.  Green streets, which are most commonly found in the Pacific Northwest, use vegetation to enhance both public and private streets.  With the help of vegetation, stormwater is redirected from waste pipes into the ground, where the water is filtered and refuels the groundwater supply. 

There are different types of green streets, depending how much space there is and if the area is urban or more rural.  Stormwater curb extensions extend into the street, and often become a place for safe and convenient pedestrian crossing.  Stormwater Street Planters exist between sidewalks and the curb and work well where there is limited place.  Rain Gardens tend to go where there is plenty of space, and they are able to create safe crossings where awkward intersections existed.  Simple Green Streets dig up an existing planting behind curbs and cut the curb, replacing them with appropriate landscaping and the ability to capture runoff. 

Stormwater Curb Extension

Stormwater Street Planter

Rain Garden



Simple Green Street



Cost:

In Seattle, the SEA Streets initiative found that is saved 20 percent or more of the cost of conventional street drainage by installing green streets.  They spent $280,000-$325,000 per block for a green street versus $425,000-$525,000 for a traditional block.

Benefits:

Among other things, Portland has found that green streets have helped to reduce polluted stormwater in the city’s streams and rivers, reduce impervious surface, and increase urban green space.  Green streetscapes do enhance the aesthetics of a community, but they also provide a natural habitat, clean and cool the air, and reduce heat island effect. 

A major selling point for green streets is their ability to improve pedestrian and bicycle access and safety along roadways.  With narrower streets, local car speeds tend to decrease, which also lowers the likeliness of car accidents.  With the increased area of vegetation along the roads, there is a much larger buffer between vehicle and pedestrian traffic. 

Without curb and gutter systems, vegetation and soil is able to filter out the pollutants in the water before returning it to the ground or surface waterways.  Reducing stormwater runoff results in fewer sewer backups, less street flooding and reduced combined sewer overflows (CSOs).

Sources:

1.    Portland Green Street Program - http://www.portlandonline.com/bes/index.cfm?c=44407

2.    Green Infrastructure Performance - http://www.cnt.org/repository/BMP-Performance.pdf

3.    Green Streets Low Impact Development Initiative in Gaithersburg, MD - http://www.mepp.umd.edu/students/documents/Christine-Gallagher-Practicum-report-June6-2009.pdf

...pretty sweet, huh?

For Nothing?

Okay, a quick post, since I have so much to do..

I found this picture today, and I'm so excited, because it is something that I have tried to say many times, but haven't quite figured out how to get my point across...

I know that sustainability and climate change, etc. are very controversial topics, and that there are so many different viewpoints that it seems unlikely that everyone will ever share the same thoughts.  My personal viewpoint is WHO CARES?  If we can do all of these things (listed in the cartoon) and more to use less energy and fuel, and live healthier lives, why wouldn't we?  I don't think it matters so much if we believe that sea levels are rising and that we are running out of oil.  One less water bottle in a landfill is one less water bottle in a landfill.

The Tea Party and Sustainable Development

First off, I would like to say that I am not very involved in politics, and that although I do have my ideas of how things should be, I do not follow what parties are saying what and who believes who should be running the country. 

With that said, it is increasingly difficult to ignore the growing popularity and public saturation of the Tea Party Movement.  It's everywhere, and highly controversial.  Although I have not followed this movement much over the last few years, there is one argument that I have heard from the group that I am having trouble grasping.  That is, their argument against sustainable development. 

I first heard about this opposition through a colleague who told me that when the county became a certified FGBC Green Local Government, there was resistance coming from the Tea Partiers of the county.  This obviously sparked my interest.  For at least two years, I've learned and heard about everything that sustainability and sustainable development can do for the world, and how much we need it to save the environment and ourselves.  Now, I find out that there's a huge culture of people who believe that sustainability is a sort of scheme that is the United Nation's "vision for a completely managed society, dictating the process to be used for industry, agriculture, housing development, and especially education. It’s an all-encompassing plan to rule from an all-powerful central government.” This is a direct opposition to Agenda 21 which was adopted by more than 178 governments in 1992.

So in my research, I found this article called The Tea Party's Next Target: Sustainable Development, which as you can probably tell by the title, is not exactly unbiased.  However, I think that the article makes some good points.  The article also has a sarcastic tone to it, which attracted me to it, of course.

The author pulls some quotations out of Agenda 21 about its 27 Principles, such as "#1 which states that, “Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development.  They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.”" Yepp, that sure sounds like a terrible idea to me...

A few other things that stuck out to me from this article.  The first was that there is/was a group in Florida that was urging people to oppose a bill that would "require homeowners to responsibly maintain their septic tanks". Really? I understand that many people believe that the government should not have the right to decide what people do to their land.  But septic tanks affect so much more than your land. And in my opinion, people do not have the right to pollute our already diminishing ground water supply or to negatively affect their neighbors, since they have rights, too. 

Another spot in the article explains that in her new book, author Beverly Eakman blames our education system for training us to focus on the collective, rather than the individual.  So it's our kindergarten teachers' faults for teaching us to share.  However, I do know that this article is biased, and therefore is probably skewed and drastic (I hope). 

This has all been almost directly from the article, with some narration by me. So here is just me saying what I see and how I see it...

Sustainability means something different to almost everyone, but all definitions share the want to impact the planet less and conserve our land and resources rather than using them all up as quickly as we have been.  I understand that there are many different stances on sustainability and even climate change and that some people believe that these are just works by certain people to control the population.  However, what I would like to say is... who cares?

Who cares why some people are behind certain initiatives.  The truth is that the less materials we use, the longer our planet lasts, the more generations our planet can sustain.  And if you don't believe that our resources are scarce, then think of it this way... If we don't recycle our plastic and aluminum and paper, etc, the faster our landfills will fill up.  Then, as landfills fill up, we are going to have to open more landfills and chances are, we are going to run out of room for landfills that are far away, so they will get closer to our houses (and not only do they smell, they are also not great to look at).  And the longer landfills sit, the more likely they are to seep into our groundwater, forcing us to create systems that are complicated and expensive in order to clean our water before we can drink it.  These systems will most likely be heavy duty machines that will cause more air pollution which will cause more smog in cities, which will reduce your right/ability to clean air, which will probably increase disease and lower life spans.  And as the population continues to increase, there will be less and less rural places to escape to. So why don't we recycle? because recycling is a scheme someone invented to control us?? ok.

Enough ranting. As I have said, the article that I linked here is very biased, and I am not saying that I 100% agree with it.  Also, I am not claiming to be extremely knowledgable about these topics, especially the stance of the Tea Party.  However, I would like to learn more, and although I am going to continue researching the topics, I would really like to hear what you think about this and how you feel sustainable development and Agenda 21 may affect our county and world, or even just reactions to what I have written.