Category: Guest Bloggers

SISE 2014: What I learned

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In April of 2014 my project advisor at the Office of Sustainability, Ashlyn Hochschild, emailed out several different opportunities to get more involved in the sustainability realm. One of the things listed in the email was the Summer Institute on Sustainability and Energy (SISE) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a two week intensive for undergraduate seniors, graduate students, and sustainability professionals focusing on renewable energy and the sustainability of those energy practices. Not having anything to lose, I decided to apply.  Fast-forward four months and a very intense application process later I was boarding a 6am flight to Chicago.

SISE provides a unique learning opportunity for the 50-60 people selected to participate every year by combining interesting lectures, unique research projects, and amazing field trips. The lectures we attended were given by some of the top energy and sustainability professionals in the Chicago area with topics that ranged from sustainable airports to batteries to the importance of business and entrepreneurship in the field. Not only did these top professionals lecture us, but also they acted as mentors for the duration of the program.

For the group research project we were given a problem to research and solve in our assigned groups over two weeks relating to the theme of Urban Energy. We were mentored, presented, wrote business plans and what resulted was twelve groups with twelve great ideas. This project gave everyone an opportunity to explore an unfamiliar topic and to gain the experience of accomplishing a large task in a short amount of time while also building our professionalism skills.

The last main learning component of the program is the field trips. We visited a total of three sites in Chicago during our two-week stay: Illinois Institute of Technology, O’Hare international Airport, and Argonne National Laboratory. Each site showed us what sustainability looks like in the real world, specifically the energy field. Between learning about the smart grid technology already available at IIT, the goats and sheep kept at O’Hare, and seeing the Advanced Photon Source and Transportation Labs at Argonne, the participants gained a true understanding of how the world is beginning to make a change towards a more sustainable future.

I knew when I accepted my invitation to attend the fourth annual SISE I would be exposed to new ideas and learn so much from the lectures and field trips, but I would have never expected that I would learn the most from the other participants. Living with 60 strangers for two weeks seems like it could end in disaster, however working, learning and living with everyone 24 hours a day gave me a better understanding of the world and sustainability. When we weren’t in lectures or on trips everyone would go explore the wonderful city we were in. Somewhere between waiting 90 minutes to try Chicago’s famous pizza, stuffing too many people in a sketchy cab, arriving to the park to hear live music about a minute before it ends, finding a random band playing swing music on the sidewalk and dancing with new friends, watching fireworks off Navy Pier, staying up until 6am in the dorm singing in 15 different languages and dancing, having cook-outs, taking too many selfies, seeing the Air & Water Show, playing Cards Against Humanity and Hanabi, and just having wonderful conversations with people, the participants of SISE 2014 became a family.  The feeling I had at

SISE is one I hope everyone can experience at some point in their life. Being in the realm of environmental studies and sustainability comes with a lot of negativity but being surrounded by people who have the same goal of bettering the world, I have never felt more hopeful about the outlook of our existence on this planet.

One the first day of SISE, I walked into aconversation between participants on the physics of the organic chemistry of some type of renewable energy and I thought I was accepted by mistake. That conversation was my first exposure of many to the great minds of chemistry, physics, mathematics, economics, policy, business, geography, architecture, and so much more that made up the participants of SISE 2014 who taught me so much about the world and myself. Three weeks after SISE ended, I still miss the family I gained there, but I know that in our respective areas of the world we will still be working together to make a difference. – Virginia Whorley, Sustainability Intern

Ideas on Communication

Guest Blog from Office Intern and MES/MPA graduate student Tripp McElwee

I was messy as a youth.  Very messy.  My room was constantly a wreck, littered with dirty clothes, candy wrappers, and whatever toys I was interested in at the time.  My parents would constantly tell me to clean it up.  Sometimes it was asked nicely, sometimes it was firmly bellowed, and sometimes it was screamed, but it never worked.  I was never told why I needed to clean my room, I was just told to clean it up.  In my mind it was a schedule:  create mess, receive punishment, clean room, create mess… repeat.  The rate of ascension of my parent’s anger was only paralleled by the rate of crap piling up in my room. 

As a college student, I began to realize that my messiness actually negatively impacted my life.  A lack of organization of my possessions led to me looking for things all the time, this led to being late all of the time, causing frustration and scattered thoughts.  It wasn’t until my early twenties that I learned there is a reason for being organized; you are more calm, more efficient, and a generally more effective adult.  Whenever I truly understood this I developed the proper habits to become the relatively clean, organized individual I am today.

Good for you Tripp, what does this have to do with sustainability?

Changing habits is difficult, and people generally do not change them by being commanded or accused of doing the wrong thing.  Change comes through understanding.  As much as I love my dear sweet parents, the best thing they could have done when I was a youth is sit down and discuss sincerely the reasons why organization is important.  Maybe it would have worked, and maybe it wouldn’t, but it was the only real chance at changing my behaviors.  For me, sustainability isn’t actually about changing habits, it’s about changing paradigms.  If thought processes are changed, then the habits will follow.  If a citizen or a business is commanded to recycle their paper and plastic without any ideological backdrop, it is unlikely to continue for very long.  If a citizen sees the Charleston County Landfill with their own eyes and understands the finite dimensions of waste disposal, it may lead to a much more sustainable solution:  a change in ideology.

I have often been frustrated by environmentalist’s accusatory tones when communicating with people who think differently from them.  One that truly wants to make macro changes in public opinion must understand that this type of communication will only further alienate those with differing views.  Creating more sustainable systems will occur through leading by example, and positivist education, not through apocalyptic sermons and accusation.  If you believe in a more sustainable future like I do, lead by example, strap on a smile and educate your friends and co-workers.  In time, the room might start to clean itself up.

“SolarPonics” at Charleston’s first STEM Festival

The Office of Sustainability had the great opportunity to join Charleston’s first STEM festival at Liberty Square on February 8th. CofC’s tent hosted by the Lowcountry Hall of Science and Math was packed with a full schedule of groups that rotated through to showcase the awesome STEM-related work being done at the College.

Spring 2014 Interns Virginia Whorley and Drew Gardner represented the innovative work of our Office by demonstrating our new solar-powered aquaponics system.

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Photograph by Drew Gardner

This system is pretty cool – We took a Back to the Roots aquaponics kit, planted our own “crops” from Sea Island Savory Herbs in Johns Island, adopted a betta fish from our local Age of Aquariums in West Ashley, and installed a solar power system from West Marine in West Ashly to power the water circulation pump. With this system, we were able to demonstrate a practical model for some very complex and versatile concepts. We were able to tell people about alternative energy generation and storage, unconventional agricultural technology suited to urban environments like our own, food systems, and complex biological ecosystems.

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Photograph by Drew Gardner

This was a perfect venue for our Office, because we were able to talk to people of all different ages, from elementary school children to adults, and everyone found some part of it that interested them. It’s hard not to hope that some of the little ones will grow up to engineer systems that rethink the way we do things for a more sustainable future.

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Photograph by Drew Gardner

Hopefully we’ll get more opportunities to combine education, STEM, outreach, and sustainability. Stay tuned!

From Guest Blogger and Office Web Content Designer Walter Blair

Information Part II

I wrote last summer about my interest in information and some of the ways I was exploring the information problems that organizations such as our own face. I saw two big areas where information is increasingly difficult to handle – managing information flow within an office as well as effectively communicating information to the public.

It’s interesting for me to revisit my thoughts from when I was only a few months into my work with the Office of Sustainability. I was just becoming familiar with the goings on of my coworkers and the College as a whole as well as getting a feel for how I could marry my talents with the Office’s needs. Having now been in the Office through one full semester’s cohort of interns, I’m still very much interested in the information-related projects that I was pursuing last summer. The Mendeley research library, for example (geeky but aaawesome!) seems to me more important than ever to help sustain all of the amazing knowledge and experience gained from our interns as well as sustainability offices at neighboring institutions. While we’re on the subject of my geekdom, it’s worth mentioning that when our new multimedia intern Drew suggested that the Office could benefit from a logical filesystem that he could create for us, I almost wept with joy (Drew, you are the man). But projects aside, what I’d like to share at the moment is how my perspective on information has developed since the summer.

In some sense I feel like I’ve been catching up for the last few months. I was very interested in learning how to present information online in a way that was convenient, intuitive, and maybe even slightly attractive. I’ve been working hard to pick up skills in web design in order to better communicate information to the public. Check! Aside from dabbling in some pretty cool AWS technology, I feel like I have recently caught up to maybe 2004-2005 in terms of a fluency with online resources. A feat of which I am nonetheless very proud!

Now I’m facing the new information problem – communicating with the public is not really about having pretty websites anymore. They certainly don’t hurt, but what I realize now is that communication is about reciprocation. This is a pretty big step for a guy who still has a flip phone.

I understand that social media tools have been around for a few years now, but what taught me the lesson that effective communication requires mutual engagement and interaction wasn’t signing up for Instagram. Teaching in the classroom has helped me understand that students are at their best when they feel like they have a voice and when they realize that they have important lessons to teach fellow students as well as the professor.

My sense of how to share information has changed, and now it’s time to learn the necessary skills for the task at hand. I can’t think of a better context in which to do it – the Office of Sustainability has been a wonderfully supportive and challenging environment. I’m excited about our new online magazine Synergies, because this publication is an awesome opportunity to take our Office’s capacity for communication to the next level. We are reaching out into the broader community and region and will therefore have even more opportunities for our students to learn new skills and perspectives in the process. I can’t wait to share what happens next.

From Guest Blogger and Office Intern Keri Hlavin

Compete to Reduce

What is a better way to bring students together or at least get them fired up than through a little friendly competition? That is why The Office of Sustainability will be hosting another campus-wide competition in the Spring of 2014 that of course will promote changes that will benefit our campus today, tomorrow and long after we have all graduated. Although this sounds far away, February will be here before we know it! If you want some inside info on the upcoming competition, then keep reading.

What is it?

Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) is the largest electricity and water reduction competition program for colleges and universities in the world. In its fourth year, CCN gives a common voice and motivation to hundreds of thousands of students across North America, all working together to reduce consumption and mitigate the impacts of climate change. CCN is an opportunity to organize students and staff, host educational events and challenge students and staff to participate in fun events that can have an immediate and lasting impact on your school’s carbon emissions and campus culture. CCN is jointly organized by the U.S. Green Building Council, Lucid, National Wildlife Federation, and Alliance to Save Energy.

How it Works:

Our office Res Life Intern will be conducting several orientations in the Spring with individual Res Halls and Houses, however there are FOUR upcoming webinars that she will be hosting this month. Please email hlavinkl@g.cofc.edu if you are interested in attending. Each session will be held at The Office of Sustainability on King Street and will last for one hour.

Program Goals:

  • Engage, educate, motivate and empower students to conserve resources in residence halls and other campus buildings
  • Foster a culture of conservation within campus communities, and propel campus sustainability initiatives.
  • Enable students to teach each other conservation behaviors that they can employ on campus and in their future homes and workplaces.
  • Enable students to develop leadership, community organizing, and career development skills
  • Achieve measurable reductions in electricity and water use, preventing thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted.
  • Highlight the ability of behavior change tools such as competitions, commitments and social norms to conserve energy and water

Please contact Keri via email hlavinkl@g.cofc.edu if you have any additional questions! Our goal is to kick off the Spring semester with a competition that will bring us all together around some pretty important issues! More importantly we hope this competition and others will also help to encourage lasting behavior changes like conserving energy and water usage, long after you leave the College of Charleston campus.

From Guest Blogger and Office Intern: Stefan Koester

Reflections from Food Week

As someone who considers himself both a conscientiousness consumer and an environmentalist, I have always taken the effort to learn about the effects of my buying habits. Do the grapes I enjoy come from hundreds or thousands of miles away? Was my coffee sprayed with pesticides or did it cause untold environmental damage to the local ecosystem where it was harvested? Do the dollars I spend go towards promoting socially responsible or local businesses that I support? I take pride in being a consumer and citizen who tries to understand how and where my decisions affect the world around me.

 

Yet there was one glaring omission in my perspective around our food system. Who was actually responsible for getting the produce from the field to my plate? You have probably seen the bumper stickers around Charleston that read “Eat Today? Thank a Farmer”. While farmers certainly deserve our continued respect and support a more appropriate bumper sticker would read “Eat Today? Thank a Migrant Farm Laborer”. That’s because more than 60% of the produce picked in the United States is picked by a migrant farm laborer who makes, on average, less than $11,000 annually. They come from economically and socially precarious places and work long, dangerous hours without the rights and regulations that any other laborer has come to enjoy in the US.

 

For the past 2 years Green CofC has hosted an annual Food Week each October. Each year we focus on the role that food plays in our social, environmental, and cultural life. Last year our focus was around local food and cultural preservation in the Lowcountry. This year we decided to focus on a facet of our food system that is continuously neglected, farm worker’s labor rights. With the help of an ESPC grant Green CofC was able to bring in a keynote speaker from Student Action with Farmworkers, an organization based in North Carolina that works with farm workers throughout the southeast. Atlee Webber, an alumni of the University of Virginia, came and spoke with us about both the history and situation of farm laborers as well as her personal experience with migrant labor camps in the Charleston area. Her talk was incredibly informative and provided a good opportunity for those who might not have been aware of the situation that many farm workers are in.

 

In addition to Atlee’s speech, Green CofC hosted a Green Bag lunch panel as well as a benefit dinner that raised almost $300 for the East Coast Migrant Head Start Project, a local organization that provides education, health care, and family services to the most vulnerable and least empowered members of our society.
I thought I was an informed consumer. I thought that I had the power to influence important issues with my dollar. However, now I realize that there is a whole sector of the agricultural industry that I was neglecting. I know about the dangers of processed foods, pesticides, meat consumption and the need to buy organic and local, but I never once thought about those who picked, packaged, and delivered that food from the fields to my fork. What we can do as individual consumers is sadly limited. This issue will take more than switching from one farm to another. It is a wide and systemic social and economic issue that will take a political movement along the lines of what Cesar Chavez did in the 1960s for farm workers in California. We can enjoy the delicious fruits of the field without the human suffering that comes with it today. The first step is to educate yourself and spread the word.

From Guest Blogger and Office Intern: Bethany Phipps

Sea Turtles in Greece

As I hiked a trail with my newly made best friends in Zakynthos, Greece, I took a moment of silence to take in the breathtaking beauty of the Mediterranean Sea. We were in Gerakas Beach, one of the most untouched, natural places I have ever seen. I took a deep breath of the fresh salty air and pondered how lucky I was to be standing in such an amazingly natural place.

Later that day we met Yanni, the founder of Earth, Sea & Sky, a non-government organization part of the Ionian Nature Conservation. This organization was founded to research the effects of tourism in Greece as well as to monitor the nesting of the Loggerhead sea turtle and the Mediterranean monk seal. As a volunteer we researched and recorded the effects of tourism on the local environment, provided information on the local flora and fauna to visitors, rescued injured animals, and participated in beach and forest clean-ups. As a participant, we learned about the basic care and maintenance of aquatic, marine, and reptilian animals at the Wildlife Information Centre. One of our main and most interesting jobs was the monitoring the nesting and population of the Loggerhead Sea Turtle.

One night Yanni led our group on a night survey of several beaches on the island.  Little did we know one of the most disturbing sites we would ever see was in our near future was an area called Laganas Beach. If we didn’t understand how negatively tourism can impact our environment and such beautiful places we did now. With no regulation from the Greek government, restaurants and hotels were built only feet from the water line. Scantily clad club-goers drank and dined literally 3 feet away from the crashing waves. In that space lay hundreds of lawn chairs and umbrellas leaving zero room for turtles to lay eggs. The beaches were quickly eroding leaving minimal space for sea turtles to nest. Not only was this a sad fate for the Loggerhead sea turtles, but once a breathtaking view was now clouded with scrutiny. Out of all of these disturbing images, the one that affected us the most was recognizing the connection between Laganas and Charleston. On most given nights you can find intoxicated college students and tourists roaming the streets of Charleston hopping from bar to bar.  Many of these hotspots lay close to the bay and what used to be natural wonders.  All I could think about in Laganas as I saw partying tourists were flashbacks to nights out on the town with me and my friends. Did we really do as much damage as these tourists? What really sets us apart from these people? These questions ran through my mind as I struggled to find a balance between tourism and sustainability. How many times and how many places must we ruin to have a good time?

It quickly became apparent to our entire group that if mass tourism continues in this way, we will lose the natural beauty of our environment. Our entire group thought how we are just as big a part of the damage to the environment as the people visiting the island of Zakynthos. As a group, we began to brainstorm ways we can continue to visit different cultures without negatively impacting the environment. We left the island with a vow to look for alternative ways of travel and participate in sustainable tourism.

From Guest Blogger and Office Intern: Lexa Keane

Planting with the Lunar Cycles

Questions are frequently asked about how lunar cycles facilitate gardening activities at many of the workdays and events for the Political Science Garden.  In response to many inquisitive folks, I have created a quick FAQ about the lunar cycles and gardening with the help of Louise Riotte’s book, “Astrological Gardening: The Ancient Wisdom of Successful Planting and Harvesting by the Stars.”

 

What is lunar gardening, and how is it effective?

Coordinating garden maintenance and related activities by the lunar cycles not only provides a more intentional experience to gardening, but it also proves

beneficial for the soil ecology and vegetation.  For example, certain gardening duties must be scheduled around the waning and waxing periods of the moon.  During the waning phase, when there is increasing light, annuals that produce above ground should be planted, unlike biennials, perennials, bulb and root plants that should be sown during the waxing period, when light is decreasing. This is because the gravitational pull of the lunar phases affect the water cycles, thereby affecting the seed’s capacity to absorb water at certain times, such as right before the full moon.

Is there significance in planting with the astrological signs?

According to Rudolph Steiner, gardening activities such as harvesting, planting, watering, transplanting, fertilizing, and cultivation can be synchronized with the elements of the astrological signs- earth, air, fire and water.  The signs are broken down into the elements as so:

  • Earth: Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn
  • Air: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
  • Fire: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
  • Water: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

Each of the elements correlate with specific parts of the plant, which are the 1. stem/leaf-water, 2. seed/fruit- fire, 3. flower- air, and 4. Root- earth.  These correlations are based on the processes that occur within each of these parts of the plant.  For example, the seed begins life by determining the genetics and biology of the plant, which is associated with fire; whereas the flower is associated with air because of the necessity of wind or insects for pollination.  The moon cycles pass through each of the astrological signs, and signify when certain gardening practices must be implemented.  For instance, Gemini is considered an air sign, which is suitable for weeding, removing pests, harvesting, and cultivating the garden. The moon in Cancer, however, is a time for planting and irrigation due to its association as a water sign.

 

Do other cultures plant by the lunar cycles?

Many indigenous groups across the globe have coordinated their crop planning and agricultural practices with the lunar cycles.  Check out the link below on an article about indigenous people, such as the Mayans, Hawaiians, Polynesians, and Ketshua Indians (to name a few), and their synchronized practices with the lunar cycles.

http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/issue85/article3488.html?ts=1382984069&signature=4e2c15327308462d69ffa9fd2fe89a5e

 

Are there specific sustainable agricultural methods that use Astrological gardening?

Yes, astrological gardening can supplement a wide variety farming techniques.  Biodynamic farming is one example of an alternative agricultural method, which was founded by Rudolph Steiner in the 1920’s.  Biodynamic farming works to balance nutrients and diversity by cultivating health and fertility through a closed loop of nutrients from the farm ecosystem.   Biodynamic initiatives encompass the triple bottom line of ecological, social, and economic sustainability to foster unique partnerships and collaborative efforts for a thriving agriculture. Biodynamic farmers may also use the lunar cycles to indicate when to create homeopathic sprays for the garden, which may enhance the fertility or nutrients within the soil or vegetation. Organic farmers may also utilize the lunar cycle as a means to organize their crop planning and cultivation to encourage natural growth.

 

Still curious about lunar gardening and alternative agricultural practices? 

For more resources, check out these websites!

http://www.gardeningbythemoon.com/phases.html

https://www.biodynamics.com/content/12-ways-learn-more-about-biodynamics

From Guest Blogger and Office Intern: Lexa Keane

Trip to the MUSC Garden

The Charleston peninsula is a vulnerable place threatened by rising sea levels and a whole host of social justice issues at play such as homelessness and gentrification.  Despite these challenges, the Charleston community has responded in unique ways to instability and unsustainable practices.  Urban agriculture programs have provided a unique opportunity in response to similar issues, and are on the rise, as well as a growing appreciation for local farms and sustainable agriculture. While city life can be quite luxurious, especially in a top destination town, people are desperate to get dirty. Urban gardens have provided answers to vulnerable communities, food deserts, and have enabled collaboration to transcend socioeconomic boundaries.

Because urban garden programs are relatively new and just gaining momentum in the area, one challenge is the lack of synergies and shared knowledge on growing practices.  As the garden coordinator of the Political Science Urban Garden program, I thought it necessary to engage with other groups around town.  One such example of an expanding and thriving urban garden program is the MUSC urban farm, located in the heart of the medical university’s campus.  Adjacent to the dental school, the urban farm inhabits a half-acre plot of land, and serves as an education hub for a variety of groups related to MUSC.  A fellow intern and I decided to walk over to meet with the farm educator, Jane Madden.  She was very eager to give us a tour of their beautiful urban plot, and gave detailed explanations on the programs involved, farming practices, seasonal advice, and seed information.  It was refreshing to exchange local and ecological knowledge on gardening practices, such as methods to resolve garden dilemmas like the infamous squash vine borer!

While there are major strides being taken for farm to school initiatives, there is still much room for improvement here in the Lowcountry. Creating synergies among urban garden programs, as well as grower groups provide opportunities for like-minded individuals to exchange experience and knowledge, and to strengthen the programs.  In order to create sustainable relationships with each other and the land, collaborative efforts must be made.  The lack of interaction and connection is merely a symptom of our current systemic structures, but working towards a sustainable future requires creating new patterns of communication and interaction among society and groups.  Our trip to the MUSC urban farm provided much insight on quality urban garden program structures, and most importantly, how to engage in efficient collaboration.  Special thanks goes to Jane Madden, and to the efforts made at MUSC for providing such holistic experiences to the Charleston community, as well as all those who are involved in sustainable agriculture!

 

 

Upcoming Event!

Check out the first Greenbag Lunch Series event of the semester! Co-hosted by the Carter Real Estate School, Sustainable Resilience in Our Communities: Building a Better Future with Lessons from the World Trade Center will take place on September 11th from 12pm-1:30 in Tate 202. The panel will feature Jeff Baxter, Co-founder of Cityvolve, Eleni Giekas, CC&T Real Estate Services Development Associate, and Kathleen Rose, President and CEO of Rose Associates. This panel discussion will also be moderated by Office of Sustainability Academic Coordinator Dr. Jesse Baker.

Light refreshments will be provided, but attendees are encouraged to bring their own packed lunch to enjoy. This event will feature locally sourced produce provided by GrowFood Carolina as well as pre-and post-consumer composting of event waste!