Sustainability

Tyrese Lawson

     Some issues that surround us here in Charleston SC that’s causing the area to unsustainable have to be the fact of all the pollution that’s occurring in the city and the fact that people just seem to not care about the environment that they are living in. So big issues that I have seen also have to be that we as people consume too much food, we produce, and our farming screws up the environment.  It was a study that came out that suggested between a quarter and a third of food grown around the world goes to waste. Food is waste in many ways and I think some ways we could fix that is by better food storage, processing, and transportation. Also, we need have a more connection between the people who have food and the people who need it. Another major issue when it comes to our food system is the consumption of meat which causing an increase of Carbon intake in the atmosphere which leads to global warming.

I felt really good participating in a community service project. Whenever you aim to do community service remember that it’s for a good cause you are actually doing work to help better the earth. The Dixie Farm was wonderful site we went and learned about different plants, and even got the chance to see how a compost is put together and how it looks. At Dixie Farm it was also a good experience to pick the weed from around plants to ensure they grow without any blockage from weeds and other items that was around them that could affect plant growth. The Dixie Farm definitely address the problem with being an organic farm no chemicals are used at all on plants and that help with the pesticides use that can cause future health issues in the future and also affect environment. I think the work at Dixie is sustainable environmentally because the use of the compost and not using pesticides and socially having a farm could be good definitely if you have help and going about it the right way.

There are many issues around Charleston that could be fixed to make city more sustainable, I believe if you have recycling bins around city for instance Marion Square could cause more people to put bottles in bins instead of just throwing them on ground or in trash. Also, on a federal standpoint there are more laws that could be in place to ensure more of a sustainable environment.

Before ENVT 200 class there was a lot of issues I did not know was occurring that was affecting our globe as a whole. So i took it upon myself to do some research and this is what I found. Programs could be funded by the government to ensure people eat healthier. Let’s Move! was launched by the former First Lady Michelle Obama in 2016 with the aim to combat childhood obesity. Many people downed that program but if you look at statistics since that program many children that are in public school are eating more healthier and the rate of obesity have fallen by 5% since the program was introduced.

Monday, January 28th, was quite the day for me. Between classes, meetings, and studying I was still able to attend 2 guest lectures. The second lecture I attended was a guest lecture by Dr. Redd about Public Health Emergencies and preparing for the unexpected.  This event was huge. There were people overflowing out of the huge auditorium in the Rita Liddy Hollings Science Center. The event was put on by the Department of Health and Human Performance so there were a lot of familiar faces there as I am a Public Health major.

Dr. Redd started his lecture about the types of events that society’s go through. There are predictable events, predicted events and emerging events. Each event is different and they have different needs.  Predictable events include things like tornadoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes, which are a very local issue as The College usually evacuates at least once during the Fall semester due to a hurricane. Predicted events are events like bioterrorism and chemical attacks, which are unpredictable when they will happen but are very possible.  Lastly, emerging events are unexpected events so things like Ebola, Zika, and the opioid epidemic. No matter what the event, Dr. Redd emphasized the importance of responding quickly.

Dr. Redd then talked about what drives these events. The first thing that drives events like this is population growth. The increased population results in an increased rate of poverty. The big issue with huge populations of people that are in poverty is the possibility of contagious disease. As Dr. Beckingham talked in class about population growth and overconsumption, it is visible that overpopulation creates many problems that coincide with one another. Dr. Redd’s next driver of events was air traffic. This was a surprise to me when he first mentioned it, but then it made a lot of sense. The accessibility that people have to go over borders, domestic and international, brings up the issue in how fast disease can spread. Also, the amount of pollution that is caused by flights is a driving factor in climate change which also affects the intensity of natural disasters. The next driver of events is the exposure to domesticated animals, and most importantly pigs. As we see about every year there is a new strand of influenza that rapidly gets passed around. Diseases in domesticated animals can spread very fast to humans, especially humans in poverty. Lastly, the use of communication technology was brought up by Dr. Redd. As we are in the new age of social media, the transmission of information is rapid and very easy. It is easy in the sense that false information can be spread just as quickly as true/correct information. The important thing in this is ensuring that the information that is circulating to citizens is true and accurate.

This talk related to the fourth student learning outcome about the relationship between the elements of sustainability. This talk focused a lot on the social and economic relationships, which also affect the environmental part of sustainability. It put a major emphasis on the social relationship with sustainability in ensuring efficient communication between people. The talk also shows how environmental studies is interdisciplinary, student learning outcome one, because the talk, in my opinion, was not a common talk about climate change or how our environment is being affected by human action. It was more focused on how our world functions as a society and the reaction to emergencies. Public health emergencies affect everyone and depending on how well they are responded to will affect the degree of the damage.

Last week I attended the Advocacy 102 discussion panel held by the Office of Sustainability. This panel discussion had two main points. The first being advocacy and the second being activism. The panel discussed the idea of what these two terms mean and how we can imply them in our very own lives. The term first term, advocacy, was defined as speaking on behave of an organization or community. The second term activism was defined as an intentional action. A theme that was brought up throughout this panel discussion was that most movements whether big or small need both advocacy and activism. The three panelists all agreed that we shouldn’t assume. But before the panelist started their discussion the host of the panel lead us in the room in a land acknowledgement. I have ever been a part of one of those before and it was a really cool opportunity and wish more organizations at the college would start doing them. It made me think of all the people who have been in that same space before me and also the people that will be there in the future. The three panelists were Thomas Dixson, Mika Gadsden, and Anjali. These three people talked about their experience in leading activism here In the Charleston area and how they have learned so much from there time. They also spoke about how they have been and continue to be advocates for the community and the fellow humans they represent. Even though the three panelists are different from me and come from different places in the country, we all had one similarity and that is that we are all humans. We all have different thigs that make us tick and geek out. One quote by Thomas Dixson stated, “what is the point of having a voice if you use it in a time of loudness, but you are not going to use it in a time of silence”. I liked this quote because I feel as if we are easy to speak about a particular idea when there is an uproar among us, but when no one else is talking about it, we are slow to words. Like I said earlier the panel was called Advocacy 102 and the two main ideas were advocacy and activism. These two points relate to this environmental 200 class because of how we can advocate for and be activist for a more sustainable world. I feel as if I learned so much about the differences in these two terms. I would have to say that my overall experience was fantastic as I listened to stories of all three-panelist ad how they have impacted the world in a positive way.  As I know this is a class in environmental sustainability, we have to be able to advocate and be activist for mother nature. It’s not going to be easy nor should it be. Our goal is to live a life that is more sustainable and to help protect the earth. I feel as if I learned a lot about those two points. Ow I am not going to quite college and travel around the world being a activist but I can be an advocate for better sustainability on campus here at the College of Charleston.

Hello Everyone,
I tend to be a bit wasteful and I have more than I need. Anything I go shopping, whether it be for groceries, clothes or personal needs, I tend to purchase more than I need. I can go into a tore intending to buy only one thing and I’ll come out with a buggy full. I never only purchase the things I have on my list. For example, when it comes to grocery shopping l like to buy things in bulk like from sams or cosco or even large quantities from Walmart and the dollar store. I’ll buy family packs of meat, cereal, rice and gallons of milk or whatever else it may be, when I am going to be the only person eating. My logic is to purchase a lot so that it will last me a long time, but it never does, the milk is spoiled, and the food has gone bad before I get the chance to use it all and I have to throw the remainders away. I also buy plastic cups and I go through them extremely fast because I use each cup maybe one time and then I throw it away and get a new cup every time I get something to drink. I also drink go through cases of bottled water extremely fast and instead of recycling the bottles I just throw them out. I also have a shopping addiction, I buy clothes all the time and leave them hanging up with the tag still on them, sometimes never wearing them. It was not until I began this class and did the ecological footprint assignment that I realized how wasteful I am. I not only waste lots of money but lots of resources as well. I am going to start by buying smaller amounts of food and supplies and gradually change my habits from there.
I also drive my car way more than I have to. Although my apartment complex has a shuttle that will bring me to and from campus, I still choose to drive my car to class. Me not driving my car, could be one less car on the road, polluting the air. Not only am I polluting the air with the gas from my car, but I am also wasting lots of money, on both gas and paying for parking. I also live on the peninsula where everything is within walking distance, but I always drive. I could be going a block and I will still choose to drive my car instead of walking. I am going to make it a habit to walk more instead of constantly driving and taking public transportation.
This Intro to Environmental and Sustainability studies class has really opened my eyes a lot. I believe everyone should be required to take this class so that everyone can realize how they are affecting the environment on a daily basis. This class has me wanting to change my ways and help improve the status of our environment. I know that my behaviors are not going to change overnight but I am going to take baby steps and I know that I will get better and have a more positive effect on the environment.

I personally do feel a connection to the natural world. This is something that I have always felt since I was young. This connection has changed over time and it I feel it now more than ever before.The backyard in the house that I grew up in has a lot of trees and all around were woods. I spent a lot of time there with my friends running in the woods and playing around. I’ve always played sports so I just always spent a lot of time outside. There was sometime when I did feel less connected to nature. This was mostly when during the winter when I would spend 8 hours inside of a school, and then right after I would go right to wrestling practice for 2 hours. By the time practiced ended it would be dark, so I pretty much spent all of the day inside during the week. What makes me feel most disconnected from nature is my phone and being inside, so now in college I try to do as many activities as I can outside, such as riding my bike, running, walking, playing rugby, surfing, etc. It is important to be connected to the natural world because that is where we came from. For pretty much all of human history, except for the past 100 years or so we were outside for most of the day. I feel that this rapid change in the time we spend outside has disconnected many people from nature. I feel this disconnect is one of the main reasons why the depression rate has gone up and continues to rise. We are living in a world where we crave for instant gratification. Nature is the opposite of this, it takes time and mindfulness to truly appreciate the calmness that nature gives. I turned my phone off and, sat out in the area behind stern and sat next to the turtle pond. At first my mind was being bored and thinking about other things, but after awhile I just started to watch the turtles move around and it was beautiful. Turtles are also my favorite animal so that was a plus. I just started to notice things more like how the trees moved in the wind, or how the small birds played and chirped in the bushes. I noticed how the wind would increase or change directions. I observed people and how they were interacting without actually listing hard to their conversation. That sounded creepy super creepy, but it wasn’t. I practice meditating everyday, and I pretty much got the same feelings I do when I usually meditate without having to close my eyes and focused hard. I just let the things in the present moment unfold like how they are supposed to. It’s nice to be out in nature and not feel like I have to do anything to stop from being bored, and actually appreciate the beauty of everything that was going on around me. I just feels good in general to sit in the sun and feel without having to do anything. This was a dope experience and I would definitely recommend everyone to do this.

For my citizen science project, I decided to do a cleanup! I chose to walk the entirety of the battery and observe and collect the trash that would be there. I thought this would be impactful because I volunteer at the Aquarium and every time I go, I see firsthand the impact that trash has on our oceans and the marine life that calls it home. We live right on the ocean so, for me, it’s important to keep our city clean. My initial assumption was that there would be a lot of garbage at the Battery because it is frequented by lots of tourists and college students. What I found was quite different and it really surprised me. There was a clear shift in types and amount of trash as I walked from the Battery all the way to Wentworth street.

At the Battery, I found 23 cigarette butts, a cigar wrapper, a loose pieces of plastic and some napkins.  What was more interesting for me was my walk back to my dorm. I am an Resident Assistant (RA) in McConnell hall which is located on the corner of Coming and Wentworth Streets. As I was walking home, the closer I got to the campus, the worse the litter. The types of litter changed as well. At the Battery, it was mainly small pieces of litter such as cigarette butts and small pieces of plastic. The litter was also spread out along a long stretch of pathway, but when I got to the side of McConnell Hall, many pieces of trash were clustered in a small stretch of land. As I walked from the beginning of Coming street to the corner of Wentworth (map provided below) I found: 31 cigarette butts, a Chick Fil A bag with trash inside (two sauce packs, a sandwich bag and a French fry container), two beer cans, metal “Whip-It” containers, a Juul pod, a FunDip candy wrapper, a child’s toy, a plastic tooth pick, a plastic spoon, a soda can, a packing peanut, a piece of plastic rope and several unidentifiable pieces of plastic. This is FAR more than I found walking along the Battery. I found this interesting because there are two pretty different demographics that spend time in these places. At the Battery, there are many tourists and homeowners walking along the water and closer to the campus it is filled with college kids running from class to class. I expected a place that has such heavy traffic, such as the battery, to be filled with litter, but this was not what I found. This could be due to a cleaning crew that comes through and cleans every so often, but at this time I could not find anything on a Charleston website that confirms this. It also could be a general feeling of wanting to keep that green area clean. A feeling of pride for the city. The garbage that was found on the small stretch of road near McConnell hall was very indicative to stereotypical college life. There were beer cans, soda cans, Juul pods and things of that nature. The most interesting thing to me about this cleanup was walking through the streets of Charleston and watching the types and amount of trash change from place to place. We keep the green areas clean but we don’t seem to care as much when it comes to the residential areas.

While reflecting on what I collected, I decided to find out the impacts of the piece of trash I found the most of: cigarette butts. After reading a few articles (that I will link and cite at the end of this post), I found out a few interesting yet scary facts about cigarette butt litter. It was found that cigarette butts are the number one most commonly collected trash item on beaches around the world (Novotny). We put so much emphasis on other types of plastics, such as straws, that it seems we don’t think of something that millions of people use every day, multiple times a day, and throw away. The plastics in cigarette butts are also non-biodegradable. These plastics are toxic and account for roughly 1.68 billion pounds of waste each year and only 38% of littered butts biodegrade after two years (Truth Initiative).

In summary, my initial trash walk was not as successful as I thought it would be, but I discovered something a little more interesting on the way back to campus. I got to see where the trash becomes heavier throughout Charleston. It went from sparse near the Battery to condensed near campus. It is so important to keep cities clean because our trash has a wider impact on the world as a whole. Even something as small as the butt of a cigarette can leave lasting impacts on the planet we call home!

Novotny, Thomas E et al. “Cigarettes butts and the case for an environmental policy on hazardous cigarette waste”  International journal of environmental research and public health vol. 6,5 (2009): 1691-705.

Truth Initiative. “5 Ways Cigarette Litter Impacts the Environment.” Truth Initiative, Truth Initiative, 9 Apr. 2018, truthinitiative.org/news/5-ways-cigarette-litter-impacts-environment.

Here are some of the pieces I collected right where I found them on my long walk.

A lifestyle change that I would consider changing to live more sustainably would be to drink tap water rather than using plastic bottles. This was the first change that came to my mind when considering ways I could live more sustainably, because I notice how many water bottles I go through on a daily basis. I have tried to do this before, but I hate the idea of drinking tap water for some reason, so I have never actually stuck to it for longer than a few days. After a week of sticking to this change, I realized how easy it is and how much money it saves me. On top of that, it is a lot better for the environment than all of those plastic bottles I had been using.

When I decided to make this change, I did research on just how bad plastic water bottles are for the environment so that I would be more encouraged to stick with my change. I found an article called Save the Environment and Drink Tap Water! published by Global Citizen which provided more than enough reasons for me to make the switch. The one that stuck out the most was that for every gallon that goes into water in plastic bottles, two gallons are wasted. The amount of plastic that makes up marine debris is extremely concerning to me, so I felt guilty for my use of plastic bottles. If everyone switched to tap water, a huge impact could be made on the world. Plastic bottle usage has a severe and negative impact on our earth, and not only contributes to pollution, but chemicals in the soil and risks to marine life.

Some struggles that I faced while making this change were when I was out running errands or at class and the easiest option was to just go buy a bottled water. I would forget my reusable bottle at home and then have no other option, but as the week went on, it became a part of my routine to grab my bottle on the way out of my house. This is definitely a change I will stick with, because it is one little thing I can do to make a big difference on the earth. The only issue I face is when I want to drink things other than water, I really do not have much of an option but to get a bottle of it. I think this change could be a good step in the direction to not drinking anything but water. Not only would that decision save money and be better for my health, but also would be better for the environment. If others were to consider making this change as well, I would suggest carrying a reusable water with you every where you go so that you are not tempted to go buy a bottle of water. This way, when you get thirsty, you can find the nearest fountain and fill it up for free.

news report assignment-uuluxn

Keeping a strong relationship with the environment can be hard while living in the city as “doakrr” said. I live downtown and ride my bike to class every day but all I see is cars and sidewalks on a daily basis. Something nice about nature is the peace and quiet but all you get here is the sound of constant road rage.

I’m from Sandersville Georgia which is a very small town south of Atlanta. My father is a forester and would take me to cruise timber with him when I was younger. This is what I believe to be to the foundation of my relationship with the outdoors. He would take me out and let me tag the property lines and teach me the different tree species in Georgia.

In 2006, we moved to the suburbs in clover South Carolina. My house was smaller and surrounded by the constant noise of cars coming in and out. The forest was no longer my backyard and seemed to be like a 10×10 box that I was trapped in. My father was still a forester but was “promoted” to a desk job in Charlotte NC. This means he stopped cruising timber and instead sell the land he once inspected. I may not have realized at the time but my relationship with nature would start to deteriorate because of the move to South Carolina.

The move and new technology (such as an Xbox) had distanced my relationship with the environment. I wasn’t as happy as I was back in Georgia because when my friends asked me to come out and play, it was once to climb trees but was now to play in the streets. I had this desire to get out and go and so did my father. Me and my dad went to the blue ridge mountains to get away from the noise for a weekend. This was the first time I had ever been to the mountains and I had a blast.

We went to grandfather mountain and this was where I got reconnected to the natural world. I remember having such a good time that I never wanted to leave. Me and my dad began to go to the blue ridge every other weekend to hike and fly fish (I still suck at it). We began to get bored with that, so we then started flying out to the west coast to climb bigger mountains. We have climbed both Mt Saint Helens in Oregon and Rainier in Washington.

My relationship with the environment has had its ups and downs but I believe it’s here to stay from now on. I think it is very important for everyone to have some type of relationship with the environment. That doesn’t necessarily mean you should make it a lifestyle but should take some time to go out and hike or something of that nature. I especially think college students should connect with the outdoors because of all of the stress we go through. It often relieves me from my stress so it might also help anyone in need of a break.