Sustain Champlain

2nd Annual Kill-A-Watt Challenge Kick Off

2012-02-02T11:51:00.001-08:00

We had a great time taking photo pledges with Chauncy today as a way to kick off the 2nd annual Kill-A-Watt Challenge in the Champlain Residence Halls. Stay tuned for weekly updated scores.

Fall 2011 Res Hall Plug-In Device Inventory

2011-12-13T12:55:00.000-08:00

This fall, one of the projects of the Eco-Reps Program was to visit different residence hall rooms around campus and to count the number of plug-in electrical devices. Below are the results. Note that rooms range from single occupancy to multi-room suites. Next year we'll remember to count the number, gender, and major of the rooms' residents.

Building	Spinner	North House	Hill Hall	Schillhammer	Quarry
Room 1	10	8	25	6	24
Room 2	7	29	12	14	27
Room 3	9	10	21	6	12
Room 4	9	8	13	5	18
Room 5	8	11	21	10	18
Room 6	5	10	12	8	23
Room 7	9	9	12
Room 8	7	19	18
Room 9	6	11	9
Room 10	8	14	14
Average	7.8	12.9	15.7	8.2	20.3

Going on now: Better World Books collection

2011-12-08T09:41:00.000-08:00

Have some books that are lying around your room/office? Donate them to a good cause: Better World Books collects and sells books online to donate books and fund literacy initiatives worldwide. With more than 8 million new and used titles in stock, we’re a self-sustaining, triple-bottom-line company that creates social, economic and environmental value for all our stakeholders. Learn more here. Books that can’t be sold are recycled.

What can go in the bins:

College Textbooks and Study Guides (clean and legible condition) with copyright dates from the past 10 years
Workbooks (with no missing pages)
Basically any book used in a college classroom (highlighting or writing in books is fine so long as the text isn’t obscured)
Accompanying CDs
Hardcover Fiction/Nonfiction
Paperbacks (must be in like-new condition with copyright 1980 or newer)
Former Library Books
Travel Books (with copyright dates from the past 5 years)

Please do NOT put in bins:

Dirty, Moldy, or Water Damaged Books
Books with Damaged Binding or Pages
Books with Missing Covers or Pages

You can find collection bins in: MIC entryway; Joyce, Freeman, Hauke entryway, IDX, and Ireland main lounge. Questions? Contact cerickson@champlain.edu

Intervale Food Hub Spring Student CSA Share at Champlain College

2011-12-02T11:24:00.000-08:00

It's time to sign up for your Spring Semester Student Share! The share begins the week of January 23rd and runs through the week of April 30th. The sign up period will close January 9th, 2012. Receive delicious, fresh local food delivered weekly to campus throughout the semester. The pick-up spot will be Aiken Hall on Wednesdays during the Spring Semester.

Share options for students include: vegetables, eggs, cheese, pesto, bread, yogurt, meat and more! Visit our website to view the share options and sign up!

Be in touch with Food Hub Coordinator, Brianna Farver with questions: brianna@intervale.org, 660-0440 x111.

Save Some $$$ This Winter!

2011-11-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

Last week, Sustain Champlain hosted a weatherization workshop geared to those who live off-campus. In case you couldn't make it, here's a quick summary of some pretty easy steps to take this winter.

Heating: You can save 5% of your annual heating costs for every 5 degrees you set your thermostat back (make sure to always keep heat above 55 degrees to avoid frozen water pipes!). Turn heat down during the day when you are out of the house.

Weatherization: A lot of heat escapes through leaks. Ask your landlord if you can weatherstrip doors and windows. Installing plastic sheets on widows can improve insulation noticeably. Do-it-Yourself Kits that cover up to 6 windows are available for $12-16 in most hardware stores.

Lighting: Turn off all unnecessary lights. By replacing five of the most frequently used light bulbs in your home with compact florescent bulbs; you could save $60 in energy costs per year! Did you know that landlords in Burlington can receive 16 bulbs FREE from Burlington Electric Department? Let your landlord in on this tip...

Cooking: Use a microwave or toaster oven when preparing small portions. Keep all pots covered and refrain from opening conventional oven while in use (25 degrees of heat escapes each time an oven is opened!).

Appliances/Electronics: Many things consume electricity even while they are “off” - TV's, computers, etc. Save energy and money by unplugging these devices while they are not in use (putting them on shared power strips/surge protectors makes this a lot easier to do!).

Water Use: Heating water accounts for approximately 15% of an average household energy bill. To save hot water, take quick showers and replace shower heads with low flow units. Use washing machines and dishwashers with full loads only. Use cold water when using a washing machine; it is equally effective at getting clothes clean.

For more info on energy efficiency and weatherization contact Efficiency VT, VT Gas, or Burlington Electric.

Want even more? Attend a Button Up Workshop -- hosted in various locations around the state this fall.

Thanks to the UVM Office of Student & Community Relations Office for content for this posting.

Trash Bash 2011 Results

2011-10-28T06:45:00.001-07:00

Ah, one of my favorite activities of the year... picking through trash. While it might sound gross, and to be fair, it can be pretty gross, it is also pretty enlightening to see what winds up in the pile destined for a hole in the ground (ie landfill). Thanks to Eco-Reps Kayla, Grace, and Skye for playing along.

The results: The good news? Better results than last year (see comparison graphs). The bad news? Still a lot of clearly recyclable items (soda cans & newspapers) in the trash. We also noted several rolls of toilet paper that still had a lot of paper left on them. The work continues…

Announcing: the fall 2011 Eco-Reps! Coming soon to a Res Hall near you...

2011-09-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

I am very excited that the pilot year of the new Eco-Reps Program at Champlain College is officially underway. On Monday, I met with the six fabulous students who are the new Eco-Reps: Grace vonRabenstein (Spinner), David Bender (Quarry), Kaylin Beauregard (North Campus), Kyle Judd (South Campus), Allison Markowitz (East Campus), and Schuyler Ogren (West Campus).

In general, Eco-Reps are expected to model environmentally responsible living behaviors and conduct education and outreach to fellow residents. Eco-Reps are trained and coordinated by the Sustainability Director who connects them to appropriate campus personnel and resources. Eco-Rep activities are generally focused within the residential areas of campus, but can spill out into broader campus issues when most applicable.

The Eco-Reps are just getting acquainted with the program, their expectations, and their domain. I hope you’ll all welcome them to your residential areas as they get to know the buildings. The Eco-Reps may be contacting the RAs of the buildings that they are responsible for, for a building walkthrough and/or to set up a time when they can meet your residents at a floor meeting or other gathering.

As a paid position, the Eco-Reps are expected to work 4 hours per week completing various tasks such as:
*regularly maintaining and updating a bulletin board or other communication channel
* building walkthroughs to inspect recycling areas, including bins and signage
* talking with residents about how to recycle, conserve energy & water, etc.
* co-sponsor at least one event/program/activity per semester with a Res Hall staff member or PA
* attend weekly meetings with program coordinator (Christina Erickson)

If you have any questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact me or the Eco-Reps.

Top 10 reasons to park at Lakeside and ride the shuttle to campus

2011-08-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

10. You can stop at Cumberland Farms and fill up your tank – routinely the cheapest gas around. ($3.46 on 8/24)

9. You can check out the new Champlain Compass on the TV panels and track the bus as it comes toward you.

8. Play foosball with a friend in the Cantina while you wait.

7. Get to know our favorite bus/van driver Christie.

6. Skip circling around campus looking for a parking place.

5. You get dropped off right by centrally located Alumni Auditorium.

4. Take care of business with one-stop with folks in Marketing, Human Resources, Information Systems, Emergent Media Center, Center for Digital Investigation, Continuing Professional Studies, Campus Planning Finance, or Graduate Admissions and CRM.

3. Enjoy some art by Anna Zalewski on the walls of the Miller Center.

2. Avoid expensive parking tickets.

And the number one reason…
1. Fifteen kinds of coffee and a half-dozen flavors of tea – free every day at Lakeside’s Cantina!

from Stephen Mease Public Information and News Director

Payday savings

2011-08-24T07:03:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the mailroom spends almost $50 every other week (or $1,300 a year) mailing out paychecks to faculty, staff, and students? And that’s just the postage! There’s the printing of checks and envelopes and the staff time to process them. But there is an easy to reduce this number: by signing up for direct deposit through the Human Resources department. Simply contact Leslie Carew and ask to sign up. Your check will be directly deposited into your bank, which means one less errand for you as well. Savings abound! Do it today, if you haven’t already. Thanks to Linda in the Mailroom for bringing this to our attention.

Top Ten Eco-Tips for Graduating Seniors

2011-05-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

Hey Seniors! Getting ready to depart from Camp Champ? Here are some suggestions on how to make your transition from college life to life-after-college a totally eco-savvy one.

10. Sign on to the Graduation Pledge. While not an official effort here at Champlain, this is something you could do as an individual. The Graduation Pledge of Social & Environmental Responsibility states:
“I pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences of any job I consider and will try to improve these aspects of any organizations for which I work.”

9. Move out Mindfully. Make your trash someone’s treasure by bringing unwanted clothing, furniture, unopened food, books, and more to not one, but two locations for the annual Spring Move Out Project (SMOP) on Wednesday, May 25th from 11am-3pm. Loomis St. and Bradley St. More info on the Chittenden Solid Waste District's website.

8. Find Greener Pastures to Perch. Looking for a new place to live? Be sure to ask your landlord (even if it’s your parents) about the efficiency of the building. Any upgrades to insulation coming up? It’ll keep your heat or AC bill a lot lower.

7. Speaking of bills, keep yours lower by flipping the switch. Power down, use a smart strip, unplug, and the like. Need to make a purchase? Look for Energy Star ratings or the lowest kilowatt usage (kwh) on the yellow energy usage tags. You’ll see the savings add up quick.

6. What kind of wheels? Two is best, four is ok (if they are skateboard wheels). Come on… ditch the car if possible and grab a bike, a long board, your roller skates, and just your pretty flip flops. Gas at $4 a gallon? No thanks! If you are moving to an urban area, acquaint yourself with the local mass transit or car sharing options. You might also base your housing location based on how you can get around town. Check out the Walkscore website to find your best non-polluting commuting options.

5. That’s some good grub! You can’t get much better than fresh, local ingredients. You can make it affordable to by buying in bulk, buying straight from the source, or even lending some muscles to a farm in exchange for some veggies. Use the Local Harvest website to find nearby farmers’ markets, CSAs, community gardens (where you can grow your own) and more, all over the country.

4. B-Y-O. Just because you’re graduating doesn’t mean that you can’t still hang your mug or water bottle from your backpack. Most cafes give you a discount on coffee and tea when you bring your own mug and bottled water is just so past tense. We’re over it. While you’re at it, bring a grocery bag with you too. The trees/dolphins/babies will thank you.

3. Talk trash. Or rather, how to cut the trash. Find out the local recycling rules for your new home and follow ‘em! Save those food scraps for compost or even let some wriggly critters into your life.

2. Still on the search for the ideal job? Check out some of these sweet sites that offer jobs that can be good for your conscious, the planet, and your pocket: Idealist.org, Environmental Career Opportunities, and Sustainable Businesses.

1. Do Something. Transitions times can be busy and hectic, but there’s always the opportunity to get out there and make your family, your neighborhood, your community better in some way or another. Whether it’s through your work or while you plan life’s next steps, get out and do something, and let us know about it. Make us proud.

Final Words Before Summer

2011-04-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

As we neared the end of our final exam in Secular and Sacred, our teacher reminded us to keep our intellectual hats on even after we left the class room. He urged us to keep looking for connections and to remain opened minded. I suppose I should say the same to you as well. Keep your Mindful Hats on well after your car pulls away from campus. Even if you don’t notice it, we are so lucky to live in a state where sustainability is important and there are all these grass root movements and organizations that are willing to fight the good fight for a better planet, better life, and better wallet. Not every state is like Vermont. I encourage everyone to take that extra moment to think before you throw or consume. And I challenge everyone to look beyond recycling and simple reduction as environmentalism. People don’t like to accept the negative or wasteful things they do, but we cannot pretend we live in a world anymore where we can leave a mess and hope someone cleans up after us. Sorry, but we are the cleaners right now!

Now I don’t mean you have to go out and join Green Peace or denounce everything non-organic or local (although it wouldn’t hurt to incorporate more local and more organic in your life), but I think we need to be more active. Practically every area in your life can be taken in a more sustainable direction. If you love food look at the environmental impacts it creates in your state and work toward making changes. If you love exercising see if you can run to work once a week to cut down on gas. Surround yourself with people who are interested in the same things you are so you can further your pursuits; I know it can feel awfully lonely to be around be people don’t care the way you do. Play with ideas while you’re home and then come back here to implement them. We are a small school, so there is a better chance you can make changes and that those changes will be felt by nearly everyone. They call us the lazy generation, but let’s prove them wrong! Let’s give a damn.

This summer I will continue to post periodically, so check out the blog every now and then for updates. You’ll probably find a lot of them are related to the community garden that will hopefully be all a bustle this summer. Have a great, great, vacation, make lots of money, make only a few bad decisions, and KEEP BEING MINDFUL!

You + leaving your car at home = Champlain wins the Way to Go! Challenge

2011-04-27T11:31:00.001-07:00

Champlain Employees: Here is the first official reminder to sign up for the annual Way to Go! Commuter Challenge.

Whether you try leaving your car home for a day or for the week, your participation matters! Already take the bus, walk, or carpool? Still sign up for the Challenge. We want to recognize your efforts.

We are hoping that Champlain can reign again as champions in our class of large size employers and bring home the Carbon Cup! Signing up for the Challenge is quick and easy, and you’ll be registered for a number of raffle prizes through WTG. In addition, David Provost is sponsoring an internal Champlain raffle with three great prizes:

1) a one year individual CarShare Vermont membership,
2) a $50 gift certificate to The Ski Rack, and
3) a Sustain Champlain sweatshirt & water bottle.

In order to get into the Champlain raffle, simply let me know (via email) when you’ve signed up and I’ll enter you. There will also be an opportunity to register and get into the raffle during our May 11th employee retreat. I’ll hold the drawing on May 16th.

So please, consider giving the bus a try, put your name into the CATMA carpooling database, or get that bike tuned up for a sweet (and potentially sweaty) ride to campus (showers are available in IDX and Lakeside!). The WTG website has lots of resources on finding different ways to get to work. And while you’re at it, be sure to register with CATMA (Campus Area Transportation Management Association – of which Champlain is a member) to be included in their monthly drawings and find out more about programs like their emergency ride home from work and bike/walk benefits program.

Questions? Send ‘em my way!

~Christina

Spring Meltdown Green Team Shout Out

2011-04-26T06:51:00.000-07:00

It's official. Having someone stand by the trash/recycle/compost bins makes a HUGE difference. It is even ok that I overheard someone calling me the 'compost nazi'. If that means less stuff going to the landfill, so be it. The only items that went to the trash: plastic forks, plastic straws from the smoothie guy, and plastic wrappers from the sunglasses. Not bad. But can we do even better??? We saw a lot of food waste going straight from the food line into the compost bin after just one bite...

A special shout out to the Spring Meltdown Green Team members: Rachel deSimone, Anne Orr, Jacob Frankovich, Annie Granthan, Sarah Irish, and Becky Peterson. You all rock. Check out more photos on our facebook page.

Community Garden Work Pary #1

2011-04-26T06:34:00.000-07:00

In between rain drops, several hardy souls turned out to start laying out plots in the new community garden. The soil was wet, heavy, and getting wetter and heavier by the shovel full. But we made good progress!

Before: tilled only

After: plots surfacing...

Things to do in Montreal - Earth Day Edition!

2011-04-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

From our Champlain friends up north... Check out their blog for more information.

Friday is Earth Day, and there is a lot going on in Montreal!

[ROOFTOP GARDENING] Lufa Farms, the world's largest rooftop gardening project, will be producing fresh produce to customers this spring in Montreal. Another option is to join Equiterre's CSA (community supported agriculture). By paying a a weekly amount, a local farmer can guarantee to provide you with fresh produce all summer long.

[COMPOSTING] Students in the environmental science class have created a worm composting bin at the Montreal campus. Last semester, three Champlain students built an indoor vermi-compost bin as part of their activism project. This semester, game designer Eric Campbell acquired red wriggler worms, shredded many newspapers, and added fruit and vegetables scraps from home to start the compost. To continue the compost bin over the summer, the bin will be donated to Dans la Rue, a grassroots community group that helps street kids and at-risk youth.

[BIOSPHERE] In celebration of Earth Day, the Biosphère will be hosting a talk with Mikael Rioux and Sylvie Van Brabant along with a screening of NFB documentary EARTH KEEPERS. Admission to the museum will be FREE, which is a perfect opportunity to visit (or re-visit) ONE Outfits from a New Era, an exhibition featuring 16 outfits fashioned from garbage!

[Art + Music = Artic!] Fill your Friday evening with ´Buddha and the body´, an art exhibit by Lauren Trimble, musical musings by members of Lubo & Kaba Horo, and featuring herbal teas, oils and treats from Sustainable Healing available for purchase and tasting. $7 admission to the event at ahisma yoga.

[WINDOW GARDENING] Want to try your own garden, but don't have the garden space? Setting up a hydroponic indoor garden can let you grow your own vegetables. One option is to order an indoor gardening kit from Windowfarms Project.

Knocking Down Doors

2011-04-18T04:49:00.000-07:00

I admit that I was one of the many college students who saw the green voting signs that read Kesha Ram and immediately thought of the blonde, hot mess, Jack Daniel swigging, sounds terrible without auto-tune singer Ke$sha that we all know and love. Folks, I'm sure you can guess that Kesha Ram, who went on to become the youngest state legislator, is a bit more talented than our much beloved party anthem singer.

A California native of Jewish and Indian decent, Kesha was taught by her parents at a young age to embrace diversity, give back to the community, and be a determined individual. While she was a student at UVM, Kesha was voted in as a State Rep. in 2008. She also was the president of the UVM student population, majored in Natural Resource Planning and Poli Sci, and graduated magna cum laude; and she is still such a humble person!

A few weeks ago she came to speak in Perry Hall to my class, encouraging us to ask questions and "knock down doors." Kesha is known for going to the houses of people she represents (anyone on the other side of Main Street Burlington), sitting in their living rooms, and talking to them about their needs, frustrations, and desires. She is a person college students can feel comfortable talking too, and she noted that although make up a large percentage of the country, we are so hugely under represented. Despite being of color, and a democrat, she was able to forge connections with older, republican members of the community who might have come from a time and place when diversity was not exactly an encourage concept. But don't get me wrong, she is way more than "the" female of color serving office.

So why is this important? Well, the other night I was at the CCM Excellence Award Ceremony and had the chance to be surrounded by lots of motivated men and women. Kesha too started off as a highly motivated college student who looked around her community and saw that things could be altered. She wasn't that different from many of us. So I challenge all of us, whether you were at the dinner or not, to start making a difference. Start making changes on a community and town level where you will be able to better connect with the people and interact with them. Work to better the environment, improve school quality, encourage sexual awareness, anything. We are still considered "kids" is so many people's eyes. Show them otherwise. Show people we are young, motivated, and won't be complacent with the way things are going. Show them we aren't generation "lazy" and aren't afraid to get our hands dirty.

Education for Sustainability

2011-04-04T07:21:00.000-07:00

Recently, the President of Bennington College, Elizabeth Coleman gave an address at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) annual conference on February 25, 2011. According to a colleague of mine, Wynn Calder, "It is a scathing critique of higher education's failure, in general, to address the challenges we face. It is also a powerful endorsement of education for sustainability, though she never uses that word. More admirably, much of what she recommends she is earnestly trying to put into practice at Bennington." The speech is available online at http://www.nais.org/files/ac/2011/11AC_ElizabethColemanSpeech.pdf. So how are we doing at Champlain? Our official college values include: Distinctive Excellence * Sustainability * Innovation * Human Touch * Global Engagement * Diversity and Inclusion Are we seeing this is our curriculum? Outside of the classroom? In our policies and practices? What do YOU think?

War and The Environment

2011-04-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

“In a state of war the environment is one of the first things that suffers,” Iraqi ambassador Samir Shakir Mahmood Sumaida'ie says to a room full of attendees. It’s not something I often think about when hearing of times of war. Instead my mind goes to broken towns, refugees, crying faces, and desert sands. I didn’t really know what the Middle East looked like before 9/11 and the invasion, but according to Shakir, agriculture was a huge part Iraq’s history. The country had a sophisticated system of irrigation which allowed them to sustainably farm and maintain their water sources.

After the coups, which lead to Saddam becoming the dictator, the country saw a steady decline in leisure time, women’s rights, and open information. The biggest ecological disaster occurred when people targeted by Saddam started escaping into the Mesopotamian Marshes (which some biblical scholars believe to be The Garden of Eden) of southern Iraq. For upwards of three thousand years, the marshes had sustained Iraq and been an important environmental asset. Much like the swamps of the south, the marshes were dense and people who managed to make it to them were difficult to find. So, Saddam had the marshes drained and poisoned, which set off a chain of ecological disasters. Many species were put on the endangered list and some went extinct. Birds that normally migrated there were forced to change their ways which had been the same for thousands of years. In 2001, only 10% of the marshes remained, but hope is on the horizon as the Iraqi people have been restoring it.

When a war is going on, nature truly does take a backseat. There are people going hungry who need to be feed, and there are people dying who need medical attention, but as soon as the war started to slow down the Iraqis’ were already working on saving their environment. We can really take a lesson from there. Although war has yet to come to our home front, our ecological well fare is not in the best state. There are some areas in the country where the water wouldn’t be considered drinkable, and the air quality causes asthma in small children. We have several luxuries that Iraq doesn’t have, yet the appreciation for nature and the ecological services it provides us isn’t fully there. Shakir and Iraq still wants our help in rebuilding their country. Hopefully we can work together and maybe their appreciation for restoring their environment will rub off on us, and we still start to do the same on our soil.

Organic Garden!

2011-03-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

Champlain College Community Garden!

When I was a little girl I had a knack for growing things. For example, one summer morning I woke up and decided to plant squash. I plodded out to a random patch of soil on our property and went straight to work weeding and planting; the motivation of an eight year old always astounds me. Now some might look at me and say that my parents were secretly helping me behind my back, but I definitely remember waking up each day to water and tend to my yellow beauties

I’m not sure why I didn’t continue planting as I got older, I suppose it was more hip to lay out by the pool with my friends, but lately I’ve been getting the growing bug. I blame my increasing interest in wanting to become closer to the environment and my fast realization that buying something I can create myself is just plain silly.

Luckily for me, this spring Champlain College will be starting up an organic community garden! Students staying over the summer are allowed to apply for a plot. Each plot will be 4’ X 8’ and will cost $10 for students and $20 for faculty. Those interested in growing food to be donated will have their fee waived.

Does it seem a bit daunting? Team up with a friend to split the cost and space! People with no experience gardening are encouraged to apply, as there will seasoned vets on hand willing to share their gardening tips, stories, and manual labor battle scars. Registration is on a first come first serve basis. All we ask is that you follow the rules outline. Some are: keep the garden organic, make sure the plot doesn’t become overrun with weeds, and commit to attending at least two garden help sessions. Plus you get to be creative and name your plot; I’m partial to The Beet Grows On.

E-mail Christian Erickson, director of Sustain Champlain, with any further questions. What isn’t awesome about having organic produce (without the organic costs) and really knowing where your food is coming from?

Upcoming Events

2011-03-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

The next two months on campus are jammed packed with sustainability related events. Here's a taste of what's to come... Click on the Calendar of Events link (on the right side menu) for more details.

Invisible Children Film Screening and Discussion of “TONY”, March 22
Environmental Club Film Series: The Cove, March 22
Environmental Policy Speaker Series: State Representative Kesha Ram, March 24
Iraqi Ambassador to Speak at Champlain, March 29
Environmental Club Film Series: Crude, April 6
Earth Month Keynote Speaker: Brian Tokar, April 13
Environmental Club Film Series: The 11th Hour, April 19

WTF? Styrofoam back in use in Congress

2011-03-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the compostable cutlery melted in the hot soup but not enough in the compost pile (issues we had here in Vermont), but to go back to plastic knives and STYROFOAM?? Really?? How about this novel idea... washable plates, cups, and silverware? Create a job or two, cut down on waste, and in the end you'll save money and face.

Here at Champlain a senior graphic design student, Melissa Kennedy, is designing a new campaign called "Sort it Out". The idea is to raise awareness about taking the few seconds to sort your waste into compost, recycling, and trash. Stay tuned for more!

NIMBY

2011-03-01T16:55:00.000-08:00

I first heard this acryonym last Thursday in my Environmental Issues class and again at the speaker series that same night. It was coined in the 80’s by a British politician Nicholas Ridley, meaning: Not In My Back Yard. NIMBY-ism is an interesting breed of anti-advocacy. It doesn’t only have to remain in environmental policies, roads and transportation infrastructure is greatly affected by NIMBY-ism, but it has slowed down some development on projects that could really save energy and aid the planet. A conversation with a NIMBY-ist might go something like this.

Advocate: So these solar panels will be really good for the communities.
NIMBY-ist: That’s great. I’ve heard so much about them, but I’m not really sure they’re for me
Advocate: Well, why not?
NIMBY-ist: Hmm…They’re kind of eye sores. I’m not really sure I want to see them all over the neighborhood.

Okay, so that over simplified it a bit, but a lot of environmental NIMBY-ism has to deal with aesthetic appreciation. This is happening off the coast of Cape Sound, a location wind power advocates are hoping will become home to an offshore wind field. The location is good because of the strong and constant wind, but many of the town’s people aren’t too keen on the idea because they believe it will spoil their views. Apparently, the whole operation was working on an uphill battle from the beginning when the areas richest man decided it’s not what he wanted to look at in the morning when drinking coffee.

I can totally understand the importance of a good view and that many of these people move to the area for that reason. But I’m not sure how sympathetic I am. I think I’d be more so if they didn’t want them at all. It seems weird to completely support something except when you have to sacrifice. Offshore wind farms are highly popular in the UK and Denmark, and they show how technology and nature can come together. I find them to be much more beautiful and awe-inspiring than the buzzing lines of electric towers, which, ironically, are doing the same job. No one really seems to complain about those.

I’m hoping that when I get older my views on such things don’t change when money is involved, but I totally think we’ll be a more understanding generation because we’ve gone through high school and part of college with environmental issues being a hot bed of interest. I think the most important idea to take away from NIMBY-ism is the idea of how much am I willing? How much am I willing to cut back, to take the time out to do, to sacrifice? It’s not entirely realistic to give into everything and reduce yourself completely, but there will be a time when people have to start stepping up to the plate and realize we all have a stake in environmental issues.

I Practice What I Preach

2011-02-20T16:26:00.000-08:00

So I took this picture to prove to you guys that I really do what I suggest you do. Here is a lovely photo of my trash from the big overhaul I did on my room. It was all lumped together in a bin, and I could have thrown it all out, but I took the time to sort everything out. It took me a whopping 5 minutes. It's not hard and makes the people's job at the recycling plant much easier! :)

Bringing together the 21st Century & “back in the day”

2011-02-20T16:15:00.000-08:00

One of my least favorite chores is washing my clothes, and that dislike is magnified even more when I have to sift through my pant pockets, wallets, and drawers for elusive quarters. Like, why don’t these machines take dimes and nickels? Argh! The apartment I’m moving into doesn’t have a washer and dryer, but it does have hook ups. My boyfriend and I have been trying to figure out if we should get washer and dryer or go to the laundry matt. A dryer will jack up the electricity costs, but laundry matt means driving and waiting. There was always the option to hang dry our clothes, but that takes a lot of time and the clothes end up smelling like mildew if they’re wet for too long. Plus, we'd have to hang dry inside because all the neighbors don't need to see our unmentionables and what-nots. The laundry matt and high energy bills were neck and neck, until I stumbled across this nifty product. Now I’m not always a huge fan of technology bringing us closer to the perfect image of sustainability, because I don’t think they help change people’s consumptive habits. But sometimes humans and technology can meet half way, which is better than nothing!

So, back to the apartment, I’m looking up washers and dryers and somehow stumble upon this device called a spin dryer. If you’ve ever been to an indoor pool, you might have used one. You put your swim wear in, close the lid, hit the button, and in a minute you have a dry bathing suit to bring home. The spin dryer works like a centrifuge to spin the water out of clothes. It works best if you fold the clothes before putting them in, but you can pack it full; if you’ve ever tried to stuff a dryer you’ve probably had less than satisfying results. It takes 2-3 minutes for the spin dryer to do a full cycle, and although it doesn’t dry your clothes fully, it gets them very close. Owners of spin dryers say that afterward they can hang dry a cotton shirt in 15-20 minutes and up to an hour for thicker items like wool sweaters. And if you didn’t want to hang up the clothes, you could easily throw them in the dryer for a few minutes.

Spin dryers range from $60-$200 (the price is dependent on how many pounds of clothes can be put into it), so you probably won’t see immediate savings, but over time they will be apparent, and if you take care of it properly you can have it for years. They energy efficient, and your clothes will last longer because they’re more gentle on the fabric and the color than standard dryers. So whether you decide to hang dry your clothes afterward, or throw them in the dryer for a bit, you will be saving energy and money. It is a bit more cumbersome, but I’d rather use one of these than spend an average of $154 dollars a year on coin machines that never seem to get your clothes clean or dry!

Here is a video of a spin dryer. Expectantly, it’s not the most exciting video ever, but it’ll give you a good idea of how the machine works and how much water will come out.

Now keep on being mindful!

Reflections from my new perch

2011-02-09T08:25:00.000-08:00

This past week I received an email from Champlain student, Rachel Salois, who is currently studying abroad in Ireland. She is thinking about her Professional Writing Senior Capstone project and had a few questions for me. I thought I'd share her questions and my responses. Also, be sure to check out Rachel's blog.

* * *

Rachel,

Greetings from across the pond. Indeed, the snow is piling up so high, it is getting hard to see over the snowbanks (and this is from a woman who is six feet tall). Your questions are great prompts, and it is times like these that I really appreciate the moment to sit back, think a bit, and reflect on why I do what I do. So, forgive me if I ramble a bit, but I will get to your questions.

My husband and I have had several discussions lately about work vs. job. For me, my life work is about creating and living a sustainable lifestyle for me, my family, my community. That takes up all of my day. My job (currently at Champlain) is a piece of that life work -- trying to encourage others to take steps in that direction, if not live it fully. I recently read a fantastic book called Radical Homemakers -- which reminds me; the author will be speaking in Burlington at the upcoming NOFA conference. Anyway, one of Shannon's main points is that what is important in life boils down to four things: family, community, ecological integrity, and social justice. I am trying to make that the motto for my life. And so, I'll delve into your questions.

*First of all, how do you personally incorporate sustainability into your lifestyle? When oftentimes its less complicated/expensive to be wasteful, how do you keep up your sustainable habits?*

Man, can that one be tough. This morning my babysitter overslept, I missed the bus and I walked (trudged is more like it) the 30 minutes to my office from my house in the Old North End. As I saw cars cruising by with warm passengers rocking to the car stereo I thought to myself, "why is it again that I won't drive to work?" Oh yea, a million reasons. But now as someone with a young baby and a full time job, I start to understand why those extra 25 minutes x2 might be why more people drive even short distances. But for me, it has always been critical that I model the behavior I wish others to participate in. And so, I walk. Or, the other day, I skied.

Another example. It is winter in Vermont and we do our best to eat locally. That means a lot of root vegetables, cabbage, meat, cheese, etc. We were graced with a small bag of spinach from our farmshare the other day and it was the best tasting salad I've had in a long time. Sure, I could be eating green salads all winter long, but none of them would taste that good.

In our house we cook, we wash dishes by hand, we hang cloth diapers to dry by the woodstove, we walk/bike/bus. This all takes time and sometime even I have to be reminded that it is worth it. I believe it is. And as my husband is always trying to remind me, I have to learn to have fun with it. (I'm still learning).

*Secondly, what are the most successful ways that you see students (or anyone) get motivated to go green?*

You know how some people have quotes attached to their email signatures? One caught my eye the other day, enough so that I copied & pasted, and then printed it out and taped it to my computer. It says, “If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” From Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French Pilot, Writer and Author of 'The Little Prince', 1900-1944.

This quote reminded me that one way to get people to care about the environment is to get them out to experience and enjoy it so much so that they want to protect it and help it heal and help those who are affected by a degenerating planet. That is certainly a critical part of my ecological identity. And so, to that effect I am planning on getting students to join me on the lovely groomed ski trails down in the Intervale this winter and is also the premise behind a new course I hope to teach next fall -- The Foundations of Ecology. In that course I plan on doing as much field time as possible, in various Vermont ecosystems.

*What type of information regarding lifestyle/sustainability/activism do you think most college students are lacking?*

This is a toughy. I feel like there is no shortage of information out there. In fact, I feel it is much the opposite. We are so overloaded with information, with really heart-shattering stories from across the globe, that sometimes it is hard not to feel paralyzed by this (something that happens to me at times). I think some folks would rather live with the 'ignorance-is-bliss' motto and just shut out the tough stuff and go on living like what they do doesn't matter to others or the planet.

Although, I also have to remember that when I was a first-year college student, I didn't know about ANY of this stuff. I do think that students today are more saavy about this, and have had more exposure to environmental issues in their high schools and through current events, but perhaps that is not the case. Perhaps no one has brought this up before. And so, that's part of my work. How to make information and opportunities to positively participate apparent, to make them meaningful, to simplify (but not over-simplify), and to connect to what matters to an individual. No short order.

Well, that's probably enough rambling for now. Thank you for the opportunity to reflect. I hope your time in Ireland is full of adventures. I can't wait to hear more.

Best,
Christina

Sodexo Launches Meatless Monday Initiative

2011-02-08T12:46:00.001-08:00

This just in: Sodexo Launches Meatless Monday Initiative! Read more on Sodexo USA's website. Following pilot programs at more than a dozen schools, food service provider Sodexo has announced plans to launch its Meatless Monday initiative at 650 Sodexo-served campuses this fall. Developed by nonprofit The Monday Campaigns with the assistance of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, the adoption of this public health initiative is part of Sodexo's "Better Tomorrow" plan including commitments to promote health and wellness solutions and protect and restore the environment. The Meatless Monday campaign's primary goal is to reduce Americans' saturated fat consumption by 15 percent and reduce the environmental impacts of industrial meat production.
See also: More About Meatless Monday Campaign

No word yet if Champlain College's Sodexo team will follow suit. Please let them know if you think we should. Find them on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/ChamplainDining?v=wall

Going Mindful- Part 2: The Joy of Composting!

2011-02-03T16:54:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Are you ready for part 2 Beavers? Ah, the joys of composting! I first learned about it when I went to the White Mountain School. We had a much more “hands on” experience than ya’ll do here. Here we just throw our waste into an unseen trash bin and walk away. During high school we had to separate out everything in green buckets (we couldn’t compost meat, dairy, etc, like we can here), lug those buckets to a compost “heap” by the school garden (even in the winter!), and members of farm and forest would have to turn the heap with shovels and pitchforks. It was kind of gross. But composting is a really helpful and natural process, and it definitely won’t be as intense if you’re just composting for yourself and a few roommates. The process not only cuts down on waste going into trash bins, but it also is helpful for gardens. Compost is used to improve soil quality and is a more natural alternative to buying Miracle Grow.

Composting in an apartment or dorm room doesn’t have to be as unsavory as an open pile on a farm. The first thing you need to do is figure out what you want to use your compost for. Do you want to use it for your container garden, or do you want to compost to help cut down on waste in the trash area? I’ll first start with how to compost. What you’ll want to do is buy an indoor compost container, which will keep the smell down. You can purchase outdoor compost containers that are sealed, but sometimes cities have rules against this. Some are more high tech than others and it really depends on how much you want to spend. You might want to consider buying two so once one is full you can start on another one while the first one is still “processing.” Now you just have to fill the thing! To make your compost even more efficient you should be adding dead leaves and vegetation, which are nitrogen rich and will help the waste compost faster. For every two or three inches of foods/scraps add a half inch of dead leaves.

You can put a lot of things into a compost heap. Orange peels, left over broccoli, soil napkins, pasta, eggshells, liquids (the second container down has a drain), non glossy paper (just make sure to shred it), and coffee grinds, to name a few. Now, I promised to tell you how you can have sex and save the environment. Instead of leaving that condom floating in the toilet bowl, put it in your compost! Latex condoms will break down, but it might be a good idea to bury it….Here is a list of 75 other interesting things that can be composted. At the school you can put meat and dairy in a compost bin, but it’s not advised for small setups. Piles work because they get hot and the temperature, bacteria, and small animals (in outdoor bins) help break down the waste. An indoor compost bin will not get hot enough to break down these items. Avoid putting butter and others fats in. A healthy compost pile should have minimal odor, and if it’s stanky add more leaves. You’ll start this and end with this. With diligence this should take between one or two months. Larger compost bins can take up to six months.

If you’re not using your lovely compost in your garden then you can take it to the Intervale Compost Product Center in Burlington, Vermont and then they’ll gladly take it for you. You can also purchase organic compost from them! But if you’ve spent all this time taking a steaming pile gunk to a lovely pile of nutrient rich dirt, don’t you want to use it? You can dig a few inches into the soil that’s already there and add the compost. Composting is an extremely natural action. You’re growing food, eating food, saving the scraps, and returning them to the earth. No, it’s not the prettiest thing ever, and it may smell a little, but since I’ve been in college I’ve seen things more horrifying and smelled things extremely rank.

Keep On Being Mindful!

Going Mindful- Part 1: The Joys of Gardening!

2011-02-03T16:27:00.000-08:00

Hello,

How have you been my fellow Beavers? P. Phil has spoken, or looked, I guess, and spring is coming soon! I’m not sure how much I believe him, due to the fact that the snow gods have been dumping loads of fluffy piles on us, but nonetheless I’m excited. Spring means warm weather, shorts, and the end of school. As we near, it’s not a bad idea to start thinking about gardening! As you know, I’m all about eating high quality produce, and gardening for yourself will ensure said quality. You’ll have a closer connection to what you’re eating, and you’ll probably have a bit of fun. Plus, if you enjoy eating cucumbers you can grow them and not buy any at the store, thus saving more funds for other foods, beer, yada, yada.

I’m lucky enough that my apartment has a back yard, but still, I’m too scared to ask my landlord if it’s okay to dig up the lawn to grow vegetables. Have no fear. You don’t need rolling hills of green to grow vegetables. And let’s face it, we are college students and probably won’t be growing every variety of lettuce, potato, and pepper known to mankind. This actually makes our lives much easier, because we can start container gardens. Container gardens are as the name implies; they are gardens you start in containers. I’m planning on going to a hardware store and buying plastic buckets, tubs, ceramic pots, etc, in order to cultivate some tasty treats. Just make sure all your containers have some drainage at the bottom so your plants don’t drown when you water them, because plants in containers need to be watered more than plants in the ground. Avoid using darker containers too, since dark colors attract more heat, unless you have a shady growing area. Naturally, larger vegetables will need larger containers to grow in.

After figuring out what you want to plant, and what you’re going to plant it in, research your vegetable. Some seeds work best if you start them from little seedlings inside and transfer them into your soil. Don’t just go to the store and buy the cheapest seeds you can find. Treat this excursion as if you were shopping for a new car, laptop, etc. One gardener suggests buying them from a reputable seed magazine. This will also work to your advantage because some companies have hybrid veggies that grow smaller than regular varieties. The end of April is generally the time for people to start gardening. That is, however, if your apartment (or dorm room), has adequate light (about 4-5 hours per day). If your seeds aren’t strong they might falter once you move them outside. If you are lucky enough to have a window sill that allows for natural light place them there. Also, open the window for a bit. Plant stems need conditioning, and If you put them outside without being used to wind they’ll have a hard time. This is called “hardening.”

So don’t fret, I know I just threw a lot of concepts out at you. If you are interested I encourage you buy some books on the matter (the Goodwill on Shelburne Rd. has a lot of $2 gardening books) or ask someone in the community that seems garden savvy. If all else fails, check out Seven Days Newspaper to see what beginner seedling and gardening classes are going on in the area. Many are free or only ten dollars!

Now, say you want to try growing a variety of foods and don’t want to go buy a lot of containers. Well, just like certain people live better together than others, some plants will thrive in the same container and others will not. Plants that go well together are called companion plants. If you love tomatoes try growing them with cucumbers, peppers, and carrots. But don’t try to grow them with corn, potatoes, or…kohlrabi . I know, you were just dying to grow some of that kohlrabi weren’t yeah? You can easily find lists of plant companion’s and enemies through Google. I said it in my first blog post to take baby steps, and the same applies here. Just start out growing two or three items this year. You’ll feel just as much satisfaction and won’t be overwhelmed. Finally, keep an eye and ear out for information pertaining to the Champlain College Community Garden that will hopefully be up and running this summer!

Don’t be afraid of tackling this project. So what you couldn’t keep the petunias alive that your aunt sent you. Besides being pleasing to the eyes and nose, petunias offer little value. Food plants, on the other hand, provide you with sustenance, so I’m going to bet you’ll take better care of them. And if they die, or it’s a bad season, all is not lost. Now, take a five minute breather since I just threw out a lot of information and websites, and come back in a few minutes to read the second part of this blog post which will tell you about the joys of composting. Here’s a final hook. Come back and you can find out how to have lots of (safe) sex and save the environment…dun dun dun!

Best Commute of the Year

2011-02-02T06:54:00.001-08:00

For anyone with a window, you know that we're getting snow in Burlington. Let's hear it for snow!! That prompted me to commute to work this morning my most favorite way... on skis. The Burlington bike path is an amazing place to ski, as you just need an inch or two to make it work.

Champlainers, did you know that you can borrow cross-country skis for free? They are available for checking out at the HUB desk. Do it today, you won't be sorry.

Wondering where to go? The Burlington Country Club is closest to campus and offers beautiful terrain (also a great place to sled). Another must-ski place is the Intervale. Thanks to friends at Local Motion and other local organizations & businesses there are groomed ski trails there. And they are amazing!! I'm hoping to put together an afternoon ski trip there in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Looking for other great FREE places to play? Check out Local Motion's Trail Finder as well as Seven Days' best sledding places list. Now is the time to get out and enjoy this amazing place where we live.

Trash Bash 2010 Results

2011-01-31T09:23:00.001-08:00

I was reminded the other day that the results of our most recent waste sort were never posted. And so, drum roll.... here they are.

I know the charts are a bit blurry... so the summary is that in the Student Center, we are doing better on keeping recyclables out of the trash, but folks are still learning what can go in the new compost bins there (or, just aren't paying attention). The sample from the res hall showed that nearly a quarter (25% by weight) of what was in the trash should have been recycled. We're talking plastic bottles and newspapers here.
It has since been brought to my attention that rooms in the res halls do not come with recycling and trash bins (which I assumed happened). This is a new goal for next year, to ensure that each room has their own set of bins. And then we'll keep on teaching folks what goes in what bin.

For now, here's the main list of what gets recycled http://www.cswd.net/recycling/recycling-list/

Going Mindful- City Market Co-Op

2011-01-24T19:25:00.000-08:00

I’m kind of turning into a food snob. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against the occasional McDonalds hash brown and I have a wonderful (though incredibly unhealthy) relationship with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but I try to give myself the best food possible. There is this stigma that shopping for healthy food means you’ll be paying a lot more money, and I understand that families are on a budget and college students like beer and Wings Over Burlington. Thankfully we are blessed to have a local co-op that provides a range of healthy food and good prices.

Formerly known on Onion River Co-Op, City Market Co-Op is a quick five minute walk from campus. Unlike some health food stores which are geared towards people with money, City Market has a diverse shopper’s base of college students, immigrants, and families. I went there to talk to Caroline Homan who specializes in helping people shop on a budget. If you go to Price Chopper or Shaw’s you’ll be paying a lot more for organic produce and healthier processed food. Homan tells me the reason is because state co-op’s band together so they can buy a lot of boxed or canned food that is healthier in bulk. They then can turn around and sell it to us at a lower price. Produce is going to be cheaper at a co-op because quality isn’t a commodity and instead strives to be the norm. They still offer options like conventional, organic, and local, so you don’t feel forced to buy just one type. She suggests buying produce that doesn’t have a thick peel, like apples and leafy greens, in the organic form when possible because they protection against pesticides isn’t as good, whereas items with thick skins, like avocados and oranges, can be bought conventionally. When trying to figure out confusing per pound prices, look for items that cost less than $3 per pound. These foods tend to not spoil as quickly and you’re getting the best value. Eating what’s in season will also keep down the cost. As tasty as they are, I’m not sure how I feel about the $6 per pound bell peppers!

Another amazing part of City Market is the bulk section, which is located by the teas. You can get: rice, pasta, flour, candies, spices, types of peanut butters, nuts, cookie, oils, and even lavender soap! This section is great for the times you want to try out a new recipe, need a little bit of cocoa powder, and don’t want to get an entire container. You can get a snack size amount of chocolate covered pretzels for 58 cents and you can see if you like almond butter worry free. City Market also have a sandwich making stand and a hot food and salad bar that I would recommend vegans and vegetarians check out, though, you meat eaters will love the chicken wings. If you want to recreate the dish in our own kitchen just ask the front desk and they’ll e-mail you the recipe.

Another can shop at the co-op, but if you go there often enough you’ll probably wan tto see some savings and benefits. City Market has three options for added discounts and college students can easily join. One is becoming a capitalized members. You pay $15 dollars a year and hold a share of the company. At the end of the year you get a percentage of how much you spend back. The average this past year was $80! Once you’ve been there long enough too have paid $200, assuming you stay in Burlington after graduation, you’ll become a life member and won’t have to pay anymore dues. You can also get discounts at businesses in Burlington like 10% off at Battery Street Jeans and many other places. Another option is to become a working member. You can volunteer at City Market or an affiliated business for 2 hours a month and get a 7% discount for the following month. You can also volunteer for 4 hours and get a 12% discount. Now everyone has a few hours lying, so why not become more involved in your community and take advantage of this great opportunity to eat amazing food.

Don’t forget:

If you bike there, bring in your bike helmet and get 5% off your total

Bring a reusable shopping bag and save 5 cents

Keep on being mindful!

Another transportation option: The UVM off-campus shuttle

2011-01-24T09:56:00.000-08:00

Students! I just confirmed with the Director of Transportation at UVM that Champlain students can ride the UVM off-campus shuttle, which does a loop through downtown and passes by Champlain during the evenings. You may be asked for ID, so be sure to have your Champlain ID with you. If you run into any problems, please let Christina Erickson know.
Evening Off-Campus Sunday-Thursday 6:30pm – Midnight Every 30min
Evening Off Campus Friday & Saturday 6:30pm – 10:00pm Every 15min
Evening off Campus Friday & Saturday Late Night 10:00pm – 3:00am
More information on schedules and maps at http://www.uvm.edu/tps/transportation/

2011 Kill-A-Watt Challenge

2011-01-24T07:53:00.000-08:00

The 2011 Kill-A-Watt Challenge is here!
From January 31- March 6, Champlain College residential halls will compete to reduce electricity usage. The winner of the competition will be determined by the hall that has the largest percentage reduction of electricity over baseline consumption as well as the highest rate of participation in various events on campus and within the residence halls. The aim of this competition is to raise student awareness regarding electricity conservation and related behaviors in Champlain College residence halls - a skill that students will carry with them wherever they live in the future. The Challenge is a collaborative project between Sustain Champlain and Residential Life. Learn more on the Kill-A-Watt Challenge website.

Going Mindful- We're Talking Food This Month, Nom.

2011-01-11T18:46:00.001-08:00

A Teeny Foreword- These past few months I’ve had this increased interest in the food I’m eating, where it comes from, how it is produced, its nutritional values, and the ethical repercussions. Most Americans live by the S.A.D, Standard American Diet, a very unfortunate, though kind of true, acronym. Many are at risk for inadequate diets even if they aren’t eating at fast food places. Another sad truth is many people just don’t care what they’re eating. But for the many that don’t there is a large percentage of the population demanding more food information. We’ve stopped farming for ourselves, but that doesn’t mean we need to give up the right for healthy and safe food or the knowledge of where it comes from. So for the month of January I’ll be blogging about food and how we college students, with minimal income, can still make a change and difference.

It’s relatively easy to reduce your consumption of bottled water, cut back on shower time, and turn off the lights. The benefits are fairly straight forward and don’t involve much pondering or soul searching. Issues that arise when trying to decide how to eat nutritious, tasty, and sustainable meals require more thought and can sometimes, actually many times, leave you going “huh?” Take one thing out of your diet, supplement it with another, and you can end up causing damage in a different area. It’s a touchy scale.

We produce food through massive farms and factories. During production, the amount of water, space that is needed, and potent gases released, typically methane and nitrous oxide which are 23 and 296 time more detrimental than CO2, are second to the impact driving has on the environment! And I guarantee you that it would be much easier to convince someone to drive a car with better fuel economy than drastically change their diet. But we can’t pretend this isn’t an issue and let it spiral until we no longer have a say. Although it can be harder to make sacrifices, eating a sustainable and ethical diet doesn’t mean you have to eat bland food.

Here are three things you can do to help make your meals more sustainable. One of the biggest things you can do to cut down on your meals carbon emissions is too cut back on the amount of meat you’re consuming. You don’t have to becoming a vegetarian, but eating one meatless meal a week, over the course of a year, will cut down your foot print. Many colleges participate in Meatless Mondays. Exeter is one and according to them, a year of participating in Meatless Mondays would reduce their emissions by 15% or 85 tons of CO2e (CO2 equivalents)! It takes a lot of energy to raise livestock and they in turn, through fertilizer, release a large amount of methane into the atmosphere. Large scale factory farms, until now, were not investigated regularly and contributed to water contamination and pollution. According to an article on a website called Sustainable Business, “Now dominating animal production nationwide, confined livestock operations generate more than three times the waste that people do, according to EPA estimates, yet factory farms lack waste treatment facilities comparable to those that treat human sewage.”

Another thing you can do is look into the local movement. Being a Champlain student, there is a good chance you have heard of Vermonters zest for eating food from local farmers. This is the locavore movement and many around in the country are interested. This taps into the issue more people have with the distance their food is traveling from farm to packaging to grocery store and finally table. Now, there are people who disagree with the local movement because transportation of food only accounts for 10-13% of emissions. As one journalist wrote,

“To choose a locally grown apple over an apple trucked in from across the country might seem easy. But this decision ignores economies of scale. To take an extreme example, a shipper sending a truck with 2,000 apples over 2,000 miles would consume the same amount of fuel per apple as a local farmer who takes a pickup 50 miles to sell 50 apples at his stall at the green market.”

People might also say that eating local takes money away from small farmers in other countries. Still, it’s a safe bet the amount of carbon through production and transportation of a local farmer is far less than a mega-farm of factory. It’s kind of like the issue of whether or not to eat (actual) free range chickens because of the amount of land needed. You’ve got to think do I want to ethical or statistically-correct. Again, it’s not always an easy and straightforward answer.

But the idea of eating well and sustainably doesn’t have to be an all or nothing action. I’m generally not a fan of cherry-picking bits of beliefs, but when it’s something as complex as food I think you have to imagine you’re in a Tim Brookes class and he’s asking you, “What are you trying to achieve.” Even if local eating doesn’t match up statistically, there is a lot you can take away from it. For example, you can go to the Farmers Markets and have a face to face conversation with the man growing your strawberries. And you can shake hands with the lady that milked the cows and made your cheese. I strongly believe that local farmers hold themselves to a higher standard because they know that their neighbors are counting of them and they can’t hide behind a homey-sounding business name. It’s possible to live a healthy life on a local diet but it’s not 100% ideal. We’re so very lucky to have variety and the ability to try foods from different countries and cultures, but it’s a good idea to buy from local farmers when possible. It builds a sense of community and allows you to see that you don’t have to look to exotic lands for delicious foods.

The third (though, definitely not final) thing you can do to cut down on your carbon food print is too grow your own food! According to Michael Pollan, author of the bestselling book The Omnivores Dilemma, a small sixty dollar investment in gardening supplies and seeds can save you one hundred and up on your produce bill. Plus, with all the hubbub and uncertainty about genetically modified foods and pesticides, you can be certain of what you’re growing. I am fortunate because my apartment will have a backyard and I understand that many don’t. You can still create small window gardens with containers and pots, and during the final week of January I will give you information on how to start one. If you’re at home and have ample backyard space then give it a try. You can start small and grow the produce you always find yourself buying. Eating should be enjoyable, and it can seem like a headache with all these confusing labels and uncertainties and contradictions, but having an understanding gives you power and knowledge to make the right decision.

Here are some interesting links:

A basic carbon foot print calculator you can use to get a rough idea of where you are.

Here’s the article that questions the locavore myth. It’s definitely good to understand all points being made before forming an opinion!

A trailer of the documentary The Future of Food, which will be showing later this month!

The Low Carbon Diet written by Mike Tidwell. I read it last year in a writing class and it is a good example of the challenges we face when eating.

Here is a breakdown of month long mini-series on food.

Jan 18^th: shopping on a budget and tackling food terminology and labels

Jan 26^th: starting your own garden and composting

TBA: a showing of the movie The Future of Food

Keep on Being Mindful!

-Jocellyn

Remember the 3 R's

2010-12-29T11:08:00.000-08:00

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Going Mindful- Second Hand Clothes & Holiday Recycling

2010-12-23T21:31:00.000-08:00

Hello Beavers,

Winter is already here, and I’m sure many of ya’ll have brought out your big jackets or are tempted by all the winter collections at your favorite store. I’ve been eying some lovely cardigans that are being sold at Urban Outfitters....Too rich for my blood, and I’m sure I’m not the only one that this applies too. Thankfully, Burlington and the surrounding area has a plethora of second hand shops.

Second hand shops, also called thrift stores, are treasure troves and they can help save the environment. How? In case you haven’t noticed, it’s part of the American Culture to accumulate lots of stuff and we love to accumulate clothes. I don’t mean to always use the French as a counter example, but look at how they buy clothes. They buy expensive, quality items that are going to last for many years, whereas we have a tendency buy what’s on sale. Because of this, we end up with lots of clothes we don’t like and they can find their way into our landfills. According to a Huffingpost Article, the EPA says that “Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year and clothing and other textiles represent about 6.3% of the municipal solid waste (in major cities like New York and Chicago alone, textiles make up a whopping 10% of all municipal waste).” This can be avoided for the most part by considering how we dispose of our clothing. Instead of throwing your clothes away, take the time to bring them to The Good Will, Salvation Army, or any centers that organize items for families in need.

You can also bring your more in style and gently worn clothes to consignment shops. If you don’t know what those are, let me graciously elaborate; I absolutely love these places. Consignment shops give you money for clothes they want to sell. Some stores will give you money up front so you don’t have to check in to see if someone has bought your once beloved pants that didn’t fit so well after the freshman fifteen. Now, if you bought a $200 dollar jacket a few years ago you probably won’t get offered more than $20. You might only even be offered $1 for an item, but $1 is better than $0. Battery Street Jeans (which is located on Pine Street…not Battery Street) gives you this option. Plato’s closet in Williston also gives you money upfront, though they usually only take really ‘in-style’ items, so be especially critical of items you want to bring her. Other stores will take what they want to sell, mark them, and you’ll get a percentage the money after they have been bought. Check into these stores to see what the policy is. I know that if you want money upfront at Battery Street, they will give you a lesser percentage. But, if you decide to keep what has been sold for store credit to be used there, the amount will be a bit higher. Just ask if you’re confused and the managers will gladly explain.

I believe that thrifting is one of the more ‘fun’ things to do to Be Mindful. Composting is good and great, but I’m sure most people don’t love turning steaming piles of leftovers. Being Mindful doesn’t always have to be hard. It’s also fairly cheap once you get good at it. Ladies, you can find tons of oversize sweaters and cardigans that are always in season, and I know I can find lots of flannels for my very Vermont beau with minimal searching required. And you can shop at ‘higher’ end consignment stores. If you love vintage, and I mean actual vintage, Old Gold on Main Street is an excellent place to check it out. If you love the way Seven for All Man Kind jeans (or any premium denim) make your booty look, check out Second Time Around on Church Street. You’ll pay anywhere from $60-$100 for a pair of the iconic jeans, but that’s a lot better than paying $200 and up. And who doesn’t love jeans that have already been worn in.

Some of my favorite thrifty finds have been:

$5 pair of Frye Boots (usually $230)—they didn’t fit well, so I sold them on Ebay for $110. Cha-ching!

$15 American Apparel Hoodie (usually $45)

$7 Men’s Ralf Lauren Sweater (God only knows how much that cost)

$5 Prana Yoga Pants (usually $70....Probably the most comfortable pants ever)

Consumerism is another related topic. Most American’s know that the clothing they wear hasn’t been stitched, button, and packaged by workers who receive enough money or proper working conditions. It is up to you to decide if you want to support a certain company, and I cannot have a holier than thou attitude because my entire closet was probably pieced together in sweatshops. Even if your favorite business is not using sweatshop labor, they might be throwing away perfectly good clothing. One notable store is H&M. An article ran in the New Yorker, written by Jim Dwyer in the beginning of 2010, about the clothing store cutting circles into jackets and shirts they hadn’t sold and putting them into dumpsters. Walmart and other non-clothing stores like Home Depot have also been accused of doing the same.

After reading through the comments, I found several reasons why this may happen. Clothing stores that had donated their left over goods noticed people trying to return the clothes for money or store credit. Another reason to dispose of the clothing is for tax purposes. A question that can be asked is why are these companies making so many extra clothes that they have to throw them out. Surely, they must have some analyst that is tracking trends to see what will likely be bought and what won’t. It seems that this excessive waste is unnecessary. You buying one second hand shirt isn’t going to derail an entire company. It’ll take many people and probably many years before these company's see a dent in their wallets. Waste is unnecessary and is costing them money as well, but something in the system is causing them to still do so.

On my final note, it’s Christmas Eve and if you’re like me you’re frantically wrapping your presents. If you haven’t, stop! We generate so much extra waste this holiday through wrapping paper that is just ripped off. According to the website earth911, the wrapping paper industry makes 2.6 billion a year. Instead, think of other things you can use to wrap presents. If you have a family member, perhaps a sister, who is really into fashion, rip out pages from a Vogue or Nylon and use that to cover your gift. Newspaper is highly ubiquitous; gift bags can be reused, and so can wrapping paper if you open veryyyy carefully! I know that unwrapping a gift is a fun part of Christmas (and any other holiday!!!), but for me at least, closing my eyes and holding out my hand is just as exciting too.

If you’ve already wrapped your gifts, don’t fret. There are still ways for you to be mindful. Now that you’ve opened your gifts, you have to do something with the leftovers. Don’t rest on your laurels and throw everything into one big bag. If your parents got something shipped to the house and just wrapped it, make sure you break down the box. If there was a Styrofoam block inside you cannot recycle that. The same goes with those plastic pillows. First I suggest stuffing them down the back of your pants and pretending you have a booty. The holidays are prime time for silliness! Afterward, pop them and you can bring them in with shopping bags to the grocery store, where they can be recycle. Wrapping paper is harder to place because it contains a lot of dye, laminates, and the quality probably isn’t good enough for recycling. This is a time where you can probably them out. However, some towns organize mass collections. You can also contact your local recycler and ask them what you should throw out and what you can recycle.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and get a chance to be absolutely lazy before the new semester starts. I’m not sure what I’ll be writing about next time, so it’ll be a surprise!

Going Mindful- Different 'Flavors' of Car

2010-12-08T21:54:00.001-08:00

Hello Mindful Beavers,

All ya’ll have probably seen a Prius or two, or twenty, as you’re walking about Burlington. But is every driver suited to drive one? Let’s do a general break down of ‘eco-friendly’ cars. First there are hybrids, then there hybrid plug-ins, and finally there are all electric cars.

I’m actually going to start with the electric car. The Nissan Leaf, a car that has no tail pipe and no gas emissions, is now for sale in the United States. You might think that this is a really revolutionary advancement, but electric cars were around in California back in 1996. The story is outlined in a documentary called “Who Killed the Electric Car.” I admit I produced a teeny tiny tear after watching this movie, which is pretty impressive when the main characters are motor vehicles. During the 80’s and 90’s, California had terrible smog levels. In 1990, The California Air Resource Board passed the Zero Emissions Mandate, which forced car companies in California to offer a zero emissions car, and GM went about manufacturing this vehicle. As you can imagine, not everyone bought onto this. But many, including movie star Mel Gibson, fell in love with the electric vehicle (EV). They were zippy, quiet, and not hard to maintain. Unfortunately, California auto makers sued the California Air Resource Board and won. Slowly but surely they started reclaiming electric cars that hadn’t been bought. When people’s leases ran out they wouldn’t let them resign. They promised the parts to make the cars would be recycled; instead they brought these cars to be destroyed. Essentially, GM killed its own child, and tried to get the public to move toward the use of the hydrogen cell car… I highly suggest you watch the documentary to see how the engineers and owners fought back.

Moving forward fourteen years, we again have an electric car. A plus to the electric car is, like stated above, it does not directly give off any emissions, and as we know CO2 is a major greenhouse gas. It still takes energy to create the electricity to charge the vehicles. Now this is where a potential buyer, someone who is most likely very keen on protecting the environment, needs to consider some other points. They have to look at where there electricity is coming from. Sometimes electricity is produced at plants that burn coal to generate energy. Coal is not the ‘nicest’ thing we can be burning. Although, according to experts, an EV is more efficient than a regular car, even if the electricity comes from a coal burning plant. Electricity can also be generated through nuclear waste, which outside of France always seems to be a controversial topic. Steam, wind, and water are three other options that are more environmentally friendly. In this area of VT we get electricity for four different plants. Burlington Electric, McNeil Power Station which uses steam, VT Yankee which uses nuclear, and Hydro Quebec. The ‘mixture’ we use is different every day and can be seen on the Burlington Electric website. So some days we could be using energy from McNeil and other days VT Yankee. A person looking to purchase an EV should be looking at where there electricity is coming from.

The range of the Nissan Leaf is what seems to turn people off. It can only go 100 miles on a charge and can take up to 8 hours to recharge (there is a fast charge option as well). However, many people primarily use their cars to go to work and back, so this would still be a very viable option, and EV car owners in Burlington can also charge up there car’s at City Market. I think this is a great break through and could be especially useful for people who mainly commute.

Next are hybrids and their cousin hybrid plug-ins. You’re probably most familiar with hybrid cause because nearly every car company that sells cars from $13,000 to $400,000 has a hybrid. These types of cars have two engines: one that is powered by gas and one that’s powered by electricity. This combination gives the car a better gas mileage and lower emissions. Hybrid cars are great for people who live in New York City because fuel efficiency and savings are usually seen in the city mpg numbers. They’re also effective for people who live in flat areas because the car uses more energy when going up hills. Hybrid plug-ins are cars that can run on gas and electricity; a Prius is the most notable example. A plug-in is part Nissan Leaf part regular car. They can run on electricity and then switch over to gas if needed; you still need to keep some gas in the tank though. Chevy unveiled the Volt, a plug in car for sale in the United States. However, at $40,000 ($32,000 after tax incentives), it’s still a very expensive car and not immediately feasible for most people. Hybrids have received flack from those who question their eco-friendliness. The electric batteries are made from Nickel which takes a lot of energy to extract and is usually shipped many places to be built. The batteries need to be properly disposed of after the car has met its end because the components are toxic, and rescuing someone in hybrid or electric car raises the risk of rescuer electrocution. The question is do we accept these downsides and work to answer the questions, or do we ignore what these cars can offer?

You don’t necessarily need to go out and buy a hybrid or electric car for better gas mileage or to be more Mindful. Many regular cars have wonderful mileage and don’t cost nearly as much as their hybrid counter parts. The way people drive also factors into how efficient their cars are. If you have a Prius but still drive irresponsible, like slamming on the gas, slamming on the breaks, not keeping your car in tune, etc, you won’t be getting the added efficiency. When I was in high school my rock climbing instructor, who was allowed to drive a red Ford Mustang as a teenager, bought a Prius. His wife was so frustrated with him because he drove it like he drove the Mustang, and the couple thousand extra for added efficiency was going down the drain. Here are some tips to help your car.

1.) 1.Don’t be a speed demon. Okay, I kind of have a lead foot myself, but driving fast decreases efficiency. It also doesn’t get you were you need to go that much faster and you risk getting a ticket. I find that 73mph is a speed when the posted limit is 65. It’s still not the best for your mileage, but it’ll appease the speeder inside. You’re keeping up with or going a little faster than traffic and you might be able to talk your way out of a ticket. However, note that once you’re going over 60 your efficiency will start to falter.

2.) 2. Keep your tires properly inflated.

3.) 3. to love the windows during the summer. A/C is a huge energy waster.

4.) 4. Cruise control is futuristic and will help increase your cars mileage. That’s because it keeps a steady speed, which is something your foot cannot. My first car used to have a digital monitor telling me how many mpg I was getting. The more I used cruise control the more those numbers rose. I admit it took several, several, several, months to go from 19mpg to 23 mpg, but there was lots of satisfaction in seeing that my good driving habits were paying off.

5.) 5. There’s no need for junk in the trunk. Literally. Take out all that extra weight!

6.) 6. It’s summer time and that roof rack on the top of your car is only holding you back because it isn’t creating the most aerodynamic flow.

7.) 7. Think about if you actually need to drive somewhere. Is it possible for you to walk? Can you do more than one thing when you’re out? Is car pooling an option? (funny story, when I was little I used to think car pools were cars that had pools in them…)

8.) 8. When necessary try not to idle. Also, it’s a good idea to warm your car up a little in the winter, but you don’t need to let it warm up for five to ten minutes. Newer cars have more sophisticated engines.

And you can find a lot more tips online! Hybrids, Plug-ins, EV, and regular cars all have their pros and cons. What will work for some might not work for others. These are all things to keep in mind as technology changes and you approach the age where you have to buy your own car. Go into it open minded. I feel that too many people turn down hybrids and EV because they have flaws. Of course they’re going to have flaws. Issues of gas and climate are not going to be solved with one solution, just like there is not one solution for all cars.

Next week I will be talking about how you can shop, save money, look great, and help the environment! This’ll be tied in with consumerism during the holiday season and how you can still spread your chrismahanukwanzakah cheer and help out the planet.

Keep on Being Mindful!

Here is a link for more info on hybrid cars

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/hybrid-cars.htm

Going Mindful- Happy Homes

2010-11-24T20:50:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow Beavers,

Sorry I’ve been a little AWOL for the past few weeks. Busy times right? I hope your Thanksgiving break has been going swimmingly and that you’ve been keeping up with your mindfulness. The water pressure at our house was fixed a few weeks ago, which thankfully ended a tragic two year bend of dismal pressure. So, I admit I did take a very long first shower. However, the next day was significantly shorter! How has taking shorter showers been going for you?

Now down to business. I told ya’ll I’d be giving you advice to bring home to your parents on how to make their homes more energy efficient during the colder months. And most of these tips can be applied to you apartment owners; those lovely Victorian homes you live with aren’t going to keep themselves efficient. Brrrr.

We live in what will probably be the ‘green’ or ‘energy efficient’ era. By now, most people understand the importance of buying energy efficient products because they save money and the environment. So do a clean sweep of your home and/or apartment and see if you can start there. The easiest place would be to start looking at the lights. See if you have any compact fluorescent light bulbs, the swirly ones, or if you have regular incandescent bulbs. CFLB are more efficient than regular bulbs and can last up to 10x longer. I have one that I got during my junior year of high school and it’s still running strong.

CFLB were a lot pricier a few years ago when they first appeared on shelves. Now, the cost difference between the two is significantly closer. You could point this tidbit of information out to your rents, or you could be an awesome child and buy them some for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, etc. It may seem like a ‘lame gift’, but Mom and Dad will probably appreciate it over the usual cable knit sweater. And after you explain how much money (usually in the hundreds) they can save in a year, they’ll be even more excited. If you don’t have the funds to change all the bulbs, take care of the ones that are used the most. Split the costs if you have siblings. The more the merrier.

It also wouldn’t hurt to assess your dwellings energy usage. If something is plugged in, even if it isn’t in use, it’s still drawing energy from the out. These are called phantom loads (funny name right?), and they will cost you. According to the US Department of Energy “"Houses are complex and require comprehensive solutions," he says, “You should look at a house in a holistic fashion. If you do just one thing you may throw others off. For example, sealing off drafts in an attic may cause humidity buildup in other parts of the house."If you want to find out what appliances are pulling the most, you can use a device called the Kill A Watt. I used one of these during boarding school, and it was actually fun to run around and see what used the most electricity when on and off. A Kill A Watt costs around twenty dollars, however, I know they can be borrowed at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington; you could check out your local library and see if they do the same. What you do is plug in the offending appliance, press the watt button, and wait a few minutes for an accurate read. It’ll spit out a number and then you multiply that by your hourly electric rate (can be found on bills) to see how much it costs per hour to leave it on. You can relay that information onto your parents, or consider buying them an energy efficient version of one of the appliances. See, Christmas shopping is getting easier by the minute, and a new blender from son to mom will go over A LOT better than a new blender from dad to mom…just saying. Don’t believe me? Go watch Father of the Bride; it was fiancé to fiancé, but it’s the same idea.

Now back to phantom loads! Buying energy efficient appliances is a valid fix, but another one is just unplugging the machine itself. It seems simple, but it’s a new habit to break into. If the appliances are around your apartment, stick little Post Its as reminders. Ask your parents if they want the same. Computers, printers, lamps, and other devices you might find in an office space are also pulling phantom loads. This is when a Smart Strip can come in handy. These are similar to regular power strips, but some of the spots to plug in are programmed to sense when a device, like a TV or laptop, isn’t in use and turns them off.

Saving energy is an important step. For us New Englanders, having a house that’s properly heated is a necessity. Any money that can be saved on energy and put towards heat is crucial. Living in a energy efficient and properly heated house means going beyond changing bulbs. Ask your parents if they have had someone come in recently to audit the house. A good auditor will bring in equipment to survey the house and use their own knowledge. Encourage them to look into getting one. According to audit expert Von Schrader, a comprehensive audit is strongly encouraged. “Houses are complex and require comprehensive solutions. You should look at a house in a holistic fashion. If you do just one thing you may set others off. For example, sealing off drafts in an attic may cause humidity buildup in other parts of the house,” he says. To look for an auditor check out Energy Star, Residential Energy Services Network, or the Building Performance Institute. Resist the urge to be frugal; you get what you pay for.

After the energy audits, making the changes to the house can cost thousands of dollars. Just replacing the windows with more efficient ones can be equal to purchasing a used car and not a used 89…if you catch my drift. So why are your parents going to listen to you about possibly spending thousands to retrofit their homes at the urge of a college blogger? True, I don’t have a house I’m spending money on. Or even an apartment for that matter. But I know what it’s like to see my family’s financial means change with the economy. And I can imagine what it’s like trying to heat our house with prices where they are. The weight of the dollar is changing every day. So, ask your parents to use their dollars wisely while everything is ‘kinda’ okay. And now, many states have rebate programs and initiatives that can save you a few thousand dollars. Even if your family doesn’t have the means to update their house right away, encourage them to at least get an audit. Again, if you have siblings, this would be a pretty awesome Christmas gift. Then, they will at least know what they need to fix. Also, check out the Energy Star website for a “Do-It Yourself” home audit check list.

And you apartment owners, there are things you can do as well since you probably can’t retrofit your apartment without involving your landlords. Some tips for you, and everyone, require going back to the ‘small’ things. As hard as it is, try, try, and try to keep the heat down. It needs to remain above a certain temp so the pipes don’t freeze, but don’t stray too far above that number. Instead, layer up when you’re indoors. Go down to the Good Will and buy a few large sweaters that are specifically for house use. Buy a special foam jacket to insulate your water pipes. Seal plastic sheets over your windows and buy one of those draft guards for your doors. So you won’t be able to look outside at all the fresh fallen snow, and the draft guard is suuuuper unattractive, but wouldn’t you rather be warm and less broke. Two more tips: dust off your heaters so they work more efficiently, and move your beds and couches a little further away from the walls because those tend me cooler.

Being more energy efficient isn’t terribly hard. It can be as simple as replacing bulbs and remembering to unplug the toaster after you use it. Saving on heat and making a home and apartment more efficient takes time, effort, and money. However, doing what you can now while the government is still giving incentives is extremely important. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and it may not be the most stress free time to mention this to your family. But don’t be shy. It may seem bossy for the kid to advise the parent on what to do and how to best spend their money. But if you sit down with them to describe the process as best as you can, or even take the time do use the guide to conduct your own mini audit, it’ll show them that you do care about them and the house.

Next Week:

Nissan unveiled the Leaf, a fully electric car, a year ago. Recently, Chevy came out with its own version the Volt. I’ll be looking into the pros and cons of electric vehicles and hypothesizing whether or not they’ll become popular with the public. I’ll also be investigating hybrid vehicles and telling you how to run your car as efficiently as possible if you buying a 30,000+ dollar car isn’t in your near future. Keep on being mindful and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Sustain Champlain :: Montreal Edition

2010-11-15T07:29:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I paid a visit to the Champlain College Montreal Campus, to do a quick sustainability assessment of the Academic Centre. See what the Montreal staff says about the visit at their blog.

Going Mindful- Shorter Showers

2010-11-09T13:38:00.000-08:00

According to several Google searches, the average American shower is 10 minutes long. Still, one must take into consideration that men were also included in this survey, and they have a tendency to get in, scrub, and get out. Sorry ladies, but we have a habit of taking pretty long showers. And who could you blame us?! Walk down the aisle of any beauty store and you’ll find oodles and oodles of products marketed towards our demographic. Dry skin- try a nice peach scented exfoliate. Hair feeling dull- lather rinse and repeat, and repeat, and repeat with this coconut shampoo. The list goes on. Most of my girlfriends are well aware of the twenty minute showers they take. I happen to fall in the average American range of ten minutes, and they can’t believe I can do it that fast. However, there is always room for improvement. I decided to break down my typical shower habits.

My average shower (which I take daily) consists of this:
- Washing my hair every other day
- Soaping up
- Washing my face and/or exfoliating (hey, I told you we had a lot of products to chose from)

Overall, I didn’t think I was that bad. But lurking between the essentials were horrible habits I had picked up during my early teen years. This is what I’ve taken notice of. Before I jump into my seemingly efficient 10 minute shower, I have a tendency to turn the water on, go the bathroom, brush my teeth (where I leave the water on…I think I find the sound soothing), test the waters temperature, and finally get into. Of course it isn’t uncommon to need to grab some last minute product from my room. Soon my 10 minute is a 13 minute shower. If there was a god of water conservation he would have already struck me down; lucky for me there is not. I think I picked up these habits during boarding school when it was a mad dash to see who showered in the morning. The smart ones, like moi, marked their territories early with shower caddies and took their time before getting in. But I am not longer in boarding school and those habits needed to change.

The first thing to go was ‘prepping’ the water. It really only takes 5 second for the water to heat up instead of the one to two minutes I was allowing. I also considered things I could do outside of the shower. I don’t need all that water to wash my face; instead I can take care of it in the sink. Shaving there wasn’t that bad either, and it actually delivered a closer shave. Plus I don’t have to pull out any Cirque De Soleil tricks to lift my leg, balance on a wet surface, and wield a 4 blade razor. But just make sure you rinse the sink out well! No one wants to look down and see a white bowl full of leg and pit hair. Yuck.

I had already taken few minutes off of my shower time and I hadn’t had to resort to any extreme measures. So why are shorter showers so important to Going Mindful? Well, hopefully you know that water is NOT a renewable resource. You wouldn’t be able to tell the way we run through it, though. And to be honest times have changed. I stumbled upon a cool article by an owner of an organic skincare line that only showered three times a week. She explained how even though we’re not farming and getting dirty like we used too we are showering as if we are. Plus, there’s a chance that all these showers are drying out our skin and causing us to need more moisturizers. And she can’t be all that biased or else she’d be pushing more showers so we’d have to buy more of her organic lotions. Hmmm.

Then I thought back to the commercial this summer for the book turned movie Eat, Pray, Love. In the trailer, the main character looks quizzically at the tub that’s filled with only a splash of water. She complains and a little European lady says something like, ‘everything that needs to be cleaned will.’ And it’s true. Do we really need to scrub arduously away at forearms and legs? The only time I’ve ever experience the phenomenon of sweating from my quads was during a Bikram class. Unless you’re daily life is equal to holding poses in a humid 105 degree room, I don’t think that’s an issue for anyone. It’s essential to wash your arm pits, face, and ‘nether-regions’, and that’s pretty much it.
Now I’m not saying you need to convert from being an everyday shower-er to a once a week-er. Everyone’s bodies are a little different, and some people do have an interesting funk them that requires, erm, more shower time. But you’ll never know if you don’t try showering less. There is a good chance that you won’t smell as rancid as you’d think. Ask your roommate to give their honest opinion , if you’re that concerned.

So you like to go to the gym every day? Think back on your normal workouts. Are you honestly that sweaty? You probably don’t need to take a full on shower afterwards. Rub some soap under your pits, pat dry, and go. Yes, it might be a little awkward when a dorm mate catches you in the action, but there are far worse acts to be caught in. Try showering every other day and see how that goes. You heard the school uses low flow shower heads so it’s okay to take more time? That’s one way to look at it, or you can see it as a way to be two times as efficient.

If you’re a 20-minute shower offender, try making a 15-minute playlist of your favorite songs. Every week cut back until you are down to anywhere between 7 and 10 minutes—you can do it! Anyone can benefit from this trick and then you won’t have to countdown the seconds. And if you can, avoid the whole ‘Save Water Shower Together’ method. Even though it sounds like a good idea, it’s pretty weak. You’ll probably end up wasting more water because you and your shower buddy will get ‘distracted’, or you’ll spend so much time rotating who gets the water and who doesn’t. Trust me when I say you’ll only find looks of resentment and impatience on the person who isn’t getting the hot water.

But jokes aside, really look at your shower behaviors and see what you can cut back on. We American’s really love that time and it is part of our culture. But it’s okay to let go a little. I visited France in 2008, the home of notorious shower forgoers, and for a nation that walks pretty much everywhere and rarely showers, they smelt quite wonderful.

To read up on the shower article, go to:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39937951/ns/health-skin_and_beauty/

And be thankful the school doesn't use these!

Also, watch out for the Mindful Tip of the Week. It’ll be posted in the e-bulletin that comes out every Monday.

Next week I will be writing about awesome devices and appliances that can lower energy usage and help with the environment. Also, I’ll be talking about simple ways home and apartment owners can save money and still be comfortable during the winter months. You can share these tips with your parents during thanksgiving break, and I bet they’ll be so thankful that you can convince them to buy you an energy efficient power strip ;) Have a great week and keep being mindful!