Water brings life. Water is life. Civilization has always depended up on water to grow and flourish. Every great civilization learned to master water, Progress does not mean leaving the past behind; it means taking the best parts of the past and raising them up to be our future. It means shedding inefficiencies and destructive habits in order to promote success and happiness. Water was and always will be essential.
It is universally accepted that safe drinking water will define the struggles of the next century. It is also certain to me that progress will not outgrow water. Instead it will come to define us more as we rediscover the importance of this gift we have so arrogantly abused.
As we become more urban we must transform our cities into communities. We must offer recreation and access to nature not only for our physical health but also our mental and spiritual wellbeing. Every major religion has a sacred relationship with water and so does every single person, regardless of creed or geography.
I suppose it is fitting that as a child in every cartoon or book that I ever read that involved elemental powers I always wanted the power of water. It fascinated me. Something so essential and life sustaining could also be a powerful weapon of destruction and force. Water is both calm and wrathful. It can bring serenity and panic.
The water cycle is beyond fascinating in that water seems to come from nowhere and disappear as well. We only see one part of the river’s flow. And the entire river is only a small part of the global flow. I dream of following the flow of a great river from its origin to the ocean. To see the amazing journey water takes and all the ways it influences the world along the way.
So it’s been a while since my last blog post so I figured I’d do two for today. More so I really just wanted to talk about something: IT’S HOT!!!!!! Today is the perfect combination of heat and humidity to make you want to curl up in front of an open freezer with a giant bowl of ice cream. Or you can do what John and I did and stay inside instead of mapping trees today. Spending all day in the sun can often get pretty hot and help us develop an awesome farmer’s tan, but days like this would just be unbearable. However, all these hot days remind me of a place on campus that’s a lot cooler, the forests!
As part of our research we’ve read about the benefits of urban trees and one of the biggest benefits is that they help cool down the area. They provide shade to help reduce the heat island effect, they reflect the sun better than asphalt does, and did I mention that they provide fantastic shade? But in all honesty, when we work in the forest I can feel a real drop in temperature and rise in thermal comfort compared to mapping the trees on the quads. Just walking across campus for 5 minutes in order to get to the forest is more miserable than spending 4 hours under the canopy. Well that might be a big of an exaggeration but being in the forest is fantastic.
The day I realized how much I looked forward to our forest days made me think about the value of trees as cooling agents. Luckily for us the University of Richmond campus is very woody and has tons of cosmetic trees all over the place to provide shade. I couldn’t imagine living in a place without trees. It would be sparse, sad-looking, and so hot! So next time you take refuge from the sun under a tree, think about how much better it would be if your community was filled with twice as many trees.
And just for fun here’s a couple of pictures of John and I hugging trees taken with our GPS units
So I figured it would be a good time to talk about what exactly I’m doing this summer, and no it’s not just counting trees like everyone asks. This summer I’m mapping the trees on the University of Richmond campus using GIS (Geographic Information System). During my first semester of college I decided that I wanted to conduct research over the summer so I talked with my advisor, Dr. Lookingbill. He suggested the tree mapping as a way to build upon a project an undergraduate student did several years ago creating a list of all the plant species on campus. The part of the project that really caught my attention was the idea of calculating the amount of carbon the trees on campus held and the overall carbon sink value of our campus.
To prepare for the project I took Introduction to GIS to learn the mapping software. I loved the class and was excited to advance my GIS skills over the summer. John (my fellow research) and I started by creating a plan for the summer, developing methods for collecting data, constructing a data dictionary for the GPS units, and learning to identify trees. We decided to only map the trees on the Westhampton side of campus as the entire campus would be too big of a project for one summer. We also decided that instead of measuring every tree within the forests we would collect several transects within each forest to use as representative samples in our final calculations.
John is leaving next Friday and I will be here for 2 more weeks to finish wrapping up the project. Unfortunately it looks like we won’t finish, so my job is to create procedures of further data collection during the fall semester. I’m a bit disappointed that we couldn’t finish everything but I am also excited to have learned so much in the process about GIS. I’ll post a link to the online map when it is up and running!
So since I have been living in an apartment this summer and am on a limited meal plan I have been cooking for myself most meals. Now, I’ve always loved playing around in the kitchen, but at home it was mostly throwing together some of Mom’s leftovers in an interesting way instead of just using the microwave. Here I’ve gotten to go shopping by myself (and realized that groceries are expensive!) , plan an entire meal, and experience food going bad because I didn’t use it soon enough (gross/bummer!).
As part of my cooking adventures I have decided to experiment with some fresh spices. I got the idea because outside of our dining hall is an herb garden that most people don’t know about! It has been mostly taken over by rosemary and mint, but there’s also some thyme, chives, and another spice I have yet to identify with my low level of expertise.
The herb garden outside of dhall.
Fresh picked rosemary, thyme, and chives
For my first exploration with fresh spices I used rosemary three days in a row. The first day I used it to pan fry chicken with olive oil and then added fresh tomato and feta cheese at the end (picture below). Unfortunately I added way too much olive oil and it got a little soupy. However, it was delicious! After that semi-success the next day I use two red potatoes I had purchased and did the same but tried to fry the potatoes with the chicken. This turned out well, but unfortunately I didn’t realize the potatoes needed to be cooked a lot longer than the chicken so they were still a bit raw when I sat down to enjoy my meal. The third night of my rosemary experiment I returned to the chicken and tomatoes with feta because it was just so delicious.
My first rosemary pan fried chicken with tomatoes and feta
After these few days of experimenting it was my birthday, and for my birthday I asked my parents to take me grocery shopping when they visited. I stocked up on some supplies and also purchased a basil plant to try my hand at growing herbs. In addition my parents brought up 3 cucumber and 3 grape tomato plants for my plot in the campus organic garden (I’ll elaborate more on that in a later post).
My basil plant (I lost one of the big stems repotting it)
And this brings me to my most recently culinary experiment. Using this recipie as a base I created a garlic chicken with egg noodles dish. I used rosemary from the herb garden to pan fry the chicken in the garlic butter sauce and added chives from the garden at the end as the recipe suggests. I also added Parmesan cheese. It turned out wonderfully. Next time I make it (and I will make it again) I will probably use more butter than olive oil to give it more of a butter taste and possibly add a bit of garlic (as I’m garlic crazy).
Garlic chicken and egg noodles
Overall I have been very satisfied by my culinary adventures so far. There is something intensly satisfying about taking the time to prepare a meal and then tasting the fruits of your success. And even if you’re not successful, you have learned an important lesson for next time.
It’s been a while since my last post but I figured now would be a good time to update my blog. This summer I am conducting research on campus through the Geography Department. I am working on creating a map of the trees on campus and estimating the carbon sequestration of each landscaped tree, the forested area, and the campus as a whole.
As part of my research I am living in an on-campus apartments with three other researchers. One who is working on the campus tree mapping with me, one who is doing philosophy research, and one who is doing neuroscience research. We have a pretty fun apartment and so far get along great. Our apartment also has an affinity for cooking delicious meals and buying natural foods.
This summer I’ll share updates on my cooking adventures, attempts at gardening, explorations of Richmond, and anything else I get into. I’ll also get back to writing about sustainability and other things that interest me. So stay tuned!
I figured I could follow up my last post about sustainable fashion brand Osklen by talking about another clothing brand that has sustainability at its core, Patagonia. The outdoors company has been selling high quality outdoor gear for over 40 years. Their target demographic is the “dirt bag,” basically the kind of person who is comfortable in the backcountry than in the suburbs. However, over the years their gear has become incredibly popular with those suburban and urban dwellers who don’t quite need the gear for what it is intended for. In the recent Slate article I read they refer this loyal consumer base as the “dog walkers.”
I have to admit, I hadn’t heard of Patagonia until I came to school at University of Richmond, where EVERYONE wears Patagonia. I discovered that just like at my high school where The North Face was extremely popular, Patagonia was a fashion statement here. So it wasn’t long before I ended up with my own piece of Patagonia. I tell myself I deserve to own a piece of Patagonia since I consider myself outdoorsy, or at least more outdoorsy than the majority of people sporting the label.
I purchased these shoes for $20 at the REI garage sale that I attended with members of the University of Richmond Outdoors club. They are originally $65. I absolutely love them. For of those of you who don’t know how REI works, it is an outdoors store that is organized as a consumers’ cooperative. So once you purchase a membership you receive a dividend return for your purchases at the end of the year, free shipping for store pickups, and best of all returns for any reason at all. When customers return their gear it is stored in the warehouse and throughout the year REI stores will hold garage sales where they will sell all returned merchandise at huge discounts. That’s how I got my first piece of Patagonia so cheap, because someone decided they didn’t fit well enough.
This method of acquisition perfectly fits one of Patagonia’s initiatives, the Common Threads Initiative, which encourages customers to only buy new products if they really need them. Instead they encourage customers to shop on EBay, thrift stores, and events such as this REI one in order to limit waste. Patagonia’s products are built for durability as well, so their overall plan for consumers is for them to buy only what they need, and wear it until they can’t wear if anymore. If you decide you want a new Patagonia before yours has reached the end of its lifespan, make sure someone else can use it instead of wasting it in a closet somewhere. This approach is very different from most companies, especially fashion companies whose business model is dependent upon selling new lines every season.
This is why the next time I need a jacket I will be investing in, not purchasing, a Patagonia. Consumers like me can justify the high cost of Patagonia products because they are meant to be seen as an investment. My shoes are no just another pair I might wear if they fit my outfit; they are the shoes I will wear until the soles are gone. I believe that is the difference between the dirt bag and the dog walker. The dirt bag will wear through the soles, the dog walker won’t. I will admit, I’m far from a dirt bag, but that’s the effect that this imagine of Patagonia can have on a dog walker like me. Patagonia might not have set out to change the dog walkers into dirt bags, but I believe that if they continue to stay true their philosophy of durability and sustainability they can have a positive impact through the clothing industry. They can sell for functionality, fashionability, and sustainability all at once.
A few weeks ago I was assigned a website brand presentation for a brand from an emerging market. I ended up profiling Osklen, a high-end Brazilian sportswear company. The brand was started in 1989 by Brazilian entrepreneur Oskar Metsavaht. Metsavaht was a mountaineer who designed his own outdoors gear after noticing a lack of gear being sold in Brazil. Soon thanks to his publicity after becoming the first Brazilian to scale Mont Blanc his brand took off. They began a “lifestyle” fashion line that was inspired by the laid back surf lifestyle of Brazil.
The brand takes the laid-back beach inspired look and makes it urban. They do an excellent job representing Brazil as a beautiful country renowned for its beaches and beautiful people, as well as one of the fastest growing nations that is increasing its global presence every year. Even I could appreciate what Metsavaht was doing with his clothes, and I know almost nothing about fashion. So I was even more surprised while exploring Osklen’s website to discover that they are also extremely committed to sustainability.
Metsavaht created Institutio e, is an institute whose mission is “transforming and positioning Brazil as ‘the country’s sustainable human development’, through the creation and management of a network that leverages synergies between different initiatives and actors in society.” It’s quite an impressive goal, but what does it mean exactly? The organization is working to create an online community of “e-brigaders” to support sustainable development in Brazil through a variety of means, but mostly through empowerment by sharing information through social media (check out their Twitter).
The biggest initiative the institute has undergone is the winter collection for 2012. COLECÃO A21 OSKLEN – INVERNO 2012 was inspired by the 20th anniversary of the Rio-92 Conference, and specifically by Agenda 21 which was signed there. The document, which established the importance of each country to seek solutions to the socio-economic and environmental problems of the world, has been one of the most influential international consensus made concerning sustainable development. The collection will be released before June when the Rio +20 United National conference on Sustainable Development will be held. The collection highlights one of the main focuses of Institutio e, to develop “e-fabrics” by “identifying sustainable raw material for use in the textile and fashion supply chain, creating a culture of conscious consumers.” The e-fabrics displayed in this collection are Arapaima and salmon skin, silk and organic cotton, and canvas eco.
I’m excited to see what Osklen will bring to Rio +20. This is the kind of initiative that Agenda 21 was created to do, to help create eco centered companies to cater to eco consumers and help solidify the triple bottom line and create a truly sustainable world. Clothes are what we live our lives in, so why not live life in a sustainable way?
Two Clemson University architecture students, Eric Laine and Suzanne Steelman, have created a video featuring their revolutionary new idea called LiveWork. The basic premise of LiveWork is to focus on the economics of sustainability instead of just the environment. The pair achieves this by having their housing units also contain commercial space to be used by the owner of leased to another business or franchise. Here’s the video, they explain it much better than I can:
This idea reminds me of an idea featured in the book World Changing: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century by Alex Steffen. In the book Steffen suggests that businesses could share spaces, such as a cafe by day and club by night. This is not a completely novel idea, many businesses change throughout the day, but this idea would involve two completely different businesses using the same space. The point of this idea is to support businesses by cutting back on the cost of leasing their spaces and becoming more efficient with the spaces we have built.LiveWork works much in the same way, fusing residential living with commercial business. Not only is this a great way to maximize space but it also helps create those walkable and livable communities that are dominating the urban planning field currently.
After watching this video I posted it to the Facebook page for my school’s US Green Building Club (USGBC) students club, which I am a part of. I did so obviously because it was a new idea about green buildings that I thought my peers would be interested in, but also because I was intrigued that they did not once mention LEED in the video. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) has become the accepted standard in green building for the US. As I have worked more with the LEED system this semester I have begun to see the downfalls and weaknesses of LEED. LEED helps build buildings that use water and energy more efficiently and maximize occupant satisfaction while minimizing environmental impact, but the system does not really change how we build or use buildings.
LiveWork on the other hand changes the purpose of a building. A LEED building is build for a classic one purpose: housing, offices, commercial use, etc. LiveWork envisions buildings as mix used spaces that help diversify communities and can change how we live. To me LEED is a great way to do what we are doing better, but LiveWork is a way to change what we are doing. Perhaps it is time we take a step back and examine other solutions beyond the accepted standard. LEED is still by far a great tool, but perhaps it should be applied to a new mentality instead of an old one.
So my last post was about fast food chain Chipotle who is doing some really awesome stuff with organic and locally grown foods.Their commitment to creating a healthier agriculture and food system makes me a bit angry when I think about McDonald’s new greenwashing campaign. The guys over at Grist first turned me on to this new campaign. Check out a couple of the videos and read their article:
Grist already tackled the potatoes video, so I figured I’d give my opinion on their beef supplier. Let me start by saying that these commercials are very well done. Not quite as good as the Chipotle video I love, but still very well done. They make it seem like all their beef comes from this nice family run farm where the grandfather teaches his grandsons the family business and your cows roam free and are as happy as can be well until they go into your burger at least. I do believe that this farm supplies McDonalds, but I highly doubt all of their beef suppliers are similar to this. As Grist points out most of the carbon content of fast-food beef comes from corn (check out this Scientific American article). So I suppose documentaries like King Corn and Food Inc. might not be unfair attacks on the fast-food industry.
My problem with this is that McDonalds is basically insulting everything Chipotle is doing by pretending to care about more than the bottom line. Although, it seems like customers aren’t tricked into loving McDonalds after their recent Twitter backlash where the company was abused after trying to create a positive trending topic. Perhaps they got what they deserved, we’re not stupid.
I know that I am a bit late with this video, but I enjoyed it so much that I thought I would share it again. I watched it a few weeks ago when it hit YouTube and became fairly popular. Unfortunately I have to admit that I had never been to a Chipotle before this video. Many of my friends had talked about how much they loved Chipotle but not being a die hard Mexican food or fast food fan in general I never felt the pull to visit a Chipotle. Then I saw the following video.
Beyond how downright cute this video is and how awesome Willie Nelson cover Coldplay’s “The Scientist” was the video stands out for its message alone. I had not realized that Chipotle was so dedicated to organic and local food. So I decided to do some research to see if they were just greenwashing or really making a commitment.
Not only is the company committed to sourcing all their food from local and organic suppliers, but they have now created The Chipotle Cultivate Foundation to work with producers, farmers, and ranchers to expand the production of healthier and more natural foods. I have to say, I was downright impressed with Chipoltl and also disappointed that I have never heard about their sustainability goals until now. Most companies that I look at only approach sustainability from the surface for PR reasons. Well Chipotle has ingrained it in their business model and is working to expand their goals beyond their own company. To me this is an impressive feat that will garner them more support than any greenwashing would have.
Also disapointing me? That I had never tasted one of their supposedly fantastic tasting and good for the environment burritos before. So I set out to rectify that problem, and lo and behold it was delicious. I look forward to seeing what Chipotle does next with its impressive goals, and I look forward to more burritos in my future.
Here’s a few of my favorite articles I discovered:
Taylor's Sustainability Blog 