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about me
Name Katherine Kirby Neubert Birthday 09.13.87 Email katherineneubert@hotmail.com -- writer, jolter, aspiring photojournalist.
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alexis design the daily collegian the daily jolt the new york times wordswift |
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Sustainable agriculture is any of a number of environmentally friendly farming methods that preserve an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources. And it is becoming a popular lifestyle among all age groups. Although it can be hard work, there are many ways average college students can become part of this new ecological movement and make a difference in their surrounding environment.Energy Ever been even slightly interested in how to live a more sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle? Try taking John Gerber's class on Sustainable Living. A majority of the class is geared towards inspirational stories told by ordinary citizens who try to live their lives in a more sustainable manner. Students in that class then reflect on their relationship with the earth and then are asked to create a Personal Holistic Goal, which helps them make more sustainable decisions in their everyday lives. "I am more interested in helping students find a new way of thinking, than telling folks how to act," said Gerber. Each week, students have a homework assignment, the first one being an Ecological Footprint. The Footprint is used as a tool to measure each student's impact on Earth's resources, based on their everyday lifestyle, Gerber said.. Gerber lives a very sustainable lifestyle himself. Biking to work everyday, he grows his own vegetables, fruit, honey (yes, he's got the bees) and raises chickens and turkeys in his backyard. He and his wife live in a highly insulated home and will be installing a solar hot water heater on their house this spring. They also use wood to supplement the heating oil and to save money. They recycle everything. While his work at UMass with sustainability is only recent, Gerber has been working with farmers on sustainable agriculture since the mid 1980's and has taught Organic Gardening since the mid 1970's. GardenShare is a student organization at UMass that allows students to practice sustainable agriculture and organic farming methods. This organization, also run by Gerber, has a little less than an acre plot of land in Amherst where members grow vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. "I do this work both because I am concerned about the harms we are doing to ourselves and the earth, but also because this work is fun and attracts really interesting people into my life," said Gerber. "People who work for sustainability seem to be joyful." Waste Ever wonder how much water you use in a day? Or how much water goes into a shower? Average per capita daily household water use in the U.S. (not including irrigation and power generation,) is now up from between five and ten gallons per person in 1900 to a whopping 75 gallons today! Food Ever think about how much food goes to waste after it is mass-produced at the dining commons? With the buffet style, all you want to do is throw a little bit of everything on your plate - who cares if you don't finish it all, right? Ever wonder how much food actually goes to waste? Last semester alone, Waste Management collected about 72.5 tons, or 145,000 lbs. of waste from plates and trays, every month, The average waste is at about 5 oz. per person, each time they visit the DC. "It is comparable to other schools, but still too much," said Ken Toong, Director of Dining Services. "We have posted signs to encourage students to take only what you can eat, and in some DCs, we even posted how much food per month we collected from the plates and trays." Wondering what they do with all that leftover food they have at the end of the day? Health regulations say they can use it within 24 hours, otherwise it goes to composting. No leftover food is given to the needy due to liability issues, said Toong. Buildings One thing UMass is trying to do, in order to make campus more eco-friendly, is create "green buildings." Beginning in the fall semester of 2006, the University began adding over 400,000 square feet of new academic space and 864 new beds in Undergraduate Housing. The campus has not officially acquired a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for these buildings, but, they have, been using the rating scale as a guideline for design, incorporating as many characteristics of a green building as possible. Also, every new or renovated building has LEED accredited professionals and commissioning agents in the design process. Another part of campus that was created to be more environmentally savvy is the new Central Heating Plant. Scheduled to be operational this month, this new heating plant will produce almost twice as much energy than older heating plants on campus, while emitting seven times less green house gas, The plant will be one of the cleanest burning facilities of its size and kind throughout the nation, and will provide all of the steam and nearly all of the electric power required for the UMass campus. Other new green buildings include the planned Recreation Center, the Studio Arts Building, all undergraduate housing built after 2006, the School of Nursing's Skinner Renovation and the Integrated Sciences Building. Do Your Part
On-campus Students for Environmental Awareness and Action is a group of students at UMass that promote an increasing student awareness of environmental issues and participating in actions to improve the environment. Focus the Nation is attempting to coordinate teams of faculty, students and staff at over a thousand colleges, universities and high schools in the United States, to collaboratively engage in a nationwide, interdisciplinary discussion centered stabilizing the climate. American Society of Civil Engineers Amherst Student Chapter Engineers without Borders Environmental Horticulture Club MassPIRG Net Impact Office of Community Service Learning UMass Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society For more information about these and other on-campus groups, contact the Center for Student Development at 413-545-3600. Off-campus Appalachian Mountain Club is an outdoor recreation, conservation and education organization. Center for Ecological Technology is a non-profit organization which works to demonstrate and promote practical, affordable solutions to the environmental challenges encountered in our daily activities. Clean Water Action is a Northampton citizen's group working for clean, safe, and affordable water, pollution prevention, environmentally safe jobs and businesses, as well as change through political action. Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture is a non-profit organization working to sustain agriculture throughout the country. Conte Refuge is a national fish and wildlife refuge focusing on environmental and watershed education.. EarthAction is an "amnesty international for the planet," - a network of 1,900 citizen groups through the world seeking to encourage corporations and national governments to find solutions to global problems. Green Corps is a non-profit organization who teaches tomorrow's leaders how to approach environmental problems. Hitchcock Center for the Environment, located in Amherst, hopes to increase the "environmental literacy" of citizens. Sierra Club Pioneer Valley is part of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Sierra Club and composed of members living in the three counties of Massachusetts that include the Connecticut River: from north to south, they are Franklin, Hampshire, and Hamden Counties. For information on these and other environmental groups, visit: www.umass.edu/tei/TEI_2005/forstudents.html. --- *You can view this article here. "Kat" [
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