Dining halls are wasting less, becoming greener

STEPHANIE BERCHT Staff Writer
sberch20@student.scad.edu

When Earth Day came around, there were charts near the dispenser belts in Café SCAD and J.O.’s. The charts had no indication and sat next to the conveyer belts with 14 columns, each labeled in pounds and at the bottom, day one through day 14.

For Earth Week, the dining halls kept track of how much food is wasted in two weeks. According to Jim Evola, Unit Manager of Dining Services, 3,854 pounds of solid food was wasted during those two weeks. Of that, 60 percent was from what students took to the conveyer belt—that is, they took more food than was wanted or needed.

The rest were after-effects of having to plan a massive meal for a number of consumers, who may not always consume everything.

Drexel University in Pa. and Fordham University in New York City also participated in the Weigh the Waste program, an initiative of Sodexo. Sodexo is a food provider for 600 campuses all over the country, including SCAD.

The company pushes for sustainable practices, and many have trickled their way into our dining halls, although few of these changes are obvious enough for the users to notice. These sustainable behaviors include energy and resource expenditure, acting local and diminishing waste. SCAD has “tray-less dining,” which, according to Sodexo studies, reduces waste up to 30 percent, if not more.

General Manager Curtis Bolden said that the dining services encourage students to take a bit and come for seconds. Many students who were here last year may have noticed a change in the napkins. Last year, napkins were loosely placed on trays, and with a gust of wind, a third of them ended up on the floor. This year, the NapXpress dispenser allows for a single napkin to be taken at a time. The napkins themselves are non-bleach. Bulk condiment dispensers are also a step in the greener direction by eliminating individual packaging.

Even the ware-washing soap, a brand by the name of Apex by Ecolab, has a higher degree of biodegradable ingredients. Evola explained that the soap is in a thin wrap that dissolves, as opposed to a hard case packaging that goes in the trash. “It’s double the cost, but less harmful for the environment,” Evola said. Sodexo works with the grocer Sysco Foodservices Co.

Together they work with a supplier called FreshPoint, requesting that any produce on their request list be from locally-harvested sources, as the seasons allow. What about recycling? Trash containers near clubSCAD and Weston house are brimming with cardboard, which is all recycled. That recycling program is run through the SCAD Physical Resources department. Another green concern is Styrofoam.

According to Bolden, approximately 1,000 pieces of Styrofoam containers are given out a week. Bolden stated that they are always looking for a more sustainable product. Biodegradable products are environmentally friendly, but cost-prohibitive. However, more meaningful alternatives are available.

St. Leo University in Florida is that of a reusable take-out container. Eliminating the purchase of a thousand disposable containers per week can make that program cost-effective. Further investigation into other alternatives may yield greater benefit to the environment and the college.

The importance of Earth Day

STEPHANIE BERCHT Staff Writer
sberch20@student.scad.edu

Of all the things spring offers, I get the most excited about Earth Day. It boosts my energy like a healthy dose of a fresh, tasty açaí smoothie.

Lately, however, I feel my body is getting used to caffeine and not getting the same effect.

I enjoy strolling from booth to booth at the Earth Day festival, seeing what Savannah is offering for a healthy sustainable environment.

There is a wonderful feeling of being overwhelmed — in a good sense — by the people and projects focused on making a healthier environment. It keeps my growing cynical outlook in check and allows me to return to my original faith in humanity.

Pushing for healthier sustainable practices has become almost second nature to me, to an extent that occasionally I forget and catch myself thinking, ”Why do I insist so much on this? What was the point again?”

Before, these thoughts were only driven further away by the negligent attitude of people who overconsume, waste endlessly and don’t believe in “global warming.”

But now, little things have begun to stop me in my tracks.

For example, I met with a friend on Earth Day and she carried a green plastic bag filled with a wonderful compilation of opportunities in recycling, community gardens and furniture companies.

Already I cringed at the plastic bag. I knew what was coming. Ecstatically, she pointed at the sign on the bag, saying, “Look, it’s biodegradable! Wouldn’t it be great to get Ex Libris and Savannah to use the same material?”

My heart always gets in a tug-of-war whenever the corn-based plastics topic comes my way.

Yes, it’s wonderful – it’s wonderful to see you and others get excited about the possibilities of less harmful waste. But no, that’s not the solution.

To biodegrade that stuff, the conditions have to be perfect. They end up in a trash bag that ends up in the landfill. Nothing biodegrades in a landfill. Fifty-year-old newspapers are still readable in a landfill.

I don’t want to think that it’s all “greenwashing.” Some changes are baby steps. I understand that. But don’t even get me started on SCAD’s nifty corn-based plastic cups they use at special events.

So, naturally, I can’t help but wonder, does it still serve its purpose?

I have only partaken in Savannah’s Earth Day, so I can’t tell for sure. Initially it was a single day of the entire year designated as a teach-in on environmental awareness and a push for change.

The first one in 1970 was a series of rallies all over the nation. It led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species acts.

Like Earth Day in Savannah, it brought together people who shared the same values. And change happened.

The amount of hard work and energy to bring together so many people for a few hours on a Saturday can’t possibly be greenwashing.

No doubt, most of it is more for self-promotion than anything else, but the fact that organizations insist on coming off as “green” only comes to show that the demand is high for this benefit. Consumers want a healthier environment and use their dollar bills as a vote.

Maybe it’s not the caffeine wearing off. Maybe it’s infatuation turning into real emotions. You don’t have to believe in “global warming” but does it hurt to keep your home a healthy place to live in?

I’m glad to know Earth Day has been annually celebrated for 39 years. The process is slow, but change starts with awareness and power is in numbers.

Illustration by Emerald Choi

A Dark Earth for a Better Earth

STEPHANIE BERCHT Staff Writer
sberch20@student.scad.edu

In 2007, 2.2 million homes in Sydney, Australia, were in complete darkness for one hour. This was the beginning of Earth Hour, an annual event organized by World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The Sydney Opera House, Rome’s Coliseum and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square were only a few of the global landmarks in darkness for a whole hour in 2008. Read more

Alumnus works toward greener design

MYRRIAH GOSSETT News Editor
mgosse20@student.scad.edu

Design Green Now is an educational program headed up by a team of designers that includes Industrial Design alumnus Matt Tyson. The program is a set of events marketed to international designers who are working towards more eco-friendly designs and products.

Design Green Now is organizing events to take place in New York City on April 1. They will be similar to their West Coast event tour that took place last year. This year they have similar goals and want to expand as well.

“The main goal is to inspire and to educate existing and immerging designers in the community on how to design for the environment,” Tyson said.

Read more

Student designs solar-powered shutters

STEPHANIE BERCHT Staff Writer
sberch20@student.scad.edu

Stratton Hatfield is originally from Bermuda – born and raised. For his senior project he decided to focus on a passion of his: sustainable design.

Stratton wants to facilitate the incorporation of sustainable practice in his home country of Bermuda.

“My focus was to help Bermuda reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuel. It was a big ambition,” says Hatfield.

He began thinking of this project during the winter break and has developed it in the last two and a half months. He tailored his concept to alternative energies, and settled on solar power. “Solar power has been around since the ’70s, and the technology is well developed,” he said. Read more

Teach-in offers three days of solution-driven focus

STEPHANIE BERCHT Staff Writer
sberch20@student.scad.edu

A new year and new president offer a time for change, and for the better. SCAD is participating for the second time in the Focus-the-Nation Teach-In, where institutions all over the country simultaneously provide a day where the focus is on climate crisis, sustainable practices and solution-driven dialogue.

The Teach-In, organized by the Council for Sustainability and Eco-practices, will take place in a period of three days, Feb. 4-6 at Arnold Hall, and will include lectures, workshops, discussions and screenings of documentaries. Industry professionals, government officials and SCAD faculty and students will participate.

There will be a screening of the “National Geographic Arctic Tales,” followed by a discussion with SCAD Professor and the film’s executive producer, Kevin McCarey, on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. at Arnold Hall.

Thursday, Feb. 5 will be a day of lectures and discussion. Topics include sustainable practices in industrial design, architecture, solar energy, local action, water conservation, recycling and more.

Friday, Feb. 6, is packed with exciting workshops. These include a demo on bike repair, hands-on how to build a wind turbine, how to build and maintain a worm-bin and growing plants out of old bike tubes, to name a few. Simultaneously, in Room 110, there will be a showing of environmental documentary films by the SCAD film and television department. In the auditorium, there will be video lectures from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). The day will be wrapped up in the auditorium in the afternoon.

Visit http://blog.scad.edu/eco/teach-in for more information.

Recycling confusion affects students both on and off-campus

BRIAN SMITH Editor in Chief
bsmith31@student.scad.edu

The City of Savannah’s residential curbside recycling pickup program that started earlier this month is delayed due to an unexpected level of citizen participation. Despite the plus-side of this delay’s cause – a lot of recycling going on, SCAD students both on and off-campus have mentioned their concerns: Off-campus SCAD sound design alum Robert Timby’s four backyard bins have been overstuffed since before the first scheduled pickup date for his neighborhood, Jan. 8. Dorm-dwelling students are left without black-and-yellow bins, and with minimized recycling options. Read more

Sustainability defined

STEPHANIE BERCHT Staff Writer
sberch20@student.scad.edu

The term “sustainability” can be confusing, as it is often related to a broad range of disciplines, usually associated with human development and its effect on the environment.

The buzzword comes from “sustainable development”, which is defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This term was coined in 1987 by Dr. Brundtland, the first appointed chairperson of the UN World Commission on Environment and Development.

However, sustainability is not a new concept. It relates to human development in terms of economy, culture as well as the environment.

The Great Law of the Iroquois long ago stated that “in our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decision on the next seven generations.”

Our way of life that thrives on excessive consumption is unsustainable – that is, we cannot maintain our lifestyle indefinitely because we are quickly depleting the resources that support it and consequently deteriorating the quality of our lives.

The concept of sustainability is to continue development through wise choices in the way we use our natural resources. This includes reassessing where we get our energy from, how we use it and what we use it for, what type of food we eat, how we harvest it, what materials we use – for anything – and how we get all of this as well as what we do with the byproducts from our actions.

It is not just about keeping the Earth green and clean for woodland creatures; we must take care of the environment for our race to continue.

Once humans deplete every resource on this planet, who is really going to suffer? Once we are gone, Earth will bring itself back.

That deserves some respect. And if we want to stick around, we should start showing some of that respect right now.

Keep an eye out because this quarter is going to be filled with events for sustainable inspiration.

Residents living on campus can participate in the ECO-Challenge during February and run for prizes. At Arnold Hall Feb. 4-6 is the Teach-In, a nationwide event where institutions simultaneously promote climate crisis awareness and bring about solutions. SCAD will be showing “Arctic Tales” Feb. 4, having speakers Feb. 5 and interactive workshops Feb. 6. To top it off, BYOF (Bring Your Own Film) is bringing its third annual competition (sign-ups start this week) and this year’s theme is sustainability.

See what you can do for the next seven generations.

Photo by Stephanie Bercht

Five ways to save some green in 2009

STEPHANIE BERCHT Staff Writer
sberch20@student.scad.edu

The new year brings new resolutions, except for the occasional few that always ends up back on the list: Get in shape, quit a vice, keep in touch with family and save money. Last year I resolved to make money and save it, and actually succeeded. Then I splurged on a backpacking trip through Europe halfway through 2008. Not bad.Many people choose to save money as a resolution. If that is yours, did you know you can actually save green by being green? Here are five tips I will be following this year: Read more

Green Tip of the Week: Use a reusable water bottle

STEPANIE BERCHT Staff Writer
sberch20@student.scad.edu

Did you know that the tap water in Savannah is 100 percent potable? Even the water used for showering and flushing: all potable. Savannah’s water comes from the Floridan aquifer. The funky taste might come from the old pipes since Savannah is such an old town, but it is still as fresh as the bottled waters, if not fresher.

Many bottled waters are pumped directly from municipal water systems into plastic bottles, moved to warehouses to await shipping, and then driven around who knows how many miles to reach stores. Our tap water is straight from the ground and into your belly. So, you don’t need to buy water bottles: you have free drinkable water coming from the tap. Why not take advantage of it?

Get that Nalgene bottle, fill it up and reduce the plastic waste created by the bottled water industry and increase that extra cash in your pocket. In the photo on the left is my water bottle. I also use old Orangina glass bottles to store water in my fridge for when I want cold water. Somehow the glass makes it taste way better. Give it a try!

The Green Angle is a District section focusing on sustainability. Make sure to check out The Green Angle Resource Directory, which features information on sustainable products, ideas, designs and practices. To suggest a Green Angle story or a resource to include in the directory, e-mail sberch20@student.scad.edu.

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