Environmental Studies @ Lasell College

Dorm Wars Update

2011-04-18T21:06:00.007-04:00

Butterworth residents have taken a commanding lead over Bragdon, Forest, and Woodland in the dorm electricity reduction contest. Early in the contest, Butterworth residents have reduced their electricity usage by over 10%. There is plenty of time for residents in the other dorms to kill some watts.

Dorm Worms 2011

2011-04-15T10:04:00.005-04:00

Today starts the Dorm War contest between our four dorms with smart meters. Bragdon, Butterworth, Forest, and Woodland will be competing to reduce their electricity usage. The contest starts today and will end next Thursday (April 21st) at midnight. The winner of the contest will be the dorm that reduces electricity usage by the greatest percentage over the course of the contest week. Prizes will be awarded to the winning dorm on Earth Day.

Forest, the energy hogs on campus, have a lot to prove. Enthusiasm in "the Wood" is high and students are ready to defeat their upper classmates. Bragdon residents are looking to trim their usage below their sister dorm Butterworth. Good luck shedding your watts!

Water Flows Downhill

2011-02-08T13:43:00.003-05:00

It is a sloppy day on campus today. The rain and melting snow have created large puddles everywhere. As I was walking back to my office I observed two students approaching one of these puddles. The puddle was muddy and the sidewalk wasn't visible for any of the width. The students stopped and studied the puddle. Where do we step? I watched with interest as they made their decision. Perhaps they caught a glimpse of sidewalk that influenced their decision but they stepped into the down slope side and immediately yelled as four inches of water filled their shoes. I laughed and then passed on the uphill side which was centimeters deep.

I began to wonder if they had taken more science classes at Lasell would they would have chosen the uphill side of the puddle? We don't directly teach how to negotiate puddles in our science courses but we do try and teach students how to think scientifically. I'm not talking about applying the scientific method to study the puddle but rather applying a law of nature to their situation. Instead of science courses, maybe more philosophy courses would have helped these students. Something like, "If water flows downhill, then the puddle will be deeper on the down slope side."

The general education curriculum is up for review at Lasell. I have been thinking about what this means for our students. Students are not going to become scientists or philosophers by taking a few general education courses. But I still think there is great value in requiring students to engage in different ways of thinking. Challenging students to think in new ways just might be the tool needed to improve their decision making so, when they encounter that puddle, they can keep their feet dry.

Web 2.0 Tools

2010-12-08T14:10:00.005-05:00

Between semesters I enjoy exploring new ideas to bring into my teaching. Clouds have lots of possibilities. This is a cloud of my blog shaped like a tree.

Food Waste Revisited

2010-11-16T09:08:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, as part of America Recycles Day, we measured food waste again in the dining hall. This is the third time I have had students conduct this audit. The first year we did the audit, as mentioned in previous posts, food waste was about 0.33 lbs per person. The following fall we implemented trayless dining in the dining hall. Food waste was then measured at about 0.18 lbs/person. It has been about 2 years since I've run the food waste audit so I was curious what the trend has been. I found it encouraging yesterday when our results indicated a slight reduction from 2008. Food waste was measured yesterday at 0.16 lbs/person.

More exciting is the unveiling of our new composting system. Food waste will be collected in a composting bin in the back of the house. This will divert much of our food waste from the landfill and sewage system. While composting is a an important addition to our sustainability efforts, compost is still waste. The important thing for diners to remember is to try and eliminate all food waste. This will reduce the overall quantity of food purchased and help reduce our food print.

New School Year

2010-09-17T10:08:00.002-04:00

The start of the fall semester is always the most exciting time on a college campus. We are off to a great year at Lasell. We continue to improve our environmental efforts on campus and make campus a greener place to live, work, and study. Let me highlight some of the changes and initiatives seen around campus:

-The Environmental Studies major continues to grow. In just our second year we are no longer the smallest major on campus. We are excited to have a new cohort of first-year Environmental Studies students and look forward to working with them.

-Kelly Silvia (ENV '11) spent the summer interning for the Trustees of Reservations on Martha's Vineyard. Kelly worked to help track and protect the endangered piping plover.

-The service-learning trip to Ecuador was successful last spring and will run again this year. Students have the opportunity to travel to Ecuador to work on community service projects with Professor Toffler and Amy Greene.

-A new service-learning trip will run this year working on ecotourism issues in Brazil. Professor Janbek and Professor Van Hyfte will be leading this trip. I am jealous of faculty that lead both the Ecuador and Brazil trips and I hope to get involved in a few years once my children are a bit older.

-Marc Fournier, our Assistant Director for Plant Operations & Sustainability, has taken over for me as chair of the Environmental Sustainability Committee. Marc has an increased budget for this group and is excited to get rolling.

-There are two new recycling stations outside Wolfe and Winslow. We are trying to reduce the number of waste bins on campus that do not also have a recycling bin next to them. We hope to capture more recyclable items as people move between buildings. They look great with Lasell College routed on.

-Enrollment in environmentally themed courses continues to grow. Environmental Science (ENV211), Intro to Environmental Studies (ENV101), and Diversity of Living Organisms (BIO102) are all running near capacity. We will likely run more sections of ENV211 and ENV101 in the spring to meet the growing interest.

-The study abroad opportunities for Environmental Studies majors look amazing. We are encouraging all of our students to consider studying abroad. There are opportunities all over the world. For example, students can spend a semester in Australia studying coral reefs or spend a semester in Costa Rica studying conservation biology.

-Sodexo has introduced a take-away program for lunch but designed the program with sustainability in mind. Take-away is available from the dining hall but students must purchase a reusable take-away container. Students return the container to be cleaned and are given a clean container. This provides students the opportunity to grab some food while on the run but will not add to the waste generated on campus.

-I picked up the northern-red bellied cooters yesterday. They are tiny. My FYS class will be working with the turtles to learn more about human impacts on the species and to help care for them. This year we are going to develop a hydroponic system to grow our own lettuce.

Earth Day 2010

2010-04-21T13:03:00.002-04:00

Last year we pieced together a small Earth Day event at Lasell. This year, Amy Greene from CCBL has taken leadership and planned an entire festival. There will be a band, an eco-fashion show, vendors promoting green products, student organizations running activities, and even food. Amy has worked hard to take Earth Day at Lasell to a new level. She has recruited student volunteers to help plan the day and spent considerable time securing all the equipment needed for the day. Thanks Amy!

The festivities are happening in the East/West quad from about 11:30-2:00. Come join us! Open to the public. Tell your friends from other schools too.

Come see a sustainable fashion show, the band Hey Mama and demonstrations about the environment. Free food and sustainable products will be given out!

No Room For You

2010-04-09T14:59:00.002-04:00

After my wife graduates from Harvard in May, we would like to move the family out of Cambridge into a community with a bit more open space. We also value having reasonable commutes for both of us. My wife will be working in Wakefield and I travel with the kids to Lasell each morning. We've decided the Belmont, Lexington, Arlington area of greater Boston is where we would like to live. It took weeks of studying maps and practicing commutes in rush hour traffic to come to this conclusion. Now all we have to do is find a comfortable place to rent in one of these towns. Craiglist is loaded with listings so this should be easy. Wrong.

While there are hundreds of listings, let's take a look at how many are documented as being deleaded. In Arlington, there are currently 304 listings for apartments on Craigslist. Two are identified as deleaded.

Many people have suggested we don't worry about lead. After all, we grew up with lead in our homes and we are fine. True. We also grew up not wearing seat belts and we laughed at people wearing bike helmets. Laws to promote public health are important, have had huge impacts, and should be respected. Lead paint is no exception.

Lead is most dangerous to developing children under the age of six. It can cause damage to the brain and nervous system, behavior and learning problems, hearing problems, and headaches. Is this a risk we want to take with our children? No thank you.

I asked Professor Toffler his opinion as he has done work with the EPA on lead paint projects. In his opinion, lead paint is definitely something to worry about especially around windows. He also said it is going to be hard to find apartments listed as deleaded.

The Massachusetts Lead Law was designed to eliminate lead from homes with children under six. This law also applies landlords. Unfortunately the cost of deleading a home can be expensive so landlords will try and avoid renting to young families. This is discrimination and also illegal however it is widespread. We've made some calls to listings and been told the home is not deleaded. The conversation is always over immediately and we have not had a landlord yet volunteer to delead the space so our family could live there safely.

We will continue to try and find a home that has been deleaded. I'm sure we will eventually find one but will have to sacrifice many other things we would like to have. It can be tough for young families trying to find a home in an area where the housing stock is old. I won't even mention the costs.

Lasell Smart Meter Project

2010-03-23T11:33:00.002-04:00

It has taken a lot of work to get to this point but the Lasell College Smart Meter Project is almost ready to go live. This effort started last summer when VP Ostrow and I wrote a grant to the Tomfohrde Foundation asking for support to install a network of electricity meters in our dormitories. Electricity usage in Butterworth, Bragdon, Forest, and Woodland Hall will be measured by the meters on the minute time scale compared to the monthly time scale we currently have. The data will provide an opportunity for innovative research projects in many areas of study at Lasell including economics, psychology, and environmental studies. Students will examine electricity pricing structures and demand loads in Environmental Economics. Students in the psychology department are researching techniques to modify building occupant behavior.

Below John Audet (left) and Bud Hinkle (right) of Tradesmen of New England LLC, are at Lasell today programming the new controllers and meters for the Lasell Smart Meter Project.

Knotty the Turtle

2010-03-05T13:29:00.003-05:00

On Wednesday the most inspiring guest came to my Leadership class to speak with students about living with cystic fibrosis. She shared her life in numbers comparing what she categorized as the good and the bad. Her perspective on life was so uplifting. Despite the many bad things she has had to endure, she has managed to maintain a focus on the good things in life she has been able to do such as traveling to 7 countries and starting her own business called Knot Clothing.

After class I was showing our guest the turtles in the Environmental Science Lab and she asked if they had names yet. They did not. Later that evening I decided that I should name the turtles to honor this inspiring young woman. She was quite proud of her business, Knot Clothing, so I decided to borrow names from her company image. Rather than "The Turtles", these little reptiles will now be called Knotty, Nice, and Chick Magnet. Knotty is the dominant turtle in the tank frequently seen biting at the other turtles. Nice is the runt in the litter as she is almost 10 grams lighter than the other two turtles. Chick Magnet, named after my favorite belt in her clothing line, likes to sun on the floating dock taking in the rays of the heat lamp. He is calm and cool.

While great progress has been made to improve conditions for people living with cystic fibrosis, it is still clear after listening to our guest that more has to be done. This disease needs to be controlled or better yet cured. Students in my Leadership class have been working to help support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in the quest to control and cure CF. We are organizing a campus walk on April 13th to raise money for the organization. Already we have over 25 walkers registered. Members of our campus community are encouraged to join us. Visit www.tinyurl.com/lasellcf and click Join My Team to register.

Facebook

2010-01-12T14:33:00.002-05:00

Over the winter break I finally decided to explore Facebook. I was skeptical for a long time but now I see the power of the social networking site. Not only is it great for staying connected with friends but it is also a great community building tool.

Immediately I built a fan page for the Lasell College Environmental Studies program. I take pictures during our field labs and now I have a great space to share them. The fan page also provides a space to share the projects students are working on in the program. I am really excited about the potential of this tool to help develop our program.

I encourage you to become part of our community and join as a fan of the page.

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=260291983104&id=239084839373#/pages/Newton-MA/Lasell-College-Environmental-Studies/239084839373?ref=nf

Green Campus Initiative Report

2009-12-07T15:00:00.002-05:00

The 2008-2009 Green Campus Initiative Report is now available on the Green Campus Initiative web page.

On page 2 of the report I wrote a letter to the Lasell Community highlighting our accomplishments. I have pasted the text from the letter below.

___________________________________________________________________________

Dear Lasell College Community,

Since the Green Campus Task Force started its work in October of 2007, Lasell College has made tremendous progress towards making our campus a sustainable place to live, work, and study. In this report we highlight the many accomplishments we have realized on our campus in the past 2 years.

Several accomplishments are worthy of special note. First, the launching of the Lasell College Single Stream Recycling Program now provides the campus community the opportunity to recycle a majority of their waste material. In the first three months, our single stream system diverted over 4 tons of material from the landfill. We look forward to improving the system and launching new education campaigns in 2009-2010 to further increase recycling rates.

A second significant accomplishment in 2008-2009 was the hiring of Princeton Energy Systems to help Lasell College develop an Energy and Sustainability Master Plan. Princeton Energy Systems will provide consulting services to help us optimize our energy usage and evaluate the feasibility of cogeneration, renewable, and alternative energy strategies.

The launching of the Environmental Studies Major and Minor also represents a significant accomplishment for Lasell College. By increasing course offerings related to the environment, we are providing the opportunity for students in all majors to obtain the information, knowledge, and skills needed to promote sustainability in their places of work and in their home communities.

Finally, in September of 2008, President Alexander signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. By signing this commitment, President Alexander has asserted that Lasell College will do its part to help create a “thriving, ethical, and civil society” free from global warming emissions.

We look forward to engaging more of our community in these efforts as we work towards becoming a model institution of sustainability.

Sincerely,

Michael Daley, PhD
Assistant Professor of Environmental Science
Chair of the 2008-2009 Environmental Sustainability Committee

Coffee and Trash

2009-12-07T14:54:00.003-05:00

I found a cool little web tool that generates word clouds from text. I ran the application for my blog. It seems trash and coffee are on my mind the most.

http://www.wordle.net/. Images of Wordles are licensed Creative Commons License.

Half is Trash

2009-12-03T14:59:00.002-05:00

Students in my Environmental Science (ENV211) class conducted an audit of the trash in Wolfe Hall this afternoon. Chris gets the gold star for collecting the trash during common hours. What did we find in these round receptacles of waste?

Trash from about 12 classrooms was collected for a total of about 15 lbs. Of the 15 lbs, 7 lbs were recyclable items (paper, plastic bottles, and glass bottles). Almost 50% of the weight of the trash were items that could be recycled! These results are very alarming and indicate that we still have a lot of work to do on the recycling front.

While digging through the trash we decided to separate out the empty coffee cups. The first observation was that people need to finish their coffee or dump the liquid someplace else. It was a mess. We collected about 1 lb of paper coffee cups. We then decided to sort them to determine where they were coming from. Maybe this data will help us reduce the issue at the source. We had 49 paper coffee cups in the trash. Of the 49, 33 came from the dining hall, 12 were from our campus coffee vendor Peet's, 2 were from Dunkin Donuts, 2 from Starbucks, and 1 from an unknown vendor. Why aren't students using reusable mugs?

While it won't be popular, it may be time to force an increase in use of reusable mugs by eliminating the free dispersal of paper coffee cups from the dining hall. I will not gain popularity by pushing that idea but I am starting to think it is time. Not only is there an environmental impact but the coffee cups in the trash make an absolute mess that our cleaning staff has to deal with every night.

We are working on getting a recycling bin located next to every trash bin on campus. Cost is the big issue. We are slowly purchasing more bins but it is not in the budget to do it in one fell swoop. Any donors out there? We'll gladly put your name on all the bins!

House Electricity Reduction Contest Fall 2009

2009-11-24T10:58:00.000-05:00

Residents of Karandon reduced their electricity consumption rate by 12% to win the Fall 2009 House Electricity Reduction Contest. Nice work!

Hasekll, Case, Cushing, Gardner, Keever, and Pickard residents all reduced their electricity consumption rates during the contest week. Durinng the 1 week contest, students reduced Lasell's carbon footprint by 165 lbs of CO2.

Residents of Keever made an impressive effort after finding themselves at the bottom of the pile after two days. While their efforts were impressive they still fell short of the reductions taken by residents in Karandon, Hasekll, Case, Cushing, and Gardner.

Unfortunately six houses fell below the line and increased electricity consumption rates during the contest week.

Final Results:
Karandon -12%
Haskell -9.7%
Case -5.1%
Cushing -4.9%
Gardner -3.7%
Pickard -2.4%
______________

Spence 1.4%
Carpenter 2.5%
Saunders 2.8%
Briggs 4.4%
Mott 6.0%
Chandler 11.0%

350

2009-10-22T22:13:00.002-04:00

Saturday is the International Day of Climate Action. It is no accident that this event was scheduled for six weeks before the UN Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen. Events across the world are planned in over 150 countries. In Massachusetts there are over 200 events planned for Saturday. Events range in scale from bell ringings to marches. The day was organized to

The Environmental Sustainability Committee discussed organizing an event at Lasell at our meeting in September. We concluded that we did not have enough time to get organized. But that does not mean members of the Lasell community can't participate in the day.

I am definitely planning on making my way downtown in the afternoon to the Boston Under Water Event. Organizers have all kinds of clever activities planned including a race to fill sandbags to save Boston from sea level rise.

Turtles 2009

2009-10-15T12:16:00.002-04:00

This morning I drove with my son to the Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife Office in Westborough to pick up three northern red-bellied cooter hatchlings. They are even smaller than last year. They are so small that the biologists decided not to notch the turtles this year because the stress of the procedure would be too much for the little reptiles.

It really is incredible how small they are. They probably weigh about 5-6 grams each. In a few years they will grow to be 10 pounds.

Our participation in the northern red-bellied cooter headstart program last year was a success and I am looking forward to this year. I'm excited to engage students more in the care and maintenance of the turtles and to integrate the environmental issues more into the curriculum. We are upgrading the plumbing in WASS3 to reduce the effort needed to clean the tanks and Sodexo has agreed to donate waste lettuce again.

I let my son brainstorm names on the ride back to Lasell. He liked Chara (his favorite Bruin), Tubby, Shelly, and a bunch of ridiculous sounding noises that really made him laugh. Last year I held contests to name the turtles but this year I am going to let the children and teachers at the Barn name them.

I'll post pictures soon!

What tree is that?

2009-09-30T13:44:00.002-04:00

At the end of Diversity of Living Organisms lab on Monday I overheard a student comment, "That was the hardest thing I have ever done!". I felt quite proud. Clearly I had provided a challenge that mentally drained students. It was an activity that was challenging but that could be done with some careful thought and patience. Students were engaged in a project conducting a tree inventory for the campus of Lasell College. Students were assigned parcels of land owned by Lasell and charged with mapping the location of each tree, the species, the size, and health.

The student was right to exclaim the activity was hard. I spent five years studying the trees at Harvard Forest and I found this campus activity very challenging. In a native forest there are a limited number of species of trees one may encounter. It makes identification an easier process. However on an old, suburban, landscaped campus the number of species found grows significantly. As we explored our campus we encountered planted ornamentals, invasives, and rare native species. We encountered at least three species of oaks (possibly four but I am still not sure). While our dichotomous keys were useful, many times the keys could not help us identify the trees.

We ended the lab with what I would call a start at a campus tree inventory. I definitely need help from a local expert. The identification books are useful but some time with an expert would make me more confident. I'm not ready to publish our findings.

We found some beautiful historic trees though. Some of the oak trees measured over 3 meters in circumference. We will bring our maps back into the lab and start to compile and analyze the data. One goal is to clearly map the location of our historic trees. These trees are incredible resources for our campus that deserve additional attention and protection.

Lasell Orienteering Course

2009-09-25T10:14:00.001-04:00

Yesterday students in my World Geography class wandered around campus carrying a compass and a set of directions. It was a beautiful afternoon and I did not hear any complaints about heading outside for this activity. In lecture we have been working on map skills including topographic maps. In lecture on Tuesday we practiced how to use a map and compass and on Thursday we went out to put their practice to the test.

I established a set of seven orienteering courses. Students were given a set of about 10 directions. Each direction included a compass bearing and a distance. For example 150 feet at 215 degrees. They worked through the set of directions and hopefully ended at the correct destination. Not only was it a chance to practice their compass skills, the activity also forced them to do a little math. Students figured out their pace (how many steps per 100 feet) and then had to calculate the number of steps they needed to take to move the correct distance. Students quickly master the activity as it is not the most challenging but I still like to do it because it reinforces classroom concepts and it is memorable. As sad as it is to admit it, in a few years students might not recall much from the course but they will all remember that World Geography is the class in which students get to go outside and do a compass course. I like to try and do at least one activity like this in each course I teach. It is almost like trying to establish a brand identity. Professor Fredericks does this well. Everyone knows there is a Monopoly simulation in his accounting course.

Setting up an orienteering course is very time consuming. But having a PhD in geography I figured I must be able to use GIS tools or something similar to set the course without actually having to step outside. I first went to Google Earth to see if it could be done. At first look I could not because the compass did not have degree bearings. I figured somebody had created a compass kmz layer and sure enough I found one. After bringing in the compass I could look at campus from space and craft a set of orienteering directions. Luckily a topic in Tuesday's class was on declination. True north and magnetic north are not the same thing. I knew that the bearings on Google Earth would be true north so I had to take into account our declination which is about 16 degrees.

Waste-Free Lunch

2009-09-23T14:43:00.002-04:00

I feel a bit ridiculous in the morning lugging my son and two canvas lunch coolers out of the apartment to the car. I must look like a mess with two lunch coolers, a computer bag, a gym bag, and a daycare supply bag draped over my shoulder. I think my son recognizes my struggle and insists on being carried just to complicate the 200 yard trek. I could easily eliminate the need for the large canvas lunch coolers but I refuse.

I used to eat almost everyday in the dining hall at Lasell but I have shifted to bringing lunch. Weekly costs and class schedules are part of the reason but mainly I do it because I want to eat healthier and eat in a more environmentally friendly manner. When I walk into the dining hall I have a hard time going for the salad bar when there are creamy hot entrees calling my name. The lunch I bring is super healthy and has no meat or refined carbohydrates. Just lots of fruit and vegetables. I need to emphasize lots as you need to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables to feel satisfied.

In addition to eating lower on the food chain, I work on packing waste-free lunches. Instead of plastic disposable baggies most of my lunch is packed in washable plastic containers. The large volume of food I bring packed in plastic containers explains the need for the large orange canvas cooler I bring. I know it looks like I am heading to the beach for a picnic but the cooler it really is just my lunch. I similarly pack a waste-free lunch for my son. This operation turns me into bag man every morning but I think it is worth the struggle.

Waste-free lunches are increasing in practice. Many schools have committed to promoting this approach to help teach reduce, reuse, recycle. The EPA even offers materials on Waste-Free Lunches. I think I will approach the teachers about starting a waste-free lunch campaign to try and modify the lunch packing behavior of parents at the daycare center. Parents will be packing lunches for the next 15 years and now is the time to learn how to do it more sustainably.

Sunny Days

2009-09-18T09:47:00.002-04:00

Most days I really enjoy my job as a professor at Lasell College but some days I really love it. Today is one of those days. In about an hour I get to take a group of students in my Diversity of Living Organisms (BIO102) class into the field to go birding. We will wander around the wetland and woods capturing images of the diversity the bird world has to offer while enjoying the 75 degree fall weather. Lovely!

Birding? Birding is not really my thing. I'm not very good at it so the challenge makes it even more enjoyable. We are heading to Great Meadows Wildlife Refuge in Concord. Birding is typically not an activity young college students engage in and I often get doubting looks when I tell students we are going birding. But once they get past their initial skepticism students usually buy into the experience and appreciate the activity. I ask students to write reflections about their birding experience and I frequently read comments about how they have a new appreciation for bird diversity.

Off I go to view the killdeers, snowy egrets, great blue herons, downy woodpeckers, yellow-rumbed warblers, red-tailed hawks, red-eyed vireos, dark-eyed juncos, and many other interesting species the Refuge has to offer. I hope my colleagues enjoy their day working in their stuffy offices and classrooms!

Our New Dorms

2009-09-11T15:44:00.000-04:00

Today I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony on the "new corner of campus". The ceremony officially opened the two new residence halls and the new fitness center. The new quad created by the new buildings is very nice and a wonderful addition to our campus.

I worked out for the first time in the new fitness center this morning. It is a very efficient use of space and has some very nice equipment to help keep our student body healthy. I also wandered into the new dormitories on a guided tour. The design is again very efficient. I would describe the dorm as a slight modification of the traditional dormitory model with the exception of a shared bathroom located between neighboring rooms. I know there are many green building concepts incorporated into the new buildings including a very impressive rainwater recovery system. I'll share more about these features in future posts.

The ribbon cutting event today was quite nice. They had cookies, popcorn, ice cream, and iced tea. Dining Services did a great job minimizing waste and they even brought their own recycling receptacles. A lot of hard work went into building East and West Hall but I definitely think it was worth the effort.

A Fair Choice

2009-09-08T13:20:00.002-04:00

The coffee carts at Lasell College have made a transition to serving Peet's Coffee this year. I'm pretty excited about this change. This morning I went for my first cup at the Laser Beans Café. After paying for my coffee I went to the station to dispense my coffee into my reusable mug. There I noticed I had a choice of House Blend or Fair Trade. I wondered why would anyone choose the House Blend over Fair Trade? Choosing the option that provides a livable wage to growers in Central America certainly seemed like the obvious choice to me.

I went to Peet's web site to do a little research. Maybe the two coffees really do taste significantly different and that drives consumers to make a less sustainable choice? House Blend is described as having a medium body and between a balanced and bright liveliness and is from Latin American beans. Fair Trade is between a medium and full balance and has a balanced liveliness. I drink a lot of coffee and I have no idea what this means.

There are a lot of cups of coffee consumed in a day at Lasell. Just look at all the paper cups in the trash (see previous blog posts about this one). It is great to have a Fair Trade option and I hope the community recognizes the significance of making this choice. Peet's coffee is new to our campus. Get in the habit of choosing Fair Trade from the start. If you don't see Fair Trade on the cart, send a note to Dining Services and respectfully ask that there always be a Fair Trade option. Collectively we can have an impact in helping farmers earn a livable wage.

Where has Daley been?

2009-09-04T13:53:00.002-04:00

My last post to this blog was in late May. While taking a three month break is not a good way to grow a blog, campus is quiet in the summer so I decided to allocate my time to other efforts.

This summer I had the opportunity to get back into my field research. You may have seen the short story about my work on the Lasell homepage. The Boston Area Climate Experiment is a very exciting project that is going to have a big impact in the climate change field. I have been studying how carbon and water processes in vegetation will be altered climate conditions. It was nice to return to being an ecologist for the summer. This week I am starting to assume my other role as a teacher of science.

I also spent time over the summer writing grants. I developed a proposal to implement Smart Meter Technology in the residential buildings at Lasell. The technology will allow us to meter electricity use within individual dorms and even floors. With this technology we will be able to run competitions and share energy use information with students in real time. This technology will provide a tremendous platform to build student research projects from in a variety of classes at Lasell including environmental studies courses, economic courses, and even psychology courses.

Taking advantage of the recent Davis Foundation Grant, I also wrote a few proposals for research in the courses I am teaching this fall. Students in Geography will be conducting a transect study of geographic variables along the MBTA Green Line. Students in Environmental Science will be studying the water quality of the campus pond and researching potential non-point sources such as the golf course and residential lawns. Finally students in the Diversity of Living Organisms will be conducting a biodiversity inventory of vegetation on campus to start the generation of a long-term management plan.

Also this summer I met with consultants from Princeton Energy as they conducted their work to help Lasell develop an Energy Management Plan. This document will be extremely useful in guiding energy conservation project decisions over the long-term. I look forward to seeing this report soon.

I wrote a report of the work done by the Environmental Sustainability Committee. I will be sharing that document with the campus very soon. We have made great progress in the past two years.

Finally I had the opportunity to interview candidates for the Assistant Director of Plant Operations and Sustainability position. Hiring a staff member with sustainability responsibilities will be a huge boost to our Green Campus Initiative. Hopefully we will see someone on campus in that position soon.

I am excited to be returning to the classroom though. I revamped my Environmental Science course and I am very excited about the changes in structure I have made. I am also very excited about the field experiences I will be taking students on in Diversity of Living Organisms. We will be researching birds at the Great Meadows Wildlife Refuge, crabs on the Quincy shore, salamanders at Hemlock Gorge and visiting many other great ecosystems.

Wind in Sight

2009-05-26T11:38:00.005-04:00

I went to visit my parents over the long weekend and participate in a trail race at Camp Pok-o-MacCready. I took the ferry across Lake Champlain from Grand Isle, VT to Plattsburgh, NY. While I am biased because I grew up there, I still think the Champlain Valley is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Wedged between the Green Mountains to the east and the Adirondacks to the west, the Champlain Valley is a real gem.

I've crossed the lake on this ferry hundreds of times. This was the first time though that I noticed the wind parks just north of Plattsburgh. Last summer, the Noble Ellenburg Windpark, the Noble Clinton Windpark, and the Noble Altona Windpark were completed. On top of a small ridge I could count dozens of wind turbines spinning in the distance. Actually there are over 175 turbines spinning at these three sites that generate enough electricity to power 93,000 homes. Noble has also built a wind park in Franklin County that generates enough power for 35,500 homes. Combined, the wind parks constructed in this part of the North Country generate enough electricity to supply all the homes in Clinton, Franklin, Essex ,and Warren Counties.

The economic benefits to the North Country are well documented. Hundreds of jobs were created during the construction phase. Permanent jobs will remain in place to maintain the operations. Land owners receive lease payments. The town and county will receive tax revenue. The development of this wind park brought some needed relief to two rural towns of Ellenburg and Clinton. In the 1980s and 1990s rural communities fought for prison construction in their towns for economic development. Are wind parks the prisons of the 2000s?

The remaining question though is how does the construction of 175 wind turbines that are over 390 feet impact the scenic beauty of this region? While they can be seen from Lake Champlain and presumably from some of the summits of mountains in the northern Adirondacks, I think the turbines are all right. They weren't built in the middle of the Adirondack wilderness but rather north of the mountains. They actually generate some excitement, "Look, there are the wind turbines!"

This is a part of the country that has been devastated by the impacts of the coal industry. The pollutants from the burning of coal in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania fall as acid rain in the Adirondacks. The forests and lakes are impacted. Almost 700 of the lakes in the Adirondacks are so acidic they have lost aquatic plants and wildlife. I'm not worried about the construction of wind turbines altering the viewshed, I'm worried about an increase in the burning of coal that will continue to alter the chemistry of the forests, lakes and streams. I'm glad the residents of the North Country allowed this wind project to move forward. I hope residents continue to put pressure on Washington to shift how we power America and reduce the burning of coal.

Green Office Champions

2009-05-01T10:50:00.004-04:00

Potter Hall wins!

When first measured in March things were ugly in Potter Hall. The building had the highest electricity use per person, occupants generated tons of waste, and recycling was not a habit. Many occupants of Potter were critical of my blog posts. They did not like being labeled environmentally unfriendly.

While they were angry, they changed. With help from students in Environmental Science (ENV211), occupants in Potter Hall took important steps to reduce their environmental impact. Refrigerators were uplugged, computers were powered down overnight, and more material made it to the recycling bin. During the Green Office Challenge Week, Potter Hall realized a 53% recycling rate (up from 20%). They also managed to reduce electricity consumption by 35%.

Potter Hall did not cruise to victory though. The occupants of Plummer Hall were committed to winning. Every watt of energy possible was conserved in this building as they reduced electricity consumption by 46%. Plummer also had the highest recycling rate during the competition week (54%) but their total waste was up 43%.

Based on recycling, waste, and electricity Plummer actually had an edge over Potter. But occupants in Potter stepped up in one additional category- vehicle miles traveled. During the competition week, a few occupants of Potter changed and either walked to work instead of driving or carpooled. This change in behavior was not seen in any other building. Thanks to the effort of these individuals, Potter Hall was the clear winner. Look for the Green Office Challenge Award on the door of Potter soon! Congratulations!

I must recognize the efforts of all the occupants of Plummer, Potter, Bancroft, and Klingbeil. Thank you for taking the competition seriously and for working with my students. I always appreciate your willingness to help students with their academic projects. I hope you will continue to take measures to reduce your environmental impact in the office.

Finally, Klingbeil deserves recognition for being green to begin with. While they did not come close to winning the Green Office Challenge, this building was already quite environmentally friendly. Electricity consumption and waste generation were already low, and recycling was already high. Dramatic improvements such as those seen in Plummer or Potter were difficult when things were already quite lean. Keep up the good work Klingbeil!

I've pasted the table of final results below.

The Navy Shower

2009-04-27T06:11:00.000-04:00

On Earth Day I decided it was time to try a Navy shower. What is the Navy shower? Essentially it is an approach to taking a shower to reduce the amount of water used. Here is how it went for me. I started the shower and waited about 10 seconds until the water was at a temperature I could tolerate. I then hopped in and got my hair and body wet. Then the painful step- I turned off the water but remained in the shower. Surprisingly it was not nearly as cold and uncomfortable as I expected. With the water off I applied some shampoo to my hair and soap to my body. I turned the water back on and rinsed the suds off and I was done. Under 1 minute of water usage. I glanced at the shower head and noted it used 1.6 gpm. I used under 1.6 gallons of water to shower. I used more water when I flushed the toilet.

My experience was positive. I felt good about saving water and it was something I could do in the future. I don't think every shower will be a Navy shower but maybe one per week.

Shower length at Lasell College is a behavior we would like to modify as part of our Green Initiative. URI has found some interesting results in regard to shower length and college students. Students surveyed spent an average of 13 minutes in the shower. Campaigns to reduce shower length were ineffective. Surprisingly campaigns were effective in reducing the number of showers per week. Students reduced the number of showers from 8 to 6.8.

The results of the study made me think about how many showers I need to take each week. I rarely shower on Saturday or Sunday but I do shower each morning before leaving for Lasell. I don't shower in the evening so I would say I average between 5-6 per week. In the summer this dips to probably 4-5. You don't need to be clean to go do field work.

Results from behavior modification initiatives are very useful. Other schools our using our experience from trayless dining and single stream recycling to inform their initiatives. Next fall we can take the results from URI and launch our own campaign to reduce the number of showers per week.

Earth Day

2009-04-24T13:33:00.004-04:00

While many environmental supporters argue against Earth Day (everyday should be Earth Day), I like the day as it provides another opportunity to raise awareness. The day yielded some very positive results for Lasell College and our Green Campus Initiative. Professor Toffler's Introduction to Environmental Studies class and my Leadership class combined forces to plan the day.

While my vision of closing the road between the dining hall and the athletic center was rejected, we were still able to secure three parking spaces for our activities. One space was turned into a small park. In the park we had a bench and some vegetation. As this is the central corridor for foot traffic on campus, we wanted to promote awareness that the road could be turned into a green space for pedestrian use only. The two other spaces were reserved for hybrid car parking only. The drivers of these vehicles were thrilled to see a space reserved for them.

Students also ran the Tap Water Challenge. They challenged community members to taste three types of water and identify their favorite. Participants sampled tap water, Poland Spring, and Shaw's Brand water. The results were completely random. All three types of water received an equal number of votes.

We also collected sustainability pledges on Earth Day. People walking by were stopped and asked if they could pledge to do any of the following:
-For one day a week not drive to or between classes(students)/ not drive to work(faculty and staff
-To purchase/use a reusable coffee mug or water bottle rather than disposables
-To power down computer or TVs overnight/while you are not in your room
-To not eat meat one day per week
-Reuse plastic bags at least twice before disposing them

In total we collected pledges from 95 people. 57 people pledged not to drive one day per week. Of course this one was easy for all the students that don't have cars on campus. 40 people pledged to purchase and use a reusable mug or water bottle. 61 people pledged to power down the computer or TV overnight and while not in the room. 42 pledged not to eat meat one day per week and 52 pledged to reuse plastic bags. 41 people pledged more than 2 items. We will be sending emails to remind people of the pledges they have made and show our support.

Thanks to the Donahue Bookstore and Jennifer Tinkham we were able to award prizes to two students willing to make a sustainability pledge. Erica Choutka and Lindsay Ryan are now the proud owners of green Lasell College water bottles.

The day was a big success but credit has to be given to students in Leadership and Introduction to Environmental Studies. The energy they brought to the day made it work. Their willingness to stop fellow students and ask them to sign a pledge or participate in the challenge made the day a success. Great job!

Green Office Challenge Week

2009-04-13T09:54:00.001-04:00

The Green Office Challenge starts today and will run through Friday. Klingbeil, Potter, Plummer, and Bancroft are competing to demonstate the biggest improvement in four areas: waste minimization, recycling rate, electricity usage, and vehicle miles traveled.

Baseline data was collected in March and students in Environmental Science (ENV211) will be looking for improvements in each building. There are many things building occupants can do. Turn off the computer at night, minimize artificial light usage, unplug refrigerators, bring waste-free lunches, recycle all paper material, carpool, take the T, and don't use the printer or copier unless absolutely necessary.

Studies have shown that 90% of the waste in an office setting can be recycled! Two computers left on overnight in Bancroft use 5% of the weekly electricity. While it depends on the age and how often the compressor runs, I roughly estimate that the six refrigerators in Potter use about 7% of the electricity in the building.

Napkinless Dining Next?

2009-04-10T10:09:00.001-04:00

Last week students in my Environmental Science class measured food waste during lunch servings. In the fall we noticed the significant reduction in food waste as a result of trayless dining. Have things slipped as boredom of food choices creeps in over the academic year? A bit but things are still still much better than last year. We measured 0.21 lbs of food waste per person. This is higher than the 0.16 lbs we measured in the fall but still much lower than the 0.33 lbs measured last year. We can still do better but trayless dining is a good sustainability program to incorporate on college campuses.

One of the observations students made while conducting the food waste audit was the number of napkins used by students in the dining hall. Dining Services uses napkins made of recycled paper and tries to cut down on napkin waste by using carefully designed napkin dispensers. But still there is a lot of use of paper napkins in the dining hall which ends up as waste.

I started thinking about the time I spent working at the Pok-o-MacCready Outdoor Education Center in the Adirondacks. I worked there in the late 1990s when sustainability didn't attract the attention it does today. In our dining hall we had no napkins. Many of the groups that came in were French Canadian so we got a lot of "quoi?" We tought the students to use their socks and we also had one bucket with washcloths in case students really made a mess and needed to wipe their hands. They could get up and go get a washcloth. By the second or third meal the students figured it out and it just became normal.

How would college students react if I took away their napkins and asked them to use their socks? They certainly would not respond to this with the spirit of a sixth grader. Paper napkins at every meal have evolved into an expectation in our dining culture. How did we get to that point?

I decided to do a little research on the history of napkins. It is actually a fascinating story. The first napkin was made of dough! Use the dough to collect the morsels stuck to your face and then you can cook it and eat it. The Romans started using bread to wipe fingers and would throw it to the dogs after. The French expanded use a linen napkin that was communal for the table. Eventually each individual was given a linen napkin. Paper napkin use become common between 50 and 75 years ago. Think of how many meals humans have consumed in their history on Earth without paper napkins. We are talking about 200,000 years of meals. Somehow those 100 billion people were able to eat comfortably without a paper napkin. We can figure out how to get rid of this waste in our dining hall.

Many college campuses collect paper napkins to be composted. The idea of composting has met some resistance at Lasell but with some creativity we could figure out how to make it work. We could also increase the formality of the dining experience and offer washable cloth napkins. There would be an initial cost but this is certainly a more sustainable solution. Or maybe we can borrow the idea from the Poko Outdoor Education Center and just go napkinless. We could stake our claim as the only napkinless and trayless college dining hall in the World!

Many Reasons Why

2009-03-27T15:01:00.003-04:00

Saturday is Lasell Day at Lasell College. We open up the campus to prospective students and their families to answer questions about our programs. I am looking forward to meeting prospective Environmental Studies majors.

I spent some time today reflecting on why a student would choose to study Environmental Studies at Lasell College. What are the strengths of our program? While there are many things that the College has to offer, why would a student choose Environmental Studies?

Here is my list:

1. Our Connected Learning Philosophy. The Environmental Studies program utilizes the Lasell College campus as a learning lab to connect classroom concepts with real world applications. Environmental Studies students conduct greenhouse gas audits of campus buildings and write campus sustainability reports addressing issues such as energy, water, waste, purchasing, and transportation. Students develop an understanding of sustainability issues by closely examining the institution in which they live, work, and study.

2. The Faculty. For a small colllege it is impressive how many faculty members we have with expertise in the environment. We have an environmental lawyer, two environmental economists, an environmental chemist, and an ecologist. In addition we have many other faculty with interests or experience in fields related to the environment. This includes faculty in psychology, business, fashion, and communications.

3. Geographic Location. Lasell College is located in a safe neighborhood of Newton but students have easy access by public transportation to the resources of Boston. The environmental scene is Boston and Cambridge is vibrant and our location gives students access to the many event hosted by various organizations. For example, in the next few weeks the Livable Streets Alliance, Move-On.org, Toxics Action Center, Environment Massachusetts, Massachusetts Climate Action Network, and the New England Grassroots Environment Fund are all hosting events. There are tremendous opportunities for students to engage with environmental organizations outside Lasell.

4. Geographic Location. I realize I have geographic location listed twice but it is really a huge asset to our program. The environment is the largest social movement in the world and so many non-profit organizations have offices or are headquartered in Boston. Associated with these offices are great internship opportunities for our students. Also many of the state and federal offices working on environmental issues are also located in Boston.

5. The Green Campus Initiative. Lasell College has committed to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. Further we have set several other sustainability goals as part of our Green Campus Initiative. The Initiative provides a great opportunity for Environmental Studies students to take on leadership roles to help reduce the ecological footprint of our campus.

6. The Turtles. Our lab houses three endangered aquatic turtles. While they are big now, they were only 7 grams when we first brought them home.

Earth Hour

2009-03-18T16:13:00.007-04:00

Saturday, March 28th, the World Wildlife Fund is coordinating Earth Hour. They are asking individuals, businesses, organizations, and governments to turn off the lights for one hour. Specifically the lights should be turned off at 8:30 PM local time.

This is a clever idea and the organization has done a good job in promoting it. I'll be at a surprise birthday party on Saturday evening. How do I convince the host, somebody I have never met, to switch the lights off at 8:30? WWF has produced some good PR materials. Maybe I will print some and sprinkle them throughout the apartment and subtly plant the idea. Better yet, maybe I will convince the birthday boy that this is something we need to do. Really it would make the party much more interesting. At the very least I will shoot to have the lights turned off for some length of time. Even if it is only for 10 minutes, it will still raise awareness of the issue and get people at the party talking about energy conservation.

Have fun in the dark!

Light a Fire Under Them

2009-03-17T13:56:00.003-04:00

It is clear the occupants of Potter Hall are not happy with my recent posts about how they have a larger environmental impact than the offices of their peers. Hey, data can't lie! Well maybe data can be used to manipulate a bit. Mark Twain said it best, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics." But the data I have reported is pretty straightforward. The occupants of Potter Hall are using more electricity and producing more waste per person than any of the other offices.

Why are the Potter Hall occupants so offended? Maybe referring to them as muggles has set them off. What does muggle mean anyway? I know in Harry Potter it means a person without magical powers. I can only think of one person in Potter that might be offended by this label. Maybe muggle has a meaning I am not aware of. Wikipedia informed me there are a few other meanings such as a person lacking a skill, a marijuana cigarette, a hot chocolate, or it can be a verb to represent the act of removing a cache in the sport of geocaching. I don't think these explain why they are so offended.

What can it be? Probably I have hit a nerve by identifying this group as the worst environmental offenders in the Green Office Challenge. Nobody likes to be labeled the worst. This little experiment really highlights the power of making environmental impact data more transparent. When groups see they are not the best, they will be motivated to change. The key is groups. Doug McKenzie-Mohr has done some great work showing the power of social marketing in fostering sustainable behavior. I am starting to realize the sustainability movement needs pscychologists more than physical scientists (notice I stuck in physical so as not to offend the Psychology Department). Britain Scott, at the University of St. Thomas, and Susan Kroger, at Willamette, created a great resource for teaching pscyhology for sustainability. I am trying to figure out how we can run a similar course at Lasell. It would be a great addition to our Environmental Studies Program.

Oh, Mr. Potter

2009-03-12T16:32:00.002-04:00

The more we look the worse it gets for Potter Hall. As part of our Green Office Challenge, students in Environmental Science (ENV211) examined electricity use over a three day period last week. Potter Hall used 398 kWh compared to 157, 159, and 129 kWh in Plummer, Bancroft, and Klingbeil, respectively.

Occupants of Potter will quickly point out that they have more people working or a bigger square footage. We can normalize by these factors and guess what? Potter Hall is using a much higher rate of electricity consumption than other similar offices on campus. Per square foot, Potter Hall is using nearly three times the electricity as Plummer and Bancroft. Per person, Potter Hall uses about 9.5 kWh per day compared to 3.3 in Klingbeil and 6.6 in Bancroft.

I pointed out to the students charged with helping Potter Hall with the Green Office Challenge that they better win. This building clearly has the most room for improvement. First we found they have a low recycling rate and now we discover they use an excessive amount of electricity. Hopefully my students will be able to help Potter Hall occupants understand the impact of their daily actions and to reduce their ecological footprints. For those of you placing wagers on the Green Office Challenge, Potter Hall is my favorite to win.

The Muggles in Potter Hall

2009-03-10T16:17:00.004-04:00

We launched the Green Office Challenge at Lasell College last week. Faculty and staff working in Potter, Bancroft, Klingbeil, and Plummer are competing to demonstrate they are the greenest office on campus. Electricity, waste, recycling, and vehicle miles traveled were estimated during the baseline period last week. We will measure these areas again in April during the competition week and look for the greatest improvement. Students in my Environmental Science Class (ENV211) are working with office occupants to help them identify how to reduce their environmental impact.

The contest has piqued the interest of many faculty and staff members. Member of Klingbeil have been plotting how to win this contest. I've heard some of thier ideas such as telecommuting during the contest week. Hopefully some ideas will emerge from this contest that are sustainable.

The baseline data is very interesting to examine. Potter Hall, home to many college administrative offices, has the lowest recycling rate. During the baseline week only 20% of their waste was recycled. Plummer was not much better as they only recycled 32% of their waste. However Plummer does deserve credit for minimizing waste and only producing 38 lbs of waste for the week compared to 70, 78, and 91 lbs in Potter, Bancroft, and Kleinbeil, respectively. Bancroft had the highest recycling rate as 69% of their waste was recycled. Klingbeil was close at 62%.

Potter and Bancroft are two good buildings to compare. They produced about the same amount of waste for the week but Bancroft had a much higher recycling rate. What was different in these buildings? I don't have the answer yet but I will certainly have my students find out. Maybe Potter Hall occupants need to be educated about recycling more? Maybe recycling bins are missing or hidden in Potter? Maybe these employees feel less of an obligation to recycle?

Hopefully just highlighting their inadequate recycling rate compared to other campus offices will motivate Potter Hall to figure out how to get the job done. I am looking forward to seeing how the Green Office Challenge plays out. I really hope to see some creativity and improvements.

March Madness

2009-03-08T13:26:00.004-04:00

College basketball shines in March. The Lasell College men just lost a heartbreaker in the GNAC Tournament. My alma mater, Siena College, has had an amazing year and just won the MAAC Tournament to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Basketball brings excitement and energy to college campuses at a time of year when students in the northeast are ready to be done with winter.

While the players are shining on the court, so are the lights overhead. The energy consumption by a college gymnasium is extremely high. I now know that our Athletic Center is lit by HID fixtures that use 1000 watts each. There are 16 of these lamps so they use about 16,000 watts. Athletes are in the gym by 7 AM and the facility is in use late, say 10 PM. The lighting is slow to turn on so it most typically is left on everyday for over 13 hours. We can estimate the gym lights are on for about 3,000 hours during the academic year. This costs the College about $6000 for the electricity and requires the emission of about 55 tons of carbon dioxide to generate.

What options are there to reduce electricity consumption in gymnasiums? Other Colleges have been exploring new lighting technology in their gymnasiums that reduce energy use while enhancing the lighting quality. Smith College in Massachusetts has taken the initiative to retrofit most of their gym spaces.

There are two main options that would work for Lasell. First, we could simply replace the 1000 watt lamps with 750 watt lamps. This would be an easy means to quickly achieve a 25% reduction in electricity usage. This change would save the College about $1500 a year, reduce our carbon footprint by 13 tons, and only cost about $3,000.

Second, we could do a retrofit to T5HO lighting as done in the basketball gymnasium at Smith. This project would cost a bit more, Smith spent $20,000 but the energy savings would be drastic. This retrofit would reduce wattage by 67% and occupancy sensors limit power when the space is not in use. Based on my assumptions, this retrofit would save the College $4,000 in electricity each year and reduce our carbon footprint by 36 tons. This one project would reduce electricity use by Lasell College by about 1%- a big step towards our 80% CO2 reduction by 2050 goal. The athletes will appreciate the enhanced lighting and cooler temperatures, those 1000 watt fixtures are also generating heat!

As colleges market their programs during the NCAA Basketball Tournament this year, you will see an increase in the mention of sustainability and green initiatives. Pay attention to the images colleges show while they mention these initiatives. Lighting will be a recurring theme, including in gymnasiums. Lighting is the low hanging fruit for energy conservation. Retrofitting lighting has high rate of return over the life of the project. These projects save colleges money and reduce carbon footprints and are very easy to justify.

Cutting Carbon One Refrigerator at a Time

2009-03-04T13:31:00.002-05:00

In the fall I wrote about the excessive number of refrigerators Lasell College students have in the residence halls. Research by students in my Environmental Science course has identified more excessive refrigeration on campus. Faculty and staff offices! Students have been visiting faculty and staff office buildings to conduct energy use audits as part of our Green Office Challenge. While visiting these offices, students have been documenting appliances and electronics and noted a large number of refrigerators. In some buildings students noticed the ratio is close to one refrigerator per office. In Potter Hall alone, students counted 7 mini-refrigerators and they still haven't visited every office in the building.

Observations such as this are great because they provide an opportunity for action. Students can now work with the occupants of the buildings to identify how they can reduce the number of refrigerators. I won't suggest anything because I want to see what students come up with but I suspect sharing may be involved.

I really like this project because students will encounter so many of the realities in trying to green an organization. Students will likely come up with solutions that are simple and logical. However when they recommend these changes they will encounter all kinds of suprises. Changing behavior is not easy. The refrigerators may have been in use in that office for the past 10 years. Office occupants will be resistant to change.

Going green does not have to cost much but it will require some sacrifice. Faculty and staff may have to sacrifice the luxury of having a refrigerator in their office for the good of the College's carbon footprint.

Landfill Gas to Energy

2009-02-25T09:57:00.000-05:00

Waste management companies such as Allied Waste and Waste Management are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to produce electricity from methane gas released in their landfills. In the past, methane gas released from decaying material in landfills was simply burned off to the atmosphere. But there is growing investment in capturing methane to generate electricity. There are now over 200 plants that capture methane gas from landfills to produce electricity and the companies plan to continue to expand these operations.

Understandably the waste companies spin this as part of their sustainability efforts. Typically the companies will highlight how they are recapturing this wasted greenhouse gas to generate electricity and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. There is truth to this and sales representatives are good at using this in their pitch. They will put you at ease with the 180 tons of waste your organization generates each year because it is going to generate electricity. While it is true that electricity will likely be derived from our decaying waste, the massive amounts of waste we generate still is something we need to worry about.

The waste generated at Lasell College does make it to a landfill that captures methane gas to produce electricity. Of course this plant is located somewhere in South Carolina! Our waste is loaded up on trains every night in Boston and hauled down to landfills in South Carolina. The costs of hauling the waste south on trains and dumping it into landfill there are less than utilizing landfills in the northeast.

I completely support the idea of capturing methane gas from landfills to produce electricity. However I also recognize that we waste too much in this country. We should not feel at ease with our waste generation patterns because we know it will help produce electricity.

Waste management companies are increasing their offerings of recycling services to fill a demand. This will help keep material out of landfills but it will not reduce our waste generation. We cannot rely on waste management companies to find solutions on how to reduce and reuse our waste though. Remember we pay them to take our waste (recycling and trash) by the ton.

Reducing our waste in the first place is the real challenge. We need to pressure manufacturers to minimize packaging. We need to buy less and share more. We need to eliminate the thow away culture that has taken control of our communities. At Lasell College, coffee cups and water bottles are two of the leading materials that end up in our waste. There is a simple solution, reusuable mugs and bottles, for both of these but we have not been able to create that culture yet. There are some college campuses where you risk being mauled if you are seen carrying a paper coffee cup to class. How do we get to that point?

Biofuels and Cropland Requirements

2009-02-18T14:57:00.002-05:00

Today in my environmental science class we are working through a series of calculations to estimate the amount of cropland it would take to produce enough ethanol to satisfy American's thirst for oil. The average American uses about 25 barrels of oil per year. Some rough estimates:
-25 barrels is about 146,200,00 Btu
-It takes about 1124 gallons of gasoline to produce this equivalent in Btu
-To produce this Btu equivalent would take 1843 gallons of ethanol
-It take about 737 bushels of corn to produce this much ethanol
-It takes about 6.7 acres of land to produce this many bushels

So the average American needs 6.7 acres of corn producing land to satisfy their oil thirst. The rough estimates get more fun. Let's multiply the 6.7 acres of land needed by the number of Americans and we get somewhere around 2 billion acres. How many acres of cropland is there in America? About 435 million acres. The entire land area of the United States is 2.262 billion acres.

Environmental studies students at Lasell quickly start the see the issue with biofuels. While biofuels may help supplement our liquid fuel needs it certainly is not a solution. Where will the carrots (83,000 acres), strawberries (51,000 acres), and wheat (55,000,000 acres) grow?

The Look and Feel of Single Stream

2009-02-13T12:16:00.006-05:00

Lasell College is almost done transitioning to a single stream recycling system. The transition has presented many challenges but I think we are making good progress. For example, the single stream system expands the materials that can be recycled so much that the small "Slim Jim" recycling containers are not big enough. This is a good thing but an issue we had to address. Our solution- use 30 gallon garbage cans lined them with blue bags. The blue bag is the symbol of recycling at Lasell.

At the end of one day we noticed a lot of trash ending up in the blue bags. I guess it still looks too much like a garbage can even with the stickers and posters. My leadership class came up with a clever solution and I think this may work. We placed flags on the bins attached to wood dowels. Now a flag hangs over the recycling bin making it abundantly clear that this is a recycling bin and not a garbage can.

Next week we will continue to monitor progress. I think there is a lot of energy and excitement for the new system. Students appreciate the opportunity to recycle more of their waste. Students have been active across campus trying to educate the community. There is now a nice display in the window of Wolfe Hall. Bulletin boards and recycling stations are now decorated to promote our recycling system. The presence of recycling on campus is building and I think the culture is going to take hold.

What did you recycle yesterday?

2009-02-10T08:55:00.003-05:00

Lasell College launched our new single stream recycling system yesterday. What did you recycle? Did you take advantage of the opportunity to recycle your cereal box? How about your laundry detergent bottle? The new single stream recycling system significantly expands the types of materials that can be recycled at Lasell College. And all of the materials can be placed in the same container!

Under our previous recycling system, campus members only had the opportunity to recycle paper, cans, and bottles. Now we can recycle cans, milk cartons, books, bottles, newspaper, cereal boxes, cardboard, notebooks, all plastic numbered 1-7, and many more materials. Campus community members now have the opportunity to recycle most of their waste. The challenge now is to change behavior and get students, faculty, and staff into the habit of recycling.

We now have the opportunity to recycle plastics numbered 1-7. What does this mean? Take a look a the bottom of any plastic container and chances are it has a number between 1 and 7. Water bottles, milk bottles, shampoo bottles, ketchup bottles, mustard bottles, yogurt containers, butter tubs, and clear food packaging all can be recycled. Take a look at the bottom of your waste and determine if it can be recycled.

Yesterday I recycled a tissue box, a cardboard box, empty envelopes, and some junk mail. The only trash I generated yesterday during my 9 hours at Lasell was a napkin at the dining hall and a banana peel. Faculty and staff should quickly recognize that they do not need trash bins in their offices and should convert their bins into recycling containers. Students in the residence halls should consider a similar transition. With the new single stream recycling system you should be able to recycle over half of your waste. Consider this a challenge. Can you do it?

All Together Now

2009-02-04T13:10:00.007-05:00

Next week we will begin the conversion to a single stream recycling system across the Lasell College campus. A lot of people have put in some hard work to make this conversion happen. We are hopeful that the conversion will simplify recycling and significantly increase our recycling rates. The physical resources will be in place, the custodial staff will be trained, and we will be launching a major education campaign in an effort to make recycling part of our culture at Lasell. By providing the community with the opportunity to easily recycle more materials and by providing educational materials, we hope the campus community will embrace single stream recycling and make this program a success.

A tremendous amount of work still has to be done but I want to take this opportunity to recognize the efforts of several campus members. Many people have been hard at work trying to make the single stream recycling system a success.

Tom Koerber, Director of Plant Operations, pursued the single stream option with the right level of caution. He took time to gather information to make sure a single stream system was best for Lasell. He negotiated the best possible contract with haulers and has hired a staff member to handle our recyclables.

Linda Williams, also in Plant Operations, has served a pivotal role in converting Lasell to the single stream system. Once the decision to convert to a single stream system was made, Linda has been busy preparing the physical resources the system will require. From ordering colored bags to printing stickers, Linda has been hard at work getting ready to re-purpose trash bins into recycling containers. There are a ton of trash bins around campus and Linda is starting the challenging process of associating all trash bins with a recycling container.

Kayla McKenna spent about a week of her winter break designing the single stream poster for Lasell. I think the design is great and the posters provide a concept that will be repeated across campus in all our educational efforts. The posters will be placed near all the recycling containers on campus so community members know how to recycle properly.

Lasell College now has a great recycling logo thanks to Samantha Crisman. Samantha also worked hard over winter break to design this logo. The logo has been printed on stickers and will be displayed on recycling containers around campus.

There was quite a debate about the appropriate recycling system for Lasell and Professor Toffler played a critical role in helping us reach a final decision. He spent time researching the pros and cons of different recycling systems and brought together the appropriate people to discuss. Professor Toffler has a passion for the environment and has done a great job energizing students on campus about sustainability issues.

Amy Greene recruited and trained students to serve as Sustainability Stewards. These students will have a presence on campus and be ready to educate fellow students about our new recycling system.

Scott Lamphere, Director of Residential Life, scheduled a recycling session during RA training. This provided a great opportunity to educate leaders in the residence halls about the new recycling system. Scott has also lead the bulletin board effort. Bulletin boards across campus will have a consistent look that presents our new single stream recycling system.

Students in my Leadership class are currently initiating leadership projects to make the single stream recycling system a sustainable success. Students are taking on projects to decorate recycling station areas, increase signage in the residence halls, produce marketing materials to promote the system, obtain recycling totes for student rooms, and many more clever ideas. They have a lot of energy and will play a big role in helping to create a green culture at Lasell.

This is just a sample of the many people hard at work trying to make the single stream system a success. It is going to take a campus wide effort to really make this system work. I encourage you to thank the people working hard on the recycling system and ask them how it is going. I also encourage campus members to step up and take on a leadership role to help us reach our sustainability goals. Whether you are a student, faculty, or staff member, we can find a way for you to help.

Total Diversion

2009-01-28T13:23:00.002-05:00

I discussed in an earlier post the recycling system that was set up at the AASHE Conference I attended in the fall. At each station there was an opportunity to divert paper, compost, cardboard, and recyclables from the landfill. The recycling stations were impressive and I liked how the trash bin was labeled LANDFILL. Let's just make it clear where this material is going.

AASHE recently published the statistics from this recycling effort. I'm sure it took a lot of work to set this system up and to make it work but the results are impressive. For a conference with over 2000 people in attendance they were able to divert from the landfill over 90% of the waste material. Very impressive! Around 8,000 pounds of waste was collected and only 778 lbs was sent to the landfill.

At Lasell College we should learn from the AASHE Conference recycling. Their success clearly shows that if you give people the opportunity to divert their waste from the trash they will. In the next few weeks we will be launching a new single stream recycling system at Lasell. I'm excited about this system because it will give campus community members the opportunity to recycle many more materials than in our previous system. With this system in place, it is reasonable to set a goal of a 30-50% diversion rate.

But the AASHE Conference recycling results also highlight the importance of standardized waste stations. I believe we should set a goal at Lasell to eliminate all stand alone trash bins. If a trash bin is standing alone it will inevitably collect material that could be recycled. We need to standardize the appearance of every waste station and make sure there are more opportunities to recycle than to trash. With a standard look to every station, community members will learn the system and our recycling rates will increase.

It is interesting to also point out the amount of compost collected at the AASHE conference. This is an area I have suggested we consider at Lasell. Over 33% of the waste weight at the conference was compostable material. We do not collect any compost at Lasell. Back of house compost from Dining Services is the first place we should look. The waste from chopped vegetables currently goes into our trash. We could develop a system to get this material to a farm for composting. We pay by the ton for trash hauling and organic waste is filled with water and heavy. We could save a lot of money and increase our diversion rate with a simple composting system. Dining Services supports this idea and we are now trying to find a way to make it happen.

Stay on Target

2009-01-26T13:46:00.003-05:00

I'm still riding the wave of energy brought on by Obama's inauguration speech. Classes have started for the spring semester at Lasell College and I am more fired up than ever. Students are coming to class with more passion and energy for the environment than ever before. If I can just enable these students and step out of their way good things will happen at Lasell.

2008 was the 9th warmest year on record despite a strong La Niña event in the Pacific Ocean (strong La Niña events typically cool the global temperatures). The warming trend continues as does the urgency with which we need to change our consumption patterns. While global temperatures are trending up, the economic climate is trending down. We are facing high variability and a large degree of uncertainty in our economy.

What does this mean for sustainability efforts at Lasell? While there is uncertainty in the economy, we cannot wait until the economy recovers to implement sustainability programs. The planet continues to warm at an alarming rate and we must do our part and act as fast as we can to address this issue. It has never been our intention to reach our greenhouse gas reduction goals through the purchasing of offsets. Our plan relies on implementing programs that will change the green culture of Lasell, reduce waste, and increase energy efficiency.

The Green Campus Task Force produced a report in 2007 outlining over 50 measures we could take to reduce our environmental footprint. By the end of the year, I hope to produce with the Environmental Sustainability Committee a Lasell College Climate Action Plan. By having a long term plan in place, the College will have a stable document with which to fall back during tough times. We need to take the measures recommended by the Green Campus Task Force and evaluate how much they will cost, what will the impact be on greenhouse gas reductions, and how much effort will it take to sustain program. With that information we can put together goals for the next five years.

Given the current economic climate, I would advise that we pursue low cost, high impact, high effort projects first. Implementing low cost projects does not ensure success though. These types of projects typically require a sustained campus wide effort. Good old sweat equity is needed to make these projects work. Whether from students, faculty, or staff, the success of these projects will depend on our efforts and creativity.

We must continue to make progress towards our sustainability goals despite economic uncertainty. The stakes are too high not to meet our sustainability commitment. By shifting our priorities we will be able to stay on course without having to invest heavily in energy conservation projects. It won't be easy though and we are going to need help from every corner of campus. The projects are going to require an enormous amount of energy!

The Work of Remaking America

2009-01-20T13:31:00.003-05:00

Today in deWitt Hall members of the Lasell College community gathered to watch an historic moment as President Obama was sworn into office. This was truly a significant event in American history that means so much to so many. I was touched on my T ride to Lasell today when I overhead a lady describing how she was wearing peals to support Michelle Obama and how she was going to get the inauguration on DVD so she could save the moment forever.

Tonight the pageantry will end and tomorrow Barack Obama and his team will get to work. Coincidentally Lasell College will resume classes tomorrow. I found it very inspiring when Obama stated, "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America." Tomorrow we start a new semester and students and faculty at Lasell must recognize the significance our work has in this endeavor.

While "remaking America" can mean many things, remaking America's impact on the environment is most meaningful to me. The Earth's resources cannot sustain the American lifestyle infinitely. We need to remake how we acquire and use energy. We need to retrofit our homes and buildings to conserve every watt and therm possible. We must minimize waste and maximize repurposed materials. While these sound like monumental tasks they are all things that we can make happen right here at Lasell.

Good things are happening as we continue to "remake Lasell" as part of our Green Campus Initiative. We will be launching a comprehensive recycling program in February. Plant Operations continues to update insulation, lighting, heating units, and windows to improve energy efficiency. The Environmental Studies major continues to grow and more students are expressing interest in sustainability issues. We have had our share of differences in how to pursue our sustainability goals but tomorrow we "dust ourselves off and begin again."

That's a Lot of Lux

2009-01-07T14:51:00.003-05:00

The lighting in my office suite area is poorly designed. One switch in the hallway controls the lights to the hall and multiple faculty offices. In the morning I leave the lights off and turn on two 20 watt CFLs in my office. Eventually one of the professors I share the suite with will arrive and throw on the switch.

Sometimes I feel like music should play when the switch is turned on because it is a flood of light. There is enough light in my office to perform surgery! The small suite area has 18 fluorescent lamps each rated at 32 watts. It is lighting overkill. In my little office there are over 2.7 watts of lighting per square foot. I pulled out a light meter and measured over 50 footcandles. I've thought about climbing up and pulling out the lamps but I want to have the light available when students come in for help or advising.

How much light do I really need in my office? Since I spend most of my office time working on my computer I think 10 footcandles would be plenty. My office suite is just one example of over lighting. I know over lighting is an issue elsewhere on campus and one way we can trim our carbon footprint.

Lighting on the Lasell College campus consumes a large proportion of our electricity and presents an interesting challenge. There needs to be a balance between lamp costs, lighting output, and occupant needs. Maybe I'll pull together a group of professors to argue over the number of footcandles needed in classrooms. There isn't one answer so this would be a fun academic exercise. Each learning situation has a different lighting need. Unfortunately we do not have much control. Most of the lighting in our classrooms have only an on or off option and too often they are left on.

Most of our lighting is 32 watt T8 style lamps. This is actually a fairly efficient system. Of course when you have 6 of them in a 70 square foot area something is lost in the efficiency category. More efficient options do exist. For example, I want to learn more about the lamps sold by Philips that are 25 watt T8 lamps. Switching to this lamp would trim 20% in a hurry.

My 432 lb Diet Pepsi

2009-01-05T13:39:00.006-05:00

Perhaps out of boredom I just decided I needed a soda. I ventured over to Wolfe Hall to the soda machine. I inserted my $1.25 and received an ice cold Diet Pepsi. I recognize there are so many environmental issues with my decision but sometimes a soda sounds so much more refreshing than tap water. I'll put the discussion of aspartame, plastic bottling, transportation, manufacturing, and recycling aside for now. I want to discuss the vending machine.

Most people probably wouldn't even notice but I am developing an eye for this type of thing. The last final exam at Lasell College was on December 20th and classes resume on January 21st. I was just able to purchase an ice cold soda in a building that is empty from students for a full month. There are only three offices in the building so chances are the machine is getting no use. In fact, I am willing to bet I may have purchased the only soda from that machine for the 1 month break period.

A typical soda vending machine uses about 400 watts. The machine does not have a VendingMiser so it is fully powered 24 hours a day. For the 1 month period when students are not on campus the machine will use about 288 kWh of electricity. This costs the College about $34.56. The carbon footprint of the vending machine during this period is about 432 lbs of CO2 if we assume 1.5 lbs per kWh.

Small details such as vending machine power add up on a college campus but are hard to manage. I have no idea how many machines we have on campus. I'm sure there are some in the dorms running right now as well as in other academic buildings. If there are 10 then we are wasting $345.60 in electricity during the break and indirectly emitting 4320 lbs of CO2.

I could dig further and call around to find out who overseas vending machines on campus. I don't know whose responsibility it would be to unplug machines. I'm sure we have some type of contract but locating the details would take quite of bit of time. I'm busy trying to prepare my syllabus for my Environmental Science class. I think I just identified the first assignment though.

Winslow the Turtle

2008-12-17T11:10:00.002-05:00

I would first like to thank Professor Daley for offering alumni the opportunity to participate in naming the turtles. After much deliberation I have decided our new creature in the Environmental Science class should be named Winslow. This name fits because of the connection to Lasell and the fact it is such an awesome name.

The Winslow name is connected to Lasell College because of Guy Winslow and his son Dr. Donald Winslow. Guy Winslow career at Lasell began in 1898 when he was first a science teacher and ended in 1947 when he retired as the President. Most notably, in 1908 Mr. Winslow purchased the school from Dr. Charles Bragdon in 1908, thus becoming the Principal and President of Lasell from 1908-1947. Dr. Donald Winslow has been a Trustee of Lasell since 1959 as well as the schools resident historian and Archivist and lives on Maple St., only a quick walk from campus. Lasell College will forever be indebted to the Winslow family for their dedication and service to furthering the education of students on Lasell's campus.

It is this reason I believe the unnamed turtle should be named Winslow. Students and visitors to the Environmental Science class will be reminded of the Winslow family's dedication to Lasell College. Congrats to Prof. Daley and the Environmental Science students and staff for moving Lasell towards going green.

Happy Holidays to all!

Kevin Lawson

Lasell College '08

Food Waste 2008

2008-12-08T13:44:00.004-05:00

Compared to food waste in 2007 Lasell College students reduced food waste per person by 45% to reach an average of 0.18 lbs per person in 2008. This is great! A huge reduction in just one year. What has led to this change? Are students more cognizant of their foodprint? Are students making comments to their friends about food waste? Did last year's food waste audit leave a huge impression?

Most likely the reduction in food waste we have realized is due to the incorporation of trayless dining. Although a slight inconvenience, trayless dining is proving to have a tangible impact. Trayless dining helps reduce food waste as students can no longer pile on the food. In addition, trayless dining is leading to a reduction in energy usage as hot water is no longer needed to wash as many trays. Trayless dining also requires less soap and water to clean trays. Aramark has estimated that each tray takes 1/3 to 1/2 gallon to wash. We have not been able to completely eliminate trays at Lasell as they are still needed to carry dirty dishes on the conveyor but we have realized a significant reduction as students pile dishes on trays already on the conveyor belt.

How do we stack up compared to other colleges? Through our trayless dining program we are right up there with the best of them. Although I haven't had a chance to verify the data, eco-reps at University of Vermont report the following, with my addition of Lasell:

It is fantastic to see Lasell College ahead of some very environmentally aware campuses such as Oregon and UVM. Dropping from 0.33 lbs per person to 0.18 lbs per person is a great accomplishment. We should not get complacent and we should continue to set food waste reduction goals. But, for the moment, we should step back and celebrate the progress we have made.

How the Grinch Sustained Christmas

2008-12-05T12:04:00.005-05:00

Now that the harvest celebration is over we move into the period of mass consumption collectively known as the holidays. College students love this period as it provides a socially acceptable mechanism to deck out their rooms with strings of 2.5 volt incandescent lights. I must say that I'm not completely innocent. I did the same thing as an undergraduate.

Take a look at Lasell College residence hall electricity use in the 2007 academic year.

December electricity consumption rivaled October in the residence halls despite the fact that the college was closed for a third of the month. Per day of open school, residence halls used about 5,900 kWh in October compared to 8,800 kWh in December. Can this be explained by holiday lighting?

Probably not. More likely this is due to the loss of daylight savings time and the return of darkness at 4:30 P.M. But still there must be some impact of holiday lighting on our carbon footprint. Let's play with some numbers.

A 50 bulb string of mini lights consumes about 25 watts. If we assume a college student turns the lights on at 6 P.M. and off at midnight the lights are run for 6 hours per day. Let's also assume the student installs the lights on December 1st and takes them down when they leave for break on December 21st. During this period of time a string of lights will consume 3 kWh. Not a huge number.

Now let's scale up a bit. If a student is going to put up lighting they probably have at least 2 strings of light so now we are at 6 kWh per room. Now let's say that 250 rooms put lighting up. Now we are at 1500 kWh of electricity which has a carbon footprint of 2700 lbs. I'm probably quite conservative in my estimate as I know some of the suites will run hundreds of bulbs.

As Lasell College strives to reduce carbon emissions should we ban holiday lighting? If I am in the right ballpark with my assumptions then holiday lighting accounts for only about 0.04% of our annual electricity consumption. This is probably a battle not worth fighting as the impact just isn't there. Students would line up and protest outside my office door if we banned holiday lights. Although I'd actually be kind of excited about seeing a spark of student activism.

A ban isn't necessary as there is a new option to reduce the environmental impact of holiday lighting that we need to promote. LED lights are now available that use only about 4 watts. If we allowed holiday lighting but convinced students to purchase LED lights rather than incandescents we would reduce our carbon footprint from 2700 lbs down to 432 lbs which is over an 80% savings. The unfortunate thing right now is the cost. College students have no money and a sting of LED lights costs much more than a string of overstocked incandescent lights. Hopefully by the next holiday season the price of LED lights will come down and all new purchases of holiday lighting will be of this energy saving variety.

Go Green RA RA RA!

2008-12-01T10:47:00.002-05:00

Last week two residential assistants in McClelland Hall approached me and asked if I could help support an event in their dorm. They wanted to host an event in honor of America Recycles Day and asked if I could address student about recycling issues and the recycling program on campus. I was thrilled to see students taking initiative to help grow our green culture and agreed to support their efforts. On Wednesday night I will be addressing a group of students about the importance of recycling and the impact individual Lasell College students can have. Great job Rebecca and Rizwan! I hope other campus leaders follow your example and develop creative programming to continue to expand the green culture at Lasell.

Gobble Gobble Gobble

2008-11-24T16:07:00.005-05:00

I've been trying to encourage students in my Environmental Science class at Lasell College to think more about their food. I not only want students to have a better understanding of the source of their food but also of the amount of energy that went into producing that food. Local food is an idea I have been working with students to consider as part of their foodprint and Thanksgiving provides an interesting opportunity to apply this concept particularly as the meal occured here in Massachusetts.

Almost all food consumed in early colonial times was local. With the exception of a few spices that may have been transported on ships most of the food was of local origin. So what was on the original menu? Not potatoes, not pumpkin pie, not cranberry sauce, and maybe not even turkey as Karla Reed points out. Sugar was not available for cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie and potatoes were unheard of. So what did these true locavores eat?

Wild fowl
Pumpkin
Squash
Fish
Lobsters
Eel
Mussels
Oysters
Corn
Parsnips
Collards
Turnips
Spinach
Onions
Dried Beans
Dried Blueberries
Grapes
Nuts

Thanksgiving was originally a harvest celebration. As you sit down for your meal this year consider what has been harvested locally. Hopefully at least the squash is coming from a local farm. Is it right that we celebrate food that was harvested 3000 miles away?

My Dumpster Dive

2008-11-19T22:34:00.002-05:00

I am proud to say that this morning I went dumpster diving. I did not physically dive into a giant 30 yarder but I did loot through a giant pile of trash. As I fumbled on my way to to the car this morning with the boy in one arm and his lunch in the other I noticed a huge mound of trash. In this mountain of trash on the side of this Cambridge street there was a suitcase. Someone was throwing out this perfectly beat up suitcase even though Professor Athey and the students heading to Mexico could use it? I quickly threw my son into his car seat and ran over to the trash pile to claim the suitcase before anyone could beat me to it. What joy when I discoved a second suitcase in the trash pile under my first dumpster dive prize. Quickly I realized how dumpster diving can get addicting. I felt great all morning. Not only was I able to bring in two more suitcases for the Mexico service-learning trip but I rescued two suitcases destined for the landfill.

Tangible Actions

2008-11-18T21:10:00.003-05:00

The Lasell College Environmental Sustainability Committee met again today. We had some very interesting discussion regarding campus recycling. We also made a decision on the tangible actions we want to implement as part of the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment.

The discussion regarding single stream vs. dual stream recycling was very interesting. It was pointed out that a single stream system would probably increase recycling rates, decrease costs, and be easier to implement. This makes it seem straightforward. However if the entire life cycle analysis is considered, the dual stream system may be the better choice for the environment as the quality of the product from the plant may be higher. But then again the dual stream system may require more truck trips to campus. After debating the merits of both systems the committee acknowledged that whichever system we choose we need to launch a major education campaign. Our next meeting will focus on creating a campaign that we will launch at the start of the spring semester. It is going to be huge so watch out!

It was a very productive meeting as we were also able to come to a consensus on which two tangible actions steps we will implement as part of the ACUPCC. In signing the ACUPCC, President Alexander agreed Lasell would commit to at least two short term greenhouse reduction actions. We decided Lasell College will:
-Adopt an energy-efficient appliance purchasing policy requiring purchase of ENERGY STAR certified products in all areas for which such ratings exist.
-Participate in the Waste Minimization component of the national RecycleMania competition, and adopt 3 or more associated measures to reduce waste.

Again the discussion was very interesting. We seriously considered choosing an action to adopt a new construction policy requiring that new buildings meet at least LEED silver standards. Although we chose two other action items we may look closely at LEED standards during the spring semester. To make an informed decision we would need a representative from the green building industry to educate the committee on the standards and the associated costs and benefits.

I'm excited about the two action steps we have adopted. I really like the RecycleMania because it engages students. Professor Sarikas brought up a great point about the importance of waste minimization. Whether a material is in the garbage or in the recycling bin it is still waste. We can do a lot more to try and minimize our waste and participating in RecycleMania will provide a fun arena to make improvements.

Just Get the Job Done

2008-11-13T16:56:00.009-05:00

Last Monday morning I had the unique opportunity to hear Van Jones deliver a speech to attendees at the AASHE2008 conference. Van Jones is probably the best speaker I have ever heard. Sorry, Al Gore. Gore's speech at Harvard last month was good, but Van Jones was incredible. He spoke for nearly an hour and his points are still clear in my mind. Take a look at part of his speech on YouTube. Jones is co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the author of The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems. Many people think Van Jones should be in the Obama Whitehouse.

Van Jones provided great inspiration to me. He started by telling the audience that there is no time to worry and to just get the job done. This resonated with me and probably most of the other campus sustainability representatives at the conference.

On a national scale, Jones outlined three initiatives to move America towards a sustainable future. First he said we need to put a price on carbon and make the polluters pay. Second we need to retrofit America. Retrofitting America creates jobs and will pay for itself in energy savings. Third we need to repower America. To make this happen, Jones suggested we invoke that it is in the best interest of national security. The national highway system was a project that was overwhelming to imagine. People argued the cost would be so high there was no way it could be done. In the interest of national security the highway system was completed and you can say some other benefits were realized. Shifting our energy supply to renewables is on a scale similar to highways.

At the end of his speech Van Jones rallied the audience, "Barack Obama has done his job and taken America back." He followed, "Now let's do our job and take America forward." He is absolutely right. We have put the right man in place but he can't do it alone. We all need to get on board and just get the job done.

Live From AASHE

2008-11-11T07:18:00.007-05:00

On Sunday evening I arrived in Raleigh, NC to attend the annual conference of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. The conference is really impressive and sustainability has been thought through in every aspect of the planning. Let me share a few of the things happening here.

On the way to the airport I was telling my wife I felt a bit guilty flying 700 miles to attend a conference on sustainability. Flying is not really a sustainable action. However, when I arrived I discovered that conference planners used a company called Blue Horizons to offset all the travel of the attendees. Rather than asking conference attendees to consider paying to offset their travel, planners just did it and incorporated the costs into the conference fee. The fee now more accurately reflects the true cost of the conference by taking into account the environmental impact of flying.

When I entered the conference hall I was overly impressed with the recycling stations. They actually call them the Resource Recovery Stations and not recycling. At the stations there were five containers: paper recycling, plastic recycling, organics and compostables, liquids, and landfill waste. I loved the sign on the garbage stating landfill waste. Let's just make it flat out clear that what is put in this container is going to fill the landfill. The organizers are estimating they will generate 30% of the waste of a typical conference. The meals and snacks have all been served on washable plates and cups. If disposable products are used, they are starch based cups so they can be placed in the compostable bin. Again I'm sure the cost was more but this is what it is going to take to force people into making the right decision.

The meals did not have any red meat. In fact most of the meals were vegetarian based. I did see chicken served a few times but all the people I ate with were choosing meatless options. At one of the sessions I attended I learned that about 1/3 of global greenhouse gases are from agriculture and over half of that is due to livestock. Eating less meat is a great way to reduce your footprint. Some colleges are incorporating Meatless Mondays, which I think is a great idea to promote awareness of foodprints.

I have one more day of sessions and I will be back in Boston tonight. There is good stuff happening here, and I am excited to share with the Lasell community what I have learned. I have been impressed with the energy at the conference and I am hopeful that institutions of higher education will step up and meet the challenge to make our campuses sustainable places to live, work, and study.

Name Me!

2008-11-05T10:46:00.006-05:00

Turtle #294 desperately needs a name. Imagine an endangered northern red-bellied cooter named after you! I've decided to use the naming of the turtle as a chance to raise some money to help us grow the turtles and conduct outreach. We are currently asking for donations and we will award the naming right for Turtle #294 to the individual making the largest donation to our turtle program. Alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends are all welcome to participate. Let me look at the staff directory and find some good turtle names. How about Aieta? Ostrow? Malini? Rosenthal? Maybe a name after a recent graduate such as Kevin or Alisha? Alexander has a nice ring to it! Turtle #294 can't wait to finally have a name. More information and the link to donate can be found on the Lasell College Alumni page (www.lasellallumni.org/turtles).

Waste Audit

2008-11-04T15:35:00.003-05:00

Students in my Environmental Science class participated in a waste audit today. It was on a small scale but still the data is quite revealing. The data gives us an indication as to how well our new recycling system is working. We collected all the waste from the classroom and hallway garbage cans in Wolfe Hall. We then sorted the waste into different categories. Here is what we found:

31% cans and bottles
53% waste (12% from paper coffee cups)
10% paper
7% other plastic

Recycling for cans and bottles as well as paper is available in the hallway of these buildings and yet 41% of our waste contains recyclables. Also striking is the amount of waste from paper coffee cups. Paper coffee cups represent 12% of our waste in this building. Clearly a Lug-a-Mug campaign is needed.

We then collected all the material in the recycling bins and found the following:

58% cans and bottles
17% paper
11% other plastic
11% paper coffee cups

The data highlights two problems. First students are not placing recyclables into the bins. Second students are placing items that cannot be recycled into the recycling bins. We recovered 4.5 lbs of cans and bottles from the garbage cans and only 2.5 lbs of cans and bottles from the recycling bins. The culture needs to change on our campus. We also found plastic and paper coffee cups in the recycling that we currently cannot recycle. This indicates to me that students want to recycle these items and think these items can be recycled in our system.

Where do we go from here? Next week I am going to run an experiment. I think to increase recycling in the academic buildings each classroom needs recycling stations or we need to remove all garbage cans in each classroom. Bins in each classroom is not an option right now because the recycling budget is dry. I will test the hypothesis that students will recycle more if there are no garbage cans in classrooms because it forces them into the hallway to throw items away where they will see the recycling bins. My colleague thinks my hypothesis will not be supported and students will just pile their waste in the classroom along the wall. I'm confident Lasell students are better than that.

Building Dashboard

2008-11-03T10:26:00.005-05:00

I ran an electricity reduction contest in the Lasell College residential houses for the month of October. I had my Environmental Science students implement programs to help residents reduce their electricity consumption for the month. Students implemented programs such as passing out CFL bulbs and convincing roommates to share a refrigerator. Data was reported weekly on the Green Campus Initiative web page. At the end of the month, electricity consumption was down 3.7% compared to October of 2007.

I ran the contest as a pilot to determine if investing in Building Dashboard is a worthwhile pursuit. Oberlin College has implemented the system and experienced up to a 55% reduction in electricity consumption in high resolution feedback buildings. By combining a building performance monitoring system with a web based display, the data can be used to engage, educate, entertain, and empower as described by John Petersen in his Definitive Design paper. Students in environmental studies courses can use the data to calculate carbon footprints and discuss energy conservation. Residents on campus can be engaged by participating in electricity reduction contests. The display system is entertaining as visual graphics display comparisons of building energy consumption. Finally, the system is empowering residents are inspired to reduce energy consumption in the building.

I ran the contest in the houses at Lasell to feel out interest. I wasn't sure it was worthwhile as I had to walk around to the houses and manually record the data each week. But one comment has convinced me it was worthwhile and should be expanded. A student in my FYS class commented that she looks forward to seeing the data each week and she discusses with her roomate what they can do to help their building. With that I am sold. I'm convinced it is worthwhile to work to find money to implement this system.

My contest was low cost and simple to run. It did not provide real-time data and required me to walk around to meters and report the data on a web page. I could not include dormitories because the meters are in the basements and I don't have access. The Building Dashboard system could be grown to include all campus buildings and increase the transparency of energy use data. I think the place to start is in the dormitories as residential house data can easily be obtained manually.

The dorm energy contest idea is great and depends on residents buying into the contest. The support of an RA can make a big difference. For example, in our contest the RA in Mott House sent text messages with ideas and words of encouragement to all residents. This house realized a 20% reduction largely due to the RA's leadership.

Environmental Sustainability Committee

2008-10-31T10:57:00.006-04:00

The Lasell College Environmental Sustainability met for the first time yesterday. This was the first meeting I have ever been to in which I was the chair. My father-in-law always grades himself when he gives a talk so I will borrow his model of self-assessment and give myself a C. We discussed the important issue of recycling at great length and set in motion a sub-committee to re-evaluate the option of a single stream recycling system on campus. I am very happy to see this happening but I failed to provide adequate time to get other actions rolling in terms of campus sustainability so I score myself a C.

Let me share what happened during our meeting. Committee members first introduced themselves to get an indication of the background, interest, and experience committee members bring. I then explained the background of the Green Campus Task Force and I also explained how the Task Force recommended the creation of the Environmental Sustainability Committee. The Task Force charged the committee with setting and reviewing the following sustainability goals:

increasing environmental eduction and outreach
increasing the practice of the 4R's: recycling, reusing, reducing, and rebuying
reducing waste
conserving water
conserving energy
purchasing green products
protecting natural resources
improving environmental performance of new construction
reducing environmental impacts of transportation

The Green Campus Task Force also made 57 recommendations that could be considered objectives to help reach the goals. I shared a list of the objectives and watched the overwhelmed look on all of the committee members faces. I quickly jumped in that we can't do them all in one year and we will pick a few to execute well. I also introduced the President's Climate Committment which President Alexander signed this summer. I shared the committment and introduced our resonsibilities as a college.

President Alexander then made an appearance to provide a further charge to the committee. He expressed that the priority for the committee is to focus on setting a course of action to help us reach our sustainability goals. He emphasized the importance of executing actions in the first year that would increase visibility of sustainability on campus. This led to a discussion of recycling as this is a highly visible aspect of sustainability. President Alexander expressed his support of a single stream recycling system on campus. I have been advocating for a single stream system as it simplifies the decisions people need to make with their waste and campuses are finding it significantly increases recycling rates. The committee agreed to establish a sub-committee to work with Plant Operations to evaluate operating costs and determine how we can make a single stream system happen.

Since the meeting I have had time to process things a bit. I've really been considering the point President Alexander made about visibility. We need to create a culture of sustainability on campus and things need to be visible to achieve this goal. While energy conservation projects will do much more for meeting our greenhouse gas reduction goals, it may be more important that we start by working to create a green culture on campus. I started to brainstorm things we could do on campus to increase the visibility of sustainability and change the behavior of people. Here is my list of ideas:

create a Lasell College sustainability logo
create a lug-a-mug campaign. Sell travel mugs with our sustainability logo. Run a Spot-a-Mug campaign in which students spotted with travel mugs are rewarded with a coupon for a free cup of coffee.
conduct a waste audit and sort the trash in the middle of campus
conduct a food waste audit for one week
participate in Recyclemania and compete with other colleges to recycle the most waste
place stickers on all light switches reminding people to turn off the switch
partner with Dump&Run to collect items during move-out. Items can then be sold in a yard sale and profits donated to charity
gather green pledges from graduating seniors as part of the Graduation Pledge Alliance
Host a dorm electricity reduction contest. This is currently being done in the residential houses but it needs to be expanded to all dorms
place signs, posters, stickers, and balloons on recycling containers to highlight their presence and educate community members
place stickers and signs on all garbage cans reminding community members to recycle

There are so many more unique ideas we could do. Many of these are done on other campuses already. I am going to work to quickly execute these ideas. Unfortunately the Environmental Sustainability Committee has no budget so somehow we will have to find money to support these visibility programs.

There Are Bins!

2008-10-28T09:27:00.008-04:00

A big step forward was made today across the campus of Lasell College as recycling bins were stationed in key areas. Wass, Wolfe, the mail room, Winslow, and the Athletics Center all now have bins to recycle cans, bottles, and paper. This follows the placement of recycling bins for cans and bottles in the trash rooms of the dormitories last week. Recycling provides a visible signal that the college is concerned about sustainability issues and I am very happy to finally see a system in place.

While we had some bins scattered across campus already, the recycling was poorly managed and frequently the contents of bins ended up in the trash. Now we have launched a more comprehensive program with a staff member employed to actively manage the collection of recycling across the campus. Linda Williams should be thanked for the hard work she has put into getting a recycling program started. She has operated under a limited budget and under pressure from highly verbal professors such as myself advocating for recycling. Linda has been working hard to purchase recycling bins and to train our new staff member. It is a great start and we look forward to hearing her ideas on what we can do to continue to improve our recycling rate.

Now that there are options to recycle in the dorms and academic buildings it is important that students, faculty, and staff utilize the system. We need a to create a culture in which a community members feel shame when they throw a water bottle or paper in the garbage. Students, faculty, and staff need to make comments to others when they observe them throwing recyclables into the trash. Cans, bottles, and paper are the bulk of the trash in the academic areas. All of these items should now make it into the recycling bins.

At the Lasell College Strategic Planning Session I proposed setting a goal of reaching a 30% recycling rate within four years. This means that 30% of our waste (recycling is still waste) will end up in the recycling stream. While the recommendation was not adopted, I am going to recommend the Environmental Sustainability Committee formally embrace the goal. Our annual report will include data on the amount of waste and the amount of recycling generated on campus. It is important we develop a system so we can measure our progress. Cans, bottles, and paper are a start but to reach the 30% goal we will have to continue to find creative ways to recycle more waste material. Students in the dormitories should have the opportunity to recycle as many waste materials as possible. I will continue to advocate for single stream recycling in the dorms. For now we should celebrate the arrival of a recycling system on campus and start changing the waste culture on our campus.

Campus Carbon Cycle

2008-10-21T15:18:00.002-04:00

I was wandering the campus of Lasell College today collecting building energy use data and I noticed the landscaping company we hire to maintain our property. These men were blasting away at leaves with loud leaf blowers in an effort to eliminate every fallen leaf from our campus. The energy and carbon cost of landscaping is frequently a number that escapes campus carbon footprint estimates but they are not insignificant.

Through the process of photosynthesis, trees sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere which accumulates in the biomass of the tree. When calculating carbon footprints, many institutions will quantify the number and size of trees on their campus and use a reasonable estimate for sequestration rates to determine how much carbon dioxide the vegetation offsets. This process seems straightforward but is filled with several flaws.

Trees on a campus are much different than trees in a forest. When forest trees suffer damage or die, the dead branches decay in place. On a college campus damaged trees are maintained and branches are removed. Maintaining and removing dead trees or damaged branches requires the use of fossil fuels. Arborists use trucks, chainsaws, and chippers to do this work. Further the process of decomposition may occur at a faster rate depending on how the waste is disposed of.

David Nowak and others found that trees that are not maintained and allowed to decompose in place are sinks for carbon dioxide. Although the decomposition and sequestration nearly balance out, trees will still act as a sink of carbon. As soon as trees have maintenance the carbon gains are lost to the atmosphere as the machines burn fossil fuels. This suggests campus trees plantings might not be the answer to reducing carbon footprints. However as Nowak et. al (2002) suggest, there are management strategies that can be put in place to maximize benefits of campus forestry. These suggestions include planting long-lived and low maintenance species, use maintenance strategies that maximize longevity, minimize fossil-fuel use related to maintenance, plant trees in energy conserving locations, and consider the use of dead wood material.

Sustainable Dining

2008-10-15T12:25:00.004-04:00

Dining Services at Lasell College continues to lead all other campus offices in implementing sustainable practices. While other offices are lagging in implementing sustainability in their daily operations, dining services continues to seek out and implement creative solutions. They made a bold move and removed trays from the dining hall which has proven to be highly successful. This week they are introducing a new organic bird friendly coffee from Africa at Jazzman's Cafe. The coffee comes from the Anfilo Specialty Coffee Enterprises in Ethiopia and is shade-grown, organic, and bird friendly. The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center at the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C awards the Bird Friendly Certification. Shade-grown coffee provides habitat for birds and helps sustain the environment by preventing the clearing of land. Support these sustainability efforts by requesting their Bird Friendly coffee.

The Long Way Home

2008-10-14T15:40:00.006-04:00

Last year I calculated the carbon footprint of Lasell College for the Green Campus Task Force. A gaping hole in my analysis was the lack of data on the commute of college employees. A complete carbon footprint analysis must include not only electricity and energy consumption but also include the the impact of people traveling to and from our campus. I'm currently working to arrive at some estimate of this number but I am finding it very challenging.

I've started with data from human resources on where employees live. The data is quite interesting and I thought I would share some numbers. The average employee lives over 13 miles from campus making the average commute 25.7 miles. This is consistent with the average American commute of 32 miles but probably not the average time of 52 minutes. The longest commute is 130 miles but I don't know how frequently that individual commutes. About 120 employees live under 10 miles but 84 live over 20 miles from campus. The high cost of housing in Newton and neighboring towns most likely increases commuting distances for employees.

My Environmental Science class is working on a way to regularly survey employees to annually assess our footprint from commuting. With this data we can start to evaluate carpool programs, T passes, and parking structures on campus. Many employees take public transportation or carpool. Others do not commute every day of the week. Asking employees to self report their commuting information would probably yield a low response rate. Students in my Environmental Science class want to hold paychecks until employees report the data. I know that will never fly but I love their thinking. Sustainability on campus should be a priority.

Tale of the Turtles

2008-10-10T10:28:00.012-04:00

Lasell College has recently hired two new staff members to manage communications and web content. I think they are doing a great job and I appreciate their help in promoting the Environmental Studies Major and campus sustainability. I invited them both in to learn about the northern red-bellied cooters and to enlist their help in developing more outreach. Kristine just finished writing this story about the northern red-bellied cooters.

The energy behind the environment is growing on campus at Lasell. The turtles are doing well and growing a tremendous rate. A new environmental student group has been formed. I am about to name the Environmental Sustainability Committee this afternoon. A new recycling program will be in place by the end of next week. More students are expressing interest in the Environmental Studies Major. Students in the residential houses are working to reduce electricity consumption with the assistance from students in my Environmental Science course. We are actively promoting the Environmental Studies Minor to Business, Hospitality and Event Management, Communications, and Fashion students. Admissions is in the field speaking with prospective students and we look forward to having a large cohort of environmental students next fall. And on October 28th and 29th we are having a Green Cookies and Turtles gathering!

Blog Analytics

2008-10-08T11:29:00.004-04:00

Lately I have had less time than I would like to make blog entries. I teach 12 credit hours a semester which means most of my time is devoted to preparing lessons, assessing student learning, and managing students in my courses. I'm full of ideas about campus sustainability but short on time to write.

This summer I read Getting Things Done by David Allen and I have been trying to implement his system. I'm caught between my old way of organization (a pile) and implementing the GTD system with an inbox, tickler file, and next actions list. I'm working on becoming proficient at this organization system but I'm not there yet. I hope to eventually feel organized enough to make a blog entry almost every day.

I've published material in various formats including books and peer-reviewed journals. These are often considered the currencies that measures your success as an academic. However I feel I am having a bigger impact by blogging than if I was devoting my time to research and publishing. My blog entries are generating conversations on our campus at Lasell College and on other college campuses. I rarely hear feedback about work I have published in a peer-reviewed journal. However I regularly engage with people on campus about things I have written in my blog. I am starting to realize there is a need for more college professors to engage in this type of grassroots activity to help organizations become greener places to live, work, and study.

Looking at the analytics for my blog helps reveal the impact a blogger can have. Since I started the blog I have had 1133 people visit my blog. I know this is small relative to many blogs but I find it encouraging. The blog is read by more than just students, faculty, and staff at Lasell College. I've had visitors from the U.S., Canada, U.K., India, and Australia. I've had a least one visitor from every state except Alaska, Montana, Arkansas, and West Virginia. I guess campus sustainability has not generated much steam in those states yet. Most of the visitors to the blog come from Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and California. I'm now getting over 125 visits per week. I am starting to consider my blog as my 5th class as I reach more people through the site than I do in my classes.

The blog entry about the Essex Farm CSA has had the most pageviews. The entry about dorm electricity use is the second most read page followed by the guest blog from my sister about nalgene bottles. My entry about my adventures on the Cessna has also had a lot of readers.

I'm looking forward to growing the blog. I haven't spent much time trying to promote hits to my blog outside of Lasell. From the beginning my goal has been to discuss campus sustainability with specific reference to Lasell College. Success to me would be to get every student at Lasell to spend time on the blog at least once. Information about the environment we live in prepares us to make sustainable choices.

Bright Idea

2008-10-02T10:03:00.005-04:00

My wife sent me to CVS in Harvard Square last night to buy a few things for home. As I was wandering the store I noticed a stack of compact fluorescent light bulbs on sale for 49 cents each. I immediately filled my basket with as many as I could handle. 10 CFL bulbs for under $5.00 is too good to pass by. Predictably I got the "What did you buy?" when I got home.

I explained I was going to give the bulbs to students in my Environmental Science class. Students are working on a project to reduce electricity consumption in the residential houses for the month of October. One group wanted to encourage the use of CFLs but found the cost of CFL bulbs to be prohibitive. They were working on finding a business willing to donate or sell at a reduced cost. With my purchases last night, this group can get CFLs in the residential houses and start educating students about electricity consumption.

I wish the Environmental Sustainability Committee had a budget. I would buy 500 bulbs and give one to every first year student. Let me play with the numbers a bit and show how justified this purchase would be for Lasell College. 500 bulbs would cost $245. Assume each student replaces a 75 watt bulb in their dorm room with the CFL. Also assume the light is on for 3 hours a day and the bulb lasts all four years of college. How does this add up?

Lasell College pays about 12 cents per kWh of electricity. Running a 75 watt bulb for 3 hours uses 0.225 kWh of electricity. Assume the student is on campus for 200 days a year, this one light uses 45 kWh of electricity. The cost to the college for the 1 light is $5.40 in electricity. Multiply this by 500 and the cost is $2700. Now, assume the 75 watt bulb is replaced by a 20 watt CFL that gives off the equivalent amount of light but uses less energy. This bulb will use 0.060 kWh per day which is almost 75% less. The cost of electricity to run this bulb for 3 hours a day is $1.44 per year. Multiply by the 500 I want to buy and this is equal to $720.

By investing $245, Lasell College could reduce electricity costs from $2700 down to $720. The college would save $1980 dollars per year for a $245 investment. The savings get better because we are assuming the bulb is in use at Lasell for four years. Now the $225 investment would save the college $7920. More importantly, the investment would reduce our electricity consumption annually from 22,500 kWh per year to 6000 kWh per year. A good step to reducing our carbon footprint.

I recognize I had to make many assumptions. To break even, only 144 of the 500 students have to utilize the bulbs. This seems like a reasonable risk to me. I don't really know if students each use a bulb for three hours a day though. Many students may only rely on the overhead lighting already installed.

How much of an impact will implementing CFLs have for students doing the project in my Environmental Science Class? A house with 18 students may use about 1500 kWh per month. Assume all 18 switch 1 bulb. The potential monthly savings in electricity is about 100 kWh. A 6.5% reduction is not bad at all!

Strategically Planned

2008-09-30T10:23:00.003-04:00

I participated in the Second Annual Lasell College Strategic Planning Meeting over the weekend. I knew I was invited to participate because of my involvement in environmental efforts on campus. I arrived at the meeting ready to advocate that sustainability goals should be added to the Vision 2012. While there is general consensus across campus that we need to make Lasell College a greener place to live, work, and study, I knew sustainability goals would have to be specific and measurable to make the Vision 2012.

I suggested in my breakout group that Lasell College should set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 10% by 2012. I also advocated that we should reach at least a 30% recycling rate in that time. I chose 10% as it slightly more aggressive than the 2% per year we are going to need to reach our goal of an 80% reduction by 2050. A 30% recycling rate is moderate. Highly successful college campuses are now recycling at rates of about 50% waste and 50% recycling.

The sustainability goals I suggested did make the short list and were seriously considered by all the participants in the meeting. However in the end the goals did not make the Vision 2012. Failing to make the Vision 2012 list does not mean that we will not reach these goals but it does mean that we won't have the support of the entire institution visibly behind us. Setting and meeting sustainability goals is going to rely on the work of the Environmental Sustainability Committee as well as other motivated faculty, staff, and students across campus.

I understand the factors meeting participants had to consider in voting for items to be added to the Vision 2012. While it is disappointing, it is not devastating to not make the list. Sustainability at Lasell College will still happen. Early steps towards reaching our greenhouse gas reduction goal can be made through changes to the culture and behavior on campus. To make those changes, we do not need sustainability to be positioned on the strategic plan. However we will reach a point where investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency will have to occur if we want to continue to make progress towards our reduction goals. At that point it will be essential to make sustainability goals part of strategic plan.

Turtle Parenthood

2008-09-26T12:50:00.003-04:00

Being a turtle parent is stressful. I couldn't fall asleep the first night because I was so worried about the turtles. What if the lab gets really cold overnight? What if they get caught in the filter? Now that the turtles have been at Lasell for three days I am feeling better about their health. They are swimming around more vigorously and seem to be doing all right. They still are not eating much but I was told to expect that. Still I check water temperature multiple times a day.

I'm in the process of trying to find some money to hire a student to help manage the turtles. I really need a student living on campus so I don't have to come in over the weekends. It also makes more sense to pay a student to clean the tank regularly rather than using my limited time. It would be a little income for the student and a great learning opportunity.

I now have a student doing an honors component around the turtles. She will be leading outreach activities with the Barn and adult visitors to the lab. She will also be working with Peru Middle School as we are working to develop a relationship with their Animals and Pets Club. While we are raising the turtles for the success of the species, it provides a tremendous outreach opportunity to educate people about endangered species.

Sodexho has agreed to donate leftover lettuce to the turtles. I'm happy about this arrangement because we will now have a regular source of lettuce on campus. I will probably still need to supplement this in the spring but it will work great for now.

Turtle Take-Out

2008-09-24T13:45:00.009-04:00

Today I went to the Museum of Science to pick up three northern red-bellied cooter hatchlings. I asked before I drove down what to bring to transport them and I was told by the live animal curator that they were already in a container. I was quite surprised when the curator came out with a small take-out container. She handed me three small turtles playing in a salad container with plenty of room to spare. These turtles are cute!

The turtles are part of the Turtle Head Start Program run by Massachusetts state biologists. The northern red-bellied cooter is an endangered species that is limited to a few ponds in Plymouth County. The goal of the program is to get schools, museums, and science centers to raise the hatchlings over the winter so they can be released and stand a better chance of survival in the wild.

I now have in the environmental science lab turtle numbers 294, 295, and 296 each weighing about 7.5 grams. Dave Taylor is the coordinator of the program and before he sent the turtles out to centers he placed notches on the marginal area of the shell. Each turtle is tagged so it can be tracked in the future. I need to figure out how to keep these turtles fed and healthy so we can release them in the spring.

Students in my Diversity of Living Organisms class will be involved in raising and caring for the turtles. The turtles will also be used as a teaching tool in my Environmental Science class as we talk about endangered species. Development is one of the major threats to this species of turtle.

I am a bit nervous about being a turtle parent. The stakes are higher than if I had sliders in the tank. Students are excited to name the turtles, but I am going to use the naming as a chance to raise some money to feed them. I think I am going to auction off the naming rights for one of the turtles. To name the second turtle I am going to sell raffle tickets for $1. The winner gets to name the turtle. I still need to think of a creative way to name the third turtle. Maybe the development office can find an alumna who would like an endangered turtle named after her. Maybe if I name one Sodexo they will donate the lettuce?

I also need to recruit volunteers. The turtles need to eat on the weekends, and the water will have to be changed regularly. At Siena College we had a Frog Club that was highly successful. Would a Turtle Club work at Lasell? Lasell Villagers may also be interested in volunteering with the turtles and willing to feed them on weekends.

I am planning many outreach activities. I'm going to start by inviting the children at the Barn into the lab to see the turtles. I'll invite other groups in, and we are working on developing outreach materials to help educate people about endangered species in Massachusetts. There are many classes in the lab throughout the day, so you may have to wait until we have an event to meet the turtles.

Too Many Refrigerators

2008-09-19T08:25:00.004-04:00

I have spent the week researching the use of refrigerators in dorm rooms by Lasell College students and I have to say I have been blown away by the numbers. I've discovered that nearly all students bring their own refrigerator to campus. This is in stark contrast to my undergraduate experience when roommates all shared a refrigerator. Many Lasell students bring 1.7 cubic ft refrigerators while others bring larger models. Even students living in suites in which a refrigerator is provided still all bring their own. This means seven refrigerators for six people in one living space. Clearly we have identified an area to focus our attention to improve campus sustainability.

We do provide students with meal plans so my next question for students is what do they have in there? The only compelling answer I heard was milk to have cereal in the morning. Do they really all need a refrigerator? There was a lot of discussion about roommates leaving moldy milk or stealing food. Separate refrigerators is a way to avoid roommate conflicts.

I've been so engrossed in the 1 refrigerator/student phenomenon that I decided to run some back-of-the-envelope calculations. Let's assume 1000 of our students living in residence halls bring 1.7 cubic foot Kenmore refrigerator cubes to campus. During the academic year, those refrigerators will use 198,666 kWh of electricity. Now, let's implement a new policy. Only 1 refrigerator per two students will be allowed, but the refrigerator can be up to a 4.3 cubic foot Kenmore. This policy will reduce refrigerator electricity use by over 40%. Dorm refrigerators will now only use 114,000 kWh: a savings of 84,666 kWh per academic year, saving the college $10,160 and reducing our carbon footprint by over 125,000 lbs of CO2.

Larger refrigerators do not use much more electricity than cubes. For example, the 1.7 cubic foot Kenmore is rated at 298 kWh per year while the 4.3 cubic foot Kenmore is rated at 343 kWh per year. This means over double the space but not double the energy usage. The numbers certainly justify a stricter refrigerator policy. Residential life may have to handle a few more arguments over roommates stealing milk but learning how to resolve conflicts is part of the college experience.

What should we do with the extra $10,000 we have saved? One option is to give it to the creative professor who thought of the policy. Since that is unlikely, a second option is to create a pool of money to begin purchasing electricity that is generated by wind. NSTAR offers wind-generated electricity for an additional 1.396 cents per kWh. Whenever programs, policies, or behavioral changes result in reductions in energy costs, the money saved should make its way to this pool. Funneling the $10,000 towards the wind energy offered by NSTAR would mean 716,000 kWh of our electricity is coming from clean wind. The refrigerator policy reduced energy consumption by over 85,000 kWh and we can add to that the 716,000 kWh that we now get clean. Together, these two actions will reduce the carbon footprint of dorm room electricity use by over 35% and save over 1.2 million lbs of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. These two steps would reduce our total campus carbon footprint including Lasell Village by about 7%. That is a big step towards our goal of an 80% reduction by 2050.

I recognize that I have made several assumptions in these back-of-the-envelope calculations. I actually think I am a bit conservative in my estimates of electricity used by refrigerators on campus. I also recognize that upperclassmen will be up in arms if they are told they can't bring their refrigerator that they bought freshman year. Craigslist is a great resource, and there are plenty of college students in the Boston area looking for a refrigerator each fall. In fact, there will be over 500 new Lasell College students in the fall, HALF of whom will be looking for a refrigerator.

The Turtles Are Coming

2008-09-19T06:38:00.001-04:00

Three northern red-bellied cooters will be here next week! Look for naming opportunities and other events in the next few weeks.

On or Off

2008-09-17T10:08:00.000-04:00

I was part of a discussion over email this week about whether we should recommend faculty turn off lights when they leave a classroom. A professor suggested all faculty members at Lasell College get in the habit of always turning off lights. A second professor responded that it was his understanding that it takes more energy to turn lights on and off than if they were left on all day. Naturally they turn to the young environmental science professor to settle this debate.

I'm not an engineer so I really don't have much experience with ballasts and inrush current. It was an interesting question so I took some time to do a little research. I too have heard the claim that turning lights on and off uses more energy. It turns out that turning lights on does require a surge of energy but the quantity is about the same as the amount of electricity used to run the lights 2 to 5 seconds. In other words, if the lights will be off for more than five seconds there will be an electricity saving.

If electricity is your only concern turning lights on and off is the way to go. Unfortunately bulbs take on more wear when they are turned on and off and will require more frequent replacement. I ran into a range of recommendations but many suggested the best approach is to turn the lights off if it will be longer than five minutes.

I'm not going to promote that here at Lasell College though. I think our best approach will be to create a culture of everyone turning off the lights when they can. It may mean replacing a few more bulbs but I think if there is any fuzziness people will not do it. The message needs to be clear, "Turn off the lights when leaving the room." A message saying, "Turn off the lights if you think they will be off for more than five minutes" is destined to fail.

The Sustainable Dorm Room

2008-09-16T10:54:00.000-04:00

The University of New Hampshire Office of Sustainability has created a great virtual energy efficient dorm room. They have some great tips and suggestions on how to make a college dorm room energy efficient.

Refrigerators is an appliance we are going to have to address here at Lasell College. Students in my classes have shared that it is very common for a dorm room to have two refrigerators. Refrigerators are a huge sink of electricity. Priya Gandbhir, Catlin Powers, and Annie Zhou at Wellesley conducted a dorm room audit for an economics class and reported that refrigerators use 55% of the dorm room energy. Ouch! While this not peer-reviewed data it still makes it clear that refrigerators in dorm rooms needs our attention.

Some colleges have moved to allow only Energy Star refrigerators. That is a step we could follow. But if we hope to reach an 80% reduction in carbon emissions we are going to have to do more. Any ideas?

The Burn Out

2008-09-15T11:50:00.000-04:00

One of the easiest energy saving steps we can take at Lasell College is to make sure that students are only using compact fluorescent light bulbs in their dorm rooms. How much of a difference can this really make? Let's play with a few numbers.

Assume we have 1080 students living in residence halls. Each student has 1 desk lamp that is run for about 4 hours each night. We can say about 350 hours per semester. If all students had 75 watt incandescent light bulbs we would use about 56,700 kWh of electricity. Replace those with 75 watt equivalent 20 watt compact fluorescent bulbs and we would use about 15,120 kWh. The savings to the college would be around $5000 per year and it would reduce our carbon footprint from 130,410 lbs down to 34,776 lbs. I've given a simple scenario and likely students use more lighting than I have included.

Compact fluorescents are a great tool to save electricity. They have received some negative press in the past year though because they contain mercury. Maybe they aren't so great after all because the mercury will end up in the environment when the bulb burns out and is sent to a landfill. While mercury in CFLs is still a concern, the reality is that using a CFL prevents mercury from entering the environment. How is this possible? The biggest source of mercury in our environment is from coal fired power plants. By using a CFL, you are reducing the amount of coal that needs to be burned to generate electricity and thus helping to cut mercury emissions. Further there are now options to properly dispose of your burnt out CFL bulb to keep the mercury out of the landfills. Home Depot now offers CFL recycling at all of its stores. As we develop our recycling system at Lasell, we will need to make sure we include opportunities to recycle CFLs.

Green Campus Initiative

2008-09-11T16:13:00.000-04:00

I spent much of my day working to launch the new Lasell College Green Campus Initiative web page. The Green Campus Initiative web page used to be housed on the internal web space and only open to faculty, staff, and students of the college. We have decided to move this web page so the information contained in it is open to the world.

I think this is a great decision. Lasell College has a responsibility to model sustainability. While we are just starting down our path towards an 80% reduction in our carbon footprint by 2050, I think it is important that our ideas, programs, goals, and progress be transparent to people inside and outside of Lasell. We will try things that will fail and it is important to communicate results with others to help build the knowledge base of sustainability. We benefit from reading reports from other colleges and businesses and it important we also share what we are learning.

Move-In

2008-09-10T11:33:00.000-04:00

Last spring I commented on the amount of waste generated when students move out for the year. Over the weekend our students moved back to the campus of Lasell College and settled into their residence halls. I was shocked to observe the amount of waste generated during this process.

It was overwhelming. Our buildings and grounds crew had their hands full. They even had to rent extra dumpsters to handle the massive pulse in waste. While I didn't dive into the dumpster to catalog what was being thrown away, I did observe a large amount of cardboard making its way into the dumpster.

I can understand why there was so much cardboard. Students need a way to transport their books and belongings back to campus and cardboard is a good option. What was disappointing was observing most of this cardboard making its way into the dumpster. While recycling is still lacking on campus, we do have cardboard recycling. Despite this, most of the cardboard made its way to the trash. It was clear that we have not yet created a culture where recycling is the first thought that comes to mind.

If I am in a situation where recycling is not available I will keep the material until I can recycle it. I have a stack of paper in my office waiting to be carried home so I can recycle it. When I am walking around Boston and purchase a soft drink I will carry the bottle home with me if I can't find a recycling bin. This is the type of thinking we need all of our community members to have. On move-in day recycling was not immediately visible so students threw the cardboard in the trash. The college will be doing more in the coming weeks to make recycling more visible and convenient yet students, faculty, and staff must also do their part to make sure we recycle every piece of material we can.

Our recycling rate is low right now. Once the new recycling system is in place, we have the potential to reach recycling rates as high as 40% as done at Harvard and other institutions. But to do this is not only going to take more receptacles across campus but also a willingness from every student, faculty, and staff member to seek out these receptacles and keep every recyclable item out of the trash.

Trayless Dining

2008-09-08T16:24:00.000-04:00

I ate lunch in the Lasell College faculty dining room today. While students were engaged in heated discussions about Obama's energy plan and the conflict in Georgia, the removal of trays from the dining hall dominated the conversation at the faculty tables. Many faculty members were quite disturbed by the move by Sodexo to take away trays to reduce food waste. I heard comments such as "How will I carry hot soup?" and "I don't want to have to make two trips." I overheard a wide variety of concerns.

I left the dining hall and decided to poll students in class. I asked them how students have reacted to the removal of trays. One student replied, "I didn't even notice." Another student commented that she never used a tray anyway because she only eats one plate of food. In my unscientific polling I didn't find a single student that was upset or bothered by the lack of trays.

There is limited data on the impact of removing trays and food waste. I spoke with Todd Wixson at Pittsburgh State University today and he has measured the impact and found a 60% reduction in food waste without trays. 60% is a huge reduction. Aramark has done a survey of the practice at 25 institutions and found trayless dining reduced food waste by 25-30% per person.

At Lasell, it is clear that the lack of trays is not troubling to the student body. Upperclassmen have adjusted to the system and first year students know no other system. I completely support Sodexo and the decision to remove the trays. It is clear that it has the potential to significantly reduce food waste which will allow Sodexo to provide higher quality food. It is also one of the first tangible steps that has been taken on our campus to make this a more sustainable place to live, work, and study.

Campus Events

2008-09-04T09:14:00.001-04:00

This is a very exciting time to be on a college campus. There is so much energy and colleges host fun events to bring members of their communities together. While I am a professor at Lasell College, I live at Harvard University as my wife works for the Freshman Dean's Office there. It provides me the opportunity to compare campus operations at our small school with a large school with a giant endowment. Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend two events. One event was at Lasell College and the other at Harvard.

Organizers of the events at both colleges took steps to sponsor green events. It was interesting to compare the two approaches. At Lasell, we had a faculty and staff appreciation breakfast. To eliminate waste, the organizers of the breakfast rented plates, cups, mugs that could be washed and used again. It was very nice and there was very little waste generated at the event. At Harvard, I attend a welcome back barbecue for the families of proctors and house tutors. I was surprised to see plastic plates and silverware as I knew Harvard has been pushing greener events. But upon leaving I realized organizers did think about it. As I left, I was able to recycle almost everything I used into one container. Harvard has shifted to a single-stream recycling system which allows community members to deposit any material that can be recycled into a single container. This includes virtually all types of plastic, paper, cardboard, cans, and bottles. It was painless and again very little waste was generated at the event.

Single-stream recycling is the direction we need to go at Lasell College. Our recycling rate is embarrassingly low. Harvard has a recycling rate near 50%. That means that half of the tonnage that leaves their campus is destined for recycling facilities. It is my goal to make single-stream recycling happen and happen soon at Lasell. It is extremely convenient and easy to manage and I believe it will quickly push us to a recycling rate close to the 50% reported at Harvard.

Battle of the Bulbs

2008-09-03T15:41:00.000-04:00

Starting in the fall of 2008, the Lasell College community will be increasing efforts on campus to encourage students to reduce energy use in their residential settings. There are many different routes we could take to encourage a reduction in energy use. It is fun to examine what is happening on other college campuses.

A common approach is to host contests in which residence halls compete to reduce energy use or increase recycling. University of Chicago hosts the Battle of the Bulbs. Tufts University runs a Do It in the Dark program which includes distribution of glow-in-the-dark condoms. Harvard hosts the Green Cup Challenge which measures six judging areas in the houses including energy, recycling, innovative eco-projects, environmental impact of events, participation in the campus sustainability pledge, and performance in food wastes audits. Oberlin College has emerged as a leader by implementing a building dashboard monitoring system.

Currently Lasell College does not have a program or contest in place to encourage students to reduce energy use. A competition between residence halls is not simple to conduct given our infrastructure. We have a unique campus in that we have a mixture of styles of residential housing. We have traditional dormitories, suite-style residence halls, and residence houses. Some residence hall buildings share electricity meters with dining services, faculty offices, and classrooms. The meter integrates electricity usage and does not reflect just student living. This is a challenge but something we can address through planning.

So what can we do right now? Clearly more immediate action needs to take place. To get the ball rolling, we are going to examine electricity use in the 15 residential houses on campus. Students in my Environmental Science class are going to grouped and will be assigned three houses. Their goal will be to compete with other groups in the class to take steps to induce the greatest reduction in electricity use for the month of October compared to baseline data from previous years. It is a start and hopefully we can develop a more exciting and formal program in the near future.

Yesterday I walked around campus to all the electricity meters. Campus police gave me a funny look but I think they let me slide by because I had a clipboard. With this data we can track the impact of student living and take measures to reduce electricity consumption. It is my goal to increase transparency in energy and water use to help students connect their living built environment to the natural world.

Greenbuild 2008

2008-08-29T10:29:00.000-04:00

Any college student with interest in sustainability and green building should click on the following link and sign up to volunteer for the U.S. Greenbuilding Council's Greenbuild 2008 Conference and Expo. The conference is coming to Boston in November and it is an opportunity that students should not let pass by. By committing to 8 hours of volunteer service, students and professionals under the age of 25 can attend the conference for free including breakfast and lunch!

If free food isn't enough motivation then take a look the scheduled program for the conference. Students can hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, deliver the opening keynote address. Students might also be interested in hearing from biologist E.O. Wilson, a leader in international biodiversity conservation efforts. Bill McKibben, Majora Carter, and Kevin Klose are just a few of the other incredible speakers that will be presenting.

In addition to hearing from dynamic leaders attendees at the conference have the opportunity to attend Educational Sessions. In these sessions participants can learn about a vast range of issues and ideas in the green building industry. Here students can pick up training and skills that will be critical as they enter the job market in the coming years. If that is not enough, the conference offers Off Site Educational Sessions that showcase green buildings and campuses in the Boston area.

This is an incredible opportunity and the faculty and staff at Lasell College need to rally to encourage students to volunteer. Whether motivation comes from extra credit in class, through the Service Learning Office, or out of interest in the Green Campus Initiative, faculty and staff should push hard to make sure students take advantage of this opportunity.

An Act of Congress

2008-08-26T09:25:00.000-04:00

While we were away relaxing in the sun this summer Congress was busy debating campus sustainability. Congress was debating the Higher Education Sustainability Act as part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HR 4137). Congressed passed all provisions of the Act and on August 13th, President Bush signed the provisions into law. In addition to the sustainability provisions, college students may be interested in reading about other provisions that address textbook costs, complicated FAFSA forms, and rising tuition.

How will this act of Congress affect sustainability and teaching on the campus of Lasell College? Let's look at the provisions addressing sustainability.

First, the Act creates a "University Sustainability Grants Program." The purpose of this competitive grant program is to help colleges offer more academic programs that address sustainability. It also may provide funds to help campuses increase energy-efficiency.

Second, the Act calls for the Department of Education to convene a national sustainability summit. The summit will bring together experts from higher education, federal agencies, non-profits, and business with a goal of identifying best practices in curriculum development and campus management.

It is really too early to tell how the Higher Education Sustainability Act will affect Lasell College students. We will certainly consider submitting applications to the grant program once that opens. We are launching our environmental studies major in the fall and we could use all the support we can get to make our students successful in the emerging green economy. We also have over 40 buildings on campus which could all use improvements in energy efficiency.

The national summit also has the potential to have an impact on Lasell. I would expect the summit to generate documents on best practices for campus operations. I would also expect there to be lengthy discussion of curriculum. What should we be teaching our students to prepare them to lead the new green economy? This would be helpful as we shape our new Environmental Studies Major.

The Commitment

2008-08-25T15:12:00.000-04:00

There has been quite a gap since my last post. I put the computer down for the past month. It was a nice chance to move away from the computer screen and engage more with the outside world. I talked, visited, volunteered, read, and measured but I limited my emailing, blogging, and surfing. It was a nice break and now I feel energized.

The fall semester is about to start and it is time to really focus sustainability efforts on the campus of Lasell College. In April, the Green Campus Task Force submitted their report to President Alexander which included a list of recommendations. The Task Force recommended President Alexander sign the President's Climate Commitment and commit to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by the year 2050. I am happy to say that President Alexander agreed with this recommendation and has signed the commitment. Lasell College joins 564 other colleges and universities in committing to take steps toward climate neutrality.

Reaching this goal is certainly going to be challenging. President Alexander has called for the creation of an Environmental Sustainability Committee. I am honored and excited to have been asked to serve as the first chair of this committee. In the coming weeks I will need to build a committee which will include undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, staff, and a Lasell Village resident. Very quickly we need to set specific goals and develop procedures to assess progress. We will also need to develop a comprehensive plan and establish sustainability policies.

Reaching an 80% reduction is going to be challenging especially given our heating needs. However I am confident that we can reach a 20% reduction in a relatively short period of time. Changes to buildings and houses will take time and money to implement but changing the behavior of students, faculty, and staff can have an immediate impact. As the first chair of this committee, I will focus efforts on changing behavior and work to create a culture of green living and working on our campus. Colleges and universities are centers for creativity and leadership. We will find ways to meet the goal of climate neutrality.

Off the Grid

2008-07-16T15:10:00.001-04:00

I recently spent some time in the Champlain Valley to visit family. While on our visit, we were invited to attend a potluck 4th of July party. The party was at the home of people we knew only through friends, but they were very welcoming hosts. The party was at a home in the the rural town of Essex. The home was out there. In fact, the home was off the grid. What does "off the grid" mean? Off the grid is something Lasell College students probably have not experienced. The home is completely free from the electrical power grid. Usually, homes that are off the grid are located in such rural locations that power companies cannot justify the cost of running power to the home.

I was fired up when I saw the set-up Mark had to power his home. His lot was cleared enough to get strong sun from the south. He had a row of three small solar panels. The solar panels were the same make and model I used when I was doing research at Harvard Forest. He ran the power from the solar panels into a series of five deep cycle marine batteries. I only had one battery in my system but I completely understood how his system was working.

It was intriguing to see folks living off the grid. They still had electronic devices that run off AC power. While they certainly do not consume the energy of an average home, I don't think they felt like they were lacking enough power to do things they want to do. Three solar panels to power a family's home. Interesting stuff!

The Essex Farm CSA

2008-07-10T12:32:00.000-04:00

My friends Kristin and Jay are members of the Essex Farm CSA in Essex, NY. I read about the Essex Farm in the Press Republican on a visit to my parents. While Community Supported Agriculture systems are common, this farm is really unique. The farm produces not only fruit and vegetables for members, but also beef, pork, and chicken. Also available for members are eggs, yogurt, milk, and cheese. The farm even trades with a local mill to have flour available and there are plans to start growing wheat.

When Kristin invited me to the farm to pick strawberries and get a tour, I jumped at the opportunity. I was so curious to see this farm in operation.

Essex is a rural town. It is on Lake Champlain and borders Willsboro and Whallonsburg. Do you see my point? It is rural! The ferry to Charlotte, VT runs out of Essex. It is an unusual location for a CSA as most are typically located close to urban centers.

When we arrived at the farm, we each picked up a pallet to pick strawberries. We walked through the fields, and Kristin explained how the CSA operates. There were three of us, including Kristin and my sister Amy. We spent about an hour picking strawberries. We each filled a pallet and I'm guessing we had about 15 quarts of strawberries. The farmers were happy to see the strawberries picked as they were starting to get soft.

Kristin explained that joining the CSA was a big decision. The first share costs $2400, and the second $2000. The costs work out to about $85 per week for her family. However, Kristin and Jay estimate that they get between 60 and 80 percent of their food from the farm. And, they enjoy supporting a sustainable operation and getting all organic meat, milk, eggs, and produce. There are many more benefits as well. For example, we loaded up on strawberries to preserve and to serve with shortcake at a party. To put things in perspective, I recently bought strawberries at the Harvard Yard Farmer's Market for $6 per quart. At the Farmer's Market, 15 quarts would have cost me $90! Kristin said there is often an excess of produce so there are benefits to being good at preserving.

We met a few farmers along the way. The farmers came from some prestigious colleges. It was really encouraging to see well-educated young people engaging in agriculture. It made me think that maybe there is hope to shift away from industrial agriculture and back to more sustainable family farming.

Kristin invited me back to the farm for their Friday CSA share pick-up. Again, I jumped at this opportunity. The pick-up was really interesting. It had a festive feel to it as members kept rolling in to pick up their shares. Members lingered for a long time chatting with each other while sorting through the week's options. There was a chalkboard covered with what is available for the week. There were no limits set, and members are encouraged to take what they need. Kristin said the farm has found that people will actually take less if there are no limits. When a limit is set, everyone takes that amount.

The aspect of the Essex Farm CSA that captured my attention the most was the meat. The connection between the living animal and the butchered meat could not escape you. They slaughter and butcher their own meat on the farm. On our visit, the beef cattle had been moved to an area of high grass which was less than 100 yards from the pick-up area. There I stood looking at the cattle while looking at the hoist where one was recently slaughtered and butchered. It is a connection that industrial agriculture wants to hide. However, this is an aspect the CSA members seem to appreciate. They know the animal was produced in a sustainable manner and grass-fed on their farm. They also know where and how it was processed. The cattle weren't herded into concentrated feeding operations, stuffed with corn, and driven off to an industrial slaughter house.

We went over to say hello to the cattle. There were baby cattle grazing alongside some very large animals. I asked Kristin if she had ever volunteered on a slaughter day. She said she had been there when they processed a pig and on a chicken day. Her take was interesting. She said the chicken day was harder because death was everywhere as so many animals had to be slaughtered for the 80 members. Slaughtering one pig or one cattle may supply meat for members for weeks.

The members of the CSA were visibly satisfied with the farm. You could sense that they really enjoyed eating as locally and sustainably as possible. I left the Essex Farm wishing there was a similar option near Cambridge. There are meat CSAs and vegetable CSAs, but I have not heard of a farm that does it all in the area. The visit to the farm has inspired me to stop purchasing meat produced by industrial agriculture. My wife and I have decided to find local farms that raise beef, pork, and chicken and stock our freezer. We may have to take trips to Western Massachusetts or Vermont but we now feel this is important to us.

The Essex Farm is over 400 acres. Most of the land is used to graze the cattle and grow hay for the animals. About 80 acres is used to produce the fruit and vegetables for the 80 members plus the farm staff. My visit made me wonder if it is possible for a sustainable farming operation such as this to produce food to feed the students at a college such as Lasell? I know many colleges participate in the Farm to College Program. Bowdoin is a great example. As Lasell moves towards a greener campus, supporting local agriculture is a move that would be good for the environment, economy, and local farmers. Probably the biggest constraint we face in providing more local products in the dining hall is our students. Students have grown to expect and demand processed food. Students will choose the chicken patty over the fresh arugula salad or cheddar zucchini bake. I wish I could take all students at Lasell to visit the Essex Farm. Maybe an experience such as that would help them make more local food choices.

Kristin has invited me back to the farm to work for a day. I may take her up on the offer in August. It may seem odd but I am considering volunteering on a slaughter day. If I am going to make the decision to eat meat, I think it is important to understand the meat goes from a cattle grazing in the field to a package in the freezer. While I have read many accounts of this process, it is something I have not observed. It is a tough reality but important for a meat eater to understand. Maybe it will be too emotional for me and I will become a vegetarian. I'm not really sure what to expect.

The Champlain Valley Adventures

2008-07-09T15:21:00.000-04:00

Last night we returned to Cambridge from an extended trip to visit family on the New York side of Lake Champlain. While there was no shortage of rest and relaxation, I took advantage of my time in the Champlain Valley to visit farms in the area and meet North Country residents living the green life. I had the opportunity to visit the Essex Farm in Essex and the Butternut Ridge Farm in Peru. I went to a Fourth of July party at a home that is completely off the grid. I spent time with Jay and Kristen discussing their troubles in finding a loan to build an earth sheltered home on their property. In the coming days, I will share the stories of my adventures to the Champlain Valley. For now, I need to sort through all the packages that arrived to stock the lab for the Lasell College Environmental Studies Program. We now have some cool stuff!

Mileage-athon

2008-06-28T08:31:00.000-04:00

A group of very creative Boston Globe staffers recently held a Prius "race" from Whole Foods in Cambridge to a local Hummer Dealer. The winner of the race was the driver that made the trip with the best gas mileage. You can watch the video here.

Five Gallons of Peas

2008-06-26T11:21:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday I volunteered to work on the Newton Angino Community Farm in Newton. The other volunteers had trouble understanding why I would volunteer if I am not a CSA member. I explained that I teach environmental science at Lasell College and I want to learn more about agriculture.

My morning of farming was really satisfying. It was impressive to see the operation that farm manager Greg Maslow has going on. I became an expert during my two hours at picking snap peas. We ended up filling a five gallon bucket with peas from an area about 10'x30'. I never realized how much food can come from such a small amount of land. I couldn't help but wonder why all homeowners don't cover their property with garden plots. It was enjoyable to chat with the other volunteers and to ponder why peas didn't evolve to be bright red?

I'm looking forward to volunteering at the farm again this week. I am planning on involving Lasell College students in projects at the farm. Professor Lowenstein has taken a group in the past. I'm also hoping I can convince Greg to come speak with my class and maybe provide advice on starting a garden plot on campus.

Milk Shopping

2008-06-20T10:34:00.000-04:00

My son just turned 1 which means the pediatrician has given us the green light to shift to feeding him cow's milk. Milk is a challenging decision to make as a consumer. At the grocery store there are many options. The store brand milk is the least expensive. Then there is milk from Hood. There is Garelick Farms milk and Stonyfield Farms milk. Then there are Horizon Organic milk and the Organic Cow. This is just a sample of the choices. There are many more. Which should I choose for the little man?

I know I want milk free of artificial growth hormones for my son so that eliminates the store brands. Hood, Garelick, and the organic farms now use hormone free cows. Then there is the decision about buying organic. Here is where the milk industry can be misleading. For example, Horizon milk may be organic but many have criticized the company for running factory farms. I've decided I would rather buy milk from happy farms over organic milk from a factory farm.

I ran to Pemberton Farms this morning in Cambridge and they had Highlawn Farm milk. The manager of the store said it was great because it was creamier, had more protein, and calcium than milk from Holstein cows. I bought the milk over the Hood option because I knew it would support a local farm. I went to farm web page when I got home and the farm seems to be a nice place and they welcome organized visits from groups of children. Factor farms certainly do not open up to groups of children.

Dining Services at Lasell uses Garelick Farms. Garelick has made efforts on their web page to promote the farms that produce the milk they sell. The video clips are well produced and the farms animals appear to be treated well. Garelick is a large operation so I'm sure this is just a small sample of the farms that supply their milk. At first glance, Garelick appears to be conscious of the importance of local farms and of treating animals well. This seems to be a good decision for Lasell but my research on the company is limited.

My Hobby Farm

2008-06-18T14:42:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure if my wife takes me seriously yet, but I really want to start a hobby farm. The thought of purchasing a small plot of land in a rural area to grow vegetables is very appealing to me. It could serve as a summer escape from the city and I would be able to teach my son how food grows. I call it a hobby farm because I know the reality of making money working land is very challenging. Probably, I would just grow fruits and vegetables for my family and friends.

I ran across this story today of two Brookline professionals that took the plunge and bought a farm in Chester, Massachusetts. Tom and Doug somehow are able to manage a farm with 15 employees and hold professional positions in the Boston area. Although their operation is much more than I am looking for, their story is really something I can relate to. That should put me one step closer to my hobby farm dream.

I've got a lot of work to do before I can make my hobby farm a reality. Mainly, I need to learn more about farming. I need to start volunteering more for the community farms in the area. As soon as I can free up some time I am going to volunteer for the Newton Angino Community Farm and for the Waltham Fields Community Farm.

My Week Without Tomatoes

2008-06-16T14:15:00.000-04:00

Last week we traveled to visit my sister in Rochester, NY. Along our journey on I-90, we stopped for breaks, really expensive gas, and something to eat. Almost all of the fast food chains in the service plazas had signs posted stating they were not serving tomatoes. This included McDonald's, the king of the I-90 service plazas. Tomatoes were pulled in response to recent cases of salmonella in about 200 people in 16 states. The tomato scare is just another example of one of the many problems in our industrial food system. The tainted tomatoes were likely from one farm in Florida, and yet, restaurants and grocery stores across the country pulled tomatoes out of fear for customer safety. The FDA still has not been able to identify the source. It is scary, but not unbelievable, that tainted fruit from one farm can almost completely shut down consumption of tomatoes in this country. The scare highlights yet another reason to buy locally and support your local farmers. I'm off to the farmers market!

Backyard Wildlife

2008-06-06T13:51:00.000-04:00

Backyard Wildlife
BY Amy Kobak

“Certified Wildlife Habitat,” that’s what the sign posted in my yard says. It’s right at the entrance to my driveway so that when people turn in, they can’t miss it. My husband hung it there last week. Nothing has changed about our yard, but now we have a sign.

Years ago I learned about the Certified Wildlife Habitat program through the National Wildlife Federation. I think it may have been called Backyard Wildlife Habitat at the time. I always thought it was a neat idea and even filled out the application once. I never went through with it though because I didn’t think it was necessary to pay $15 for a certificate acknowledging what I already knew about my yard. But I remained a fan of the NWF. They appeal to me because of the efforts they make to educate and support both grand scale and seemingly miniscule wildlife preservation efforts. The certified Wildlife Habitat program is an example of both. A tiny apartment balcony can become certified as well as a campus or even a community. All those balconies, backyards, and campuses combined are making a big difference for wildlife.

In order to become a Certified Wildlife Habitat there are five specifications that must be met. Three food sources, one water source, two places for cover, two places to raise young, and a minimum of two sustainable gardening practices must be in place. The application makes it easy to know what you have and what you could add or change to meet the requirements.

So why did I decide to become certified now? I found out about the sign. I wanted to put the sign in my yard to promote curiosity. I want everyone who sees the sign to ask me about it. It is my hope that it will encourage others to investigate how they can make their yards better for wildlife, better for the environment. It’s easy to do when you are informed. The NWF website is a great source for this information and you too may wish to have your habitat certified.

By the way, another organization active in promoting discussions in order to help wildlife is the Center for Biological Diversity. They have created rareearthtones.org where you can download free ring tones of the sounds of endangered and rare species. It is sure to attract attention when your ring tone is the sound of a giant panda!

The Bike Commute?

2008-06-04T10:05:00.000-04:00

I continue to anguish over commuting to my job at Lasell College by car. I know that an 8-mile commute against the flow of traffic is not terrible, but I still feel I can do better. I teach environmental science and I think it is important for students to observe their professors practicing sustainability. I've tried taking the bus, the T, and the commuter rail. The length of the trip and the fact that my son travels with me to the daycare center on campus present the biggest challenges. I don't have many obligations on campus this summer, so I have time to think about my approach to commuting for the fall. This weekend, I borrowed a Chariot bike trailer from friends, and it now has me thinking.

The Chariot is cool, and my son likes the ride. I would love to ride my bike from Cambridge to Newton every morning, but safety is my biggest concern. The number of bike riders in the Boston area continues to increase, and drivers are more aware of their presence. I can make most of the trip along the Charles, but, at some point, I have to cut up through Newton to reach campus. Will drivers late for work, drinking coffee, and talking on the cell phone give us the room we need to safely reach Lasell? How do I test this? Maybe make the trip with bike and an empty carrier.

I've read countless posts by people praising the bike culture in Europe. I wish we had that culture here. Our friends at the Green Decade Coalition have launched a campaign to promote biking in Newton. I hope they are successful in their efforts and I can feel completely safe riding to work.

What are you doing to support local businesses?

2008-05-29T08:55:00.000-04:00

A guest blog from my younger sister today. Farmers' Markets have started to open in Massachusetts. I went to the market in Davis Square yesterday and picked up some delicious organic rhubarb! MD

What are you doing to support local businesses?
BY Meghan Taptick

Vermont has a motto of Buy Local, Buy Vermont, meaning that the money you are spending on local businesses is going right back into Vermont. Last year, my husband and I gave up eating at chain restaurants. It was great because the food we were served at the local restaurants was local and homemade, the costs of the meals were less expensive and we became friends with a lot of the people who worked at the restaurants. Recently, I was thinking about what else I could do to become more of a local consumer. I decided that my goal for next year (I work at a school so my year begins in September) is to stop shopping at big chains and grocery stores and buy from local businesses.

As mentioned in a previous post, I am participating in Community Supported Agriculture so my produce through late fall/early winter will come from a local farm. We are flexitarians and don’t eat a lot of meat, so the majority of our meals will consist of our CSA produce.

We are incredibly fortunate that our local Farmers' Market lasts all year. Year round I have available root vegetables, jams, cheeses, sauces, meats, eggs, pies, and a variety of breads all locally made and all better tasting than anything you can get at the store. A lot of my Christmas and wedding gifts for friends come from the Farmers' Markets as well as there are always craftspeople selling their homemade products and who doesn’t love a “Made In Vermont” gift?

The Co-Op can provide the rest of our products and needs. We can buy our organic Bovine Growth Hormone-free milk, spices, peanut butter, cleaning products (Seventh Generation is made in Vermont), bathroom products (organic soaps without packaging), and cereals there.

We can’t forget about beer. Long Trail and Otter Creek Breweries are right nearby and there is nothing like going to Otter Creek and picking up a freshly poured growler (which is reusable) of the season’s special brew. Plus, it is always fun to try a few samples while you are there.

In terms of non-food or essential needs, we will rent our movies from a local video store, not Blockbuster, buy our plants from local plant farms, not Home Depot and buy our medicines from local pharmacies, not CVS. And if there is something I can’t figure out where to get, I can use websites like www.vermontagriculture.com to help me find the product and think outside the box.

The Green House

2008-05-27T10:03:00.000-04:00

Professor Alcala sent me a link to an article about the Oberlin sustainability house from yesterday's New York Times. It is a great story and definitely something that we could emulate here at Lasell. Essentially, Oberlin designated one house as the sustainability house and took applications from students who wanted to live in this environment. From there, students instituted creative ideas to reduce their footprint. Students collected water from the shower while it was warming up and used it for other purposes such as toilet flushing. They also put timing devices in the showers. I really like this idea and I think it would help to reduce the 9 million gallons of water Lasell uses each year.

We have a unique campus with many students living in residential settings that are more like homes than traditional college housing. We already have the Community Service House and the students living in this house have already taken on living more sustainably. However, I think it is time we expand and create a Sustainable Living House and really make a push for green college living. The students in this house will be innovators and experimenters who try out many ideas to reduce their footprint. In the end, these students will identify solutions that work for Lasell College and spread those ideas to other houses and students.

Bringing students interested in sustainability together in a residential house opens up the opportunity to explore so many issues in an applied setting. Students can evaluate electricity usage, natural gas usage, water consumption, and even the food they consume. A sustainability house would be a tremendous connected learning opportunity for students. Students would have the opportunity to explore solutions to the many environmental issues they are learning about in their classes. A sustainability house is something I would enthusiastically support, and I would gladly serve in an advisory role.

Oberlin has a culture that is very active in sustainability issues. They had 25 applications for the 5 spots in the sustainability house. I think our administration would support a sustainability house here at Lasell, but students would have to demonstrate interest.

Agriculture Education

2008-05-22T11:22:00.000-04:00

Lately, I've really become interested in learning more about agriculture. I grew up in a town dominated by agriculture but I still know very little about how farms and our food system operates. I know I am not alone in my lack of knowledge of agriculture. Agriculture was not a subject taught in my elementary or high school. I've attended a small liberal arts college, a public college, and a major research university and not one of these schools offered a single course in agriculture. For some reason, teaching about agriculture is not considered important in our curriculum.

I spent the morning researching the history of agricultural education. I was particularly interested in learning more about agriculture education in public schools. The first public schools in New England, such as the Boston Latin School, had a curriculum that was focused on the classics. This was very common in public schools until around the early 1900's when there was a push for more applied education. In particular, there was growing demand for agricultural education and home economics. Essentially, communities were debating whether an applied education was better for their children than one focused on the classics. Does this sound familiar? Jump ahead 100 years and let's look at the statement we choose to describe the education at Lasell College, "Where the Classroom is the Real World". Clearly, the philosophy at Lasell is to emphasize applied education.

I am a professor at a college that encourages applying the classroom to the real world. I am also increasingly concerned about the lack of knowledge American's have of our food system. I am in an ideal position to do something. I've never considered agriculture something I would be teaching but now I believe it is my job. Students need to be educated about their food system. They need to connect the food they eat with the field in Iowa.

Agriculture is certainly important in the real world so what can I do? In the fall, I am teaching Environmental Science, World Geography, and The Diversity of Living Organisms. Each course will have a component that is connected to agriculture. In Environmental Science, we will examine the energy inputs in industrial agriculture, pesticide use, and agricultural runoff. We will also expand our study of food waste in the dining hall. In World Geography, we will examine farming practices around the world, discuss world population and hunger, and investigate the distance food travels to reach our plate in the dining hall. Students in The Diversity of Living Organisms will study plant anatomy and growth and have the opportunity to grow plants from seed.

In all of these courses, we will connect classroom learning to the food on their plate. To really help students make the connection, I am also going to provide students the opportunity to volunteer at a community farm. Many students probably have never had the opportunity to stick their hands in the soil and raise a crop. I really think it is time we have more conversations about agriculture and our food. It is an topic and issue that can no longer be ignored in our curriculum.

A Pledge for Graduates

2008-05-19T14:26:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, Lasell College celebrated its 154th commencement ceremony. I should point out that Wellesley was only celebrating its 130th commencement, Boston College its 132nd, and Boston University its 135th. They have so much to learn from us.

Our invited speakers and President Alexander had very wise words for our graduating students. As I listened to the words of encouragement and advice, I realized one element was missing from this beautiful day. There was little mention or encouragement for graduates to live a green and sustainable life. I then realized I should have organized an environmental pledge campaign. The pledge comes from an organization called the Graduation Pledge Alliance. The pledge reads:

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.

The program now has over 100 colleges and universities that participate in the pledge program. Next year Lasell College will be one of them. Typically, organizers give pledge signers a green ribbon to wear at commencement. Some colleges incorporate the pledge into the program and will even designate who has signed the pledge. Next year, I will enlist the help of Environmental Studies students to coordinate a campaign to encourage graduates at Lasell to sign the pledge.

For now, I will wish our graduating students the best of luck and encourage them to live it green!

The Localvore Challenge

2008-05-16T14:21:00.000-04:00

Last week I sent my sister in Peru, NY an article by Bill McKibben about the year he spent eating only food grown in the Champlain Valley. I saw the article in a local magazine called The Organic Mom. I thought she would appreciate this article as she lives in the Champlain Valley and would be familiar with many of the farms and towns.

Well, today I hear from her that she is only going to eat food produced in the Champlain Valley for the month of June. Then my sister in Vermont responds and mentions how she is not going to enter a grocery store this summer and will buy all of her food from farmers markets and farm stands. Now the pressure is on. How can I match up to this? I have a reputation to hold here. After all, I am the environmental scientist in the family.

I spent the morning cruising the internet looking for my options. The local eating culture is growing rapidly and there actually are quite a few options for my family. We could join a CSA which now include meat and produce but we will probably travel too much this summer to make that a good option. There is the option of going to Lionette's in Boston but that is a bit inconvenient. I could travel out to farm stands and pick up my meat, eggs, and produce. Places like Codman Farm, Newton Angino Community Farm and Chip-In Farm do a great job of continuing local agriculture in the Boston area. But still, this costs me about 20 mile of driving.

Then I stumbled upon a buyers club that might be the perfect option for my family. The buyers club works as an organizer takes weekly orders, picks up the goods from local farms, and delivers to a set pick-up location. Members don't have to order every week and the organizer of the club obtains the meat, eggs, milk, and produce from local farms. The group I found is called inseason.us and they are about to start delivering to Porter Square in Cambridge. With this option, coupled with the farmers markets in Cambridgeport, Harvard Square, Davis Square, Harvard Yard, and Central Square I may also be able to avoid grocery stores and the corporate industrial food complex completely. And I may even gain bragging rights over my sisters because I can get all my food without having to get in a car.

Move-Out

2008-05-15T13:14:00.000-04:00

Lasell College is a quiet place today. Most students have now moved out of the residence halls and left for their summers of political canvassing and environmental activism. Maybe not, but that is what I like to imagine my students doing.

The move-out process at college campuses is notorious for the amount of waste generated. Students toss cinder blocks, refrigerators, carpets, laundry detergent, food, and a host of other things. I've observed that the level of waste is a function of year in college. Freshmen and sophomores typically live in traditional dormitory-style housing and will bring home most of the contents of their room. I kept an eye on the dumpster near Woodland Hall this move-out season, and I did not get the impression that the waste generated was over the top.

That can't be said for upperclassmen who live in suite-style housing and share resources such as couches and coffee tables. Frequently, these items get tossed at the end of the year, and the college has to absorb the disposal cost. The worst violators are the seniors who are finished with school and ready to unload all of their college possessions into the dumpster.

As Lasell College continues to move towards greener pastures, the move-out process is something we will need to evaluate. I may call upon students in our new Environmental Studies program to help create a program to keep dorm items out of the waste stream. Many schools have already created creative programs. Take a look at the program at UVM. Harvard collects items and hosts a stuff sale to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. They have raised over $70,000 for the organization by selling items that would have ended up in the trash during move-out.

Community Supported Agriculture

2008-05-14T16:06:00.000-04:00

Today's guest blog comes from my sister Meghan. Meghan lives in Vermont which is a state known for its agriculture. She writes about Community Supported Agriculture, which is growing in popularity across the Northeast. Locally, we have many CSA's around including the Newton Angino Community Farm and the Waltham Fields Community Farm. They are a great idea and help farmers earn a living producing good food while minimizing environmental impacts of our food system. MD

Community Supported Agriculture
By Meghan Daley

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a program that connects local farmers with local consumers. Basically, members of the community buy shares in a farmer’s crop (usually organic) for the season. Some CSA programs consist of more than one farm so the variety of the produce is bigger. The crops are generally a variety of vegetables and may even contain flowers and eggs. Once a week, the produce is divided up evenly amongst the shares and is delivered to a local meeting point where the shareholders come and pick up their week’s supply of produce.

I am participating in CSA this year. The farm I am supporting has a different style of CSA than most. I paid $180 for $200 worth of produce. Our farm, Boardman Hill Farm, has a farm stand so when we need produce, we go to the farm stand and using an honor system (only in Vermont do honor systems still exist), we deduct money from our $200 account. He owns a pretty big farm so the range in produce is huge.

The style of CSA that I am participating in works for me because I live in the Adirondacks during the summer so I am not in Vermont to pick up my week’s supply of produce. Therefore, my shares would go to waste. With my CSA program, I don’t have to collect any produce until the fall when I return to Vermont. Also, I can choose the produce I want so if I want to spend my $200 on rainbow carrots and patty pan squash, I can!

I love taking part in CSA. I feel good that I am supporting a local farm and I feel healthy because I know my produce is fresh, organic and hasn’t traveled thousands of miles to get here. You can learn more about CSA’s on localharvest.org.