I volunteered at the OSU Student Sustainability Center. SSC has Student Sustainability Initiative (SSI) which is a student-fee funded, student-coordinated program for student leadership and involvement to create a culture of sustainability at OSU. SSC works for actions and campaigns directly influencing OSU’s sustainability, education on sustainability issues, and empowerment of students to tackle their own vision of a better world. With assistance from the OSU Sustainability Office and the Department of Student Leadership and Involvement, the SSI supports student efforts to create a culture of sustainability at OSU. This institutional development of sustainability assists, encourages, promotes, and advocates for movement towards sustainable future through connecting organizations within campus and community for integrating sustainability into every OSU department.
SSC focuses on sustainability of following areas:
1) ENERGY Making OSU’s energy usage more sustainable through shifts in efficiency, consumption, and sources.
2) Addressing FOOD sustainability systems used by the OSU community bridging people for their sustenance.
3)Sustainable use of LANDSCAPE at OSU.
4) Making alternative TRANSPORTATION at OSU safe, accessible, and worthwhile through education and advocacy.
5) WASTE REDUCTION for increasing the sustainable waste management of OSU.
I watered for the garden of student sustainability center which corresponds to the food and landscape goals of SSC. It was not a huge farm so it looked easy at first, but it took 2 hours and a half to water the whole garden except for the part that has own irrigation system. Rubber hose was really heavy to carry so I had to use my effort to move the hose without hurting the plants. However, I felt good about helping sustainability with my effort in addition to my personal sustainability project. The SSC coordinator said that the garden is recently renovated to farm better through giving more accessibility to each plant. SSC garden had various types of fruits, vegetables, and flower and they are grown without fertilizer. I tasted strawberry and tomato. Without using fertilizer, the taste, scent, and texture were good. Especially the skin of the fruits was so tender. I think this is because he did not use GMO which modified the skin of fruits harder to be more resistant to insects. I also learn that it is best to water in the morning because water evaporates quickly when it is hot and slugs come out at night. I think my volunteering in sustainability center relates to our course in that SSC gives awareness to students for providing information and vision about sustainability through educating about the needs, opportunities, and available resources. Offering volunteering and participating in volunteering also encourage other students to lead and take part in initiative through the role they are capable of achieving. Volunteering at SSC facilitates other possible volunteers’ empowerment and ability to take an active role in their own development as leaders. The sad thing was that I did not know the existence and role of SSC before volunteering. I think we need to inform and facilitate SSC for sustainable environment in OSU and in our community.
There have been recent documentaries, books, news articles, and blogs about people, individuals, eating local. So what does that mean? Well, to me it means eating food that was grown, processed, and sold here in Oregon/Willamette Valley. http://locallygrown.org/home/
I would seemingly have it easy since it is the summer and tons of things are growing and being harvested…
It was a challenge while moving, taking classes, and growing a family. My mind set for this was that by eating local, I would be supporting local economies (farms), buying food that was sustainable grown (organic) and harvested, and that the food would be genetically diverse. Although I didn’t get to talk to the farmers much about their produce, many did advertise their goods as heirlooms. This is actually something I would like to get into: saving seeding and having a healthy variety of crops.
The National Geographic‘s article really made me think; it is important to have a variety genes of seeds flowing for evolution and fitness. If we only grew the one type of tomatoes and some pest came along, all our tomatoes would be wiped out (as an example).
Social, Environmental, and Economic
By buying local, I am taking a stand for healthy food grown near by. It will and does cost more, but the money I spent is going to support local people, not corporations. And why it cost more is perhaps the true cost of the item is being included. In our text it mentions several times how items are priced well below the means at which it took to produce, labor, and sell. Local, organic foods cost more because they are think about the price on the environment.
My dollar goes toward people that are farming organically, using little to no pesticide and fertilizers, which helps the local ecosystem. One research suggest that organic farming improves the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi that helps plants get nutrients (Verbruggen et al. 2010).
There has been talk about buying local would reduce transportation emissions. Well, Mariola (2008), suggest that this is not true. He basically says that local farms going to local farmer’s market have small vehicles that can only fit small amounts of produce where as larger farms/corporations truck larger amounts of produce making the mile per item less-since they are carrying so much. He does, however, suggest that community gardens and back yard gardens are a more environmentally and economically sustainable way to go.
If everyone joined in on the local food buy, well, I think it would get kind of crazy. First is there enough land for the populated area? Second, people would have to change how they eat and cook, and that is hard! One thing that concerns me with eating exclusively local is what if a drought or disease comes through and wipes out a good supply of food. Then what?!
However, I also think if people ate local they would be healthier. They wouldn’t be eating as much processed foods. Or foods, like we saw in FOOD Inc., that are being feed a diet that is outside their natural realm (cows feeding on corn and soy instead of their natural diet of grass). People would be eating healthier and would therefore be healthier. Maybe even their diet would focus more on fresh vegetables and fruits, and whole grains and less meat which in turn would reduce methane released in the air (cows and farm animals belching). It was also mentioned in class that farm animals take up a lot of water usage.
SO what is next?
Well, I will still try and go to the farmers market because the veggies just taste better, and I like the fact the I know the faces that my money is going to. I would also like to get in on the community gardens. I really liked SAGE garden and what a better way to learn than in a education garden! I think I will set up my own garden in our backyard and look into winter gardening.
I do encourage you all to buy local when you can it will help the local economy, fresh, healthy foods, and fresh, healthy people.
Works Cited:
Mariola, M. J. (2008). The local industrial complex? Questioning the link between local foods and energy use [electronic resource]. Agriculture And Human Values, 25(2), 193-196.
I am sad to report that this wedding wasn’t completely sustainable. Tulle and plastic were used and thrown away at the end. All the food was homemade, though, and it was beautiful and I am happy to welcome another sister to our family! In other life news, we moved! Moved our stuff from storage to the new house, and packed up our friend’s house too! If anyone is planing to move soon I have a ton of boxes and packing paper; also if you ever need boxes the co-ops has a tons of boxes, and they don’t break them down so you don’t have to use extra type (just need type to type it up). Thanks Co-op!
On to my PSP! I went to the Wednesday market after class, and I took the bus to get there.
If you are thinking that down town isn’t that far from campus you are right; it’s about 28 blocks/streets (class in on 29th and the market is on 1st); however, I caught the bus just in time and took advantage of the fact it was there and would run with out me on it or not (added bonus for a pregnant lady like myself because it was hot outside, and I needed to sit down).
As I walked the rest of the way to the market I realized I didn’t have much cash on me. Luckily, the market has a set up where you can trade your plastic for wood tokens. I was talking to the lady a bit, and you can also use Oregon Trail card for SNAP and WIC. The Oregon trail card holders get their amount in $1 wood tokens, so if you got $15 you would get 15 wood tokens, and you can’t get change back (she did say that some of the venders will give a little extra or just have change on you). When you use your debit card, you get $5 wood tokens and you can get money back; I got $15, so I got 3 wood tokens of $5 each. I had $26 totally…and I spent it all.
First on my list was grains! I had mentioned earlier that grains are a staple in my diet, but I couldn’t find any local. Well I found Lonesome Whistle Farms (LWF) and Stalford Seed Farms (SSF) at the market. LWF had barley, buckwheat, wheat berries, millet flour, buck wheat and millet pancake mix, and they usually have heirloom beans but were out of stock at the moment!! I bought a pound of purple hulless barley for $3. So purple, yes, more on the dark side with a hint of purple-I really like this because it adds to the rainbow food plate!; hulless (I asked about that)-regular barley needs to be pearled to get the hull or outer layer off- this barley doesn’t need to be pearled, so we get more of its nutrition. woohoo! SSF has organic rolled oats, flours, flax seed, and beans! I didn’t get anything from them. I went to other farm booths to get produce for the next couple of days. I tried to come up with meal ideas that I could use the barley with. I got a bunch of green beans, broccoli, carrots, a big head of lettuce, spinach, three medium heirloom tomatoes, and scallions.
Because of moving, I couldn’t find my camera to take pictures of the meals, but here is what I made:
Wednesday- We had left over pasta noddles and a walnut miso sauce from the wedding, so we cooked that up. I steamed up some broccoli, cut up tomatoes and added them in. We also had a small salad with the lettuce, spinach and carrots.
Thursday- lightly steamed green beans, then saute them with onions, tomatoes, and carrots and added it to cooked barley; seasoned with costco’s organic no-salt seasoning.
Friday-tonight I planed a salad. we’ll also have some cooked barley with steamed broccoli and green beans; I am also going to toss in some non-local garbanzos beans ’cause they are yummy.
Then tomorrow we’ll go to the market for more yummy goods!
Also I focused on my dinner plans because I usually bring leftovers for lunch. For breakfast this week, we went to the co-op (while getting boxes), eat fruit, and toast with peanut butter. Breakfast and snacks have been a challenge for me to stay local on. For snacks I usually eat trail mix, yogurt, or fruit and veggies; the yogurts I eat are not local. Some are from local companies like So Delicious,but the ingredients are not local, so that is something I will work on for next week.
Research:
yay for Oregon and the local community. So last week I was on the look out for grains grown in Oregon, and I thought I would be limited to grains I haven’t tired. Well, it is still limited but there are a lot of farms working on growing other type of grains like quinoa. I already mention some farms at the farmer’s market, but there is a small, wonderful, group of grain growers in the Corvallis area!!! The Willamette Seed and Grain (WS & G) is a collaboration of farmers, so they can hull their grain and get it ready for sale. here is their website http://www.willametteseedandgrain.com/partners.html.
Found some neat stuff; okay so flour, I have a big 25lb bag of whole wheat flour from Bob’s Red Mill. They are a local company, up in Milwaukie, that promotes whole grain and stone ground flours. I looked into them, and you can order 6.25 lb of flour for $10.48. I also research where their grain for the flours come from; I couldn’t find much but what I did find is this quote “..[they] maintain personal relationships with farmers from across the country..” (http://www.bobsredmill.com/difference.html).
When looking at the WS & G website, they sell 20 pound bag of flour for $30. They list their partners with current contact information and websites.
The price per pound isn’t too much of a difference. WS & G has local flour that says where their grain comes from. (I am sure if I asked Bob’s Red mill about their farmers they could give me a list, but the point I am trying to make is that their farms are from around the country, not local, which is my focus).
AND check this out!
95% of the ingredients are grown in Oregon
Economics
It is not easy to buy local for all my food consumptions. It is also not easy to do it cheaply. I’ve shopped at WinCo and gotten food for the week for $26, not for a couple of days like at the market. But where does that food come from, how long did it travel, and who really paid for the cheap price of foods?
When I buy local food, I know it was harvested by working getting fair pay. How do I know for sure? Well, I don’t, but I put good faith in the companies that at the very least pay Oregon minimum wage, which is about $8.80. Also it helps that most to all of the farms I have shopped at are organic. That means that the harvesters are not breathing or absorbing harmful chemicals in pesticides and fertilizers; so they are healthier. In turn that will save them money too.
When I don’t buy local or non-organic, I save money. But what about those harvesters? If the produce is non-organic, what does the person breath or get in their finger nails? What kind of health support do they have? According to National Center for Farm-worker Health, farm workers rarely have access to health care, workers compensation, and disability (NCFH, 1998). There is also the general idea that some harvester are illegal immigrants that get paid way under their work, which in turns saves us money, but is this fair or safe? If not local organic, it still has to travel a ways to get to me. And we may all pay for it later with damage to the environment.
So how can I or you save our little money with a clean conscience and healthy plate of food? Well, planting your own garden will help a little bit, and for the many that don’t have land to plant there are many community gardens in the Corvallis area. Check it out :http://sustainablecorvallis.org/action-teams/food/food-resources/ !!! Also it takes a big step of change in how you cook! LWF (remember them in the begin of this post) they have a program that gives you 13lbs of grain and beans for a month. You buy part of their share for 6 month: A typical breakdown of a monthly share might include:
2 lbs. Red Fife Wheat Flour or Soft White Wheat flour
2 lbs. Dark Northern Rye Flour
2 lbs. Naked Oats
1 lb. Purple Hulless Barley
1 lb. Heirloom Popcorn- Dakota Black
1 lb. Emmer Berries
1 lb. Fresh ground Polenta
1 lb. Buckwheat Pancake Flour
2 lbs. Heirloom Beans (varying choices monthly)
Total Cost of a 6 month share is $283.00
It is still spendy, and I don’t know what emmer berries are or how to use them, but I think I would just try in meals and foods I already like.
So it’s been a complete week now since I’ve started the personal sustainability project and so far it’s going good. It turns out to be easier than I had expected. The majority of the work is done by the washing machine since not only does it wash my clothes but also pumps out the water directly into the holding tank for the grey water in my backyard. Then gravity does the work for me when I use the grey water to irrigate my lawn and flowers. I was a bit cautious about using gray water initially for irrigating by yard and garden but with a little research I found chemicals that can be used to wash clothes that would do little harm to the plants and soil. In fact the scientists at the University of Arizona (http://www.gardenguides.com/107700-put-tide-lawn-grow-grass.html) have found that Tide laundry detergent has benefits for lawns to include growth and recovery and that is because Tide laundry detergent contains many compounds that aid in lawn growth.
Laundry grey water usually contains varying levels of suspended solids, salts, nutrients, organic matter and pathogens which arise from washing of clothes using detergents. Laundry detergents contain a range of chemical substances that include surfactants, builders, bleaching agents and additives. A large proportion of the ingredients of laundry detergents are essentially non-volatile compounds dominated by salts. Some of the salts present in grey water can be beneficial to plants, particularly nutrients, although a balanced concentration of nutrients is required to avoid nutrient deficiency or toxicity in plants. Surfactants are a class of synthetic compounds commonly found in grey water as residues of laundry detergents and other household cleaning and personal care products . Surfactants have been also detected in various waste water and in groundwater in areas after long-term land application of grey water. Surfactants are not only used in the detergent industry, but also in agriculture and horticulture as soil conditioners to improve soil structure, infiltration and to control erosion.
What was difficult with this project was simple the holding tank. At first I had in on level ground but realized that I did not get enough pressure to support enough water for the entire lawn so I had to move it up to a height of 6 feet in order to get adequate water pressure to irrigate the entire lawn and garden. Other than that this project is quite simple and very easy for others to conduct. So initial costs were not that high, all I had to do was buy a 500 gallon holding tank that cost $100 and 3″ hose to connect the washing machine to the holding tank and that was $20, overall total was $120. But with the use of grey water to irrigate by lawn and garden I feel that this bill will pay for itself within three months, then after that it’s all profit. Benefits of this system are the reuse water and less harm to water ecosystems throughout the area.
Socially this sustainable projects poses no real affect towards others in fact the use of grey water for irrigation is becoming required when building new homes throughout the country. So, this does not affect human rights, because individuals have the right to use or not use this system, involves no issues regarding labor rights, improves the quality of life for not only human but those species that require water as their main ecosystem, improves communities and lower costs and bill for those who utilize this system. Economically this may impact water districts as it may create less jobs as less water is going to need to be produced for home use. Let money will need to be pumped into manciple water systems as less pressure will be placed on these aging and outdated water systems. However, the big gain will be in the homeowners as they can begin to save on water bills and help out with the environment. As well, if the U.S. adopted this system, the need for water from the Colorado River will be decreased and the effects could be felt all the way into another country Mexico. The U.S. today utilizes so much of the water from the Colorado River that in fact the river no longer reaches the ocean and the majority of the villages within Mexico are unable to sustain enough water to sustain their daily lives (http://www.counterpunch.org/2001/03/14/why-the-colorado-river-doesn-t-meet-the-sea/). So, with this reuse of gray water, less pressure will be placed on the waterways that link so many lives together within multiple countries and in turn will allow for a better way of life for another person. The implications are endless, similar to the butterfly effect, a small actioin today can in turn create a major change in the future. Do you part, reuse your gray water!!
Sustainability for the Common Good 