Keeping in touch with the real world

Hi Everyone,
Today I attended a talk by author Susan Dworkin about her new book "A Viking in the Wheatfield" which is about the negative effects of monoculture, GMO seed production, and the positive work currently being done by seed savers and seed banks throughout the world. She primarily spoke about international efforts to create seed banks to promote regional seed practices, sustainable farming, and to protect the safety of the future of seeds (in the event of a catastrphic event). The question I had for Susan (which she readily answered) was: where is the connection/ is there a connection being made between these seed banks and local growing efforts. In effect, how do we connect people who may only know about and have access to genetically modified seeds, hybrid seeds (which you can't collect seeds from), etc. to these immense heirloom, locally procured seed banks? Are there efforts being made by the seed banks to create that connection? My question was provoked by Michelle Obama's recently announced campaign agsint childhood obesity and how childhood obesity happens primarily in communities who don't have access to healthy food and how healthy food can be grown in low-income/limited access communities -- why shouldn't they have access to good seeds. In any case, Susan told me that people like me (or anybody from F.E.A.S.T.) are the people who have to make these connections, community acitivists like UEP and community gardeners across the country have to create the education tool and the network to teach communities and gardners about these seeds.
All in all, I wanted everyone to realize their potential, that they (you) are the way that change (even small change) can happen. I know it sounds cheesy (totally cheesy), but growing and producing food is something that can happen at the most local level. Teaching your nieghbor about these seed collections, or a community garden can change the way that we grow our food and change the way that we eat.

On a side note, this is a pretty awesome series of maps.

This week!

Hey all,

Last week we had an awesome Thursday in the garden. The Environmental Problem Solving class stopped by and lent their hands which was a huge help! A BIG thanks to all of you! We got the chicken coop resting in the ground on a sturdy foundation. We still have to construct the roost area which we will start on this week. So we got rained out of selling t-shirts in the quad last Friday but hopefully we will be doing that sometime next week but the date isn't certain yet. We will keep all of you posted.

Composting and work will start this Thursday at 3.30 and as usual we will work until dark or so. We can also prepare some beds for planting!

Chicken Cooping

YEssssssssssss.....Due to some serious efforts on the parts of Giulia, Gio and Dylan (among others) the coop and chickens are getting closer and closer to reality. Here are some pictures from coop construction last week!

This Semester

I thought we had a great partial e-board meeting on Saturday and the soup was delicious! Just as a quick recap of the stuff we talked about. We are gonna keep meeting on Thursdays starting at around 3.30 pm so be there this Thursday! We'll be composting as well as continuing to work on the chicken coop and possibly building a couple more raised beds that Bruce bought lumber for. The chicks are gonna come in mid-February but we won't put them in the coop until their big enough which will be a little while.

This Friday we are gonna sell t-shirts in the quad and get people to sign up for FEAST and the Sustainability Fund. Anyone who's free let me know so we can arrange a schedule.

In terms of events we are trying to get a table up in the garden for multipurpose use and then also coordinate with the art department to have the chicken coop painted. Let me know if anyone would like to organize that effort.

I also think that it would be fun to experiment with vermi-composting. We have to decide if we just wanna buy a smaller setup that would serve just the garden or if we want to build something a little bit bigger and handle more waste, especially food from the marketplace.

In terms of fun stuff to do this semester outside of working in the garden we are gonna arrange some weekend fieldtrips! I know Bruce is really interested in going to see a large-scale vermicomposting operation, maybe the one at Santa Monica College (which is 19 feet long, 7 feet wide and has 300 pounds of worms!). We are also hoping to make it to the Pitzer garden at some point and to Earthtrine Farm in Ojai in late March or early April. More details on the dates of those trips to come soon.

BAN STYROFOAM!

Hey guys,

I haven't really heard about this in the news but my mom emailed me about it today. There is a bill in the CA state senate to ban the use of styrofoam, especially in take-out containers from restaurants. The bill has recently come under attack. If you support the effort please follow this link and send a letter to the speaker of the state senate.

Some Articles

Hi there,
A few articles you might find interesting.

Here is one from the New York Times about an organization, La Mesa Verde, based in San Jose, CA that literally goes into homes of low-income residents and builds raised beds in their backyards, teaches them to plant and harvest, eventually saving the families lots of money and giving them access to nutritious food. It also focuses on educating participants about gardening so that the knowledge will be held within the neighborhood, with less and less input needed from master gardeners. Pretty awesome.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/us/17backyard.html?ref=nutrition

The second is one that Gio sent me about sustainability at Oxy and the lack of work that the administration has put into making Oxy a more environmentally friendly campus. It is pretty up to date on dismal the situation, further proving that not much has changed on the administrative end in terms of sustainability over the last couple of years.

http://media.www.ditzmagazine.com/media/storage/paper1293/news/2008/04/28/InsideTheBubble/How-Green.Is.Our.Campus-3338071.shtml

Letter to the Editor

This is a draft of a letter to the editor that addresses the issue of sustainability on our campus. Please give feedback, comments and suggestions because it will be signed by the whole club. So let us know if you have any input.

Lets Go Big or Go Home and move forward with the solar panel project. Lets Just Do It and build a farm on Mount Fiji. If we’re really In It to Win It lets retrofit our buildings to be as sustainable as possible.

As a small, liberal arts college Occidental has the unique opportunity to be a leader in many different arenas. Here at Oxy we have a concentration of brilliant, forward-thinking faculty, supportive administrators and talented students. We are already at the forefront of offering undergraduates the chance to do hands-on research in their respective fields and integrating diverse cultural experiences into our curriculum. We are proud of these achievements but as participants of this institution we believe that our sustainability efforts lag behind those of comparable schools. We believe the administration must provide students the tools and institutional framework to make their ideas a reality.

In the 2010 edition of The College Sustainability Report Card (greenreportcard.org). Oxy received a C. The survey looks at many areas of sustainability including: Administration (B), Climate Change and Energy (D), Food and Recycling (B) , Green Building (B), Student Involvement (D), Transportation (C), Endowment Transparency (F) , Investment Priorities (A), Shareholder Engagement (F). At a school that prides itself on progressivism and activism getting a C on sustainability issues is truly dismal. Many comparable colleges have much higher grades including Pomona with an A-, Stanford also got an A-, Whitman got a B-, Bowdoin has a B, Bates has a B and Amherst has an A-.

Essentially all of the categories in the report card are based on decisions made on the administrative end, with very little weight given to student participation. We don’t have much of a say in terms of Shareholder Engagement, Endowment Transparency or Climate Change and Energy (although many students strongly support the solar panel project!).

If we really want to be a dynamic, proactive liberal arts college we need to not only keep up with our peer schools but lead them in the area of sustainability.

-FEAST