2/28: JAMIE MOORE
When I heard that Jamie Moore from Parkhurst was coming into speak in our Sustainability Lab, I pictured the well-dressed man that I always see in the dining hall. Turns out, the man that I was picturing was actually named Stu, who was the one to introduce Jamie Moore to the class. Stu did not say much, but he was straight and to the point: there is much more going on behind the scenes of our dining hall than we may see or think of from the student perspective. This behind-the-scenes action, that we cannot see during our meals at the Ripich Commons, includes the supply chain of how food travels from farms to our plates.
Jamie Moore is the director of sourcing and sustainability at Parkhurst Dining. What I found most surprising was the Moore constantly travels around New England or even further to visit the sources of Parkhurst’s food supply. I did not expect a director from a fairly large company to take it upon himself to personally visit the places that we get our food from – but I was glad to hear it. Moore brought up many good characteristics of Parkhurst Dining that I did not expect.
Parkhurst Dining seems to genuinely care about the sources of their dining hall food. Jamie Moore stressed how Parkhurst cares about verified foods, which are labeled by a third party certified producer, whether it’s organic, fair trade, ethically sourced, or compatible with the rainforest alliance. Parkhurst Dining also searches for farm source foods, which have the same regulations as the STARS assessment, Princeton Review, and the Real Food Challenge. These rating systems require dairy and produce to come from within a 250-mile radius, and the dairy farms are family-owned, independent and do not contain any products with RBST.
It was reassuring to hear that the food I eat every day is ethically sourced and comes from the region. This is really important in a food service provider at a college or university because the students are not in the position to choose where their food comes from most of the time. That is why it’s important to know the values behind such a large and integral part of your institution.
However, one problem with local foods is that distribution is not always easy, especially in rural areas. In rural areas, the traditional distribution method is called the hub and spoke model, where a central distributor gathers food from multiple farms and brings the product to multiple places. This model is only realistic if the truck never comes back empty, but this is the recurring problem in rural areas. There are many distribution models that Parkhurst could follow, so that is when they have to choose what will be most economically viable while continuing to provide healthy, local foods.
One thing I can take from this presentation are examples of successful food waste reduction. These examples worked in Austria and Germany, by composting or biodigestion, and significantly decreased the amount of food waste in landfills. In some cases, biodigestion can create gas that can be burned just like natural gas to generate electricity. It was good to hear that Moore and Parkhurst are concerned with food waste, which seems to be an issue at UNE, too.
I thought it was interesting, and more helpful than I expected, to hear Jamie Moore talk about what he deals with on a day-to-day basis. At the end of Moore’s presentation, he stressed the labels of food once again. Except for this time, Moore was focusing on the term “free-range”, which does not have a third-party verification. This can cause consumer confusion because the definition of “free-range” can vary from facility to facility. In fact, if eggs are labeled “cage-free”, chickens often do not have access to the outdoors and have a higher mortality rate. I learned from Jamie Moore that is less about consuming all organic, and more about knowing where your food comes from. We are in a day and age where greenwashing is not uncommon, so it is important to be knowledgeable and aware of the various food labels and where your food comes from.
CASE STUDY
After talking with Alethea and attending a meeting about move out waste at UNE, Erin and I decided to research how other schools deal with move out waste generated by students. We knew that UNE has struggled in the past to minimize this waste generated by students leaving in a hurry, and also struggled with donating the perfectly useable items left behind. Last year, the UNE Sustainability Office and Eco-reps set up collection bins at central dorm locations but ran into many problems along the way. From listening to Alethea’s experience last year, the collection locations were not respected – people left trash and perishable foods among the reusable items, making it really hard for the UNE volunteers to sort through.
After some research, Erin and I found two schools with alternative move out programs: Northwestern University and Bowdoin College. Northwestern University participates in the “Take It or Leave It” program, which was partnered with University and Student Services. At the end of the year, students at Northwestern can donate goods from their dorm room or pay a fixed amount per box to store their goods over the summer. Northwestern advertised this program a lot to their students, through campus signage and emails sent directly to students. This program seemed to be successful, but Northwestern also ran into common issues like not having enough student help.
For several years, Bowdoin College put on a large-scale yard sale from student donations from move out. This program seemed to be really successful in the Brunswick community, and also diverted multiple tons of waste from the landfill while also raising money for local non-profits. However, Bowdoin switched their “Give & Go” program in 2014 after a 12-year run. Since 2014, Bowdoin has partnered and given their donations Goodwill. I did not get to speak with the sustainability coordinator at Bowdoin, but I can infer that the yard sale was not a feasible solution in the long run. From 2002-2014, I think that the yard sale required a lot of Bowdoin volunteers and resources that are not necessarily available at a small college. Partnering with Goodwill allowed Bowdoin to use Goodwill’s pre-existing logistics and store locations while continuing to help those in need. This way, Bowdoin needed fewer student volunteers and relied more on Goodwill workers.
It was helpful to look into Bowdoin College for this case study because they emphasize environmental stewardship and have a few thousand students – just like UNE. The biggest issue that we identified was preventing students from putting refuse into donation bins. Unfortunately, we were unable to identify if either of these institutions also suffered from this problem, and if they did, how did they mitigate this issue. In addition to this issue, it became apparent that both Northwestern and Bowdoin struggled with help, whether it was a lack of faculty or student volunteers. I am curious to know if UNE has a budget large enough to potentially pay students if they would like to help with future move out waste projects, and how many UNE students would likely want to participate. These questions and more will be considered during our project proposal.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL:
ASANA
At first, my partner and I chose to use Asana as our software tool because the class instructor uses this tool in her day to day work. It was nice knowing that someone else had explored this tool, and chose to continue to use it. When I first started using Asana, I compiled one large list of all the work that needed to be done for the semester. Shortly after, I realized how daunting this list looked, and all of the assignments were mixed together. This is when I decided to break up the semester’s work into various stages, or by each larger assignment.
Overall, it was nice that we did not have a running list of things to do. Instead, Asana gave us the ability to make multiple lists under headings. So, my partner and I decided it was appropriate to make a task list for each assignment. It did not take long to get a feel for this software, and it soon proved to be very user-friendly.
It was nice that we were able to create multiple drop-down menus in Asana, for our STARS credits or class presentations for example. However, I would have liked if this tool allowed us to assign due dates to these headings. But, we did find a workaround in this tool, by creating a small list at the top with our big assignments and due dates. It was nice to have a short list at the top showing the partner work for the rest of the semester, and then making more specific lists down below. Overall, I would give Asana a rating of 4 out of 5. It was a good way to organize assignments that require collaboration, in a way where all parties can see the “to-do” list.
I know that I will be using some sort of project management tool in the future, so I would like to explore more options. I did not think Asana was perfect, but it worked well for what we were trying to accomplish. I am interested if Trello would have been a better option. This tool certainly looked more aesthetically pleasing, but I’m not sure that it was as advanced as Asana. I could see myself using Asana, or a very similar tool, in the future. I am used to writing down all my assignments in a weekly planner, but this has proven to become more difficult as I continue school. I have gotten used to just looking and planning for the school week ahead, and repeating this cycle every week. While sometimes it’s necessary to take things one week, or even one day, at a time, my workload requires me to think further into the future. Especially this year, I have done plenty of long-term projects, and I think it would be helpful to incorporate a tool like Asana instead of relying on a paperback planner which can get messy.
ePortfolio
I enjoyed creating an ePortfolio, mostly because I liked designing the aesthetic part of it. Designing aspects aside, I think it was also beneficial to me to reflect on certain aspects of this course and project. For example, I thought about the importance of Parkhurst by writing a reflection more than I would have thought about on my own. I also thought it was beneficial that most, if not all, of our ePortfolio assignments contained a prompt or several questions that we could respond to. This sparked more ideas, and different things I had not considered before writing these reflections.
In addition to prompting more thinking, creating an ePortfolio also gathered the semester’s work in one area. My website allowed me to post content about Nine Elements of a Sustainable Campus, guest speakers, and information about my final project. Not only was this information all in one place, but it was also in a space where I could share with anyone who visited my page.
UNBREATHABLE: The Fight for Healthy Air
Film & Discussion Panel
After watching the un-cut, unfinished version of Unbreathable: The Fight for Healthy Air, the concepts I’ve been learning all year have been emphasized and reinforced. Maggie Stogner did a great job in creating this short documentary, with thought-provoking imagery and dialogue. I’m not sure if it was coincidence or planned, but this documentary is perfectly timed with the 50th anniversary of the 1970 Clean Air Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. I am glad that the university gave students a chance to listen in, and even more glad to see familiar faces and hear familiar voices from school. I think this film viewing and discussion panel was a great idea, mostly because environmental and social issues are intricately connected, which has become especially apparent in light of recent events.
This film was quick to point out that nearly half of Americans breathe unhealthy amounts of pollution each day. This not only creates lung problems, but also a cascade of other negative health effects. I think air quality is an issue that accurately shows how health and environmental issues can be one and the same. When it comes to the air around us, we have no choice; we have to breathe it in. Just like air quality, the effects of climate change can also not be avoided.
It’s a positive thing that there was a real kickstart in regulatory change in the 1970s (a.k.a. the Clean Air Act), but sadly, this change had to come after many lives were taken. Although you can not predict the future, I think there is a point in time where regulatory change can be made for the better before lives are put at stake. Rather than repeating history, we have an opportunity to act in a timely manner when it comes to climate change. This means we need serious legislative and regulatory changes now.
When I usually think of air pollution, I picture coal-fired power plants and the carbon dioxide that they emit. However, the film pointed out that motor vehicles are a significant source of air pollution, and create smog seen hanging above cities. When we talk about transitioning to renewable energy sources, I think it’s much easier for stationary plants to do this compared to motor vehicles. What will the future look like for vehicles with zero emissions? In my physics class, we have discussed battery-powered electric vehicles and hydrogen cell vehicles. The future of these two models is uncertain, but it’s most likely not any time soon.
Today, both the Clean Air Act at the EPA are being targeted for deregulation. A good point came up in the discussion panel that the Clean Air Act is about public health too – not just about limiting climate-warming emissions of businesses. Another good point brought up by Bethany Woodworth was to ideally incorporate the word health into the EPA’s title, like Environmental Health Protection Agency for example. I think this could play a big role in the ‘social change’ many people talk about. By integrating just one word into the EPA’s title, I think it would become clear to more people that issues of environmental health are directly connected to the health of individuals. Even though it may be a minor change, I think deregulation will seem less like providing businesses relief and more like direct attacks to public health. I think another combat against deregulation is states with more stringent public and environmental health policies. Like California, it’s important that states take the opportunity to create more stringent regulations. I think that federal regulations should provide state governments with a baseline that they can alter to be more conservative if they’d like.
A key message of this event was that we need to take effective action. Also, while it’s important to recognize how far we’ve come, there is plenty of room for improvement. Currently, the EPA is not changing its particle pollution standards, which scientists suggest should be more strict. While this may seem minor now, it will cause major changes down the road. Take Maine for example: Even in an area of wilderness, adult asthma rates are higher than the national rate, which is a substantial increase considering the childhood asthma rate in Maine is lower than the national average. Plus, as Dr. Anna Coates pointed out, air pollution affects the whole body, not just the lungs. Rebecca Lincoln also went on to say how in Maine, the effects of fossil fuel emissions are concerning, even though Maine does not experience visible pollution like smog.
I think it’s also important to realize that the effects of climate change on public health are not just respiratory issues. Climate change also causes more frequent extreme weather events and vector-borne diseases, which certainly put populations at risk (some more than others). As we have seen, the populations that have been continuously exposed to pollution are the same group of people who are most susceptible to COVID-19. I just think this goes to show how interconnected public and environmental health are.
