[Newleaf] [5 College Primitive Skills] moving ahead with the sustainability pledge
jake brooks
jvb07 at hampshire.edu
Wed Jul 6 20:05:02 EDT 2011
i got these emails forwarded to me from the 5-college primitive skills list,
so i figured i'd chime in (although i just graduated hampshire, yay!). If
you make a pledge or checklist, i think you should definitely include "adopt
a vegan diet" on it. Buying and eating meat is an often overlooked
(sometimes on purpose!) habit which is really bad for the environment in a
lot of ways. there are lots of websites to learn about the environmental
impact of meat, so I won't go into detail about it. just think, though, each
pound of feedlot beef requires ~24,000 gallons of water to process. And in
terms of fossil fuel, if you're cooking (most) meat you might as well be
double-parking a hummer outside while you're cooking it. just my 2 cents.
best,
jake
On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 5:21 PM, Carson Satterfield <cos10 at hampshire.edu>wrote:
> Hey guys,
>
> I'm not really an active member of New Leaf but I wanted to let you know
> that I've been following your emails, and you should definitely take
> advantage of Yurt Radio as a way to promote sustainability efforts. You
> could also host weekly discussions, have a New Leaf news show, or pre-record
> short clips (sort of commercials, examples of things students can do in
> their everyday lives to promote sustainability) that other students could
> play during their shows or that could run during dead air.
>
> As a signer for the Yurt, I'd love to help y'all take advantage of this
> resource, just let me know if you have any interest! We'd really like to
> establish Yurt Radio as a community resource, a central hub if you will.
>
> Hope you're all well and enjoying this beautiful blessed summer!
> Best,
> Carson Satterfield
> cos10 at hampshire.edu
>
> On Jul 6, 2011, at 11:35 AM, Andrew James Mangold wrote:
>
> > Hey New Leaf,
> >
> > I am definitely in favor of heeding Roger's advice, but to the checklist
> I add:
> >
> > shop at mixed nuts
> >
> > get involved with a committee (or club) on campus that [you] feel
> strongly about
> >
> > get to know the recycling sheds.
> >
> > Also, if something like this develops over the years, then we can include
> info
> > on the group that is intercepting old furniture for Fall sale once it is
> > active.
> >
> > -Andrew
> >
> >
> > Quoting Rebecca Thomas <rlt07 at hampshire.edu>:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Hi, all. I think Roger Guzowski raises some good points. Maybe we
> >> should make this a checklist rather than a pledge?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Also, along with not bringing a mini fridge, we might want to add
> >> not bringing a microwave to the list. (Or maybe encourage people to
> >> collaborate with their hallmates to put just one microwave in the
> >> lounge? I don't know if they have a way to contact all the people
> >> on their hall, though...)
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> -Rebecca T.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> P.S. Are new students going to get waterbottles from Hampshire this
> >> year? If so, we could probably say something about that rather than
> >> telling people to bring their own.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On 7/5/11 10:10 AM, Roger Guzowski wrote:
> >>
> >> [Newleaf] moving ahead with the sustainability pledge
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Hi everyone. Great
> >> to see so much New Leaf activity over the summer.
> >>
> >> Just one quick word
> >> of caution on the sustainability pledge.
> >>
> >> If you are doing the
> >> pledge as an education tool to make people aware of ways to
> >> be more sustainable at Hampshire, I would say to go forward
> >> with it. Though I would suggest it take the form of a
> >> checklist or display table rather than a pledge. In
> >> whatever form it takes, I think it's a great idea at
> >> orientation to make new (and returning) students aware about
> >> all of the opportunities to live more sustainably at and
> >> around Hampshire.
> >>
> >> However, if you are
> >> envisioning the pledge to drive behavior change, I would
> >> suggest doing something else. We have done a number of
> >> pledges at the other schools over the years (around Focus
> >> the Nation, Earth Day, etc.) and I would suggest that the
> >> results from a behavior change standpoint have been
> >> underwhelming at best.
> >>
> >> There are often
> >> barriers (perceived or legitimate) that prevent certain
> >> people from adopting sustainable behaviors. My experience
> >> has been that to get sustainable behavior change, we need to
> >> identify and work on strategically removing those barriers
> >> (i.e. systematically overcoming the excuses). A pledge can
> >> be a part of that, but my experience is that a pledge alone
> >> will not overcome those barriers, at least not for long.
> >>
> >> Here's my concern.
> >> This is going to be one of your first activities of the
> >> year. As such, it is not just a stand alone activity, but
> >> also something that is going to help you attract and retain
> >> new members. As such, I think you want your early
> >> activities to be positive momentum builders. My experience
> >> with pledges (if you are expecting them to drive behavior
> >> change - which I think is implied by the very term pledge)
> >> is that folks end up disappointed in the results. I don't
> >> think you want your lead-off activity to be something that
> >> someone might perceive as disappointing. I think there are
> >> other opportunities or ways to proceed with this that might
> >> help both from a results standpoint and from a membership
> >> standpoint.
> >>
> >> If you're still
> >> meeting over the summer, I would love to meet with you and
> >> share some ideas for orientation and the fall semester.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Roger Guzowski
> >> Five College Recycling Manager
> >> cell: 413-658-5558
> >> rguzowski at fivecolleges.edu
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> From:
> >> newleaf-bounces at lists.hampshire.edu on behalf of Rebecca
> >> Simone Siegel
> >>
> >> Sent: Tue 7/5/2011 7:34 AM
> >>
> >> To: newleaf at lists.hampshire.edu
> >>
> >> Subject: [Newleaf] moving ahead with the sustainability
> >> pledge
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Hi Folks,
> >>
> >> I think that the first step with the sustainability pledge
> >> is to figure out
> >>
> >> content. I thought we could make a list of all the things
> >> it could include.
> >>
> >> So, what do YOU think should be on it?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Here are the suggestions that we have so far:
> >>
> >> - leave your car home and only use the zipcars and buses
> >>
> >> -reusable mugs for coffee/tea (which also gets you a
> >> discount)
> >>
> >> - not bringing a mini fridge
> >>
> >> - bringing your own water bottle instead of buying bottled
> >> water
> >>
> >> - buying used things
> >>
> >> - turning off lights and power strips,
> >>
> >> -biking a lot at hampshire
> >>
> >> - using reusable bags
> >>
> >> -keeping the heat at a reasonable level
> >>
> >> - using cold water for laundry
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> -Rebecca
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >>
> >> Newleaf mailing list
> >>
> >> Newleaf at lists.hampshire.edu
> >>
> >> https://lists.hampshire.edu/mailman/listinfo/newleaf
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Newleaf mailing list
> >> Newleaf at lists.hampshire.edu
> >> https://lists.hampshire.edu/mailman/listinfo/newleaf
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Primitive_skills mailing list
> > Primitive_skills at lists.hampshire.edu
> > https://lists.hampshire.edu/mailman/listinfo/primitive_skills
>
> _______________________________________________
> Primitive_skills mailing list
> Primitive_skills at lists.hampshire.edu
> https://lists.hampshire.edu/mailman/listinfo/primitive_skills
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.hampshire.edu/pipermail/newleaf/attachments/20110706/0b391525/attachment.htm>
More information about the Newleaf
mailing list