James the Homeless Vet - A Reflection

I met James while working at the 18^th Annual Free Community Party put on by the Co-op. When asking him what he thought his neighborhood could use, he said “more housing for the homeless and more low-income housing.” At the time I could not really tell that he was homeless although he did carry a large backpack. This sparked a conversation between us given that I was working on started the Food Recovery Network at Western. He was very interested in getting students involved in advocacy work such as attending city meetings and voicing interest in affordable housing, given that homeless people are most often marginalized and ignored in government decisions. We exchanged contact information as have been in contact through email since then.

He has CC’d me in all conversations about the severe weather/overflow shelter for the winter. I have become aware of many unfair, unethical, and inhumane practices and treatment of the homeless population. It has become clear to me that there they have created a business out of homelessness. They help the homeless survive, providing meals and overnight places to stay, but there is not enough emphasis on housing or help for transitioning people into become a part of society again.  

Whatcom County has the least amount of affordable housing in the state of Washington. There are not enough resources directed towards this, yet they pay the Homeless Outreach Team 70,000/yr salaries out of the housing fund. This type of work is usually done (and can be done) by volunteers, and this money could be used more effectively.

James is a very smart man who has found himself in an unfortunate situation. He has been homeless for five years, and to apply for housing needs to have had a permanent address within the last two years. As a veteran James knows how to survive. He always states that he will be fine, but there are many others on the streets that will not be. The severe weather overflow shelter is opened when temperatures outside reach 20 degrees --- TWENTY DEGREES?!! That is insanely cold! Way past the danger of hypothermia and death! James is fighting for them to open at 45 degrees. Still cold, but much more reasonable. As someone who is not homeless, I cannot imagine sleeping outside in such temperatures. Never having to deal with such a problem before, I had no idea that this is how the homeless have been treated. It must be easy for them to hide the treatment of these people and disregard their lives and voices. This is no longer something that I will ignore. I will be working with James extremely hard this winter to help them get people off the streets.

Tips/Advice from James:

“Think of yourself as an old person, and what you want to look back and say you did during your life. If you know what outcome you want in life, it will be easier to identify steps to get there.”

“Ditch your wallet and home for two days and sleep outside on the streets. See how hard it is. This is what you need to do to fully understand the problem of homelessness.”

Time to Put a Price on Carbon!

"Research shows that curbing climate change and growing the economy can and must go hand-in-hand. A well-designed carbon price can help the United States achieve its climate goals while improving economic efficiency and fostering growth."

This is an excellent article promoting carbon pricing, which I thought was especially interesting because I have been working on Carbon Washington's campaign for a carbon tax in our state. Carbon Washington's approach is basically the same policy as the one in B.C., which has full support of their residents. The article states that "as a result of the revenue-neutral tax swap it implemented, the province used carbon tax revenue to reduce other taxes. It now has the lowest personal income tax rates in Canada and one of the lowest corporate income tax rates in North America."

Hopefully we will see a similar implementation and results in our state and hopefully the U.S. as a whole! This article makes it seem like there is no reason not to get on board with carbon pricing.

Read the rest of the article here

Lowering my Ecological Footprint

While my results were still generally shocking/disappointing, I did manage to lower my footprint!
However, it will still take 2.15 Earths to sustain the population if everyone lived like me.

Certain changes were difficult to make, others were harder. Not eating meat was difficult, but things like changing my power sources to 100% renewable energy was an easy transition. The hardest changes to make were the ones that changed my daily routine. However, after getting used to it, things like unplugging everything at the end of the night was not too bad.

Compared to my original results, I have managed to lower my footprint by a little over one earth by making a few small changes. This amazes me because although the dietary change was difficult at times, most of the other changes I made were fairly easy to do. Below are my original results so it is easy to visualize which sectors I made the greatest improvements.

Compared to my original results, my carbon footprint slightly decreased. I definitely walked and took the bus a lot more this quarter. Cutting meat out of my diet lowered my food footprint by nearly 50%, which is really shocking to me but is a very good incentive to keep up a vegetarian diet. I love meat, so I may have to change it to only eating meat once a week, but I am definitely going to keep this in mind when making future decisions. My housing footprint decreased by very little, which I was surprised by because I thought switching to PSE's green power plan would make a dramatic difference in my impact; apparently not. My goods and services footprint was cut in half as well, mainly because of my attention to packaging and sourcing, as well as not purchasing any new items (only second-hand).

While I have taken this Ecological Footprint quiz before, this assignment was a lot more informational because we actually had to attempt to lower our impact over time. Making changes versus listing the changes you could make was a lot more beneficial because it made realize that there actually are easy ways to make a big difference in reducing your impact. However you do have to think about it. It is easier in the US to live a very wasteful lifestyle than a sustainable way of life, so you must be aware of what activities your impact is coming from.

Walmart and Sustainability

There is a lot of skepticism about if Walmart and sustainability can co-exist. While their lowest price strategy may seem to interfere with traditional sustainability values of true cost, it also caters to sustainability values of equity and opportunity. 

I was impressed to read that Walmart has an effective green marketing strategy, that rates suppliers based on a multitude of criteria and recognizes that most problems lie within the supply chain. While it's not perfect, it is a great start and I hope to see continued effort from the world's largest retailer.

Check out the article here


Footprint update: I accidently broke down and ate meat at a Mexican restaurant, but I have never tried enchilada mole before and it was amazing...... Other than that I have not purchased any meat at the store though. I am currently looking for a way to buy bread that does not require plastic packaging but won't go bad right away because I don't have time to buy fresh bread daily... 

U.S. Initiative to help coal workers transition to clean energy jobs

This was an exciting headline to see and article to read because it is actually the US GOVERNMENT taking action to support a transition for worker to move away from coal jobs that have many known negative health impacts. Even though this action was taken because of the already declining industry, the fact that they are moving these workers to work in renewable energy production is a great start to government support for a cleaner economy.

Learn more at:

http://www.greenbiz.com/article/new-initiative-help-coal-workers-transition-clean-economy-jobs

Re-evaluating my Ecological Footprint Goals

For the most part, I have been fairly successful in reducing my footprint in my goal areas of water and energy consumption. Turning the wifi/cable box off is the most difficult part of the energy consumption area. 

Food consumption is where I am having a tough time. When evaluating why I am not making the progress I would like to, it came down to a few things: price, convenience, and accessible alternatives.

I have not been eating meat, which will reduce my footprint, although this has mainly been out of price.

I have not been buying at the farmers market because Saturdays have been inconvenient for me this month. However, I have consistently stuck to only organic produce.

With certain items with plastic packaging, like bread, the reason I haven't moved to another type of packaging is because of limitations. Fresh bread comes in paper bags, but does not stay good long enough for me to finish it. In this case, I have to choose to get the one that keeps the best fresh the longest so that I am not wasting.

Unfortunately, my property manager has not gotten back to me about a compost bin. I will have to take further action on this goal.

If I had the time, I would re-evaluate my goals to buy less food at a time, so that I could buy the fresh, ready-to-go products from bakeries and whatnot. I think I will try this over the summer, but right now it is not realistic. 

New goals for food: Eat everything I buy, don't let things go to waste. Buy fresh bread whenever I can. Continue to avoid plastic packaging as much as possible, and record the items that are packaged in plastics and search for alternatives.

A Credit Card that Helps the Planet

So this is a very interesting concept. Sustain:Green hopes to use customer rewards structures that are usually offered by credit card commpanies, such as cash back, but direct these funds toward purchasing certified carbon offsets. This is the first opportunity for the individual consumer to get involved in carbn offsetting, and in a convenient and free way. They are not charged for these rewards, they are simply giving them away to a good cause. Cardholders can also vote for projects they want to fund, and the card itself is biodegradable/compostable. I'm not sure this card will attract the majority of the population, but I do think that it is a great idea to bring responsibility and action for offsetting carbon to the individual consumer level.

Read more here: http://www.greenbiz.com/article/credit-card-offset-your-individual-carbon-guilt

Life Cycle Analysis of a Toothpaste Tube

It is incredible to think about the significance of a tube of toothpaste and its impact on the environment. For a product so simple, completing a life cycle impact analysis (LCA) is quite complex. The act of brushing your teeth is something that nearly everyone does: it is both socially and hygienically expected of you to do. It also requires you to use a certain amount of water. Most accessible toothpaste varieties include many chemicals, and some even contain micro-beads, which can’t always be filtered out of the water supply.  Producing and transporting this toothpaste also uses significant amounts of resources and releases pollutants. To effectively create a LCA for Aquafresh fluoride toothpaste, we would need to evaluate the life cycle from extraction, production, transportation, use and last disposal of a single tube of toothpaste. 

The ingredients used in toothpaste are mostly chemicals, and although I’m sure their life cycle is harmful, these materials were not listed in Okala’s LCA bill of materials chart. So for this product analysis, I will focus on the packaging tube itself, which also contains many chemicals. There are multiple layers of polyethylene used for its sealing properties, and opalescent polyethylene is used for a flexible base material and white color. Vapor deposited PET is included for rigidity, ability to maintain shape and moisture barrier properties (AICELLO, pg.1). Polyethylene itself is created by modifying natural gas or the catalytic cracking of crude oil into gasoline (LePoutre, pg.1). This is not a good beginning to this tube’s lifecycle. Suppliers for Aquafresh are located all throughout Europe (and I'm sure other continents as well), and the toothpaste is sold all over the world, leaving an immense transportation impact. On top of all that, it is not recyclable.

Product: A Toothpaste Tube

System boundary: Analysis of the tube alone, not the toothpaste inside of it or use of the toothpaste.

Functional unit: One tube, approximately 2 ounces in weight.

Lifespan: Approximately four months

SBOM:

Total tube weight = 2 oz. = 0.125 lbs

Composition:

PET, amorphous, primary = 1.8/lb * 0.06 = .108

Aluminum, primary = 13/lb * 0.05= .65

EVA, primary= 1.3/lb * 0.01= .013

Sealing tape= 0.18/lb *0.005= .0009

White pigment=2.8/lb*0.06=.168

Processing:

Injection molding= 0.72/lb*.725=.522

Aluminum milling= 9.9/lb*0.05=.495

Transportation:

Intercontinental air freight= 1.6/ton-mi*.125= 0.2

Disposal:

Polyethylenes in controlled landfill 0.3/lb*(.06+.01) =0.021

Total: 2.1779 LCA impact factor points

This may not seem like a large impact number, but remember this is only a 2 oz. piece of packaging. There is room for improvement in the use of recycled products, mode of transport, and extension of product life through design for disassembly and recyclability.

New design with reduced impact:

Using recycled polyethylene products would make improvements in the life cycle analysis of a tube of toothpaste. However, I’m not sure that this would make the product actually recyclable. I think that the “tube” design of toothpaste may need to be eliminated altogether. If a glass container with a recyclable or reusable dispenser, designed in a shape where the toothpaste would be funneled to the dispenser so not to be wasted, the product could be recyclable and eliminate the many plastics and processes included in the toothpaste tube. If possible, it could even be sold in a box with a free shipping label so that it could be returned for free and reused by the manufacturer. A glass jar keeps the toothpaste preserved and contained naturally, and does not need the plastics and chemicals included traditionally. 

Product: Glass toothpaste container with recyclable dispenser

Functional unit: One container, about one pound in weight.

Lifespan: About 4 months, but recyclable or reusable at end of its life.

SBOM:

Composition:

Bottled Glass, sec (clear recycled glass) =.38/lb*0.95 =0.361

HDPE, secondary (recycled hard plastic that is recyclable by some) = 1.2/lb*0.05= 0.06

Aluminum, secondary (metal spring in dispenser)= 0.55*0.0001=0.00055

Processing:

Injection molding = 0.72/lb*0.05 = 0.036

Transportation:

Ocean freighter= 0.053/ton-mi *1 = 0.053

Disposal:

Glass = recyclable

Polyethylene (HDPE) 0.3/lb*0.05= 0.015

New Total: 0.525055 =~0.525 LCA impact factor points

Works Cited:

AICELLO. "What is polyethylene laminating film (sealant laminating film)?." Suzulon L: Sealant Laminating Film. AICELLO, n.d. Web. 14 May 2015. <http://www.suzulon-l.com/PE_laminating_film.html>.

LePoutre, Priscilla. "The Manufacture of Polyethylene." Transpak Industries Ltd., n.d. Web. 14 May 2015. <http://nzic.org.nz/ChemProcesses/polymers/10J.pdf>.

Putting a Value on Energy Efficiency

The Bullitt Center is said to be the most energy efficient commercial office building in the world. This article talks about how they are taking an interesting, first-of-it's kind approach to putting a value on their savings from energy efficiency.

Using a finance structure similar to that of a power purchase agreement for solar or othr forms of electricity, their plan is to meter the amount of energy use the building would have used as a traditional building, and then the Bullitt Center will sell back it's unused energy to Seattle's electricity company. Putting a monetary value on their energy savings could be a great incentive for other buildings and companies to improve their energy efficiency. 

Net Impact is visiting the Bullitt Center today, and I'm excited to learn more about this building!

http://www.greenbiz.com/article/selling-energy-collected-efficiency

NYC's Social and Environmental Sustainability Goals

This article immediately made me think of the Michael Green's ted talk on the Social Progress Index. The mayor of New York City makes the city's plan more comprehensive by putting an equal emphasis on the environment and income inequality within the sustainable development plan. 45% of NYC's population is at or under the poverty level, and as stated in the article we cannot address physical vulnerability to climate change without addressing the local economy and inequality. Read more to see both their main social and environmental goals and their plans for change! 

http://www.greenbiz.com/article/new-york-citys-plan-fuse-sustainability-social-equity-and-resilience

Footprint Update!

Update on my goals to reduce my Ecological Footprint: 

1) Water and Energy Usage: So far, this area is going great. I'm achieving my water goals and have managed to fit unplugging appliances into my schedule at night and most mornings. However, I realized that there is really not that much to unplug in my apartment, so I'm doubtful that it will make a measurable difference. I want to make sure my footprint actually IS reduced after this project, so I signed up for PSE's Green Power Program and chose to switch 100% of our energy to renewables. My friend signed me up for the program and I was pleased to learn that only low-impact hydro power is included in the renewable energy mix.

2) Food Consumption: It has been hard for me to stick to local options for my fruits and veggies, mainly because the last two weekends I have been unable to make it to the Downtown Farmer's Market. However, I will definitely be purchasing my start-up plants for my garden from the farmer's market once I get a lifted garden set up in my yard. I have been sticking to organic options in the store.

3) Waste: So far, I have been composting, but doing so by bumming off other people with FoodPlus bins or bringing my compost to school...
I contacted SCC and it would only cost our property $8/month for composting service, so I've informed my property manager to see if she would be interested in doing this. My house has 4 units in it, and our unit alone would never fill up a whole 60-gallon bin by ourselves, so I am hoping it can be done collectively. 
As for packaging, I have not been obtaining any new plastic bags, and I have been buying food with only recyclable packaging. However, my house needs to move away from our obsession with paper towels. 

Overall it's been going well, but there is still room for improvement.

Hope for Sustainability in LA

Everyone's been talking about California's water shortage, and I came across a great story about an entreprenuer who has been working to heal the environment and help the people of LA since 1973. Andy Lipkis is the founder of TreePeople, which he created at age 18. He has been very successful at implementing forest-inspired technologies to make cities more sustainable while also mitigating floods and pollution. Most recently, Los Angeles's Mayor Garcetti proposed a sustainability plan (pLAn) on April 8th, which TreePeople proudly supports and has offered to work with city agencies, local businesses and community organization to help achieve this plan.

Find the full sustainability pLAn here

The Divestment Campaign

Here at Western Washington University and at many other universities around the country there has been a campaign to divest in fossil fuels. WWU's website states that "Western is a university of the environment, and sustainability is at the heart of what we do here." However, even with an active, on-going campaign on campus for divestment we have yet to join the movement. This article provides excellent reasons on why divesting from fossil fuels is the financially optimal and socially responsible choice. Investing in renewable energy lowers risk, increases returns and provides more jobs than the fossil fuel industry. Marketing-wise, I think this movement is doing great for targeting academic institutions like WWU. Divesting in fossil fuels is an innovative, foward-thinking decision that corresponds with our universities missions, leads other institutions and organizations to do the same, and drives the renewable energy market!

http://www.greenbiz.com/article/responsible-fossil-fuel-divestment

Toxic Cosmetics

This is not my first time using EWG's SkinDeep Database. For another class I have had to evaluate my cosmetics and I was quite shocked with the results. Since then, I have been using coconut oil instead of body lotion, switched to using a men’s deodorant that is not an antiperspirant in order to avoid aluminum, and use olive oil as a make-up remover which works great. This time I decided to evaluate my Tone Moisturizing Body Wash with Cocoa Butter and Mango Splash. 

The ingredients include:

• Fragrance
• DMDM Hydantoin (Formaldehyde releaser)
• PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate
• Cocomidopropyl Betaine
• Laureth-4
• Tocopheryl Acetate
• PEG-8
• Sodium Laureth Sulfate
• FD&C Red 4
• Propylene Glycol
• Tetrasodium EDTA
• Glycerin
• Citric Acid
• D& C Yellow 5 Aluminum LAke
• Gylcol Distearate
• Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Flower Extract
• PPG-2 Hydroxyethl Coco/Isostearamide
• Carica Papaya Fruit Extract
• Theobroma Cacao Extract
• Mangifera Indica (Mango) Fruit Extract
• Macrocystic Pyrifera (Kelp) Extract
• Cocamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate
• Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine
• Theobroma cacao seed butter
• Polyquaternium-10
• Water
• Sodium Chloride

First thought: Wow that's a lot of an ingredients, and many of them I have no idea what they are...

The data level was limited meaning there wasn't many scientific studies available on its ingredients, but even with the data available this body wash was scored 6/10 - a moderate hazard. The second ingredient listed was DMDM Hydantoin (formaldehyde releaser). This was scored as a high hazard and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) states that formaldehyde is a known carcinogen.Why is there a known cancer causing agent in a body wash that I use daily?? No matter how small the amount that can't be healthy. 

After doing some more research I found that formaldehyde releasers are found in about 1 in 5 cosmetic products, and its use is not regulated by the FDA (Congleton, 2015).These are chemicals that will decompose over time to form molecules of formaldehyde when added to water (Congleton, 2015). Formaldehyde acts as a preservative and is much more toxic when inhaled. Sodium benzoate is a safer alternative preservative so this is one thing I will pay attention to next time I am purchasing new products.

To avoid formaldehyde in cosmetics, you have to avoid these 7 main formaldehyde releasing ingredients:
-DMDM hydantoin
-Imidazolidinyl urea
-Diazolidinyl urea
-Quaternium-15
-Bronopol (2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol )
-5-Bromo-5-nitro-1,3-dioxane
-Hydroxymethylglycinate

Looks like I'm going to have to find another yet another substitute.

Congleton, Johanna (2015). "Is cancer-causing formaldehyde in your cosmetics?" Environmental Working Group. Online. http://www.ewg.org/research/exposing-cosmetics-cover/formaldehyde-releasers

EWG's SkinDeep Cosmetics Database (2015). "Tone Moisturizing Body Wash with Cocoa Butter, Mango Splash." Environmental Working Group. Online. http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/product/468061/Tone_Moisturizing_Body_Wash_with_Cocoa_Butter%2C_Mango_Splash/

National Cancer Institute (2015). "Formaldehyde and Cancer Risk." National Institute of Health. Online. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/causes-prevention/risk/substances/formaldehyde/formaldehyde-fact-sheet

Eliminating Food Waste

http://www.wehatetowaste.com/food-shift-food-recovery/

This is a great story about an amazing movement to eliminate food waste, create green jobs by doing so, as well as feeding the homeless and hungry. The movement is called FoodShift, and I felt especially compelled by this story because working at the dining hall at Western, I see a massive amount of food wasted. While it is composted, a large amount of it is still edible and untouched and there is large population in Bellingham of hungry and homeless within just a mile of our school.

As we learn about all the externalized costs of mass food production, such as pollution, waste, and health concerns, it is truly a shame to know that 40% of all food in our country is thrown away while 50 million Americans are food insecure. FoodShift eliminates this waste and closes the loop in food product's life cycle while creating social benefits and opportunities for disadvantaged or low-income individuals. It is great to see a sustainable movement such as this that gets rid of an aspect of the American lifestyle that is unsustainable, illogical, and unnecessary.

Bringing Ecosystems to the City

http://www.greenbiz.com/article/what-if-companies-and-buildings-enhanced-ecosystems

This article proposes a great idea to introduce ecosystems into cities by requiring new buildings to incorporate ecosystem enhancing services, such as sequestering carbon and enhancing pollination. I think this is a great idea because it is clear that cities and development are a prominent part of our country's physical environment and are destructive to ecosystem services. Because cities are here to stay, we need to integrate ecosystems into our cities infrastructure. I thought the Pollinator Pathways idea was especially a great idea because it adds species diversity and reconnects fragmented ecosystems and reintroduces an extremely important ecosystem service. While it is obvious that cities are not designed to be self-sustainable, creating and connecting ecosystems within cities can improve the impact cities have on the environment and lead to environmentally concious city planning. 

My Ecological Footprint

If everyone on the planet lived my lifestyle, we would need:

= 3.40 Earths

Wow! This makes me extremely disappointed in myself as I am studying sustainability! Clearly I need to make some changes. My consumption requires 131.87 global acres, which is over three times the 43 global acres that is considered sustainable. The large size of my Ecological Footprint (EF) primarily derives from my food consumption and water/energy usage. Because I live in an apartment of an old house I cannot do much to improve insulation or efficiency of my appliances, but I can still make improvements in my routines. I found it shocking that my food consumption was almost the same as the national average because I really only eat meat when I eat out or I’m at my parent’s house, but I guess these occasions do add up. To decrease my EF, I am going to take steps in these three areas: 

1) Water/ Energy Usage: I am going to limit myself to 5 minute showers, and only wash my hair once a week (for which I’ll allow myself 10 minutes). I also am going to commit to unplugging appliances if they are not in use and when I leave the house.

2) Food consumption: I already almost always buy organic fruits and vegetables, but I am going to expand my expectations to choosing local options. This has always been a matter of price for me, because as a college student I have little to no disposable income. However, I think I can make this cut in one area of my diet. I am going to be starting a garden soon, so that is about as local as you can get for herbs and veggies. I also will commit to vegetarian options when eating out.  

3) Waste: This is something I have wanted to do for a while but have never thoroughly followed through with. To decrease my waste I will:
a. Compost. I have not done this yet because of the initial cost of a composting bin and being unsure of how to dispose of the composted materials after my bin is full. I will have to do more research on this, but I do a lot of cooking at home and a lot of what I throw away could be composted
b. Using reusable bags for fruits and veggies vs the plastic bags in-store. I always reuse these bags to dispose of cat litter, but I use a walnut-based litter and I am wondering if that might be compostable, or else I will find another way to dispose of it. Going along with this I want to reduce my use/consumption/purchases that include non-recyclable and plastic packaging.