With the recent rain falls and the rays of sun, the garden is looking very green and luscious! If you haven’t had chance to stop by (which you should definitely do during our open volunteer hours Tuesday 12-2 PM and Thursday 4:30-6:30 PM) and roam through the rows and rows of sprouting veggies, here are some updates! Our lettuce, radishes, kale, and chard are pluggin’ away and giving us lots to share! Snap peas practically popped out overnight this week with some impressive 5-inchers! And we had our first two squash after the wonderful rain!

With such a great abundance, we have been harvesting for some very successful farm stands as well as for Chartwells, the dining service at Colgate, and the Food Cupboard located in Hamilton. Through all these sales and donations, we have been meeting many wonderful people and we are so thankful for all their help and the connections we’ve made. We would like to thank all of our farm stand regulars, our generous community plot members for words of encouragement (and delicious donuts!), and Chartwells dining services for supporting local food.

We would also like to give a big shout out to all our weekly volunteers, and namely our volunteer group from the library. Last week, a group of library staff members came down to be out in the sun for a few hours and give us a helping hand. They mulched, weeded, and planted parsley and brussel sprouts! To cool off and relax after their hard work, they sat in the shade and were able to paint some of the most beautiful and unique rocks our garden has ever seen. The garden looked so healthy and lively after they left and we are so grateful for all the time and energy they put in.

Our next work party will be Wednesday July 6th from 5-7pm. Come to garden, enjoy good vibes, and eat delicious (and garden-sourced) food! And we are happy to announce that our Farm Stand is officially every Tuesday from 4:30-6:30 in front of Trudy Fitness Center right across from the Sanford Fieldhouse. On rainy days, we’ll be located inside Trudy at the sign-in desk! Hope to see you there! And remember to stay fresh and eat local!

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By Sara Reese ’16 (Environmental biology major from Richmond, VA)

The annual, and much anticipated, Spring Party Weekend (SPW) is a mere week away. While the weekend is known for its live music, dancing and free food, there are a number of sustainability concerns that stem from the event-filled weekend. One of the main concerns: the great amount of waste.
The waste produced from SPW takes many forms – leftover food, plastic water bottles and beer cans. At a university with such an aggressive climate neutrality commitment, you would expect SPW to be organized to include a sustainable way to address the amount of waste produced at events. There seem to be obvious ways to address these problems with enough forethought and planning.
Leftover food from each event can be arranged to be picked up or dropped off at the Hamilton Food Cupboard. The Hamilton Food Cupboard serves upwards of 200 families in the Hamilton and Madison school districts each month, with leftover food from events playing a role in feeding so many families. Because each SPW event with food is known in advance of the weekend, as well as how much food and the anticipated number of attendees, arrangements for food pickup after each event can easily be made with the Hamilton Food Cupboard. Rather than simply throwing leftover food away and having it go to the landfill, food can be donated to give back to the larger community. The same can also apply to extra plastic water bottles.

Plastic water bottles are everywhere during SPW, including on the floors at events, on lawns and in trash cans rather than in recycling bins. Realistically, we cannot expect every student to find a recycling bin and put their empty water bottle in it, but there are a number of actions that can be taken to make recycling at SPW more prominent. First, recycling bins are often hard to come by. I can remember looking around the field house at one year’s main concert event and seeing trashcans and no recycling bins. With no recycling bins, students don’t even have the option to make sure their plastic water bottles don’t end up in the landfill. Buildings and Grounds and SPW volunteers could play a large role in the recycling of plastic water bottles at SPW events by ensuring that recycling bins are present and that plastic water bottles get picked up off of the ground and placed into recycling bins, rather than the trash can.

The topic of beer cans, and kegs as a sustainable alternative, has been a longstanding discussion at Colgate, and SPW is always a time that highlights how much beer can waste is produced. While aluminum beer cans are recyclable, getting the cans into recycling bins after large events presents a huge obstacle, just as with plastic water bottles. According to New Belgium Brewing Company’s sustainability page, kegs are reused an average of 29 times and can be completely recycled at the end of their life, as they are made of stainless steel. The life of a keg can be as long as 20 years. However, it is important to note that kegs would still require a cup to drink out of, likely Solo® cups. This means that students would still be accountable for getting recyclable solo cups into recycling bins, rather than trash cans. For me, there doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut answer as to whether beer cans or kegs would be more sustainable on a college campus. Because kegs are recyclable and the cases that beer cans come in are not, kegs may have a leg up, despite the prevalent use of Solo® cups to drink out of them.

In light of Colgate’s climate neutrality goal of 2019, SPW should be viewed as an opportunity to introduce sustainability into Colgate parties and major events. Planning in advance can help reduce the amount of food and plastic water bottle waste from SPW, and continuing the discussion of whether kegs should be banned is important to understanding how drinking and the SPW tradition at Colgate can be aligned with Colgate’s sustainability commitments.

(This article was originally published in the Maroon News)

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By MaryKathryn McCann ’18 (Molecular Biology and Environmental Economics Double Major from Chester, NJ)

The holiday season is known for quality time spent with family and friends, but the holiday season also is a time for excess. This excess applies to food, travel, as well as waste. Even someone conscious of their ecological footprint can have a difficult time sticking to sustainable practices during this time of year. To start your sustainable holiday season, here are a few tips to get started.

1. When shipping gifts to school or home remember to check the method of shipping. The most ecofriendly way to ship a package is ground shipping only. Overnight or two-day shipping normally requires an airplane, which increases the amount of greenhouse gases emitted with the plane’s high gasoline usage. So to fight the last-minute overnight air shipping, plan and order gifts ahead of time.

2. If you hang up lights during the holiday season, try to use and purchase only LED string lights. Not only do the colors and light look brighter, LED lights use 50 percent less energy and lasts 13 times longer than other string lights.

3. Many students at Colgate aren’t able to drive back home for breaks and many students will be flying home this holiday season. If flying is a must for holiday travel, find the itinerary that includes a nonstop flight or the smallest number of segments possible. The more stops in your flight plans the more gas is consumed. A plane uses most of its gasoline in the take off and landing portions of the trip than while actually in the air. So, if you cannot get a direct flight home from Syracuse, try taking a bus or carpool to New York City or Boston and catching a flight out of JFK or Logan International.

4. The holiday season is very connected with food, and a lot of it. Holiday parties and meals are full of food that won’t be finished or eaten at all. Instead of throwing out all the food, see if your local soup kitchen or food pantry will take any of the unused food. If they will not take your food, make leftovers such as soup, pot pies, or just have the meal again over the next few days.

Remember these tips while making plans and celebrating over the holidays to make it more sustainable. Even in this time of excess, we can still take steps and make preparations for a more sustainable holiday and future. For more tips, see aashe.org.

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2015 Solarize CNY Update (November 16, 2015)

As of today, 28 solar installations have been completed for a total of 285 kW!

• Cayuga: 4 installations, 32.1 kW
• Cortland: 1 installation, 13.4 kW
• Madison: 1 installation, 10 kW
• Onondaga: 10 installations, 96.3 kW
• Oswego: 12 installations, 133.4 kW

125 contracts signed for a total of 1,084 kW

• Cayuga: 21 contracts, 160.7 kW
• Cortland: 25 contracts, 255.6 kW
• Madison: 25 contracts, 276.3 kW
• Onondaga: 48 contracts, 355 kW
• Oswego: 6 contracts, 37 kW

That’s 1,369 kW of new solar coming online in Central New York as a result of the Solarize CNY effort! That’s more than 10% of all the solar that has historically been installed in our region!

Per county totals for installations and signed contracts shows:

• Cayuga: 193 kW
• Cortland: 269 kW
• Madison: 286 kW
• Onondaga: 451 kW
• Oswego: 170 kW

2015 Solarize CNY Update (October 20, 2015)

With less than two weeks left in our Solarize CNY campaign, organizers are starting to get a rush of online enrollments and phone calls.  Here is a quick update on the Solarize CNY campaign:

1. We have about 975 enrollments so far, so we almost to our goal of 1,000+ total enrollments!
2. 21 residents have already had their systems installed!
3. 79 residents have signed contracts and are waiting for their installations.
4. Another 63 residents are currently negotiating or reviewing their proposal.

It’s not too late to enroll in the program and schedule your FREE site assessment.  Here is the link: http://solarizecny.org/

2015 Solarize CNY Original Post (September 8, 2015)

Due to continued interest and ongoing questions regarding the Solarize CNY program, the Office of Sustainability will be hosting an information session specifically for Colgate employees.  The session will take place on September 16 (Wednesday) in the ALANA Cultural Center (Multipurpose Room).  We will be joined by members of Madison County Planning and our local solar installer, CNY Solar, out of Canastota.  Lunch will be provided.

If you have been interested in solar energy but are not sure if it is right for you or where to begin, then now is the time to attend this information session and enroll in the Solarize CNY program.

As a reminder, Solarize CNY is a volume purchasing program that streamlines the process and reduces the cost of installing solar energy for electricity. Through existing federal and state incentives coupled with the bulk purchasing power of the program, residents and small businesses can save up to 64% off the sticker price of a solar PV system. With the Solarize CNY program all permits and paperwork associated with installing the system are taken care of for the participant.

To find out more information and to enroll in the program today, please visit www.solarizecny.org.  To participate, you must enroll in the program by October 31, 2015.

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By: Mackenzie Hargrave ’16 (Environmental Economics Major from Madison, NJ), Sustainable Dining Intern

The Colgate Dining Sustainability team recently visited Nelson Farms to learn about production of local food.  Amanda Hewitt, the head of Product Development guided us around the product development, ingredient storage and processing rooms of the facility. Each room was stocked with expensive equipment that small-scale farmers may find difficulty investing in. She explained how each machine helps clients transform their produce into marketable products, which can then be sold in the attached storefront and other venues across New York State.

Perusing the aisles of the Nelson Farms Country Store you can find any dressing, marinade, jam, nut butter, or coffee that would usually stock your cupboards. However, instead of being brand name products, produced and packaged on a massive scale, these products are all made by small-scale, local farmers, passionate about their product and the communities to which they distribute. As customers who rely heavily on brand name products, we can easily forget that farms surrounding Colgate are producing high quality, fresh produce that may be packaged up into our favorite condiments and available right around the corner.

The entire operation is housed in what looks like a classic country home set right on Rt. 20 between Morrisville and Cazenovia, just a short drive from Colgate. Despite the understated exterior of the building, Nelson Farms, which is not a farm at all, has created a unique and straightforward way for local farmers to bring their products directly to market.

Amanda Hewitt and Kristi Cranwell, Nelson Farms’ Director, have the knowledge and expertise to guide product development through recipe creation, cost-based analysis, regulatory compliance and production. Standing in the ingredient storage room, with our eyes glazing over, Amanda explained the complex chemistry behind ensuring products remain fresh throughout their shelf life. In addition to ensuring the ingredients maintain the appropriate pH, they must be carefully coded and tracked, according to FDA regulation.

The resources and information that Amanda, Kristi and the rest of the team at Nelson Farms can provide to farmers opens up opportunities for them to increase their business and take a stake in the local economy. Given the number of mouths Colgate Dining Services feeds daily, we have the potential to provide a massive demand for local products, like those sold at Nelson Farms.

on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NelsonFarmsCountryStore

website:   www.nelsonfarms.org

Nelson Farms is located at 3261 Us Route 20, Cazenovia, NY 13035

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The Office of Sustainability is thrilled that Kitty Calhoun will be visiting Colgate on November 4. As a premier American Alpinist, Kitty will discuss her adventures in a presentation entitled, “Last Ascents.”  Her passion for alpine exploration and the corresponding ecosystem is under direct threat from climate change.

Dream Big ~ Find Your Passion

Be Inspired ~ Make a Difference!

See you on Wednesday, Nov 4, at 7 p.m. in the Meyerhoff Auditorium (101 Ho).

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By Lindsey Sagasta ’16 (Environmental Biology Major from Buffalo, NY)

Last November I published a piece about microplastics in marine environments as a result of consumer hygiene products like toothpastes, body scrubs, and face washes. Essentially, these miniscule plastic microbeads cannot be filtered out of the water during sewage treatment. Enough plastic microbeads enter our water each day to cover eight football fields, over eight trillion single beads, currently concentrated at 1.7 million microplastic pieces for each square mile of the Great Lakes. Once in the water, the microbeads “become a magnet for toxins, such as dioxins and volatile organic chemicals found in our waters due to pesticides and industrial pollution.” The toxins are absorbed through the tissue of species that ingest the plastics, then biomagnified across the food web, and at the top trophic level, humans will be exposed to the highest concentrations of toxins.

Earlier in 2014, Illinois was the first state to ban the microbeads in personal care products due to their extensive damage to our skin and the environment, followed by Colorado, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, and New Jersey. Although these early legislations have jump-started the proposal of bans in other states, they have actually hindered the successful passing of bills in some assemblies. Further, these early bans include a “loophole” that allows corn-based plastic microbeads to be exempt because they are biodegradable. Despite “biodegradable” sounding environmentally friendly, corn-based products can only degrade at a very high temperature after a long period of time. Thus, these bans are allowing companies to green wash their products – a way corporations are trying to look green, but aren’t really being green – by including biodegradable plastic although it is just as harmful.

Fortunately, California passed a law in October that should ultimately set a nation wide stringent standard for plastic microbead production. Governor Jerry Brown approved Assemblyman Richard Bloom’s (D- Santa Monica) measure that will place a ban on exfoliating microbeads in personal care products as of January 1^st, 2020. The passage of this law in California is a large step forward for environmentalists, according to this article, “When California bans something, because it’s a leader in the consumer products world, it tends to start a swell of changes across the industry.” Being the most populated state, it is easier for corporations to just remove the beads instead of designing a separate product to be sold only where bans are in place. As well, this specific ban does not include the loophole, setting an example for states that are in the process of passing legislation.

Michigan and New York, two of the Great Lakes states, are in the process of passing their own bans. In Michigan, the passage of the ban is struggling to stray from the loophole precedent set by the earlier states. The Michigan Chemistry Council currently backs it, but some lawmakers and environmental groups are fighting for more stringency. New York has been having issues passing legislation too. In 2014, the NYS Assembly voted 133-1 to ban microbeads in products, but it never made its way to the State Senate. The next year, the Assembly overwhelmingly voted 139-0 in favor of the ban, but again it never reached the floor in the Senate. However, NYS counties have begun taking the matter into their own hands. In August 2015, Erie County unanimously passed its own ban, with many other counties following suite, including Albany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Monroe, and Niagara.

Federally, in March 2015, Representative Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) introduced a federal ban on microbeads in the U.S. House. Although it stalled out, it notably gathered 36 bipartisan cosponsors and drifted through a committee vote. More recently, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced a companion bill in the Senate called the Microbead Free Waters Act of 2015 to ban the microbead nationally.

Here’s how you can help The Microbead Free Waters Act of 2015: Send a letter in support of this act to your Senators and Congressman. The Huffington Post suggests you go to Oh Say Nation, a website that facilitates emailing lawmakers on issues that matter to you. Also, check out 5gyres.org to sign their petition and learn more!

All photos courtesy of http://www.5gyres.org/media-kit/.

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By Breanna Giovanniello ’16 (Environmental Studies Major from Cold Spring Harbor, NY)

Sustainability and fashion are two words that are rarely found in the same sentence. However, what most people don’t know about fashion is that it is the third most polluting industry in the world after oil and agriculture. Being glamorous has a surprisingly large impact on water, global climate change, and toxic pollution.

Fashion happens to be the second largest consumer and polluter of water. One pair of denim jeans, for example, uses between 1,000 and 3,000 gallons of water. This polluted water is often released directly back into our rivers, lakes, and oceans.

From growing textile fibers to moving fabrics around the world, clothing is a giant contributor to global climate change. Cotton, leather, and other raw materials grown in industrial farming operations require large land and energy footprints. Many of these operations take place overseas and require a great deal of energy to transport from China to America.

The fashion industry uses thousands of different chemicals to manufacture clothing; many of these chemicals are extremely toxic. The production of textile fibers uses 20 billion pounds of chemicals a year. 1,600 chemicals are used in dyeing processes, but only 16 are actually EPA approved. Runoff from these dye houses can contain heavy metals, alkali salts, toxic solids, and harmful pigments and often end up in our water supplies. These toxins end up harming not only human health, but also the various plants and animals that depend on our water systems.

Fashion has the tendency to be extremely unsustainable, however you have the ability to be a conscious and sustainable consumer. You can do that by:

1. Investing in clothing made out of sustainable materials such as organic cotton, tencel, or viscose.
2. Purchasing vintage or remanufactured clothing instead of brand new clothing. Remanufactured clothing can save more than 13,000 pounds of CO2 emissions a year.
3. Not tossing your old items, but instead recycling and donating your old clothes! If every American recycled one more T-shirt a year, we would recover 210 billion gallons of water and 1 million pounds of CO2.
4. Stopping water from becoming a fashion victim and washing smart! Wash your clothes only when necessary and in cold water to save water and energy.
5. Drying smart! Line drying your clothes can eliminate up to 700 pounds of greenhouse gases annually.

It’s important to be aware of your everyday impact on the environment and make decisions to lessen this impact. Do a little research the next time you need a new sweater and look for brands such as Patagonia, the Reformation, and PeopleTree that produce environmentally sustainable clothing.

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2015 Green Summit Update (October 19, 2015)

Thank you to our esteemed panelists and all who attended our Green Summit panel discussion on climate change.  We filled Golden Auditorium and hosted people in an overflow room.  We had terrific audience participation and the panelist fielded some excellent questions regarding climate change in our time and on our campus.

Below, we are posting the video recording of the discussion.  In response to one of the questions from the audience, we also wanted to follow up with a few resources we think you might find interesting:

• 350.org
• Biomimicry
• Designing for Hope by Dominique Hes and Chrisna du Plessis
• Living Building Challenge
• Media for Thinking the Unthinkable
• Project Drawdown

***SAVE THE DATE: Our next panel discussion in this series will take place on April 5, 2016 at 4:30 p.m. in Golden Auditorium.  Follow our blog for ongoing updates.

PANEL DISCUSSION: 9/17/2015 AT 4:30 PM IN GOLDEN AUDITORIUM

2015 Green Summit Original Post (September 1, 2015)

On September 17, the Office of Sustainability will be hosting the 15th annual Green Summit.  The title of this year’s event will be Climate Change in Our Time.

As you likely know, the end of 2015 is gearing up to be a momentous year for climate issues globally, nationally, and here on campus.  In June, Pope Francis released his heavily anticipated encyclical on the environment.  In August, the White House finalized the Clean Power Plan, its flagship policy to combat carbon emissions from power plants.  This coming December at the 21st meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP-21) in Paris, there are high expectations for a global agreement on emissions reductions.  And here at Colgate, we are in the midst of updating our plan to achieve climate neutrality by 2019. The purpose of this year’s Green Summit is to highlight issues of climate change (at Colgate and beyond) from various faculty perspectives.

The 2015 Green Summit will kickoff at 4:30 p.m. in Golden Auditorium (Little Hall) with a faculty panel discussion.

Panelists for this events include:

• Adam Burnett, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Geography
• April Baptiste, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
• Engda Hagos, Assistant Professor of Biology
• Mark Shiner, University Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
• Peter Klepeis, Professor of Geography

The panel will be moderated by John Pumilio, Director of Sustainability.  We will invite questions/comments from the audience.

MERCHANTS OF DOUBT: 9/17/2015 AT 9:00 PM AT THE HAMILTON MOVIE THEATER

At 9:00 p.m., the 2015 Green Summit will conclude with a private showing of Naomi Oreskes’ award-winning documentary, Merchants of Doubt.  The program will take place at the Hamilton Movie Theater.  Seating is limited and tickets will be given on a first-come, first-served basis.  Tickets are FREE and can be picked up in the Ho Science Center room 245 (Steve Dickinson’s office) or in Lathrop Hall room 109M (John Pumilio’s office).

To follow the latest news, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

To submit questions in advance of the forum, use #GateGreenSummit.

The 2015 Green Summit is sponsored by CORE Scientific Perspectives, Environmental Studies, Lampert Institute, Office of Sustainability, Upstate Institute.

**We encourage all Green Summit attendees to attend a special event hosted by the Lampert Institute for Civic and Global Affairs.  The event entitled, “Edible Memory: How Tomatoes Became Heirlooms and Apples Became Antiques,” by Dr. Jennifer Jordan, Professor of Sociology and Urban Studies, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee will take place at 7:00 p.m. in 101 Ho Science Center (Meyerhoff Auditorium).

The 2015 Green Summit is sponsored by the Lampert Institute for Civic and Global Affairs, the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute, the Upstate Institute, Environmental Studies, and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

We look forward to seeing you at our 15th annual Green Summit!

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By: Ana Roman ’16 (Environmental Geography Major from Harrison, NY), Sustainable Dining Intern

Every October 24^th, thousands of Americans come together for Food Day in an effort to solve food-related issues both locally and nationally. Food Day calls individuals to celebrate food and urges people to make positive changes in their own diets as well as push for initiatives to improve food policies on a wide variety of scales.

This year’s Food Day theme is “Toward a Greener Diet,” and Colgate will be celebrating by honoring our local food partners throughout the week leading up to the 24^th. Come join Colgate’s sustainable dining team as we invite our local partners for meet and greets where students and faculty can lunch and learn as we support local businesses that share our sustainability goals.

• Tuesday October 20: Utica Coffee Roasters from 11:30-1:00 pm at the Coop
• Wednesday October 21: Flour and Salt Bakery from 9:00-10:00 am at Hieber Café
• Thursday October 22:  Common Thread Farm from 11:30-1:00 pm at Frank Dining Hall
• Friday October 23: Utica Bread from 9:00-10:00 am at Hieber Café    

          Stop by for a chance to win prizes at select meet and greets.

On Thursday, October 22nd Colgate will join campuses throughout the state to take the New York Campus Crunch. Local apples will be distributed at Frank Dining Hall, The Coop, and Hieber Café for a “collective crunch” at 1pm. Come out to support New York apples and the orchards and farms our food is grown on. http://finys.org/our-projects/new-york-campus-crunch

Happy Food Day!

Please contact Deborah Hanson, Marketing and Sustainability Manager for Colgate Dining Services, with any questions.

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