Author: Amos Han (Page 1 of 3)

me: Hi, hope all is well. I am taking sustainability courses this semester and lately one of the topics has been about agriculture. I recall you were serious about buying organic foods. Could you tell me your experience so I can have a lot to talk about? I watched the documentary called Food, Inc. and it is prompting me to get more organic stuff because the way nonorganic food esp. meat were produced looked a bit disturbing

my cousin: What about my experience would be helpful for you to hear about? I started getting into organic when I became pregnant w/ Ascher and learned about how harmful non-organic foods are. As a parent, it’s critical for me to provide only the best for my child(ren) and since you’re what you eat, I’m adamant about my kids only eating organic. Let me know what specifically you’re looking for from my experience so I can expand on that.

me: That’s a great thinking. I think this would give me enough to talk about during class. In Food, inc. Documentary it does once show one mother feeling guilty of feeding her kids fast food

my cousin:

OK, glad that was helpful. I’ve been purposely staying away from watching films like Food, Inc. b/c I already “know too much” and watching something like that would just sicken me even further. Frankly, my kids have never been to a fast food restaurant, and I’ve zero plans to ever take them. I’m not trying to be an elitist and judge no one who does differently from myself. But I just don’t see why I need to compromise on my beliefs when it’s relating to my kids (and their health!) so someone else can feel more comfortable.

In any case, going “organic” is beneficial in so many ways. Not only is it pesticide-free (something like Roundup should be banned, it’s so hazardous), but with the “organic” label, there are other things that come automatically that just makes it convenient. Things like it being non-GMO, no artificial coloring, etc. that have “potential” health (and behavioral) implications.

I understand the “organic” labelling is expensive to attain so if I know the “source”, I’m OK that it’s not “organic”. For example, there are farmers or ranchers who are strong believers of healthy food and grow their products in healthy, sustainable way. It may be that the cows or chickens are grass-fed/free-range, with no hormone or antibiotic injections and I’m good with my kids eating such meat. Organic labelling isn’t everyhing. If you look at cornucopia.org, you’ll see that not organic brands are the same (e.g. don’t ever bother w/ Horizon brands, you might as well eat conventional brands).

There are SO much information (and mis-information) out there, so depends on what you’d like to talk about specifically in your class, focus your research. It’s a VERY big topic that’d take you in million different directions. I’ve been at this for 5+ years and there are still new information that I come across all the time.

http://www.brightsourceenergy.com/ivanpah-solar-project

Last year, the world’s largest solar farm has opened in Ivanpah in California’s Mojave Desert. This is a big step as solar photovoltaics is a renewable source of energy and reduces carbon emissions. In addition, this is a portion of California that gets relatively large amount of sunshine.

Here is the story. Recently, I saw that the recycling bins for bottles and cans in my dorm building were not contaminated at all. My dorm custodian then takes out the recycling bag and places it in the blue outdoor recycling bin. I then see a GARBAGE truck, yep a truck that reads “Lafayette College Municipal Waste” pick up not only trash, but also the contents of that blue outdoor recycling bin. I am concerned that all the recyclables on campus are actually ending up in the landfills.

I am fortunate to be part of the recycling research group in the EGRS 480 (Sustainable Solutions) course. I told Scarlett Jimenez ’15, the project manager of my group, exactly what I saw outside my dorm building.

I am personally collecting used aluminum cans. Although I am doing this for the fundraising I am doing for the overnight walk I will participate in June for suicide prevention in memory of the UPenn student I know who jumped off the parking garage (since I can get paid $0.45/pound when I take them to Easton Iron and Metal; all the proceeds I get will go towards that fundraiser), this also ensures that aluminum is being recycled.

In the meantime, if you have used aluminum cans, DON’T place them in the “recycle” bin. Give them to me instead.

http://www.jibjab.com/view/X96EXd5ATXGlAaXB4KKrhQ

This is a disturbing JibJab animation I found; the animation starts with a pine tree and animals enjoying themselves in a winter scene when all of a sudden, a man shows up with an axe and chops down that pine tree. It causes the tree to fear for his life while the animals become emotional, crying and screaming as they witness their favorite tree being chopped down. The man then brings that tree to his house as a Christmas tree. This JibJab video can be an example of humans’ selfish behavior towards plants and animals.

In case you don’t know what JibJab is, it is a website where you can place photographs of people’s faces into some animated JibJab videos. The man in this JibJab video who chops down the tree, is actually the hit-and-run driver responsible for the injury of Aubrey Baumbach.

At this moment, only ~11 states are bottle deposit states. In another words, you would be charged 5 cents extra per plastic and glass bottles and aluminum cans (10 cents for Michigan). And once you take them to the recycling machines to return these bottles/cans, you’d get a refund of that five cents (ten for Michigan). I personally think that all 50 states should be bottle deposit states and 5 cents is not enough. Maybe ten or even twenty might be reasonable. When people are being charged more, they will be more motivated to have a more sustainable mind, even if they choose to buy bottles.

To be more specific, a higher unit price may reduce the number of people who purchase the products. In addition, people who choose to purchase the products would at least save up the used bottles so that they can bring them to the recycling machines, which would not only pay them back but also that it motivates them to recycle significantly more. To make things even better, this would reduce the amount of littering from cars, bodies of waters and in public and private properties. Less littering would mean more beautiful landscape and protecting children and animals from the ultimate consequences like glass lacerations and the Great Pacific Trash Island (whereas birds and fish mistake plastic for food).

To those of you who skipped class, we talked about pros and cons of natural gas, as well as how there can be improvements.

Benefits

• Natrural gas has 1/2 GHG of burning coal
• Reliable / huge reserves
• Job creation (29K in Pennsylvania)
• Tax revenues / wealth creation

Negative consequences

• Water quality and water use
• Social division
• Land disturbance
• Increased EQ’s?
• Workplace hazards
• Questionable long term effects / health impacts
• Air pollution (FPI, VOC)
• Nonrenewable
• Strain to existing infrastructure

Area of improvement

• Wastewater treatment
• Research on geologic/ecosystem impacts
• Dry fracking, LPG fracking
• Environmentally benign fracking
• Fluids
• Improved monitoring

We also watched some YouTube videos involving fracking, including…

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm7e553S7fg
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFUxq9UolN4

As some of you know, I am taking EGRS 352 (Energy Tech and the Modern World) with Prof. Nicodemus. These are the “cur-non” opportunities that she gave us, and although the cur non points (graded out of five points, but can earn up to ten; one point for each one-page single spaced summary we write for each opportunity) are just for EGRS 352 students, I want to get this to the attention of VAST 203 people as it may be an interest. This is the copy-paste of the cur-non opportunities on Moodle:

Wednesday, March 26 a 4:10pm in Hugel 103, hear Roger Burrows, Professor of Sociology and Pro-Warden for Interdisciplinary Development at Goldsmiths, University of London present Super Rich Neighbourhoods In London, a lecture that will extend recent work on the ‘spatialization of class’ to an analysis of the territories of the ‘super rich.’

Thursday, March 27, 6:30 to 7:30 pm at the Nurture Nature Center (downtown), go to Environment and Health Lecture Series: The Pollen around Us. Many of us suffering from spring allergies check for pollen counts in our local weather forecasts. But what is pollen? Why can it be so irritating? Dr. Edlund will introduce us to the beauty of pollen and their interactions with our respiratory and immune systems.

Monday, March 31, 7:30pm to 9:00pm in Kirby 104: Dr. Finbarr Curtis will present his lecture, “It is a Literal Fact: The Scopes Trial as Secular Myth” on the 1925 Scopes Trial, which drew national attention to a Tennessee law that prohibited teaching evolution in public schools, and how institutional frameworks produce science and structure public debate.

Tuesday, April 1st from 7:30-9pm in Oechsle 224: Screening of the film Chasing Ice (part of Earth Month), the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers. Popcorn and refreshments.

One way to get some cur non points is to watch the following documentaries and turn in a 1 page, single spaced, response to that documentary. You may earn up to 3 cur non points this way (I may revise that number upwards, but for now, 3).  Here’s the list of acceptable documentaries: Cape Spin, Hot Planet, Switch, Power Surge, No Impact Man, An Inconvenient Truth, The 11th Hour, Gasland (the original one or the new one). If there’s something you think should be on this list, but isn’t talk to me. I will leave it to you capable people to get access to the films. Some are at the library, some are online. I can arrange a viewing of Switch or Power Surge if there is interest. The last day to turn in cur non’s for watching a documentary from this list is Thursday, April 3. 

Monday, April 7, 7pm in Oechsle 224: Screening of the documentary RENEWAL: Stories from the Interfaith Environmental Movement, a documentary that captures the vitality and diversity of today’s religious-environmental activists. From within their Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and Muslim traditions, Americans are becoming caretakers of the Earth.

Tuesday, April 8: 12:15-1 in Hugel 100: Brown Bag discussion on Lafayette Recycling. Pizza provided.

Sunday, April 13, 12-2pm at LaFarm, an Earth Month Celebration at LaFarm featuring wood oven pizza, salads, etc made, in part, with LaFarm produce. Tickets required (~$5, I think). If you go to this you need to make an effort to learn about the efforts and progress at LaFarm and write your 1 page (single spaced) response about what you learned about LaFarm.

Tuesday April 15, 7:30pm in Oechsle 224: Gary Nabhan will give the featured Earth Month lecture, “Sustaining Food Security Amidst Climate Uncertainty and Pollinator Decline”. Go to this!

Wednesday, March 23, 12pm in Hugel 100: John Drummond will give a talk on “The Monarch Butterfly Crisis.”Pizza provided.

This is a message for us to spread. If you want to litter, THINK TWICE. Prof. Nicodemus showed me this video yesterday:

Especially with plastics, when you litter, you are selfish but your actions will eventually come back to you. If you ever notice the sign on each storm drains that reads something like “don’t litter, drains to waterway”, this is an educational sign that tells us that whatever we throw on the ground, regardless of location, would eventually end up in the oceans. Every ocean has currents and garbage has piled up on Pacific Ocean, creating this “trash island”. Unfortunately, some animals (such as birds) mistake pieces of plastics as food, as evidenced by their stomach contents.

An animated video I found on YouTube:

According to this article http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/25/air-pollution-deaths_n_5027320.html?ref=topbar

Air pollution kills about 7 million people a year, according to World Health Organization. In another words, this is one in eight people. We all have to breathe, and unavoidable polluted air forces us to breathe in something poisonous, causing health risk.

On a personal experience, I am a bicyclist and it is a major pet peeve of mine when I smell and breathe in vehicle emissions.

I knew that I had to research this because I am getting extremely annoyed that almost all my friends in my home town are smokers and I am an innocent healthy person who has to breathe in unpleasant air every time I am with friends at my home town, which often makes me feel uncomfortable.

Cigarettes have huge environmental consequences. Smoking contributes to air pollution and threatens forests, homes and parks. Cigarette butts that were thrown out has been linked to large wildfires, which results in larger problems such as the destruction of wildlife, vegetation and property. Each year, cigarettes make up 1.69 billion pounds of waste.

Each year, the state of California spends $41 million on waste cleanup and out of all the waste, 34% of them are cigarette butts. They are the top item found on beaches and roadside, as well as parks. Not only that they are not biodegradable, lead, arsenic and nicotine are toxic chemicals that damages the environment.

Source: http://www.tobaccofreeca.com/smoking-problem/impact/environment/

Here is a link to a cartoon video teaching us a lesson about our everyday behaviors causing environmental consequences towards the earth.

Believe it or not, dogs produce more carbon footprint than SUVs. Specifically, a medium-sized dog produces more carbon footprint than a Toyota Land Cruiser. The amount of carbon footprint for a dog is determined by how much it eats. Due to eating a lot of meat, dogs (and cats) have such high carbon footprints. A cat can have a carbon footprint equivalent to a small Volkswagen.

Source: http://www.ecoworld.com/animals/dogs-pollute-more-than-suvs.html

I was in UPenn on 2/9/2014 to attend a memorial service for someone I knew who was a UPenn student who committed suicide on 1/17/2014. While grabbing dinner at the Marketplace prior to the memorial service, I observed this recycle and garbage bins. Right above both bins display actual items that belongs in which bin. Specifically, recyclables are displayed above recycle bins and non-recyclable garbage is displayed above garbage bins.

If you have ever walked into a pharmacy like CVS and Rite Aid, you will know what I am talking about. Once I make my purchase, regardless of how much I pay at a time, and how I pay, I will get a really long receipt. It not only is an actual receipt, it also includes coupons and requests to take surveys to enter for a chance to win large sums of cash.

Here is my opinion on this. This is annoying and it is such a waste of paper. I personally throw away receipts anyways and I think these pharmacy chains can do better with saving paper. I know some stores (like Apple retail store and Macy’s) email receipts these days and it is very common for people to get coupons online or via email.

I am not a class skipper but only six students showed up to class today (3/14/2014). I wanted to share the blackboard for those class skippers who are still curious about what was there.

While having conversations with international students who live in south central Asia (India, Pakistan…), one disturbing thing they mentioned is that recycling does not exist in these countries. There are a lot of other issues to focus on. However, I personally think that countries that do have recycling (USA, South Korea…) should bring recycling to those countries; therefore more products would look more sustainable.

This was an interesting history of American car culture, from the late 19th century to today. Although people loved their cars so much due to freedom, one thing that they never thought about: sustainable transportation. Although I personally wished I lived in the earlier days (because of better music, more privacy, etc.), on the other hand, I am happy to live in the 21st century since I can learn about sustainability. Even though I do feel the freedom to travel anywhere with my car, one thing we need to consider is that transportation costs money, regardless of mode. With rising gas prices, I heard words going around that public transportation ridership (including Amtrak) has been going up. Another thing contributing to the increase of public transportation ridership is that driving can cause a lot of traffic.

This is the statistics for the electricity generation for 2012. The majority of the sources were coal (37%) and Natural Gas (30%). Followed by Nuclear (19%). Petroleum only accounted for 1%. The remaining 12% comes from renewable energy.

Out of all renewable energy, 56% came from Hydropower, 28% came from wind power, 8% from biomass wood, 4% from biomass waste, 3% from geothermal and 1% were solar power.

Source: http://prezi.com/ic6p7nbzxddp/352-11-12/ (Prof. Nicodemus’ class Prezi for EGRS 352)