Open Blog #3

As my semester is finishing up and I was writing my GAA #7 I was just thinking about how well all of my classes went together this semester in terms of sustainability as the common thread. I took Biology 102, ENVR501W: Sustainable Projects, ENVR202: Intro to Environmental Science, ECIV350: Intro to Environmental Engineering, and obviously POLI477. In ENVR501, we broke up into groups of 3 or 4 and worked on different projects as consultants. The project that I was working on was to create a publicity presentation for Crescent Hills, a healthy sustainable community in the making. The entire concept of the community is to create a small, close-knit community where people are able to walk where they need to go and where they learn to be take charge of their medical choices and be proactive as opposed to reactive. The community will have sustainably built houses as well as low impact development and other environmentally sustainable aspects. Therefore, I learned not only about environmental sustainability and how it relates to new construction and community development plans, but also about sustainability when it comes to health.
We obviously talked about sustainability and environmental issues in my ENVR202 class. I really didn't know much about environmental engineering before taking the class. But it is mostly about improving water, soil, and air quality. So everything from polluted groundwater from agricultural run off to increased carbon dioxide levels from kerosene heaters in a one bedroom apartment are issues that environmental engineers deal with. And environmental engineers work not only with environmental agencies such as the EPA, but they also work with companies who hire them to come in and do assessments. But generally, environmental engineers are helping to make the world we live in more sustainable by addressing the issues caused by modernization and industry.
I've learned about so many aspects of sustainability this semester from green political thought to healthy communities to the harder science of sustainability such as improving water quality through filtration systems and coagulative additives. Overall, these courses have helped to give me a more comprehensive look at how sustainability fits into so many aspects of life and how there are many options out there career-wise where sustainability is still a focus.

Open Blog #2

I attended the service event at the Riverbanks Zoo last weekend and it was really great! When my alarm woke me up in the morning I was initially pretty bitter about being awake and considered not going to the event. But I realized I was being a brat so I dragged myself out of bed, grabbed some breakfast, and headed to the Zoo and I'm so glad I ended up going! It was so much fun. We started off with a presentation about the different types of plants that they have in the Botanical Garden and the reasoning behind their selection. I realized that there are so many plants that I know absolutely nothing about and there is a lot of thought that goes into deciding what gets planted in the Garden. The head gardener (I think his name was Andy?) was telling us how as younger gardeners become a part of the program, they already come in with ideas of how to make the Garden more sustainable.  So even though the Garden isn't totally organic and isn't designed as a permaculture Garden, there are many things that they do in order to be sustainable, and all of those small things that they do add up to make a big impact. Some of the examples of sustainable practices is that they draw their water for watering the plants straight from the river which is a very close local source. They also use compost created from animal dung from the zoo! And they are working to improve their sustainable measures as well. I learned a lot more about the Garden than I expected and I would love to go back and see what they have changed within the next couple years! Also it was fun to actually get dirty and get to plant :) Plus we got to help them pull up their winter vegetables and go to go home with some fresh veggies! I grabbed some kale and swiss chard.