Environmental Justice

Go Green! No. 4

The world is a home for many different inhabitants. Not only does wildlife and vegetation have their respective homes, but also many diverse populations share the world. No matter how differently subscribed people may be, the world is home to all. Even in the great American city of Chicago, all citizens of diverse cultures, ethnicities, philosophies, and opinions, have an equal right to live and thrive in their homes. There are divides in socio-economic status, in political beliefs, in traditions, and in religions but we must never forget that we all are neighbors, we are all Chicagoans, we are all Americans, and we are all humans. We must strive for egalitarianism, and for Chicago, America, and the world to honor the most natural, inalienable right to life, we must unite in our interest to protect all human’s right to life.

The world is our home, a home to many, but it is a home that shines above for some and for others it is a modest attempt to shelter a family. For many Chicagoans in neighborhoods like Pilsen and Little Village, a home consists of crumbling houses, weakened infrastructure, and contaminated water. Even the air is polluted, air that any other Chicagoan, American, or human could breathe. Neighborhoods with these conditions are not fictional, and it is because of the major coal-burning energy factories that cause this undeserving living conditions. It would seem that the solution is then very easy; Chicago must close the coal-burning factories. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. (Though it is unprecedented that the Fisk and Crawford Factories, two of Chicago’s largest coal-burning facilities, were announced to close this past February.) After years of repeated exposure these Chicago neighborhoods are finally being treated with the same opportunities that the rest of the city has come to regard as standard living conditions.

At DePaul University, the Green Team projected this situation in the Student Center for February’s theme, Environmental Justice. We presented the neighborhoods surrounding the power plants and connected the city by showing the union of Chicago’s upper class living and the energy that comes from the factories. The environmental injustice that affects the lower class neighborhoods is that Chicago and other cities in the area get their power from these factories, but the adverse effects are only felt by those in close proximately; essentially, many of the families that live in factory neighborhoods are of lower socio-economic status and do not have the financial means to live in places where clean air and water are customary living conditions. Fortunately, two of Chicago’s largest coal-burning factories, Fisk and Crawford, were announced days after the Green Team demonstration to not only be closing but to be committing their full attention on cleaning the areas afflicted by the factories.

After such a pressing issue, what’s next for the Green Team? Our attention has turned to a prominent concern on campus and so for the month of March, our theme is creative recycling methods. The Green Team will be holding seminars in each of the freshman dormitories sharing different creative ways of reusing common things found in average dorm rooms. Each event will be the first weekend after break and all are welcome to join the Green Team in celebrating springtime with resourceful devices to make dorm life easier and promote sustainability. And who could forget April, the middle of spring and the month of Earth Day? The Green Team will be working closely with the Environmental Concerns Committee (ECC) to commemorate green living in the city each day in the week prior to Earth Day (April 22).

Interested in DePaul’s Eco-Reps? Check us out on Facebook and follow our updates on Twitter! (Facebook: “Eco Reps” in search under “People” and we’re the first hit! Twitter: “depaul_ecoreps”) New events, places, and environmentally friendly tips are always available!

Written by Matthew Morley, DePaul Eco-Rep

From Sustainable Fods to Envrionmental Justice

Go Green! DePaul Eco-Reps

For those who remember the 27^th of October, the early hours of that day were not promising for the DePaul Green Team’s farmer’s market. A typical Chicago overcast darkened the sky, and cold rains fell surely ruining the day. But, by some stroke of luck, clouds parted and rains subsided only a few hours before the Green Foods Festival. Hours of planning and scheduling only two weeks before the set date came to a major success. Hundreds of DePaul students flooded the Quadrangle and thousands of samples from Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Mariano’s Market, Native Foods and Karyn’s on Green were distributed. Eagerly passing out information about the event, the Green Team was able to meet their goal.

While the prospect of free food may have brought majority of the students on campus to the Green Foods Festival, it is with high hopes from the Green Team that each student left with knowledge about the health benefits of environmentally friendly sources of nourishment. In a span of four hours, the Green Team accomplished their aspirations and then some.

What then is next for the DePaul Green Team? And after such a popular event, how can the Green Team achieve a larger number of participants? Many questions like these were asked at the meetings following the Green Foods Festival. Stemming from the seed of health foods and environmentally friendly groceries, the Green Team’s next major project will be concerned with Environmental Health and Justice.

To give an idea of what this project entails, the Green Team will be visiting neighborhoods and learning about the socioeconomic population trapped in environmentally unsafe living conditions. While these neighborhoods may seem to have only existed decades ago, areas like these exist in many cities today, including in Chicagoland.

Information about this project will be posted on the Eco-Rep’s Twitter and Facebook. Additionally, the Green Team will make it a priority to disburse information about the neighborhoods negatively impacted by poor living conditions so that any students concerned with the living arrangements can get involved.

Interested in DePaul’s Eco-Reps? Check us out on Facebook and follow our updates on Twitter! (Facebook: “Eco Reps” in search under “People” and we’re the first hit! Twitter: “depaul_ecoreps”) New events, places, and environmentally friendly tips are always available!

Sustainable International Development: Dr. ALFREDO SFEIR-YOUNIS ON RIO+20

Rio+20: Hopes and Challenges for a Sustainable Future

Join us for a conversation with Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, PhD

former environmental economist at the World Bank

THE TOPICS DEBATED IN RELATION TO THE CONFERENCE ARE

Climate change | Green economy | Water scarcity | Food security | Population | Institutional frameworks

7 December 2011 (Wednesday) 

12pm to 1:15pm 

DePaul Center 

1 East Jackson, 

North Café 

11th floor, next to cafeteria

This is a brown-bag lecture – you are welcome to bring your own lunch.

Dr. Alfredo Sfeir-Younis will discuss the upcoming international Rio+20 Conference at Rio de Janeiro, 20 to 22 June 2012. He will map out the plans, hopes and challenges facing governments, NGOs, youth, universities and the world’s people. And, he will present his “lessons learned” from 29 years at the World Bank, having traveled the world dealing with issues of poverty, food security, the green economy, sustainability, etc.

The event is coordinated  by Prof. Patricia Zzczerba, United Nations Coordinator for DePaul University's School for New Learning and Dr. Marco Tavanti, Associate Professor School of Public Service

FREE ENTRY

October: Eating Local, Organic & Urban

Eco-Representatives, Blog #1

Go Green! No. 1

Most students recognize similar trends between students, such as metropolitan styles of clothing and a greater interest in healthier foods. After all, college is analogous with freedom right? A miserable 18 years of oppression evaporates the moment a new college student steps foot on campus. Not a parent in sight, no responsibilities, and no legal obligation to go to class. We’re officially adults. And what a place live! Chicago, a city that never sleeps, a city that fast-moving innovative youth flourish and last, but certainly not least, is a large city in itself.
DePaul students come from all corners of America and even the world, and amidst the diversity in the great city of Chicago there seems to a piece of normality missing. Southern Illinois students, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan students might find themselves missing the expansive cornfields that blanket the world of the Middle-West. Though Chicago is one of the largest cities in America, it comes as no surprise that among the fields of industrial parks, glass and steel buildings and concrete streets there is no room for the traditional agrarian lifestyle that once fueled the economies of America in the past.
Nonetheless, DePaul has been able to avoid the lack of abundant agriculture and organic foods through Chartwells and the growing interest in greener foods and means of sustenance. Even Chicago has retaliated against the sterile metallic future with Whole Food’s, Trader Joe’s, and dozens of other environmental safe groceries. In conjunction with these efforts to promote the health of Chicagoans and DePaul students, the Eco-Representatives, known as the ‘Green Team,’ will host a farmer’s market in the Quadrangle on Thursday, October 27^th.
To all those fortunate enough to have attended a farmer’s market before, as well as to give a memorable experience to those who have not, the event will begin at noon and end at 4:00 PM. Many of the popular groceries that supply organic food will be represented at the farmer’s market, to promote October’s theme: Food and Urban Agriculture. While Food and Urban Agriculture Month (October) was arranged to promote a month of eating healthy, the habits and interests that are sparked during the month support lifelong healthiness.
The connection everyone has with food, the very symbiotic relationship that ties the produce of the earth, which nourishes and contributes to a long and prosperous life, is reason enough to eat healthy. It’s your life and your body, why wouldn’t you want to make the best decisions?

With each new month, a new area of environmentally-friendly practices will be represented; November’s theme, Conscious Consumption, targets overuse and reuse, in areas such as water, energy and traditional concepts of recycling like reusable plastic bottles.
Interested in DePaul’s Eco-Reps? Check us out on Facebook and follow our updates on Twitter! (Facebook: “Eco Reps” in search under “People” and we’re the first hit! Twitter: “depaul_ecoreps”) New events, places, and environmentally friendly tips are always available!

Written By Matthew Morley

The SUSTAINABILITY.DEPAUL.EDU website!

 

The DePaul website on sustainability is here! www.sustainability.depaul.edu

Indeed, sustainability at DePaul is green, but also brown, blue, red and many other colors. DePaul University as a community has many expressions of sustainability. The area that probably best exemplifies DePaul's social justice and community service tradition with the values and practices of sustainability is the ENGAGEMENT in social justice and local/international community work. This is a short selection of a few initiatives and university centers and institutes engaged in sustainable practices. Please check the SUSTAINABILITY.DEPAUL.EDU website for more information. 

• Haiti Initiatives
• University Ministry, Community Service and Civic Engagement
• Steans Center
• Center for Interreligious Engagement (CIE)
• Institute for Business and Professional Ethics
• International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI)

Greening DePaul’s Sporting Events

If you have every been to a college sporting event of any type then you have witnessed first hand the mess that is made by spectators and their consumption manufactured goods. My proposal for DePaul University is to take action and make sporting events a zero-waste activity. I have witnessed this on a large scale by the University of Colorado at Boulder with their zero-waste program otherwise referred to as Ralphie’s Green Stampede. The zero-waste program makes an effort to cut carbon emission, reduce waste and recycle at all their home football games played at Folsom Stadium. The program is comprehensive and accounts for transportation, recycling and composting, responsible vendors and eco-friendly merchandise. Vendors that supply cups and food containers for the games are compelled to insure that they are either recyclable or compostable. This program is supported all the way through the athletic department at the University of Colorado and is active message or it’s Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Mike Bohn. DePaul can learn from this example and may benefit from a having a smaller athletic program.

Sporting events draw in a lot of attention to DePaul from outsiders. Instituting a zero-waste program for sporting events compliments the universities goals of educating people about sustainability as well as demonstrating sound practices. There are various ways to institute these practices and even more ways to promote these ideals during sporting events.

Steps Forward:

-Educating athletic staff on sustainable issues.

-Assessing student body and fan awareness of environmental impact of sporting events.

-Establishment of student led green cheerleaders that promotes green practices at home games.

-Promotion involving athlete wearing green wristbands as a demonstration of support for sustainability.

-Look for sponsorship from green companies.

-Pursue alternative snacks to serve at events that have been sustainably produced.

-Develop strategic plan to make athletic department more green and sustainable.

-Off setting carbon emissions emitted by air-conditioning and heating systems.

-Develop fundraising activities during sporting events.

One of the largest obstacles facing a green movement in athletics is the cost and return on investment. However, DePaul Athletics has some history with developing sustainable practices that have reduced cost. Wish Field on the Lincoln Park Campus utilizes artificial grass or FieldTurf. The turf, which is utilized by softball and soccer, eliminates the need for excessive watering, pesticide use, carbon emission, and is made out of recycled material. Information about the environmental impacts of FieldTurf can be found here.

The Men’s basketball draws the biggest crowd and presents the largest challenge of all other programs due to the fact that they play at the All-State Arena which is not a facility managed by the university. Steps forward do not have to be grandiose or incorporate all athletic programs all at once. According to ProGreenSports.com sustainability in athletic programs is a growing trend and in it is time for DePaul to act in order to maintain and edge. These initiatives to make DePaul’s athletic department has the potential of increasing fan loyalty and represents a missing element in the universities sustainable movement.

Images Credit: DePaul Blue Demon’s

-Kevin Nestor

Exercising DePaul’s Purchasing Power Through Procurement Services and Salvage Used Equipment.

“Since July 1, 2009 through March 1, 2010 DePaul has recycled over 41,000lbs of electronic goods with Vintage Tech”.

DePaul has an enrollment over 25,000, each student most likely equipped with several notebooks, multiple textbooks, laptop, pens and pencils. The total population of students and faculty consuming resources adds up. The Financial affairs department at DePaul has taken notice and through their procurement services has begun to track the sustainability initiatives of current vendors. Along with providing a list of preferred vendors, procurement services institutes it’s own internal sustainable initiatives to reduce the amount of paper and ink used. Additionally, they have instituted a safe and effective way for university departments to dispose of unneeded equipment through their salvage program. The combination of all three initiatives represents a comprehensive step forward for DePaul when it comes to sustainability.

Purchasing power of a university such as DePaul is a powerful tool. Tracking the sustainability and reporting of vendors allows for all members of the university to knowingly or unknowingly cooperate and encourages vendors reliant on universities money to comply with sustainable practices. Refusing to purchase from vendors that report unsustainable practices the university contributes to a broader movement beyond the campus. The message reverberates throughout campus as well. On campus it is made clear that DePaul actively practices what it preaches and fosters a community of knowledgeable and conscious consumers. Students and faculty can take pride in these efforts and more importantly are better enabled to participate themselves by purchasing school supplies produced in a responsible manner that may have been cost prohibitive if not bought through the university.

Conscious consumption is only half of the equation for the DePaul. Internal initiatives, such as a digitalizing forms and increasing awareness about wasteful practices develops DePaul’s message to a greater degree. Promoting responsible disposal through the salvage program brings the procurement services sustainable practices full circle. The University Salvage Store works on two levels. The first level allows for all university departments to cut down on their waste and prevent used but working hardware and equipment from ending up in a landfill. Secondly, it offers people on a limited budget to buy needed equipment to aid their education. This program reverses a trend among vendors to produce goods that deteriorate in a short period of time and forces them to produce high quality products that last many years. Salvaged equipment sustains new businesses that are adhering to ideals of sustainability. Vintage Tech is an example of a responsible company that benefits financially from universities selling or donating used electronics and creates an economy for recycled goods that may not survive if they relied predominantly on private consumers.

DePaul’s urban setting is a large obstacle in attaining sustainability since they are dependent upon outside resources and are confine to small area. The financial affairs department and especially the procurement services have done an excellent job in moving forward DePaul practice and message of sustainability in spite of this. They have created incentives to pursue sustainable production and consumption within DePaul and added to the growing number of voices demanding environmentally responsible production goods. Educating students about sustainability, operating through sustainable methods are two highlighted aspects of any sustainable movement. Incorporating sound procurement practices demonstrates DePaul’s commitment to an all-inclusive approach towards sustainability.

Image Credit: Vintage Recycles

-Kevin Nestor