CHAPTER 2: FOOD
Learning about food in the context of sustainability is actually extremely interesting because food and sustainability are two things that I care about. In order to examine how sustainable my food choices are, I want to discuss and evaluate the foods that I have consumed in the past 24 hours. First, I thought it would be useful to look up the definition of a “whole” food to better understand the criteria when determining whether or not I was eating “whole” foods. Whole foods can be defined as “foods that are as close to their natural form as possible”, according to WebMD. In the morning I had avocado toast with a cup of coffee. I feel as though this would be considered a “whole” food, because the avocado was not processed and bread is processed but is relatively healthy. The coffee I will disregard although I think it is worth mentioning that it is probably a “whole drink” because it is not processed. Next, I had a Quest nutrition bar, which although it is somewhat “healthy” it is highly processed. For dinner I grabbed a hummus snack which I believe was made by the pub at UNE, so I am hoping that it would be considered a “whole” food. Later I had Kraft mac and cheese which is highly processed, and some Ben and Jerrys, which would not technically be food in its original form but I think that it is less processed than other types of ice cream. Overall, I think that about half of what I ate was a “whole” food and for me on a given day this was probably a bit more on the “whole” side than usual. I can certainly say that eating these types of minimally processed foods is extremely difficult, especially when you are on the go as the author described. It is important to slow down and think about the ingredients that you are putting into your body.
Next, I want to address some of the questions on page 56 from the reading. The questions are as follows:
“Does the campus provide suitable whole food cuisines…? Is there adequate information about the food…? Does the campus build food awareness…? Does the cafeteria provide an interesting learning experience? (56).
First, I believe that compared to other colleges I have been to, UNE provides an above average amount of whole food cuisines. Many times I find myself eating a piece of chicken with a side of plain green beans and some rice, typically from the simple servings station in the dining hall. However, when it comes to providing information about the food, I feel as though the school dining services is lacking. There are little signs by all of the dishes but they only point out food groups for the students with allergies or food restrictions. There is nothing to determine how many ingredients are in a dish and half the time you can’t really tell if what you are eating is healthy unless you make a salad from the salad bar. According to Thomashow, “The food services of the more progressive, environmentally oriented colleges, especially those with active sustainability programs, are more likely to feature local and organic ingredients” (50). I feel as though UNE is trying to become more sustainable in this regard, but they need to do a better job of informing students as to what is organic and what ingredients are in each dish. This could be accomplished through stronger planning techniques as Thomashow says, “Growing more food on campus, supporting sustainable agriculture, changing food habits and behaviors, and building nutritional awareness” (52). I believe that some of our food is grown here now but I think that more could be, and I know that a large number of students would support this endeavor. But, once again I think that UNE needs to work on the awareness portion, because how can we be aware of what we are eating is there is nothing telling us what it is made out of?
This chapter of the book was particularly interesting to me and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about it. I see the potential for food to actually be a driving force in bringing more awareness to sustainability. Food just relates to everything whether it be ethics or climate change or politics, absolutely anything. Therefore, I agree with the author that if a school or a business or any organization puts forth effort to make their food systems more sustainable, the rest of their organization will probably start to become more sustainable as well.
CHAPTER 6: WELLNESS
What is the main idea of the text?
The main idea of this section is that wellness shares an interconnected relationship with sustainability. As Dr. Thomashow explains, “The sustainability ethos considers wellness by simultaneously linking and assessing the common health of the individual, community, and the ecosystem” (126). The author describes how “human flourishing” is directly linked to sustainability through a reciprocal relationship. Basically, wellness and the sustainability ethos go hand-in-hand, so when campuses embed essential elements such as a fitness center, stress minimizing activities, and a strong culture of inclusion as well as community, this is when sustainability can come into play as well. Using a college campus as a foundation for building and growing sustainable practices is really important, as it coincides with wellness and allows people to feel as though they are a part of a group in which people can share common, healthy practices.
Throughout the chapter, Dr. Thomashow identifies ways in which sustainability and wellness are inextricably linked. In what ways is that true at UNE, and what other opportunities exist to make this more so at UNE?
The plant wall in the commons is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about sustainability and wellness being linked at UNE. Primarily, it is an excellent symbol and not only does it provide a source of healthy food, it promotes sustainability in a subconscious way. People walk past it and think about its beauty but it actually has an even greater purpose and is bringing UNE students fresh, local, sustainably grown food. Thomashow would call this an “ecological design” which “incorporates community health with ecosystem awareness” (137). It is also mentioned on campus tours for prospective students so even people who don’t study at the University are made aware of this spectacular ecological design. In addition, community service ties into community wellness, which is another strength of UNE. We are extremely service-oriented, even just in the most popular majors of study alone. Not only that but the clubs at UNE involve a lot of hands-on activities such as the Honey Bee Conservation Club where I got to participate in making honey last fall. These types of clubs are essential for facilitating a connection between self, school, and community, which is a good portion of what this chapter is about. As the author pointed out, service learning can greatly help student retention at schools as well, assumingly because it makes students have a better experience. I believe that students at UNE are sustainability role models because we care about being engaged, active, and develop a sense of community, and we want to live the “good life” in a relatively simple way.
Dr. Thomashow discusses the pressures associated with being a sustainability practitioner, especially from his own point of view and through his own experiences. He had to balance the demands of trying to be sustainable while living “the good life” (145) and I find that a lot of his advice to help with this problem happens to be areas that UNE could improve upon. I think that people here are still learning the difference between hard work and quality work, essentially stemming from the importance of time management techniques. I know that this is something we can all improve upon because it is nearly impossible to find a good balance in a crazy college setting. However, finding a balance in your time can make you a much better sustainability practitioner. I think another area is respect and politeness. I know from my experience working as a Building Manager at the Campus Center, people often come in stressed out and take it out on the staff by being short or rude. Being polite creates better communication on campus which is crucial for maximizing wellness. Regardless of these improvements that can be made on campus, I am very grateful to go to school at UNE because I know that I am a part of a community where I feel as though I am at home, surrounded by people with similar passions while also challenging me to be a better person.
CHAPTER 9: AESTHETICS
The passage that resonated most with me in regards to “what is creative sustainability?” is the Thomas Berry except from John Tallmadge’s work. He writes, “Think of sustainability as a type of infinite game, in which the goal is not to win (which would end the game), but to keep on playing forever…” (199). This was both enlightening and reconfirming to me at the same time. I feel as though Berry’s description goes along with the main theme that I learn in my environmental classes at UNE, which is basically that we live on a finite planet and thus we must conserve resources for future generations and so on. Berry reinforces this idea and also adds in a component of creativity, saying that “sustainability always appears dynamic and evolving” (199) which I love, and that this is where the imagination and creativity parts come in. I think I read this passage at least three times because I find it to flow so nicely and it is written in such an interesting perspective. The first time I read it Capitalism popped into my mind (which makes sense as a Sustainability and Business major), and I thought about how humans at least in America are programmed to think and act with the purpose of winning. We work to earn money and we want the most stuff because that leads to a “happy life”. We need to reprogram ourselves to think about sustainability differently than the way we innately think and behave which tends to involve a competitive mindset, perpetuating buying more and more stuff, ultimately generating scarcity. The sustainability game needs to be played in such a way that the game can go on forever. Since times are always changing, however, the game can not be played the same exact way forever. We must constantly think of new ways to adapt so that sustainability can be practiced no matter what is going on in the world. This passage spoke to me by giving me a creative perspective and way of looking at sustainability which is new and different and for that reason it will stick with me.
When considering the idea of a legal campus canvas, many thoughts come to mind. One of these thoughts is that I have a sort of biased perspective that graffiti is not very classy looking and it is often times where it does not belong. The concept of having a wall designated might help with this but I think that it also may suggest that graffiti is okay in other parts of campus, as it is something that is supported by the school. For this reason, I think that this would work well for smaller schools that either have a heavy art or environmental focus so that the majority of students actually understand the purpose of the wall and don’t want to abuse this privilege. Dr. Thomashow writes, “…an open approach to public art is a wonderful and cost effective way to promote creativity, vitality, and intellectual interest, while simultaneously developing an interesting campus aesthetic” (202). While I agree with this statement, I feel as though this will not work at all schools, especially huge state schools for example. I agree that it could spark creativity and all those other aspects but only under the right conditions.
I think that a campus canvas could work for UNE in the future. I feel as though the environmental and art programs need to grow a bit more before implementing the wall so that there are more people who understand and respect the idea behind it. Unity has a much bigger sustainability program so I think that it would have a more widespread appreciation. For this reason I think that Dickinson would be a great contender to implement some sort of campus canvas because the majority of students there have a focus on sustainability. Right now at UNE, I think that we could create some more sculptures from recycled materials and build more sustainable landscaping art. I think that this is sort of what the front of the commons is supposed to be but I am not really sure? This also makes me think of the living plant wall in the commons as that certainly acts as a piece of art and it is sustainable. UNE should definitely look to implement more of these creative campus art pieces and doing so may even help to expand environmental and arts programs.
