How Sustainable is Riverside City College?

For this weeks assignment we were asked to evaluate and draw up a tentative plan to improve how sustainable the Riverside City College (RCC) campus is. To evaluate RCC it is necessary to observe the "life"of the campus and ask yourself questions like: "How many people attend this college" "How much trash do we produce here?" "Are there an efficient number of trash cans for the produced waste?" "Is recycling promoted?" "Is the waste we produced able to be reused?" "Are we utilize sustainable resources or do we to rapidly consume resources that are nonrenewable?" "etc..." All these questions, and more, are good questions to ask and can help identify a problem, or a group of related problems, on the campus. And Identifying existing problems is always the first step towards improvement!

Picture of RCC from merchantcircle.com

So what next? Well, if you believe that an area on campus needs to be improved then the chances are there are other students who feel the same way! Talk to other students, share your concerns about areas in which you believe the campus may need to improve, and listen, with an open mind, to other student who may share your concerns or have concerns of their own. Obtaining others opinions can either provide validation for your concerns or give you a heads up that you over looked something while problem solving. Either way a second, third, or fourth opinion is a good idea! 

A problem that I see on the Riverside campus is waste! No recycle bins and lots of waste thrown into the trash cans! So where do you start? With a club! Did you know it only takes one professor's support to initiate a club. Find a professor who supports green sustainability and ask for their support! Power in numbers! 15 students can change 15 times more then one student by themselves! Then find out why! Ask Marvin Osejo, the Custodial Manager, why RCC does not recycle? Why don't classrooms have bins to recycle paper? If our campus has vending machines why don't we recycle aluminum? Ask the Food Service Department why RCC does not use reusable service ware. Interview ED Bush, Vice President of Student Services, to find out why the bookstore does not promote the use of reusable bags. Seek outside assistance. Riverside County Waste Management Department is an excellent outside resource! Develop an obtainable plan. Use the information that you and your peers acquired and develop a feasible plan to present. Anticipate the reasons why your plan may be rejected an incorporate ideas that explain why your plan is achievable. Present your ideas to each department that could help initiate your plan. Lastly, be persistent and flexible because change usually occurs gradually, little by little over time.     

We were also asked to investigate colleges that have already initiated plans to promote sustainability. Happily there are a lot! According to The Daily Green colleges such as Oberlin College, in Ohio, has developed a completely self sustainable "living Machine" on their campus! Which is great but requires a great deal of resources to replicate. On a smaller scale, and probably more obtainable for RCC and most other colleges, are changes that schools like the University of Santa Cruz have initiated. Changes, according to USnews, like the implementation of organic food served in the cafeteria, the use of food waste to promote the growth of an organic garden, and to use a tray less dinning system which saves "30,000 gallons of water per month." Changes like these may seem small but they are a great place to start. They promote sustainability on campus and may lead to greater changes later on. The students and facility at Oberlin had to start somewhere, and it may have been by planting an organic garden or promoting water conservation in the cafeteria. You never know!

At the End of the Day...

For our third environmental blog we are asked to break our lives up into 8 categories and list EVERYTHING in our lives that we use or consume that comes from the Earth in a typical day. At the end of my day my life is broken down as such:

• Food and Drinks: eggs, bread, popcorn, chicken, cabbage, carrots, dressing, sweet potato, oranges, water, grape juice, ice cream, oil, butter, spices, paper bags, glass bottles, electricity.

• Housing and other Building: approx. 17,000 square feet of land, concrete, wood, brick, various fabrics, lots of electricity, water for plants. 

• Transportation: gasoline, asphalt, metal, an extraordinary length of road, two shoes (canvas and rubber), concrete sidewalk.

• Clothing: water to wash, cotton shirt and socks, denim pants.

• School Supplies: lap top, paper, notebook, pencil.

• Personal Care: lotion, soap, lots of water (showers, hand washing, toilets).

• Leisure Activities: nothing today.

• Other: cell phone, water for pets, food for pets, money.

That is a lot of consumption for one day!

We were also asked to choose an item that from our list (above) and trace its roots back to its origin (planet Earth), describe how it may impact our environment in the future, and what I can do to lessen the impact. So I chose to research electricity. Its not a tangible item but it definitely stems from our planet. So I asked myself, how do I get our electricity? And I found the answer. I found out that San Bernardino county receives its electricity from a plant in Redlands. A plant which is a natural gas (fossil fuel) burning plant (http://www.edison.com). And I wondered  how many people, in California, obtain their energy from gas burning plants? And the numbers turned out to be 29-42 percent while 10-20 percent receive electricity from hydroelectric plants (http://www.cpuc.ca.gov).

The yellow dots represent existing hydroelectric plants while the the orange dots represent areas where damns with turbines may / could be used to generate electricity. The purple areas can not be used for various reasons (http://national alatlas.gov).

10-20 percent is a small group of people who are using hydroelectric when compared to a possible 42 percent (myself included) who are burning large quantities of gas to produce electricity. Why is 42 percent so detrimental? It is detrimental because out of the approx. 3,000,000 people who live in the United States 1,260,000 people are burning natural gases that can not be renewed. In other wards there are well over one million people,here in the U.S., who are slowly depleting a natural resource that cannot reproduce or be synthesized. Imagine what the number may be for the entire plane! I'm imagining more than a lot of people. So, what can I do to prevent the depletion of our natural gasses? Or what can we do? Well the first thing is to be WELL INFORMED! Realize that there are other options than burning natural gases such as the power of moving water. Water is a renewable source and if it is consumed or used sparingly can be used as a continual energy source! We can also reduce! We can reduce the amount of energy that we use. Southern California Edison's web page has a number of ideas to reduce the use of electricity from installation of solar panels to learning which house hold appliances are energy efficient.

Doing a short search about electricity helped me to visualize a broader picture of how many people one Earth or one resource is trying to support. I am better able to see how important diversity is in order to sustain or stretch out a resource as best as we are able. I was surprised to learn how feasible it may be to use water to produce our electricity. So what can I do. Well I can conserve. Conserve electricity by using energy efficient appliances, I can turn off the light when I'm not in a room, and I can try to study outside in the sun. I can conserve water to make sure there are water sources available to produce electricity. I can make sure there are no dripping pipes in the house, I can sweep the back porch instead of washing it with water, I can Use pressurized faucets and shower heads, and I can make sure the sprinklers water only the grass and not the sidewalk. The possibilities are almost endless and I believe that one person can make a difference.  

Twenty Minutes of Silence

For our second blog assignment we were asked to sit quietly in an outside setting such as a park or a  backyard. To be truthful, it was had to get excited about sitting still and quiet for 20 minutes. But I did it, and it wasn't bad. In fact, as my 20 minutes elapsed I was enjoying my silence.

What I saw: one Crow, one Sparrow, two Bumble Bees, Orange Trees, Palm trees, Heavenly Bamboo, Asparagus Ferns, and the list of plants could keep growing. As far as the abiotic (non living) environment I saw: fallen foliage from multiple plants, a little black beetle (turned upside down), soil, and large rocks. But what interested me was the Orange Tree that was to my left.

Can you see the white covering the leaf closest to the camera?

It interested me so extensively that before returning to my house I stuck my head a little closer into the tree. So close in fact I discovered an Orange covered in thick white cotton!

Can you see how the white is present where the Orange was detached from it's stem?

At first I thought it was covered in bird droppings left by the Sparrow I had seen earlier in the tree but, after I picked the Orange I observed that the white crust was almost buried inside the Orange's peel. So I Google searched for possible causes. What I found was an example of Parasitism. Or rather a relationship between the small bug Icerya Purchasi and the Orange. According to UC Davis' Management Guide for Icerya Purchasi these bugs feed from Orange Trees "[extracting their] plant sap" and eventually if the infestation is uncontrolled will "[reduce] the vigor" from the tree's overall production of fruit and quality of health. Two common characteristics of a parasite-host relationship.

Looks Ok on the inside! 

If you are interested in cultivating Oranges or are experiencing an infestation on your Orange Tree UC Davis' Management Guide also had wonderful information on controlling the Icerya Purchasi using it's natural predator(s) (e.g. the vedalia beetle). Thank's for listening!

Websites for Information on Environmental Science

So, this year I have made plans or pledged to reduce the amount of animal products consumed by our family, to purchase energy efficient appliances (if needed), and to start an organic garden, all to help reduce my (our) ecological footprint (s). Below I'm hoping to post links that are or have been helpful to initiate my plans!

• American Water Works Association Is a site that provides the public with vital information on  drinking water and how to conserve it. Although saving water was not listed in my plan, it is something we should all be thinking about! 

My Ecological Foot Print

Website www.footprintenetwork.org/calculator is a website that calculates your ecological footprint, or rather it calculates how many planet Earths it would take if everyone on earth lived the same lifestyle you live right now. Currently, if everyone lived like I do, it would take 4.1 planet Earths to support everyone on Earth! That's over 3 times the about of resources that are available! In my ecological footprint 66% of the planets that I use are consumed by foods and services. That is more then two whole planet Earths! However, the Footprint Network also provides suggestions on simple lifestyle changes the we can make to conserve our planet. Because over 50% of my planet earths are spent on food and services the Footprint Network suggests to pledge to: 1. Eat half the animal products that I eat weekly, 2. Buy products that use recycled packaging, 3. Install solar panels, 4. Use energy star appliances. So, because I have 5 member in my family I have chosen to reduce the amount of animal products that we eat. That way, not only am I  conserving my planet Earths but I'm also helping to conserve my children's planets too! Also, because our family is planning on purchasing a house in this year I have decided that we can make two more contributes to conserving energy. First off, I plan to make sure that any appliances purchased, for our home, are energy efficient to reduce the amount of energy needed to keep the appliances functioning and, to reduce our annual cost of electricity. Second, on the Footprint network I was able to make a "green" pledge. I  pledged to choose a house that will allow our family to have an organic garden! This way, my whole family can help reduce the use of gasoline and the production of smog made to transport fresh fruits and veggies. It will also help us by reducing the amount of money spent on food. Lastly, the Footprint Network gives us the option to save our current ecological footprint. I chose to save mine hoping that next year after I have initiated my plans and pledge I can compare and see how my plans have affected my footprint and have an idea which areas I still need to improve. I am hoping that my plans will help reduce the amount of Earths needed to support my lifestyle.

Biography

Hello, my name is Susan and I am an environmental science major! I've lived in beautiful Redlands Ca for the last 31 years but was born in Seoul South Korea! I have been working as a licensed nurse for over 9 years and am ready to pursue a new career goal. I am also a mother, and have three boys ages: 12, 8, and 6. I love having children and pets! Currently our family has 3 dogs, 1 python, 2 fresh water turtles, 1 guinea pig, and five fish! One of my favorite reasons why I love being a mother is that I get to teach my children beliefs that are important to me! Growing up I was fortunate to have a family that impressed on me the importance of environmental sustainability long before there was a concern for keeping Earth "green." Now that I am a mother I would like to impress the same beliefs on my children. My goal from this biology class is to further my knowledge of the environment and its conservation, develop plans to apply it to my life, and to include my children in the evolution of conservation.

Ethan Dissecting a squid at Ocean Institute

Bradley's hand in a Wooly Mammoth print at La Brea Tar Pits

Bradley and Travis Hiking at Zion National Park