Author: Leah Glowacki
On Tuesday afternoon, April 21, Oxy students, faculty, alumni, and local community members celebrated Earth Day by transforming the concrete quad into a green stage. Individuals and organizations showcased their recent sustainability efforts and aimed to increase community awareness and support. Oxy alum, Joe Linton, kicked off the festivities with a short training session focused on safe urban bicycling. A 20-minute bike ride to introduce students to the environmental benefits of biking and to provide tips for safer urban biking followed the session. Linton has been interested in cycling since childhood. “The bicycle gave me the flexibility to ride to the beach, to the library, to the movies, etc. without having to beg my mom to take me in her car,” he said.
It wasn’t until after graduating from Oxy that Linton discovered the environmental implications of bicycling. “There are many environmental benefits of bicycling, mostly as an alternative to the very environmentally destructive practice of driving a car. In California, cars are responsible for nearly half of greenhouse gas emissions,” he said. Linton encourages Oxy students to join the green movement by employing bicycles as explorative tools and alternatives to cars.
One reason Urban and Environmental Policy Adjunct Professor Mark Vallianatos invited Linton to Oxy was to advertise the bike program that students and staff launched this year. The bike promotion program would involve the introduction of a bike sharing or rental program, a greater focus on cycling promotion, and an incentive system to discourage students from bring their cars to school. Students from UEP 247, a course focused on environmental stewardship, outlined the bike initiative in the draft of a memo they ultimately plan to give to incoming Occidental College President Jonathan Vetich.
According to UEP student Emily Ritchie (sophomore), “The UEP 247 class has been collectively working on the draft most of the semester.” Members of the class handed out copies of the draft during the Earth Day celebration. Their memo encourages Veitch to seek out and support efforts to make Oxy a greener environment. In addition to recommendations regarding the bike program, it offers suggestions in the areas of food, water, and energy.
At the festivities, Campus Dining advertised commitment to sustainability in food production and distribution. According to Campus Dining’s website, “In addition to organic produce, the variety of organic, local, natural and sustainable offerings has expanded exponentially this year.” Sustainable programs include local and organic Thanksgiving, which occurs each November when food stations offer a selection of local harvest menu items, the use of green cleaning products in the cooler, and participation in the Real Food Challenge, a nationwide network of over 300 institutions aiming to redirect 20% of college and university food purchases towards real food including local, organic, and sustainable products, by 2020.
Another movement towards a sustainable campus includes the Food, Energy, and Sustainability Team’s (F.E.A.S.T.) development of a vegetable garden. Elissa Chandler (junior) and Saul Sutcher (sophomore), the same students who established Café Norris, also created F.E.A.S.T. “We wanted to start the club to explore the relationship between the food we eat and the environment. The food sector emits 19% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions mostly due to chemical-intensive farming and packing and transportation of food. It seems silly that we eat carrots from New York when we can grow wonderful carrots in California,” Chandler said.
F.E.A.S.T. claims 70 members that includes a group of volunteers dedicated to the compost’s development. Production began two weeks ago and will continue through the summer. Club members are eager to plant and harvest produce in the fall. “We’ll have to see what the best plants are to plant when we have the beds ready but the club is open to planting anything and everything that will grow. Luckily, with the Southern California climate, that seems to be just about everything!” Chandler said.
Tuesday’s event included appearances by students from ASOC’s Renewable Energy and Sustainability Fund Committee, which promotes a green campus by funding student projects that focus on sustainability. Others present were representatives of the President’s sustainability group, which is considering new policies and programs to support campus greening, Oxy alum Heidi Bass, who works for the L.A. Department of Water and Power, biology students selling succulent plants, and Campus Safety officers showcasing the department’s new hybrid sedan.
Vallianatos, who organized the event, is passionate about saving the environment and continuing the quest towards a greener Oxy bubble. “Occidental is part of the broader world and is located in a city with significant environmental challenges [including] air pollution, sprawl, [and] drought, but also possibilities including solar power, [and] water conservation,” he said. Celebrating Earth Day is celebrating Vallianatos’s and the community’s commitment to changing threatening patterns in order to save the planet.
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