Sustainable Communities Reflection

Signing up for V515 was a bit of a gamble, as I am not part of any SPEA programs nor did I know anyone who had taken this course previously. I was hoping it would relate to my interest in connecting sustainability to the higher education realm, which it actually did. That was one of the things I enjoyed most about the course: connecting the material in this class with my courses in the School of Education. A lot of rich conversation in my other courses stemmed from things I learned in V515 and I even felt that I brought I different perspective to V515 being the only non-SPEA student at the table. The blog was a pretty significant challenge for me. It felt as though I was a step behind everyone not being a SPEA student. While I was busy doing research and developing my base knowledge of the ideas posed in class, many of my classmates seemed to already have the base knowledge that they could springboard off of to craft engaging and thoughtful blogs. This challenge was appreciated, however, because I had to work hard to research and synthesize new ideas, something I desire to do as a graduate student.

Concerning the out-of-class experiences: these were all things I would have done on my own anyway so they weren't as much of a challenge.Becoming more involved in the sustainability community in any place I live is something I strive to do, so this gave me a great opportunity to explore what Bloomington has to offer and familiarize myself with my options for acquiring sustainability knowledge. Additionally, in having to write the blogs, it was nice to have built-in time for reflection on those experiences though. I know that if I had gone to these events and not been forced to sit and reflect, I may not have made the same connections to my life or explored as deeply the experience I had and I appreciate that opportunity. I think the JITT method for the twitter feed does along with this too. Having to slow down and digest the readings each week in a critical way helped the words on the page come to life in my own world and illuminated a lot of things that were going on around me that I had never noticed before. The links to articles and videos related to the various topics we discussed also built my arsenal of websites to read and reference regarding sustainability.

Finally, some criticism. The NESCO project has been difficult to define in my head for a while and I think it boils down to the fact that I felt very powerless in the process. The task force working on this initiative has been doing so for quite some time now and I felt as we moved forward with the project that what I was bringing to the table was old news or just plain not feasible. Perhaps this had to do with the focus of my group (the brownfield site) but I had a hard time feeling like I was actually useful to this organization. I do hope that the overall effort of our class aligns with what their expectations were coming in and I am looking forward to hearing how they feel about what is presented on Tuesday.

Overall, I had a few a-ha moments in this course this semester. I have also gleaned a lot of valuable tools to use moving forward in my sustainability-focused career (The CBSM is amazing!!!!). I appreciate the thought and innovative techniques that were built in to the class structure; it kept things interesting and certainly kept me on my toes. Thank you for a great introduction to sustainability here at IU. It was the perfect way to get to know what it looks like to be a green Hoosier.

Final Personal Project Post

The final results of the Energy Challenge came my way this past week which was exactly what I needed to round out my personal project. From the beginning, I had wanted to devise ways to get residents involved in sustainability measures in their own community and the Energy Challenge was a great vehicle to test that with. Leading up to this past week, I had no idea how Teter Quad had fared in saving energy and water during the month of October and whether or not the programming I conducted with students had made any sort of impact on actual usage.

Below is the breakdown of how much electricity and water Teter Quad used during the challenge in relation to their baseline. Here, the baseline is calculated by taking the previous year's usage and correcting that data with base 65 heating degree days (L. Walters, personal communication, December 4, 2013). The units are percentages of baseline usage on any given day, i.e. on October 17, Teter Quad used 115% of their baseline resource usage as calculated from the previous year.

What I was interested in is if there was any correlation between the programming I put on and a drop in usage after the programs. The programs we held in Teter revolving around the Energy Challenge were a movie night on Tuesday, October 29 and an Ugly Sweater Party on Friday, November 1. The basic idea of the Challenge was explained to residents and there was food and prizes available at both events to entice participation. Unfortunately, in looking at the data, there doesn't seem to be much correlation between the events and the impact it had on usage. In fact, it seems the opposite may have occurred. Between October 29 and the end of the challenge, resource usage increased a few percentage points compared to the baseline. 

This is discouraging, considering that I actually got a lot of positive response from residents verbally and in a short survey we administered at the events. The students who did attend (approximately 80 total between the two events) admitted to understanding more about sustainability after the events and even said they would use that new knowledge in their daily lives moving forward. I suppose this is a small proportion of the Teter Quad population (about 14%) so the effect that small of a group can have on a larger building may be minimal. 

However, in a way, I still see this project as a success. The fact that 80 student attended programs dedicated to sustainability and conserving energy and positively received the programs is supremely exciting and I hope to ride that momentum into next semester's challenge.

Moving forward, in reviewing my plans for the RA sustainability workshop I will be conducting in the spring, I would love to get the feedback of RA's to use to tweak the presentation. Then, with an edited and honed down presentation, I would hope to use the presentation to inform many student groups in the residence halls about the importance of sustainability. This could include floor communities, student governments, community councils, academic leadership councils, etc. The opportunity to train so many students in short little increments is immense in the residence halls and I look forward to exploring this idea in the upcoming semester.

Small Business Saturday in Fort Collins

Over Thanksgiving break, I made my way back home to Colorado. I spent the holiday relaxing and working at my mom's home in Fort Collins. In between day hikes, delicious home-cooked meals, and football, we decided to do some holiday shopping. While discussing plans for where we would like to shop, my mom and I quickly realized a mutual interest in shopping local for our gifts this year. Between the breweries, coffee shops, kitchen stores, and book and music stores we figured we could find something for everyone in the family right there in Fort Collins. We decided to venture out on Small Business Saturday, a "shopping holiday" created by American Express in 2010 to promote economic activity in one's local community.  Here's a quick promotional clip about the idea:

Fort Collins takes Small Business Saturday seriously, especially in the Old Town area of the city. Old Town serves as a gathering point for the Fort Collins community, hosting festivals, First Friday Art Walks, local bars, restaurants, and coffee shops, and many, many local businesses. The area is nicely landscaped, inviting, dog-friendly, and easy to navigate via bike, car, or as a pedestrian. It even served as the inspiration for Disneyland's Main Street, USA! It is not uncommon to see the sidewalks of Old Town bustling with people throughout the day and into the evening during any part of the week. For Small Business Saturday, many businesses advertised up to 50% off merchandise or coupons to cut the cost of shopping at a retailer that may not always be able to give the lowest price for an item on your wish list.



Here's coverage of Small Business Saturday in Fort Collins by the local newspaper:

 

We started our day at La Creperie, a small French bakery and restaurant with the best croissants this side of the Rocky Mountains. As we sat drinking espresso and digging into our pastries, we casually  chatted with our server, Jean Claude, as he whizzed past our booth to help other customers. In the brief conversation we had, he said he noticed an uptick in business on this particular Saturday, although his Saturdays tended to be generally busy on their own. I explained that it was Small Business Saturday and that that may have been the cause for the cardio workout he was getting serving tables.  Jean Claude seemed genuinely excited to know about Small Business Saturday and wanted to know more. I told him about our household choosing to purchase our holiday gifts locally, to keep our money within the community, and he mentioned that that was something he tried to do as a general practice. It made sense to Jean Claude, as an employee of a small business, to support his friends and neighbors in the hope that they would reciprocate down the road. He also mentioned La Creperie partnering with local agriculturalists to source more local food products to enhance the quality of their food and support local farms. It seemed like a great idea to me, something a lot of businesses already do in Fort Collins and beyond, and gave him the name of a local coffee shop that sourced all of its prepared food locally.

Next, we stopped in Curiosities, a gift shop full of items from local artisans. As I was walking around, I asked a sales associate how the day was progressing. She mentioned that they were so grateful that Small Business Saturday had finally rolled around because the flooding from the Fall had really taken a bite out of their sales. Interestingly, I hadn't pondered the implications of the flooding on small business in the area and how its economic effects could have rippled out months after the actual incident. The floods were a distant memory for many by now, but for Curiosities, and a lot of other small businesses in the area, they were a daily challenge to overcome even months after. Being able to purchase items at Curiosities for my loved ones not only made me feel like I was able to give back to a community I know and love so deeply, but it provided me with a  backstory I can tell the recipients of the gifts about their items, where they were purchased, and why it was important to me to purchase from local vendors. I was not only giving a physical gift to my friends and family but also a piece of me, something that isn't really possible to do at Target or Walmart.

Beautiful Old Town Fort Collins - pedestrian and dog-friendly

What was especially cool about Curiosities was the interaction with local artists they provided that Saturday. The shop invited many of the artists to hang out in the store for the day, sharing their passion and process for their creations with the general public. I had a great discussion with Will, a local woodworker who makes furniture out of pine beetle kill wood.  Will praised Small Business Saturday as a great opportunity to get out of his shop and thank his customers for their patronage. Unless he is working on a commissioned piece from a specific client, he mentioned, he rarely interacted with his customers. He felt the opportunity to be in-store with his creations was a great way to solidify relationships with clients and entice them to become repeat customers. It was also a convenient way to genuinely show his gratitude for those who support his work and livelihood.

Small Business Saturday was a wonderful way for me to connect what we read in Roseland a few weeks back about sustainable economies and the prevention of economic leakage. The overall experience was also more satisfying as the consumer. Being able to actually engage in conversation with local artisans and business owners while I was shopping leant to a more meaningful experience and the conversations I had can be stories I pass along to the recipients of my holiday gifts this year. I also find it interesting that American Express, an enormous credit card company, would initiate an event like this. I imagine it has earned them significant public support and positive publicity but I am unaware of any additional gains from their affiliation with the event.

Authentic Sustainability

I have been thinking about issues of sustainability, natural resource consumption, and the human effect on the planet for what seems like my entire life. As a youngster, this manifested in my insistence that my parents not purchase soda cans bound together with rings of plastic that were eventually found around the mouths or necks of fish and birds the world over. As I grew, I became aware of the impact my daily commute to high school had on green house gas levels. I resolved to take the bus to school even as a senior, something seen as deeply uncool, but I saw as a stand against blatant abuse of our planet. I chose to study Natural Resource Management in a highly environmentally progressive community and was opened up to a plethora of conversations around attitudes toward sustainability and sustainable development. What had never occurred to me was why I was having those conversations and the lens through which I viewed those issues so dear to me.

The Authentic Sustainability workshop hosted on the morning of November 18th at the E-House started off with the presenters explaining their frame of reference when tackling conversations around sustainability. They discussed the "pitfalls" we can fall into when trying to engage in a conversation that is meaningful to us: being right, proving a point, and shaming others are all holes we can fall into when justifying these conversations. But do they fit the reasoning behind having the conversation in the first place? The facilitators of the discussion urged us participants to envision the sustainable world we long for when advocating for the change of human behavior to more sustainable ways. They asked us what it would feel like to live in that world; what were the feelings associated with a more sustainable life? We spoke about freedom, joy, community, openness, resilience, and hope. These were all overwhelmingly positive. So why would we so often approach sustainability conversations from a combative place? How could we reframe these conversations in the context of our lives?

I began to answer that question for myself during this workshop. It forced me to think about why I make the decision to engage in sustainability conversations. What I came up with was that I want a better world for the sake of the Earth itself and for everyone inhabiting it. I care DEEPLY about this issue and want that to reflect in my conversations. There is no room for ego when I have these conversations because it isn't about who is right and who is wrong. It is about a real issue with real, impactful consequences. As I walked out of the workshop, I began to formulate in my head how I would frame conversations about sustainability with friends and family moving forward. Keeping in mind the place I come from when having those conversations will help me to approach them in a more calm and gentle manner, which I believe can only help to get across the point that I am coming from a caring place, not a combative one.

Personal Project Update #3

So, I am still waiting to get data about the Energy Challenge results and if the programming we conducted in Teter had any effect at all on resource consumption.

While I am waiting on that, I have begun to work with an RA from the Collins Living-Learning Community on methods for tying sustainability with the residential life experience.  As mentioned in my previous posting, I will be presenting sustainability in the context of Residential Life with an RA for Residential Programs and Services Winter Training. We have discussed presenting sustainability through the lens of the Residential Experience, a set of four pillars that RA's must program around each month for their individual floors or their entire residence hall community. Here is what we are thinking to tie sustainability in with the four pillars. Please feel free to suggest other ideas you think residents would respond to:

Academic Initiatives
We would like to discuss the university's interest in infusing sustainability in the general curriculum of the institution at IU. The RA I am working with, Stone, has also mentioned the possibility of sustainability becoming a major selection in the near future. We would like to also highlight the sustainability and sustainable design concentration within the MPA program in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs for RA's who may have students interested in graduate school. The overall focus of this section would be to reiterate that sustainability touches every aspect of our lives and this can be seen through its application in all parts of IU's curriculum.

Exploring Beliefs
We would like to frame this conversation around the positive contributions of sustainability to one's life and how changing your behavior to enhance sustainability can also enhance your life, not detract from it. Stone and I both agree that the environmental or sustainability message so often espoused is one of deprivation. We want to re-frame the conversation around how much more healthy you can live by riding a bike or purchasing food locally when you have the opportunity. We would also like to discuss briefly what environmental justice means and how their actions affect not just themselves but the broader community, state, country, and globe.

Community Development
We would like to actually compare the idea of keeping their money in the local economy through local purchasing to their residence hall community. All residence halls have budgets they pull from to help support the happiness and well-being of their hall through programming and the like. If residents of a larger community, like Bloomington, could look at the money they earn as money given from a community budget, to be used within the community to promote happiness and well-being, how much better would we live as a whole?

Personal Development

This is the section we would like to culminate the presentation with because we would like to recognize sustainable behavior this group is already practicing and give them some new one's they can implement within their lives and with their residents. This could include using reusable coffee cups or bags, public transportation or riding their bicycles rather than driving to relatively nearby locations, turning off lights when they are not being used, etc. We would like to encourage them to broaden their horizons by looking at reusing products for other functions before throwing them away and taking an extra moment to think about recycling their waste before throwing it in the garbage.

Finally, we would like to round out the presentation with the presentation of a "Sustainability Cheat Sheet" they can take with them outlining resources they can contact if they have questions about sustainability on campus and how they can talk about sustainability with their residents. The cheat sheet will also include ideas for sustainability-focused programs like a trip to the Hilltop Garden, documentary or TedTalk recommendations to infuse in weekly movie nights, and the Green Room Certification through the Office of Sustainability.

What other ideas do you have for us as we move forward with this presentation? We would be happy to hear any and all recommendations or even things we have proposed that you do not think would work so well.

Living in Transition

In the Roseland reading for the week, the concept of "Transition Towns" was introduced as a way for citizens of a community to catalyze change. Specifically, these communities strive to become "self-sufficient and resilient" while moving toward reduced dependence on oil (Roseland, 2012). The movement begins at the grassroots level, as opposed to the traditional top-down scheme utilized for so many years, although these activated citizens are encouraged to "engage local government" in their efforts to effect the change they want to see. Here is a great introduction to the movement and the methods they hope to employ:

Did you know that at this moment, as you are reading this, you are part of the transition? It's true! In 2010, the city of Bloomington announced their intention to reduce their dependence on oil and become a transition town. Interestingly enough, the announcement of the idea and movement to the larger community was conducted by the Mayor of Bloomington and several council members at the time, after motivated and vocal residents of the area demonstrated their concern to the local government. The announcement was accompanied by a day-long town meeting in which citizens were invited by the local government to join them in brainstorming ideas to achieve the goal of reducing oil reliance in the city of Bloomington. For more information on the set-up for the day, click here for the formal press release.

The Transition Town movement, often seen as a product of the UN's Agenda 21 we read earlier in the semester, is not without its detractors. Enjoy this video expressing concern about some of the land use and zoning issues coming up due to the movement:

Fascinating viewpoints emerge regarding some of the best practices Transition Towns encourage and which we have learned this semester. The charming host of the segment refers to "high-density prison cities" in reference to the encouragement of higher-density housing in urban areas. A Georgia man's death is attributed to the demands of the movement.

Normally, these types of videos seem to be distributed amongst a small group of extremist factions. Unfortunately, this video has been online for about a year, has garnered over 20,000 views, and was prominent on many Tea Party websites I visited when researching this issue. Especially when considering the participation of the Tea Party, an influential and real political movement, it is possible that the detractors would gain traction against sustainable community development. How real do you think the threat of opposing opinions is on this movement?

References

Roseland, M. (2012). Toward sustainable communities: solutions for their citizens and their goverments. New society publishers: Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada

http://bloomington.in.gov/documents/viewDocument.php?document_id=4902

Personal Project Update #2

Since my last update a lot of progress has been made in Teter Quad and with my personal project. My intent with the personal project was to interface with residents in regards to sustainability to find out what they already knew and to challenge them to go deeper in their understanding and practices.

What started out as an idea to run a series of practical skills workshops quickly fizzled as I realized the magnitude of coordinating the series and a general lack of interest. In just the informal discussions I had with residents, it didn't seem like they had any interest in learning more about bicycle repair, sewing, etc. which was pretty shocking for me. At a previous institution, I had participated in events like those I had proposed to generally enthusiastic student response. Not so much here. However, what did seem to resonate was programming that slyly integrated sustainability as an educational component of the event. Which is what I had proposed in my last blog. This included plans to show an outdoor movie while encouraging students to turn their lights off in order to see the movie. We also planned to plug the IU Energy Challenge at this event and provide food from a local vendor that sourced fresh, local ingredients in their products. Well, I am happy to report that we held the movie event at the end of October to enthusiastic response. We had approximately 60 students come out to watch Wall-E, a movie with environmental stewardship undertones that was also accessible to the general student population. The Director for Environmental Affairs and I led a discussion regarding the IU Energy Challenge and sustainable practices residents of Teter Quad could implement or may be already doing. We also administered an exit survey of students at the event to determine their knowledge level of sustainability as a result of the program. We had 11 responses to the survey, with overwhelmingly positive response that students had learned new skills they could implement in their lives to save resources. They also agreed that they were more likely to use those skills and that they would like to see more sustainability programming in the residence halls.

This program was extremely encouraging and motivated me to host another sustainability event before the end of the IU Energy Challenge, to feed off of the energy of the first program and give one last push in the hopes that Teter could pull ahead and win the challenge. So two Fridays ago, in conjunction with a small group of RA's, I hosted an ugly sweater party/competition to increase the visibility of the Energy Challenge and encourage students to layer up to stay warm instead of cranking the heat in their rooms. As laid out in my previous posting, our group hung eye-catching posters advertising the competition and provided prizes to the top two winners. The event had about 20 participants, all of whom took the same survey as the outdoor movie participants to gauge student knowledge and behavior around sustainability. This time around, because the connection to the IU Energy Challenge wasn't as strong as the movie, it was hard to articulate how turning off your lights and taking 10 minute showers related to wearing sweaters in the colder months. I believe the general idea was lost on a lot of the participants as I only had two students from the survey say they actually learned new skills around sustainability and that they would implement those skills in their daily lives. Teter ended up in fourth place out of five buildings in our residential neighborhood for the Energy Challenge, which made me realize just how hard it can be sometimes to get people to care about something they are unfamiliar with. Or just plain don't care about.

Moving forward, I am preparing a sustainability training/workshop with two RA's from other residential buildings to present at the Residential Life winter training in January. We hope to explain sustainability through the four pillars of the Residential Life Experience: 1. Academic Initiatives, 2. Personal Development, 3. Exploring Beliefs, and 4. Community Development. We are taking this approach in the hopes of connecting the explicit values of the department with our sustainability value. Additionally, we want to create a sustainability reference guide for RA's to utilize when looking for programming ideas. That way they have something quick and easy (speaking to the values of busy undergraduate college students) to do with their floors that revolves around sustainability.

I am contemplating how I would like to round out this experience for the end of the semester. If anyone has ideas for taking this project to the next level, let me know! I'm open to feedback and would love to look at this project from a different angle.