Vermiculture is so cool!

I chose vermiculture as my research proposal, I have seen the worms box on campus with a class and I feel so impressed to see the great power generated by those little worms. A research should be related to something interesting or the whole research project will just be way too boring. Actually there are so many interesting articles on the internet about vermiculture, but most of them are about the good points of it. But I know it has some problems too, so I shift to twitter and some blog post about the people who really keep a worms box in their home. I found the advantage of the vermiculture -- using biology to decompose, takes less time and cause less pollution. The problem is that it is hard to control the amount of food putting in or it will generate odor.

And it is my first time doing educational piece. It is not hard to do the research but it is hard to have an educational piece related to the research as I want to make it more understandable. I used pictures and some really easy sentences to explain it. And I know a lot of my friends speaks Chinese, and during my research, I found that there is not technique about worms box in China. China, as a country with the second large population in the world, really need that technique. I checked on the internet, and learned that the worms in the box are red worms and about how to DIY a worm box.

Hopefully my education piece based on my research will help creating a better world.

Get Reusable Containers!

Blog Post 2

Anqi Zu

The sustainability related event that I chose to attend this quarter was held by my friend Rebecca, called the Bulk Foods Event. It combined both the elements I liked -- sustainability and food. They asked others to bring their own reusable container and offered free food in return. I went there when they were almost finished as I have a class before that. Luckily, I got early dismissal. The chocolate they offered is really nice and putting them in a cup with W on it is really cool!

And I know they want to prompt using reusable containers and using plastic containers have really huge impact to the environment. Plastic stuff gets dumped in the landfill, and piles up to being trash mountains. Even using paper bags consume a great amount of wood which is made by trees. Actually using reusable containers will cause little impact to the environment as if we used and store them properly, it can be used for decades. And actually if we consider the cost, using reusable containers are a lot cheaper than the one time options.

Hopefully there will be more events like that on our campus and make more people know about our sustainable related daily activity.

Marine Debris Education

For my community based learning and research I spent my time with the Campus Sustainability Educators. My experience went well and I was able to learn a lot on my own time. The program we followed took several weeks and was split into different sections by tasks. The first few weeks we worked on finding a topic of interest and then expanded upon the topic by finding a few pages of research to widen our knowledge on an issue. Examples of topics could come from a series of sustainability issues such as waste, transportation, water, energy, or even social issues such as food. For my topic I stayed focused on waste and pollution specifically in the ocean.  The weeks after that were spent creating ways to educate our campus on the issue. I made infographics to post throughout campus in places where students like to spend time such as the library, the food centers, and most areas near vending machines.

I enjoyed doing the work because I was able to choose the topic and it was actually a topic of interest. If there was a second chance for me to go back and do things differently, there isn’t much I would have changed except for how I managed my time by being more proactive. I got to learn a lot about a topic that most people won’t think of as an issue but contribute to it daily. Did you know the average U.S. citizen throws away 185 lbs. of plastic each year? Findings like this are important for us to identify real issues to be able to solve systemic problems. It was an interesting topic and I still believe we all need to familiarize more often with the issues of sustainability we create. 

Earth Week Sustainability Fair

On April 20^th 2017, the UW Bothell Campus Events Board and Cascadia College Cascadia Activities Board hosted a sustainability concert and community celebration on the sports field located near the wetlands. On this bright and sunny day, the event took place from 12-3pm and had a large turnout of organizations, vendors, and info booths. These groups involve, inform, and interact with anybody willing to attend, about how they include sustainability in their individual contributory ways. There was a stage for the live music performed by a sustainability-activist alternative rock band called Trapdoor Social! which was fun and kept it all lively. Going into the event I had no clue who would be there, but I went instead because somebody recommended it’d be better to at least check it out.

            In the end I found out there should have been no question about going. This event had relatability for anybody across all ends of the spectrum. From climbing to gardening, and from cycling to summer camps for kids, this was an all-inclusive meeting for anybody interested in making friends and learning how to create a better lifestyle for everyone. Although every booth I had stopped at was more than worthwhile, I had a couple favorites that I found I could relate to best. The first booth I really liked was the Campus Grounds and Maintenance booth. I had done some volunteer work with them and they were busy teaching listeners how they compost with worms, why they plant how/what they plant, and even were giving out free samples of campus grown Elder Tea. The actually had a small box of soil and worms on the side to show what composting looks like in action. Another booth I liked, which I hadn’t anticipated would be there was The Mountaineers booth. I talked to their representative for a while about what they do and what they are about. I found out that this is a great network to become involved in for anybody looking to pursue serious climbing because of all the benefits they provide; from discounts on gear to accessibility of guided mountain touring, this was something I would recommend people to check out. If this event happens again with the same outcome as this round did, I would recommend that everybody should at least give it a thorough walkthrough.  

Educating about Salmon Safe

My CBLR Educating About Salmon Safe

            My Community Based Learning experience started from taking BIS 240. While taking the Introduction to Sustainability class I worked with the Alexa and Cassie in the Sustainability offices to educate people about a sustainability related issue. The topic I choose to focus on was the endangerment of the wild Salmon population in the Pacific Northwest. Specifically, I educated about the University of Washington’s Salmon Safe certification and the impacts we on campus can have on the endangered species such as not driving leaking cars on campus, not dumping waste into storm drains, and refraining from pesticide and fertilizers. The runoff and storm drains wash into North Creek which is a tributary of the Sammamish River where the Salmon migrate through. Connecting these impacts from where the pollution begins and following it through where it goes and its impacts has been a really interesting part of educating because often times we feel disconnected with our impacts and waste and where it might end up.

            My educating task was to make an informational video to present to a class about my topic. I was excited at using a video to educate because it is hard to attract attention to a topic using posters or flyers on campus. However, I had never made a video before nor did I have any experience in film making. Luckily, I had a friend who was able to film me using their Surface Pro and we downloaded editing software to edit all the mistakes out. Even though the filming ended up being mediocre I was really excited when the final product came out and all the educational and informational points came out really well. Overall, my CBLR experience was very interesting as I saw correlations between what I was learning in class and the topics I was talking about in my educational video as well as gaining new video making skills which I had never done before.

Earth Week Garbage Sort

During Earth Week, I had the opportunity to participate on a campus Garbage Sort. After learning about what specific materials go in compost, recycling, or landfill, I was shocked to see the amount of contamination in each bag. Recycling and composting is an important step to becoming more sustainable in our practices. However, many people don’t know how to recycle or compost. Personally, I was unaware of where to put what specific items and the myths of recycling. For example, an item containing plastic has an indicator of what plastic type it is (exemplified by a number inside an arrow triangle). Many people assume this means the plastic is recyclable when it indicates what type of plastic it is, and based on the local recycling plant, whether you can or cannot recycle it.

Another issue we found while doing the garbage sort is a large amount of liquids or food in the recycling bin. Unfortunately, when recyclable materials are contaminated with food and liquids many recycling centers will refuse to recycle them. Contamination in paper recycling has become a major issue because food and beverages decompose the paper and it can no longer be recycled and instead must be composted. The contamination of one beverage thrown into the recycling makes the whole bin un-recyclable which is why it is important to dump liquids into a liquids bin, or if the liquids bin is unavailable, flush the liquid in the toilet or down a drain.

 It’s also important to know that many receipts including the University of Washington Bothell parking receipts contain BPA (Disphenol A). This organic syntmanyhetic compound has been known to have many harmful effects on people and the environment. So where do these receipts belong then? Unfortunately, the receipts cannot be recycled nor composted so they must go to landfill where they will be buried in many layers of trash and dirt. Although sorting through peoples’ trash isn’t the most fun Earth Week Event to attend, I feel like I learned very important sustainability skills which have helped myself and the environment.

After the event when Professor Rebecca Rivera weighed and totaled the percent of contamination in each bag I was shocked by the large percent of material that is in the wrong bag. There are many different types of packaging and compound material items it is hard to keep track of what is recycle, compost, or landfill. Therefore, participating in the event really helped me have hands on knowledge about the importance and complexity in recycling and composting. Luckily before the Garbage Sort my class had a quiz on sorting garbage so I was prepared. Even with learning many students including myself still weren’t sure on certain items like straws and dirty napkins. Thanks to the help of Cassie and Alexa in the Sustainability Office explaining why what goes where myself and many students have a deeper understanding of the process in recycling and composting. Do you know how to properly sort waste? Chances are, you are sorting some things wrong. 

Promoting isn't easy!

(DRAFT) Blog Post #2

 

     Jasmine Velasquez again! Here to tell you about my CBLR experience. I was so nervous to go to my orientation because I did not know what to expect or what I would be doing. At the orientation there was a lot said that had to be done for Earth Week, but I knew I could do it. After all, it was awesome experiencing my first internship at the Sustainability Office with Cassie and Alexa. Throughout I learned a lot, from doing a garbage sort with a class to learning how to create posters using Canva (online design website). I created my first poster for the Food Forest event where students were invited to go and plant a variety of different vegetables.

(This was the poster)

      During the promotional event for Earth Week, my poster was one of the posters that were picked up by students the most. At this event, it was a lot of advertising for each event that would be going on during Earth Week. It was difficult because to begin with there weren’t many students and it was raining. Having tea, coffee, and hot chocolate helped us because students started coming towards our table and we were able to promote each event. After talking to a few students it became a lot easier for me to interact with other students. As a result, this was really beneficial because a lot of students visited our Sustainability Office booth.

 

This was my CBLR experience, stay tuned to see what other CBLR students did!

Reduce, Reuse, Rethink your impact

    Hi, I am Jasmine Velasquez and I am an Earth Week CBLR Students in the Sustainability Office this quarter. During Earth Week, I attended the Reduce, Reuse, and Recreate event that was held in the lower level of the ARC on campus and had a great time creating sustainable cleaning supplies, and making handy bags out of t-shirts. It is shocking how just creating your own environmentally safe cleaning product can have a positive impact to the earth. Personally, whenever I do cleaning around the house I use plenty of Clorox, and other harmful chemicals to our environment. I have noticed people get so used to using the products they are comfortable and are unwilling to change their habits, which includes myself. After this event, I realized how much clothing I store in bags and boxes, when I could be donating them, or making little useful handbags for paperwork, supplies, or makeup. It is the little things and individual can do that can make a very big impact towards our earth.

    In order to make a positive impact on the earth I am going to work on the unsustainable habits I do on a daily basis. For example, not leaving the water running while brushing my teeth, or not leaving my appliances plugged in when not in use. Even if it seems to be a short amount of time it is still a significant amount of water being wasted. I also want to add some new sustainable habits to my daily life, such as shopping locally, using reusable shopping bags, and possibly planting my own garden. I know it is going to take effort to be able to do this but I know I can achieve it. Every single time I go grocery shopping I get tons of plastic bags to put my groceries in. That is really unnecessary because I could just buy a few reusable bags that I can reuse every time I go grocery shopping. 

I plan to make these changes and improve my sustainability practices in my personal life. Will you do the same?

My Virtual Journey Through Climate Change

During this CBLR program, we were asked to attend one sustainability-related event. I chose Martha Groom’s movie screening event because first off, the title of that movie sounded really appealing to me, and second, I am a cinematographer so I like movies in general. The movie I attended was called “How to Let Go of the World and Love All The Things Climate Can't Change” by an Oscar-nominated director named Josh Fox. It was deeply personal for him. He talked about how he decided to travel the world to Africa, South America, Asia, Oceania and much more after the hurricane Sandy hit New York in 2012, to investigate what climate change has done and its consequences. The movie was a little bit more than 2 hours long, but it didn’t feel like it because all of the overwhelming truth about the current condition of the environment kept coming in and surprised me.

I went in hoping it would be a cheerful documentary, but it was not. Half way through the movie, there was a footage of how Chinese people can’t open their windows due to too much pollution but the government is trying to cover it up. Later on, Josh shared a story about a Pacific Islander who couldn’t find his father’s grave near the shore because of sea level rise. All of the visuals and information are really thought provoking. It makes me think that everyone who Josh documented was from different political, racial and economic backgrounds, and they also were dealing with different problems. And all of the problems come from one cause only: climate change due to industrialization. The movie has changed my outlook on environmental issues. I guess that we have to be more aware of our impact on the environment because the consequences would not only harm us as a local community but also on a national and international scale.

Not Your Average CBLR-Earth Week CBLR

 About a month ago, there was a class day that all of the sites who provide CBLR Programs for student came and presented what they had to offer, Cassie was there too. To be honest, I was slacking off for the most part during that presentation, because I always felt left out due to the fact I might be the only Business student when everyone around me was either STEM or Environmental Studies. And then Cassie came on. The first word that caught my attention was “marketing” then “event” then “Earth Week”. And just like that, I was hooked. I decided to sign up since this program sounded the most familiar to what I had in mind. But the vision was still pretty vague. I just know this was what I wanted to do; a program that had a quick pace, a firm deadline, and a rewarding endpoint, not the basic other “every week 2 hours” internship everyone was signing up for.

I went in the first day and basically was bombarded with information and materials that needed to be done prior to Earth Week. I was not overwhelmed by the pressure, I was overwhelmed by how specific and important this event was going to be. Over the span of 2 weeks, this CBLR program has been providing me opportunities to do essentially everything, from giving inputs for our pledge board to cutting papers for about an hour every day, or participating in a garbage sorting day, or awkwardly and respectfully greeting the partners at Earth Week. The more I get involved in this program, the more I realize the importance of Earth Week to this campus specifically. Through the garbage sorting activity, we came up with calculations and numbers of how much waste was not sorted properly. That makes us realize that we need to raise more awareness of using the right bin at the three-bin stations because students are not really mindful when it comes to throwing garbage away.

Through the Earth Week main event on Thursday, we received a fair amount of creative pledges of how to make the earth a more sustainable place from using reusable water bottles to eating less meat. Honestly, I would have never thought of eating less meat would make this planet more sustainable. Through signing up for CBLR, I received more than Community Based Learning and Researching opportunities, I myself have raised my own awareness of the importance of Earth Week as an information source for the campus to improve itself and a knowledge source for students to educate themselves. And as important as it is, I hope Earth Week will be expanded and be a tradition of UW Bothell.

Welcome!

Welcome to the UW Bothell Students in Sustainability Blog!

One of the things that we work on in the Sustainability Office is educating the campus community on the sustainability initiatives and practices at UW Bothell. A way that we communicate this information is through student peer to peer education via the Community-Based Learning and Research (CBLR) program.

This blog will serve as one of the CBLR student channels of communication, where they will be given the opportunity to reflect on their experiences in working with us.

Below are videos from our past CBLR students, Aine Furhman, Priscilla Trivisonno and Courtney Palms. Take a look at their discoveries!

Please let us know if you have any questions, or want to be involved by contacting us at uwbsust@uw.edu.