I've just completed a marathon of an exam period -- and my last one ever! As much as I enjoyed my degree I am thrilled to be finished with the study portion of it. Now all that's left is a 10,000 word dissertation...
Sustainability Under Stress
Category: Sustainability
Why you should care about environmental policy, even if you don’t care about nature
A few weeks ago the conservative party in the UK released a 25 year plan for environmental policies. In the United States, environmental policy is generally relegated to liberals. In my opinion, most American liberals generally support pro-environment platforms because they feel like it is the progressive thing to do. Conversely, conservatives generally are against...
The Annoying Vegan
Disclaimer: I don't actually know anyone who is an annoying vegan. Everyone I know who is vegan is kind and has never once made me feel badly about my choices. But all of them did help convince me to go vegan and they have been extremely supportive ever since...
Sweaty Stinky Sustainable
I did some traveling to Ireland this past weekend so I thought I would share one of my minimalist/sustainable travel hacks. Ever since I started making my own hair products I've been curious about what other personal care products I could make myself. One product that I've been super interested in making is deodorant. Last year I forayed into the organic/natural deodorant genre...
Why Does Food Waste Matter?
We’ve all heard the admonition from our parents, “finish your plate, there are starving children in Africa.” It is admittedly a strange expression because the relationship between my plate of food in the United States (or anywhere else) and a food insecure person in a developing country is not clear. I’ve been writing and talking about food waste for a while...
Environmental Buzzwords: Transformative Adaptation
A guest lecturer in my Environmental and Resource Economics course spoke with us about her experience at COP23 last week. She mentioned that one of the relevant and growing topics among the side events in Bonn (the non-negotiating portion of the conference) has been the concept of "transformative adaptation." The concept itself...
Think Before You Toss
Following up on my October challenge, I'm working on reducing the amount of food that I waste. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that about 1/3 of food produced is lost or wasted. That is an astounding figure, especially considering that 1 in 9 people in the world struggle with food security. The arguments for reducing food loss and waste are diverse and compelling...
World Water Week
Living near the gorgeous waters of Lake Geneva (as opposed to the slightly scary waters of Lake Erie) this summer has made me appreciate clear and clean water. I wrote this post last week in honor of #WorldWaterWeek, but decided not to post it because...
Bokashi Composting
Since this is the first full year that I will be cooking for myself, outside of my parents' house and off of a college dining hall meal plan, I've been interested in ways that I can start composting. I visited some friends in Milan in June and was thrilled to discover...
Some Thoughts on Pesticides
I have mixed feelings about pesticides. I had mixed feelings about pesticides before writing my undergraduate honors thesis on the relationship between genetically modified crops and pesticide use, which resulted in my feeling more mixed. It's impossible to deny the benefits...
From Brown to Green 