“…We fight this fight in the world we live in, not the one we hope to build”
-Bill McKibben
As the class continues I find myself reflecting back on the early leadership material that was attempting to show us how to promote social change. We discussed the Seven C’s during one class period, and two C’s that stuck out to me the most and continue to pop up in my head are commitment and congruence. I feel that it would be natural for these two to come up while I’m reflecting because these were both individual values that were applied to the social change model. Throughout my ENSP studies I have changed my values, lifestyle, and even my behavior. I feel as though I attempt to practice what I preach or apply what I have learned to my everyday life and situations. When considering agriculture, if possible I try to buy organic produce to hopefully reduce the impact of conventional methods of Ag and industrial chemicals. Buying organic produce benefits the soil, the air, water quality, and promotes biodiversity. According to the FAO, organic agriculture takes a proactive approach as opposed to treating problems as they emerge. At the same time, I try to buy local products to reduce the farm to table travel time and energy expended in that process. It is estimated that the average American meal travels about 1500 miles from farm to table (CUESA). These are just small adjustments that I feel are almost habitual to me, like looking for a recycling bin when you have an empty can. I keep Bill McKibben’s quote in mind, when I feel like my actions are not congruent to my studies and my values. Although he was referring to activism directly, I like to apply it to the individual role one can play in making better choices for the environment.
Congruence was on my mind this month as I came across an interesting and impacting lecture about living a vegan lifestyle by Gary Yourofsky Lecture featured on his Youtube channel . This talk mostly focuses on animal rights and the unnecessary system of animal agriculture we have in place. The ethical, environmental, and health benefits of eating a plant based diet seem to increasingly outweigh the alternatives. One thing that stands out, is that eating or using animal products in this day and age is unnecessary. I feel as though we have been conditioned to think that you have to eat meat and drink milk, when in reality it may be the source of many people’s health issues with diabetes and heart disease. In terms of the environmental impact of the average American diet, I learned that one pound of beef, requires an average of 2,500 gallons of water (Biosciences). The combination of the lecture and astounding facts displayed in the documentary Cowspiracy, have altered my thinking on what I can do that directly affects the environment. The fact sheet on the Cowspiracy site which is backed up by credible sources, is almost overwhelming.
As I continue to develop my individual values through lessons of environmental awareness and stewardship, another C of the social change model presented itself, citizenship. March 5th was the city wide It’s My Park Day, and my neighborhood hosted a cleanup for Nicholas Dawson Park, where I have been reflecting. Unfortunately I was scheduled to work and no one was able to cover or swap shifts, but I nearly forced my roommates to go. I read in the neighborhood bulletin that the cleanup was a great success with a turnout of over 100 volunteers. Local businesses like Wheatsville and Chameleon even provided breakfast and lunch for those who could come out. I could not participate but I definitely enjoyed the benefits of a clearer creek as I noticed an unbelievable difference. As I sat at the creek I began to realize though that this annual clean up had been going on for a number of years. I wondered if there were any educational aspects involved with the cleanup, to promote lifestyle changes that could contribute to limiting the waste generation, that required a hundred people a year to clean up. I found myself feeling as though the cleanups were just a bandaid to the issue of consuming so many products with exhaustible amount of packaging. However I feel that the actual event may hold value to different volunteers for different reasons. I feel as though the absence of a annual cleanup, would just lead to a greater absence of citizenship when concerning pro-environmental action.
East Bouldin Creek is not always running at Nicholas Dawson, it is an intermittent stream.
Throughout the month I have been developing some guidelines as to how to conduct an individual experiment that would applicable to Austin’s food system. I plan to test the hypothesis based on my previous research; If one shops locally, they will directly generate less waste. According to a 2012 survey through the Hartman Group, around 37% agreed local was produced regionally or within its state, while half of those surveyed answered local was produced within 100 miles of sale. I want to spend a flat rate at three grocery retailers, HEB, Whole Foods, and Wheatsville, shopping only for products deemed local. I realize that by shopping at farmer’s markets, shopping locally would be almost impossible to avoid, yet given the schedule of the market versus grocery stores and my school schedule. I have chosen these three grocery stores as they all have the same yet different things to offer. Many would consider HEB to be a conventional grocery store, Whole Foods would be recognized as a global grocery store with specialty and sustainability in mind, and Wheatsville seems to focus on providing a community supported grocery store. I plan to document what each grocery store displays as local. Currently I plan on measuring the amount of waste through weight before and after recyclables are recycled. I may measure the calorie content of my purchases as well, If results of waste generation are not comparable. I plan to compare these companies’ efforts to reduce the amount of waste that reaches landfills, through recycling, reuse, and composting initiatives or programs in addition.
According to Austin’s Office of Sustainability “access to fresh nutritious food and reduced incidences of dietary-related disease and hunger would be offered through a local and sustainable food system”. The city is recognizing that a sustainable food system is one that is beneficial for both human and environmental health, with indirect benefits that complement each other.
I am looking forward to performing this experiment and I hope to produce data or results that can say something about local agriculture and waste generation.
cited:
http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/
http://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq6/en/
http://www.cuesa.org/learn/how-far-does-your-food-travel-get-your-plate
http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/content/54/10/909.full#cited-by
http://austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Sustainability/AustinFoodReport050115_-_FINAL.pdf
HartBeat: Consumer understanding of buying local. (2008). The Hartman Group. Retrieved Sept. 21, 2012
http://www.bouldincreek.org/wp-content/uploads/BouldinNewsletter20160203.pdf