SUSTAINABILITY |
from cover
the three Ps, which is people,
planet and prosperity, and
... we need all three of those
things to be fiilly sustainable.”
This week, the Office of
Sustainability has partnered
with organizations on cam
pus such as Elon Dining, Elon
Outdoors, the Student Profes
sional Development Center
(SPDC) and various organiza
tions to educate students and
community members about
sustainability, the collabora
tive efforts on Elons campus
and how individuals can do
their part.
Party for the Planet, which
will be held from 1:30 p.m. to
3:30 p.m. April 20 at Lakeside
Plaza, involves the most col
laboration across these orga
nizations.
“The SPDC will be there
talking about green jobs. Elon
Outdoors will be there talking
about how nature and be
ing outside is good for your
mental health and physical
health,” Rarer said. “WeTl
have a smoothie bike there,
... that you’ll pedal to power
the blender, and you’ll make
your own smoothie and see
how much enei^ it actually
takes to make that smoothie.”
In addition to these top
ics, the Office of Sustainabil
ity is also bringing to light
the amount of waste students
produce, much of which
comes from food.
According to Somini
Sengupta of The New York
Times, 1.3 billion tons of
food are wasted globally per
year. This is about one third
of all food grown.
So from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
on April 18 at Lakeside Din
ing Hall, students will have to
weigh their waste.
“The most food waste that
we have is from post-consum
er,” Rarer said. “We measure
all of our food waste at Elon,
... the stems of peppers and
those kinds of things, and ...
when a student comes and
eats half of a sandwich and
throws out the rest.”
Rather than placing plates
on rotating dish racks, stu
dents will first have to scrape
their plates into a bin, quan
tising not only the amount
of food they wasted during
lunch but also the amount of
food students waste ever)' day.
“We did this last month
as well, and we \N*asted 131
pounds of food \vzsie in ...
just that one lunch period,”
Rarer said. “We decided to
try to do it ever)- month. We
thought that would have a
bigger impact on the student
body.” But efforts to minimize
food waste and sustain pro
duction don’t end there. Elon’s
Loy Farm utilizes Grow Bio
intensive methods, which fo
cus on soil health and organic
materials for optimal harvests.
According to the U.S. De
partment of Agriculture, the
U.S. wastes more than $160
billion a year in food. But Loy
Farm provides food for Elon
Dining and for Campus Kitch
en, a club that harvests those
crops and uses them to cook
meals for the Allied Churches
of Alamance County.
“They don’t waste any
food, and they receive dona
tions from Elon Dining,” said
sophomore Jordan Rorton, a
cook team leader for Campus
Kitchen. “They compost all
food waste that they do have,
like any stems and plant parts
like roots, etc. ... and all the
food ... is donated to Allied
Churches, so there’s nothing
going to waste.”
ii
ITHINKTHAT
OFTENTIMES
INDIVIDUALS DO NOT
KNOWEVERWHING
THATTHE UNIVERSITY
IS DOING TO BE MORE
SUSTAINABLE AND
TO MAKE ^EASIER
FOR STUDENTS TO BE
SUSTAINABLE.
KATE PEARCE
SENIOR, ECO-REPS
COORDINATOR
Since 15 percent of peo
ple in Alamance County are
food-insecure according to
Southern University Con
sortium, this is a prominent
way in which the university
addresses sustainability in the
social regard.
“Last year, they har\'est-
ed 4,600 pounds of food that
went right out into Alamance
County,” Rarer said.
But food that ine\itably
goes to waste goes to Brooks
Contractor, a commercial
compost center, along \Nith
food containers from dining
locations on campus such as
Lakeside and Qdoba.
“We can compost things
like chicken bones and meat
and dair)'. A lot of times in
a back)‘ard composting, we
\\’ouldn’t be able to com|X)St
those, but we can here,” Rar
er said. “And Elon Dining, ...
the majority of the things they
give out is compostable, like
the to-go containers,... green
plastic utensils, anything that
will say compostable’ proba
bly in tiny litde letters.”
Note that the black uten
sils at Winter Garden are not
compostable, though the food
and drink containers are.
Also on Wednesday, the
Office of Sustainability will
continue spreading the spirit
of sustainability by partnering
with Elon Outdoors for Sus
tainable S’mores Outdoors.
“We’ll have some Eco-Reps
who are there to talk about
sustainability, and we bring
sustainable food, so fair-trade
certified chocolate, vegan
marshmallows and all that
good stuff^’ Rarer said.
And on April 19, Rarer will
lead a tour of Schar Hail and
Steers Pavilion, two of Elon’s
newest buildings, at 1 p.m.
“We have a green building
policy on campus, so any new
buildings that come along are
required to be LEED-certified,
which is Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design,”
Rarer said. “This is our 27th
certified project on campus.”
Elon’s green building pol
icy states new construction
projects and renovations that
occupy 8,000 or more square
feet will achieve at least LEED
Silver certification.
LEED-certified buildings
are ranked based on aspects
that make a building sus
tainable, including energy
efficiency, low-flow water fu
tures, the use of local and re
cycled materials, temperature
regulation and ensuring that
post-construction materials
were recycled.
“There’s a lot of work be
hind the scenes with energy
use,” Harer said. “For example,
we are in a pilot program for
energy conservation action,
which is where we’re piloting
10 buildings. After a certain
time, we raise the tempera
tures — we put the tempera
ture higher in the summer
and lower in the winter to
conserve eneigy so that the
heating and cooling won’t be
running constantly. It will
only run when people are ac
tually in the building."
Elon’s master sustainability
plan includes a comprehensive
plan to become a carbon-neu
tral campus by 2037. Students
can learn more about sustain
ability by \isiting the Office of
Sustainability's website, wwtv.
elon.edu/sustainability, and
get involved with sustainabili
ty events by \isiting the office’s
social media outlets.
Fl[£ PHOTOBVaCBIOISKd
ElOHroOD WASTE
GLOBAL FOOD WASTE
CORVWiMIEmiBSIB?
LOY FARM HARVEST
131 1.3B 4,600
Lakeside Dining Hall
generated 131 pounds of
food waste from one 11
a.m. to 2 p.m. lunch period
on April 18.
According to the New York
Times, 1.3 billion tons of
food are wasted globally
per year. This is about one
third of all food grown.
Last year alone, Loy Farm
harvested 4,600 pounds of
food that was then donated
to the Allied Churches of
Alamance County.
Top: Crops such as lettuce afiri npnnfl«. • r. , coryweulrielonnfwsn
Bottom: Though Elon may be cold nhntrri ^ greenhouse to be distributed to local churches,
them to grow. ’ ^ '^'orry as the greenhouse provides suitable conditions fi