Julianne Troiano // 24 November 2015 //  #GoingGreen

In Part 1 of this post we learned about Iceland’s unique landscape and its access to renewable energy. But what happened on the eighth day of the trip that left me so inspired?

          On the eighth day we hiked on the Sólheimajökull glacier located near the crater of the Katla volcano (and not far away from Eyjafjallajökull, the volcano that erupted in March 2010, causing the largest air traffic shut down over northern and central Europe since World War II). We were standing on the ice, listening to our guides, trying our best to move gracefully while wearing crampons (spikes attached to our boots!), and that’s when it happened!

          I realized that no one area is immune to climate change and that we all have to work together to take care of our planet. I was looking out to the edge of the glacier at a beautiful lagoon when our guide told us that the lagoon used to be a parking lot in the 1990s, meaning that the glacier melted to form a lagoon over the parking lot! It was a bit sad. Because of the location and shape of this glacier, it is sensitive to climate change. In fact, it has retreated (melted) about a kilometer in the last decade, much faster than originally predicted. The landscape around the glacier is changing extremely quickly and the dirt trail that we took down to the glacier has to be re-made every week because of these rapid changes (the old parking lot clearly can’t be used anymore). This is when I realized that we needed to act as a community to take care of the Earth.

Our path to the glacier. The people at the bottom of the photo are preparing a new path to access the glacier; a weekly job because of the rapidly changing landscape.

          This glacier hike was perfectly timed. Our guides brought us out here towards the end of the trip to educate us – to show us that we are all in this together—to show us that we, as citizens of this planet, are a community. We learned about all of the efforts that Iceland is making to go green and this hike pushed me to think what can I do? What can every community do?

Looking out from the top of the Sólheimajökull glacier. In the distance you can see the lagoon that was once a parking lot.

          Personally, I believe that science, education, and community are the key. On our hike someone asked our guide, “Doesn’t having people on hiking tours walk all over the glacier make it melt more quickly?” Our guide told us that walking on the ice does cause it to melt, but it is so minuscule compared to global warming. Our guide said it is much more important to get people out onto the glacier, educate them about the effects of climate change, and have them experience it for themselves. From that moment on I felt just as a part of the global community as a part of the community of my hometown in New York.

Having some fun during the glacier hike on the Sólheimajökull glacier.

          Of course Iceland is a special case. Economically it makes sense for an island like Iceland to avoid importing goods, including oil, and instead harness the energy of its unique landscape. We can’t expect the whole world to eliminate fossil fuels tomorrow with the snap of a finger, but we can work together as a collective community and take care of our planet. Through science we can improve renewable energy technologies to make them efficient and practical, through education we can spread this knowledge, and if we act as a community we can really make this happen.

          This is what makes the Going Green project so important. We are connecting through education and learning about sustainability. What types of things can you do in your community and at your school to go green? How can we educate our communities about climate change? 

Some Fun Stuff

The World Bank: Greenhouse gas emission data that you can use to generate charts and tables of your choice. Here I have data chosen to compare the CO₂ emissions per capita for Iceland, Germany, and the U.S.

Global Citizen: a social movement that aims to tackle the world’s largest issues, including climate change, as a community

Orkustofnun: the National Energy Authority in Iceland

Julianne Troiano // 24 November 2015 // #GoingGreen

This past summer I did something incredible. I hopped on a plane to Iceland and spent ten days learning about a land made of volcanoes, waterfalls, and glaciers, and the renewable energy technologies that fuel its people’s everyday life. From the scenery, to the food, to the unexpected presence of elves and trolls in Icelandic culture, there are tons of experiences that I could blog about from this trip. But I want to tell you about the moment when I realized just how important education, community, and science are to the world. First though, let’s talk about Iceland. 

          Iceland is a unique place. It sits on the Mid Atlantic Ridge, the boundary that separates the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, which are moving away from one another at a rate of 2 cm per year. This causes a lot of geological activity (volcanoes!). You can even walk and snorkel at points in the fault line throughout the country! Iceland is also located just below the Arctic Circle, meaning that glaciers cover 11% of the country. This makes for a pretty amazing landscape that includes volcanoes, glaciers, hot springs, and waterfalls—the Land of Fire and Ice. This also means that Iceland has access to hydro- and geothermal power, which are renewable energy technologies used to generate electricity and provide hot water and heat.

^{The Mid Atlantic Ridge in Thingvellir National Park. The wall in the distance (actually “The Wall” from Game of Thrones!) is the North American plate and the near wall is the Eurasian plate.}

          In short, Iceland runs completely off of renewable energy (except for transportation) through the use of hydro- and geothermal power. Hydropower plants use the flow of water and geothermal power plants use steam to turn the blades of a turbine, which spin a generator, and produce electricity. Geothermal water is also used directly as a hot water and heating source for houses, businesses, and schools.

 _{Outside and inside the first large-scale hydropower plant built in Iceland.}

          Research is also being done to develop greener transportation. We actually visited a farm that is growing rapeseed, which is used to produce canola oil to use as fuel, as part of a research effort studying how to make greener fuels. We poured some of this fuel into our bus and I can happily say that our bus ran just fine throughout the trip! Even the byproduct of producing canola oil, canola meal (see video below) has a purpose-it is food for the animals on the farm!

_{Here you see the production of canola meal, which is a byproduct when producing the canola oil for fuel. The canola meal is used to feed the animals on the farm. We all ate some!}

          I was in awe of this country that harnesses the power of the Earth to bring hot water, heat, and electricity to homes, businesses, and schools, and is working at making transportation greener. Yet on day eight of my trip I felt a rush of emotions, from sad to a bit angry, but eventually I felt inspired. And this is the day and the moment that I would like to share with you. For this week I will leave you with one last photo of Iceland, but come back next week to find out what happened on day eight of my trip! 

          Gunnuhver, Iceland. A highly active geothermal area of mud pools and steam vents on the southwest part of the Reykjanes Peninsula. The steam generated in natural hot springs like these can be used to generate electricity and even be used as hot water, which eliminates the need to use energy to heat the water!

Brandon Greenblatt // 27 October 2015 // #GoingGreen

A few weeks ago, when I had some free time and the sun was shining outside, I decided to leave my university campus and go for a bike ride around Washington, DC. I set off for the National Mall, a prime tourist destination located in the heart of the US capital. This being my first time on the Mall this semester, I was excited to visit some of the iconic city landmarks, including the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and the White House. (For our German readers, the National Mall is an outdoor space in the center of Washington, DC where most of the national monuments and memorials to influential presidents are located!)

My ride took me through the Georgetown neighborhood, along a bike path next to the Potomac River, and finally into the center of the city. I found my trip to be a great opportunity for exercise, reflection, and some time outdoors. It got me thinking…why don’t my American peers and I ride our bikes more often?

Germany is notable for its green transportation - from lower-emissions vehicles to bicycles - as a convenient and environmentally friendly way of getting around. While the United States is definitely making progress towards offering greener forms of transportation (bicycle use in particular), it still has a ways to go.

In the United States, one’s socio-economic status can be a major barrier to owning a bicycle. A 2009 study conducted by the Community Cycling Center, a nonprofit organization located in Portland, Oregon, found that African and Hispanic individuals are disproportionately unable to afford a bicycle. Even those who are able to purchase a bicycle still struggle to maintain it and pay for repairs. Of course, this economic barrier is not unique to bicycle ownership and is even more widespread for other forms of green transportation. Low and middle-income individuals across the United States struggle to afford many forms of high-tech transportation, such as hybrid and electric cars, which exhibit high financial barriers to entry.

Luckily, many cities in the United States offer programs to make bicycles more accessible to the average citizen. Capital Bikeshare, founded in 2010, provides low-cost bicycle rentals to individuals in Washington, DC and the surrounding Virginia area. Nice Ride Minnesota is a program similar to Capital Bikeshare and provides 1,550 bicycles for rent at 170 kiosks throughout Minneapolis and in nearby St. Paul. In my hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, the Knight Foundation Cycling Fund just recently gave Sustain Charlotte (a nonprofit that promotes green development patterns) a grant of $204,000 to promote bicycle use in the city.

Still, cycling is a viable form of transportation only as long as cities possess the infrastructure to support it. Living in Washington, DC, I’m lucky to be able to ride through a city with designated bike lanes that allow cyclists to ride outside of busy city traffic. In other cities, however, where automobile use is prioritized over cycling, it will take political haggling to convince city leadership to provide more bike lanes and cyclist-friendly infrastructure. The availability of such infrastructure is perhaps one of the most important determinants for whether or not a population will use bicycles as a form of urban transportation. In fact, a Forbes Magazine study in May 2015 ranked the top 20 most bike-friendly cities in the United States, and half of the evaluative criteria (including miles of bike lanes and road connectivity) were directly related to public infrastructure.

Ultimately, cycling as a form of green transportation will materialize only if a population wills it. In the United States, citizens are endowed with the opportunity to petition their local, state, and federal governments to implement cyclist-friendly policies. For that to happen, however, Americans have to intrinsically value green transportation as an alternative to automobile use. Americans – and individuals across the globe – would need to place a lower premium on their time and a higher value on protecting the environment. Clearly, this transformation is already occurring, and urban programs such as Capital Bikeshare and Nice Ride Minnesota show that many Americans hope that daily bicycle use can become a reality. For many Germans, however, this practice already is a reality.

This is a critical point and, I believe, a poignant opportunity for Germany and the United States to cooperate on sustainability issues. What makes bicycle use so widespread in Germany, and how can it become integrated into American culture? Do Americans need to increase access to bicycles, do they need to provide infrastructure that supports safe transportation, or is there a broader societal norm that needs to be addressed? Conversely, where has the United States made strides in sustainability, and which of those policies can Germany modify and adopt for itself? Germany and the United States are continually innovating and “going green,” but it is only with communication and transatlantic cooperation that we will truly make a difference.

Brandon Greenblatt // 20 October 2015 // #Experts #GoingGreen 

One of my recent posts on this blog included an interview with Aaron Silberman, the student director of Georgetown Environmental Leaders (GEL), a sustainability and environmentalist advocacy group at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.  Aaron spoke with me about the value of divestment as a tool for college students to advocate for greener energy resources.  To follow up on the topic of divestment, I spoke with Grady Willard, a fellow student at Georgetown University and a member of GU Fossil Free, Georgetown’s divestment organization. 

Hi Grady, thank you for letting us peek into your work.

During the Spring 2015 semester, GU Fossil Free began petitioning the Georgetown University administration to divest from fossil fuels. What exactly is divestment?  Moreover, what are the ethical and moral principles that guide individuals advocating for divestment, and what environmental studies substantiate your mission?

From gofossilfree.org, divestment is the opposite of an investment - it simply means getting rid of stocks, bonds, or investment funds that are unethical or morally ambiguous. Fossil fuel investments are clearly unethical - when you invest in fossil fuels, you are perpetuating a system that leads to global climate change, human rights abuses, health problems, and poverty that disproportionately affects politically disenfranchised communities.  New research also shows that investing in the fossil fuel industry is also not financially sustainable.

Please describe GU Fossil Free's divestment campaign at Georgetown.  More specifically, what are your ultimate goals and what has been achieved thus far?  

GU Fossil Free’s goal is that Georgetown University will divest from the top 200 coal, oil, and gas companies (in terms of proven carbon reserves.) So far, we have received a commitment from the university administration to divest from direct investments in coal ONLY. Yet, as far as I know, the actual divestment process has not begun.

What are some of the biggest benefits in working with a university administration to achieve divestment on such a large scale, and what are some of the struggles you have faced?

One of the hardest parts of the campaign has been trying to get the university to listen to students and to be more transparent about who is making decisions and where our money is going. One of the best parts of working with the administration has been the fact that many administrators are excited about how they can make Georgetown more environmentally friendly.

Georgetown University was founded in 1789 as the first Jesuit university in the United States. How do Georgetown University's Jesuit values and/or its position as a prominent university in Washington, DC influence your campaign for divestment?

Jesuit values teach that we should not be harming others - think "Faith and Justice" and "Women and Men for Others." GU Fossil Free argues that we should align our investments with our morals and not be complicit in a system of oppression.

What do collegiate divestment campaigns look like around the country?  Are other university students petitioning their administrations to divest, or do most hope to promote environmental awareness through different mechanisms?  

Some schools have declined to consider any divestment, while others have divested from all fossil fuels entirely.  Additionally, other universities have done a "half measure" like Georgetown has. And still, other schools have yet to consider the issue of divestment entirely. You can find a full list of commitments here.

Unrelated to university-level divestment, what advice would you have for high school students, in the US and Germany, to reduce their carbon footprint and help protect the environment?

Don't just try to reduce your own carbon impact, try to make an impact on a larger scale - whether in your community, at your university, at your workplace or at your state level.

If you would like to learn more about GU Fossil Free, please visit their website.  In particular, I would encourage students interested in collegiate divestment campaigns to read the full divestment proposal released by GU Fossil Free in August 2014.

Brandon Greenblatt // 15 October 2015 //  #Experts #GoingGreen

Aaron Silberman, a fellow student at Georgetown University with a strong interest in environmental and energy issues, currently serves as both a director of Georgetown Environmental Leaders and as the Deputy Secretary of Sustainability for the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA).  Aaron, originally from Austin, Texas, is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service considering a major in Science, Technology, and International Affairs with a concentration in Environment & Energy.  I asked him about his work with Georgetown Environmental Leaders and his perception of sustainability movements across the country.

Aaron, thank you for taking the time to share some of your experiences related to environmental activism with the Going Green community!

Tell us about Georgetown Environmental Leaders (GEL).  What is its purpose on Georgetown University’s campus, who are its student leaders, and how does it interact with the university and student administrations?
GEL was formed approximately four years ago to provide a framework that would allow different environmental organizations on campus to unite with each other.  Our goal is to communicate both with each other and the Georgetown University community in a cohesive manner.  GEL is led by four Student Directors who help organize events each semester such as a “Meet and Greet” hosted for new students, as well as a student evaluation of the university’s new Sustainability Plan.  It’s important to realize that GEL is non-hierarchical, so our intention is to unify Georgetown’s different environmental advocacy groups and not favor a single organization or policy over another.  Right now, we’re interacting with the administration to generate student input on the university’s Sustainability Plan, but our future work will be focused mainly on making sure that student, faculty, and staff voices are inherent in all aspects of university planning.

What have you found to be the biggest challenge with regard to coordinating environmental advocacy efforts on a university campus?
First, I must say that the benefits of uniting many of Georgetown University’s environmental groups under one framework outweigh any potential drawbacks.  Membership in GEL is entirely optional, and individual organizations always have the choice to include or exclude GEL from their work.  In this sense, there’s very little tension among the environmental groups at Georgetown because membership in GEL is entirely non-binding.
Second, university students’ focus on environmentalism has undoubtedly increased in the last four years, and this is a national trend not specific to Georgetown.  This means that, in general, university administrations have become increasingly receptive to organizations such as GEL and its constituent members.  Much of our work is a conversation about the nature of student involvement in the discussions regarding sustainability on Georgetown’s campus.  That is, we don’t advocate that the university adopt specific sustainability policies.  Rather, we focus on emphasizing the need for student input while discussing those policies.  Overall, throughout my time with GEL, I’ve found the university administration to be incredibly responsive to this approach, and I must say that we haven’t encountered any significant challenges thus far.

If you had to name one activity or campaign that an individual should support to encourage sustainability, what would that be?  Divestment, organic agriculture, using electric cars, etc.?  Why?   
This is a tough question, but I would have to say divestment from fossil fuels, both individually and at the corporate or university level.  In my opinion, divestment is a rather timely mechanism for causing environmental change.  Additionally, I think the notion of divestment raises broader and important questions about our society’s values and what has developed as the building blocks of the United States economy.  Divestment is predominantly a moral argument, but it’s also interesting to see how financial systems interact with the fossil fuel industry.  Most businesses promote fossil fuels as a cheap and easily accessible form of energy, but I firmly believe that it is possible to align morals with financials and have a return to investment.
As a public awareness issue, divestment is particularly interesting.  University students who campaign for their schools to divest from fossil fuels truly help to raise awareness about the danger of a reliance on fossil fuels.  If institutions are complicit with the fossil fuel industry and a citizen is unaware of such an arrangement, then change cannot occur.  On the international level, we already see that such change has happened.  At a recent G-8 summit in Germany, the United States pledged to cease the usage of fossil fuels by 2100, a decision I wholeheartedly support.
At the university level, I think divestment is a great mechanism for students to promote environmental sustainability.  I firmly believe that the motto of environmentalism should be “Do what you can!” and divestment is a clear avenue for students to lobby their university administrations.  As we saw with GU Fossil Free’s efforts lobbying Georgetown University just last semester, divestment is an opportunity uniquely available to college students.

How would you characterize the sense of environmental stewardship on Georgetown University’s campus and on other college campuses across the United States?
I’m immensely proud of both the work that Georgetown University students and students at other American colleges have done to protect the environment.  Our generation is keenly aware that our lives will be impacted by climate change; we’re unique in that we keep one eye on the future and one eye on the present.  I feel very lucky to be a part of this movement, and I’m eager to promote environmental awareness to all of my colleagues and peers.  “If you are interested in X, the environment is relevant and will affect X,” I like to say.  Climate change truly is the great equalizer, but at any age you are capable of making a positive change.

If you are interested in learning more about Georgetown Environmental Leaders, please visit their website or find their page on Facebook.

Julianne Troiano // 04 October 2015 //  #GoingGreen 

My name is Julianne Troiano and I am the second virtual intern from the United States working on the Going Green project. Along with Brandon, I will be contributing to this blog by writing about sustainability efforts in the United States. Learning about and discussing the environment, sustainability, and current affairs is really important to me and I am excited to be a part of this team. I look forward to working with all of you and sharing this learning experience!

Let me tell you a bit about myself. I was born and raised on the beautiful south shore of Long Island, which is just across the river from New York City. I discovered my love for chemistry during high school where I had the greatest teacher, Ms. Kinlan, who always kept us on our toes with fun demonstrations like blowing up "evil" green gummy brears. blowing up “evil” green gummy bears I discovered my love for research during my time as an undergraduate at Fordham University in New York City while working for Professor Jon Friedrich studying the elements (iron, oxygen, silicon, and many more) found in meteorites—one time we had a meteorite sample that was so rare, we were not allowed to take it out of its container! Now I am a graduate student in chemistry at Northwestern University, which is located on Lake Michigan in Illinois. I work in the lab of Professor Franz Geiger studying how nanomaterials interact with the environment. Nanomaterials are tiny chunks of materials (around 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair!) that have unique properties that can be used to improve technologies from solar panels to water purification to batteries (and many, many more), but we don’t know much about what happens if nanomaterials are exposed to the environment. The group that I work with hopes to be able to predict how nanomaterials will behave in the environment and use this information to create nanomaterials that are sustainable before utilizing them in technologies—our group calls this “benign by design.”

^{Julianne in the research lab (photo credit: Julianne Troiano)}

Nanomaterials may sound very technical, but we encounter them in our everyday lives and they could play a huge role in sustainability because of the unique properties they possess. Through these posts I strive to make the science of sustainability accessible to everyone, but also challenge myself to consider the political and economic angles of each topic. I am very excited to learn with you throughout the year and I am happy to chat by email, phone, or video, so please feel free to contact me through the Going Green organizers. Also, if there is a topic, technology, or news story that you would like to see a post about, just let us know!

Let’s learn together!
Julianne

Julianne Troiano // 04 October 2015 // #Experts #GoingGreen 

Early last month over 30 high school teachers of English as a foreign language had the chance to discuss current challenges concerning sustainable development in the U.S. with Hon. Fran Ulmer, the chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. Fran Ulmer was in Germany to participate in the Polartagung Conference and to speak in Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Berlin about the Arctic Council’s work on
a network of marine protected areas and
prevention of oil pollution and ocean acidification. She took the time out of a very busy schedule to discuss sustainability in the U.S. with high school teachers from the Going Green program at the U.S. Embassy Teacher Training Seminar in Berlin. The Teacher Training Seminar followed an exciting event for the U.S. – President Barack Obama’s visit to Alaska where he put climate change in the spotlight and became the first U.S. president to visit the Arctic Circle (more on this in a future post).

We had a chance to ask Fran Ulmer a couple of questions about her opinion of President Obama’s visit to Alaska and how individuals can play a role in combatting climate change.

President Obama visited Alaska in August to, as the White House put it, “shine a spotlight on what Alaskans in particular have come to know: Climate change.” How would you assess the impact of this visit nationally and globally?

“President Obamas visit to Alaska was very significant for many reasons. He focused attention on how rapid changes in climate are impacting communities in the Arctic, today, not in the distant future. Over two hundred journalists from around the world came to listen and to learn. They took their stories to the world and helped increase the understanding of many people about why it is important to work together and take action to slow the warming of the planet.“


You recently took time out of a very busy schedule to address high school teachers engaged in the U.S. Embassy Going Green school project in Berlin. Combatting climate change requires an enormous global effort on behalf of government and industry. Can individuals really make a difference?

Everyone can make a difference by reducing their consumption of fossil fuels, and helping friends and neighbors understand and appreciate what can be done locally and globally. In addition, we can encourage elected leaders to prioritize action steps nationally and internationally; for example, supporting more renewable energy development, putting a price on carbon, increasing energy efficiency of homes and cars, and reducing waste of the resources, like water, on which on life depends.“

More on Hon. Fran Ulmer’s trip to Germany: An interview she gave for the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Brandon Greenblatt // 30 September 2015 //  #GoingGreen

My name is Brandon Greenblatt, and I’m a sophomore at Georgetown University in Washington, DC majoring in International Affairs. For the next eight months, I will be interning virtually with the United States Embassy in Berlin working on this project, Going Green: Education for Sustainability. I’m incredibly excited about the opportunity and look forward to working with you all on such an exciting and important project.

          One of my roles as a member of the Going Green team will be to contribute to this blog, helping to inform both American and German high school students about sustainability efforts in the United States. My education at Georgetown University focuses, to a large extent, on the political and economic aspects of international relations, and you’ll see that influence reflected in my blog. Over the coming months, I will write about many environmental and energy initiatives in the United States, from the Keystone XL Pipeline debate to President Obama’s recently-updated climate change plan to the plastic bag tax here in Washington, DC. I hope to inform you all about the scientific relevance of these topics, but I’ll also try to approach everything from political and economic angles as well. Some questions I’ll be asking myself, and hopefully questions that you’ll begin to consider, are:

• If it’s in everybody’s interests to protect the environment, why do politicians from different political parties present such conflicting approaches to sustainability?
• How might a scientist’s understanding of the environment differ from that of a politician or an economist?
• What sustainability movements exist on the local, state, and federal levels of the United States’ government? How do public citizens interact with the government in promoting environmental awareness?
• What does sustainability look like where I live, here at Georgetown University and in Washington, DC? And how do college students across the United States exhibit environmental awareness?

Finally, if you are ever interested in communicating with me directly, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Looking forward to a great year, und viele Grüße!

Brandon Greenblatt

Joannis Kaliampos// 15 September 2015 // #GoingGreen

Clara del Rey // 8 July 2015 // #GoingGreen #WasteNot

A growing number of waste-free food stores is now popping up in cities across Europe | (c) Clara del Rey

Buying your vegetables and fruits wrap-free is really a doddle. As I wrote yesterday, you only need to join an organic cooperative or CSA, walk to the nearest farmer’s market or, in the worst case scenario, limit yourself to buying the loose vegetables and fruits at your regular supermarket.

But when you commit to the waste-free quest, every single plastic wrap can cast a shadow in your conscience. What a great thing, then, that more and more little old-fashion convenience stores are appearing in Europe’s cities, where you can buy loose products in your own upcycled bags, jars, reusable plastic or metal containers and bottles. Very recently, the store Original Unverpackt in Berlin caught the attention of international news media. Take a look at how the owners explain their approach:

Sometimes they are whole foods supermarkets, little cooperatives, or the good old Mediterranean-style Sunday markets. In Edinburgh we have a tiny coop where I can refill my jars with pulses, rice, flour, salt, sugar and chocolate, teas and spices, cereals and nuts. On top of that, they also offer oil and vinegar, cleaning products and toiletries, all on about 40 square meters! I really consider this shop a gift for our community and I can say today that it has made my life much better, so I truly recommend you to look for a similar one in your vicinity. Sometimes it happens that they are located far away from home (as mine is), then look at the brighter side, organize yourself, write your weekly shopping list and cycle there on a day off. Then apart from helping the environment, this routine will be a great physical exercise for you as well!

Clara del Rey // 10 July 2015 // #GoingGreen #WasteNot

While a good number of those who live a waste-free life are vegans or vegetarians (and for that reason can safely say that they can buy most of their food package-free), I am an omnivore and eat both meat and fish together with my greens. Nowadays, it appears to me, identifying stores and markets where you can buy loose products (without plastic packaging materials, that is) as it was common just two or three decades ago, has become extremely difficult. I still remember my mother going to the fishmonger or the butcher sections in the supermarket and buy her preferred goods wrapped in paper, but today, it seems, absolutely everything comes in a styrofoam tray wrapped in one or even two plastic wrap layers—what a waste!

I was glad to see that, among last year's Going Green student action plans there were a number of groups who directly addressed this issue within their own schools and local communities. The students from Schubart-Gymnasium in Aalen, for example, investigated consumer opinions on local produce, interviewed customers and vendors at their local farmer's market, and reached out to their community through newspapers and radio. Or the students from Strittmatter Gymnasium in Gransee who organized an action day at their school about their project Food for Thought. And, eventually, take the example of the students at Goethe-Gymnasium in Frankfurt who impressed not only me with their concept of a mobile app, Greenate, that shows its users where to find the nearest stores, markets, and restaurants that prioritize local and organic products.

My personal advice is, if you really want to make a difference, both socially and environmentally, look for your nearest small traders and buy your fish, cheese, meats or eggs from them. Inquire about bringing your own containers, I am sure they’ll be just delighted to fill them with your choice of products. Support the little family businesses and cooperatives that will help your community grow stronger. And, if you eat a variety of foods like I do, do it responsibly, buy less (get information of how much intake is really sustainable for our planet), and buy it better, buy organic. Along these past four weeks, I have shared with you some of my most basic strategies to save waste and live a more conscious lifestyle by building connections with your surroundings, enforcing ethical values, and thereby increasing your health and wellbeing. For me, this lifestyle isn’t just a trend, but a necessity, as our planet is in a critical condition because of the damage our consumer decision can cause to the oceans, forests, atmosphere, and the long etcetera of nature’s treasures.

Taking steps to protect the Earth is actually quite easy and, this I hope has become evident in my blog posts, even fun—especially when you realize how big the waste-free movement is becoming. Have courage to connect with them and build bridges. It definitely is a wise use of your social media and will certainly help you to stay motivated in your journey, as you will be able to appreciate just how meaningful your ‘little’ steps really are.

I buy a lot of loose, waste-free products at this store in Edinburgh | (c) Clara del Rey

If you want to start today, I encourage you to join the latest waste-free challenge: Plastic-free July, a challenge born in 2011 in Australia that has now become tremendously famous and turned itself into a national event down under and beyond.

Have a look into their website and Facebook page for more tricks and ideas. I wish you the best of luck and thank you dearly for lending me some of your time these last few weeks! Clara

Clara del Rey // 7 July 2015 // #GoingGreen #WasteNot

Every week, I receive a fresh produce box from our local farmer. | (c) Clara del Rey

If you care about the environment, you’ll soon realize that it takes more than just reducing the amount of plastics in your life to achieve this. What truly matters, in my opinion, is living a life with minimal impact on the planet’s wellbeing.

When I talk to people about this, they frequently tell me that politics need to set the conditions for sustainable development. While this may be true, it is only one part of the solution. Instead of looking to our parliaments for answers, we need to realize that we ourselves can have an impact on sustainable development—every time we make decisions as consumers. If you think about it, the shopping basket can be just as powerful a tool as the ballot, and we should make good and careful use of it.

My view is that buying locally grown and organic products isn’t just the latest eco-trend, but the logical outcome of a responsible and respectful behavior towards our natural resources. I firmly believe that these products are as convenient for us as they are for the planet, for a good number of reasons. Today I’ll give you a handful of them, but I really encourage you to do a bit of research on your own, have a thought about it, and make your own rational choices.

• Organic and healthy veggies and fruits are grown without the use persistent pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. Originally designed to kill living organisms such as plagues, pesticides cause contamination in the soil, water and earth, and, as many experts argue, are potentially harmful to our health. Synthetic fertilizers are made from large quantities of fossil fuels, and therefore degrade the soil and lower your produce’s nutrient density.

• When breeding animals to produce meat, eggs, milk or cheese, for example, organic farmers avoid synthetic growth hormones and antibiotics. These are believed to stress the animals and make them develop dangerous antibiotic-resistant infections. For us, they are considered endocrine-disruptive chemicals and can bring a good load of associated health problems.

• Organic farmers don’t use GMOs, because of their fatal impacts on ecosystems.

• When buying local, you bring prosperity to your community and support endemic ecosystems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_uZSCaUaQY

Community-supported agriculture, explained by The Lexicon of Sustainability | (c) The Lexicon of Sustainability

I am quite lucky to have a CSA, a community-supported agriculture system in the city where I live. A “CSA” you might ask? Well, this is a great thing. The Lexicon of Sustainability explains the approach:

Buying a CSA membership means entering into partnership with a local farmer. The member buys a subscription at the beginning of the season. This cash infusion allows the farmer to pay for seed, water, equipment and labor in the early season when farm expenses are high and farm income is low. In return the farm provides its members with a box of fresh picked seasonal produce each week. CSAs build community by reconnecting its members to the seasons and fostering relationships between members and the people who grow their food.

So this is how it works in Edinburgh, Scotland, where I live: Every Tuesday, the local farm that I support sends a big box of vegetables and eggs to our home. You never know what the contents of the box will be, but they are always local and organic. For me, this is a perfect incentive for my imagination and it helps me to explore new flavors and cooking methods. More and more cities are adopting this service today, but if there aren’t any nearby, you can take your reusable bags and head to the local farmer’s market. And don’t worry, change doesn’t need to happen overnight: Set yourself simple goals, for example, start with one group of products, say, lettuce, and then expand your local shopping list from there. I guarantee you, once you try this produce you’ll never want to switch back!

Clara del Rey // 3 July 2015 // #GoingGreen #WasteNot

How do you like my reusable lunch kit? | (c) Clara del Rey

Nothing about the consumption habits of our society saddens me more than a take-away shop and the ready-made meal section of the supermarket. What a waste of plastic and resources! The solution to this enormous waste issue couldn’t be, on the other hand, easier: get a waste free lunch kit, plan your meals ahead, and cook them at home. You will quickly appreciate the beneficial results of this new habit as you’ll drastically reduce your waste, eat much healthier, and save a lot of money.

A plastic free, reusable lunch kit is very easy to assemble.

1. You will need, of course, an airtight container. I got a stainless steel container online for my cold meals, and I simply use a glass jar for the hot ones (so I can conveniently reheat it in the microwave).
2. Be sure to get a spoon and a fork. I got my trendy “spork” as a gift from Travel Well Magazine and Life Without Plastic, but before that I simply used to take a pair from home and put them in my backpack. You can use this every time you buy some snacks or ice cream on the street, refusing to take plastic ones (I agree, it may feel a bit odd at first, but why not give it a try if you carry them with you anyway?).
3. Always take a cotton napkin with you.
4. Make or buy a fabric case for your sandwich. Mine was also a present and is made from linen, but you’d be surprised with the ideas of people online. They make very cool cases with old pillow cases or dresses!
5. Finally, get a reusable bottle to refill with water, tea, coffee, or your homemade drink (mine is just a lemonade glass bottle my sister bought last December). There are plenty of options, for example, glass or stainless steel bottles. Whichever you choose, you should definitely avoid the little plastic cups on the water cooler, and consider stopping buying drinks bottled in plastic. Even if you can recycle some of them, remember that the best way to help the environment is to reduce!

So, why don't you make your own reusable lunch kit? The Nourishing Gourmet blog has some really stylish alternatives to your usual plastic containers and snack bags. Also, if you rather would like to create your own unique snack kit, take a look at this tutorial on creating reusable snack bags.

Clara del Rey // 1 July 2015 // #GoingGreen #WasteNot

Homemade stew | (c) Clara del Rey

Next week I will blog about where and how buying your goods in a conscious and respectful manner. In this post, however, I want to explore the foods you don’t need to buy at all, because you can easily make them yourself with two or three tools and a bit of practice. When I decided to go zero-waste, I looked for inspiration and ideas in all sorts of blogs and Instagram accounts. Soon I discovered that many of my fellow bloggers seemed to have one thing in common: they cook (quite simple, right?). Some of them with true skill, some others (myself included :) ) with better intentions than results, and a good amount of patience.

Here’s the point where I have to make a confession: At the beginning of this transition, I only knew how to fry a steak a make a salad, and I thought I just wasn’t made for cooking at all. I used to spend a big portion of my salary buying convenience food and snacks in the supermarket. I remember getting tired easily and always feeling as if in a bad shape. Becoming waste-free has truly helped me to learn new skills and live more healthily, and now I love cooking and trying new recipes and cooking hacks almost every day.

Glass jars, pulses, and a pressure cooker have become steady companions in our kitchen. | (c) Clara del Rey

Here is my selection of products you can easily cross out from your shopping list by making them in your kitchen using only an oven and a stove, a pressure cooker, a ceramic and a tin tray, a hand blender, a frying pan, and a medium sized pot. That’s all I use.

• All the cakes and desserts that you want, including energy bars.
• Breads, chips, Mexican tortillas (it is an obligation for me, as I am gluten intolerant).
• Preserves (jams, chutneys, tomato sauces, etc.).
• Pulses and all kind of casseroles and stews.
• Vegetarian pates.
• Ketchup, mayo and all kind of sauces.
• Yogurts and some cheeses.
• Juices.

What? You don't believe me? Just don’t be afraid to try and experiment, cooking, as any other skill, is something that you acquire, not a natural talent! Here are some of my favorite recipes: These no bake energy bars by Lauren Stinger's blog Trash is for Tossers. (Also, check out the entire recipe section of her blog for some inspiration.) This super delicious homemade fruit jam that also makes a great present. This tasty tomato ketchup that will leave you wondering why you've never tried this before. And this guide to cooking beans, chickpeas, lentils, and peas. Bon appétit!

Clara del Rey // 30 June 2015 // #GoingGreen #WasteNot

Reusing glass jars is easy: clean them in hot water and store them in your kitchen until needed. | (c) Clara del Rey

When adapting to your new waste-free lifestyle, organization, determination and creativity are key to success. Without any doubt, the kitchen is the place where we use most single-use products and it is also the place where we keep most plastic tools and containers.

If you indeed want to commit to a zero-waste lifestyle, the kitchen will be your site of experimentation to get rid of old habits. For me, this has meant to change some of my regular routines and adapt new ones.

First of all, try to avoid buying single-use items. Even if some of these products can actually biodegrade, you should keep in mind that the three “Rs” – reduce, reuse, recycle – are best followed in that sequence. Ask yourself, “Can I reduce it?”, that is, is it possible to avoid a product altogether? If not, can you at least reuse it, and thereby prolong an item’s lifespan? If you can neither reduce nor reuse an item, then at least you should find out how you can recycle an item once you have used it, or find a way to dispose of it responsibly.

I keep many ingredients in these decorative and reusable jars on our kitchen shelf. | (c) Clara del Rey

So evaluate which of the kitchen tools and materials are really necessary for you and use your imagination and resources to substitute them for clean alternatives. Personally, I have realized I don’t need as many things as I thought in the beginning. Here’s a list of my durable kitchen essentials:

• Reusable rags (I wash them periodically with my laundry) instead of paper towels. Also, kitchen towels and cotton napkins are a great replacement for their paper equivalents.
• Reusable kitchen or baking sheets made of silicone instead of wax paper and aluminum sheets. They come in cool shapes and colors, too.
• Upcycled jars to store goods in shelves or in the fridge, instead of plastic containers and cling film. Mine look fantastic when filled with different ingredients and placed openly on shelves. You can also decorate them!
• Needless to say, ceramic or glass plates and cups instead of the disposable ones.
• A good glass bottle to refill with water instead of its plastic equivalent.

So, what are you waiting for? To get you started, check out these great tips. The Foodwise site will show you that creating a waste-free kitchen only takes a few ingredients: a piece of paper, clear airtight storage containers, an efficient fridge, a freezer, a measuring cup, and a sense of adventure. Or check out these 7 tips for a zero-waste kitchen from the Zero-Waste Chef blog. Finally, a great approach to freeing your kitchen from waste comes from the Mother Earth Living blog. Happy experimenting and enjoy transforming your kitchen!

Clara del Rey // 25 June 2015 // #GoingGreen #WasteNot

Once I had crossed out from my list all the potentially hazardous home cleaning products and replaced them with a handful of biodegradable and almost edible ingredients, only two more plastic bottles were left in my cabinet: laundry detergent and softener.

Making your own softener from scratch isn't that difficult| (c) Clara del Rey

I was quite skeptical in the beginning, but it was a pleasant surprise when I discovered that vinegar, in spite of its strong smell, really is the best natural softener you can find. If you combine it with a bit of soda and the essential oil of your preference (mine is ylang ylang or perhaps lavender), it leaves a pleasant fragrance on your clothes. If by any chance after using this for a while you need to get back to the industrial, run-of-the-mill softener, you most likely will feel bit overwhelmed by the smell, realizing how strong it actually is. For the actual detergent I use either some washing soda from the drugstore, or simply my grated Castile soap. Also, lately I have discovered these comfy soap nuts that biodegrade completely. According to the Paleohacks blog, soap nuts are

the shell of the fruit that grow on a bush/tree in the lychee family, native to Nepal and India. The best part is that they’re an all-natural, (usually) organic alternative to chemical laundry detergents. They’re totally non-toxic. On top of that, you can also use them in a variety of ways unrelated to washing your clothes.They’re great for babies and for people with chemical sensitivities.

In a nutshell (no pun intended), all you do is put a couple of these shells in a little cloth bag, throw it in your washing machine, and do your laundry. That’s it. Each batch of shells lasts a few loads, so they’re economical as well. When they are no good to use anymore, you can throw them into your compost bin.

You see, even if you’re not into making your own soap and detergent, there are lots and lots of ways to green your laundry.

Clara del Rey // 23 June 2015 // #GoingGreen #WasteNot

A matter that had always concerned me about my household was disposing used cooking oil responsibly. Why? One reason is that for every drop of oil we pour down the pipes, we are polluting one thousand drops of water.

When I was still living in Spain, recycling used oil was ‘relatively’easy as you could keep it until have a large quantity, and then take it to a collection point offered by the City Council for this particular purpose. (Here, for example, you can read about a campaign to recycle used olive and other cooking oils to make soap and biofuel in the city of Lleida, Spain.) In Scotland, however, this isn’t as easy, or at least I couldn’t find the way of recycling my oil, and just I wasn’t comfortable flushing pollutants down the drain. There are many proposals on how to reuse your used oil, but being in a DIY phase as I was, after the success of the all-in-one cleaning spray I had created, I decided to do what thousands of wise women (my grandma included) have been doing for centuries: make my own soap.

Collect used cooking oil and add citrus peels | © Clara del Rey

So now I collect the oil in an old jar for green olives (quite appropriate, isn’t it?), together with some orange or lemon peels to eliminate bad odors, and when I have collected about a liter, I start the process. Making Castile soap is actually quite easy, you only need oil, water, and caustic soda, which is a chemical you can buy in any drugstore and isn’t as toxic and harmful for your health as the chemicals I mentioned in my previous posts. And if you like it a bit more fancy and enjoy experimenting, then simply add leaves and essential oils to make your own unique hand soap!

Mix ingredients and cook soap | © Clara del Rey

In fact, Castile soap is a multifunctional ally in our household: I frequently melt it, grate it, or dilute it in water to make dishwashing liquid, floor cleaner, and laundry detergent.

Et voilá! Self-made, organic soap from recycled oil | © Clara del Rey

Want to try it yourself? Check out these easy methods to recycle and reuse cooking oil and try out Frugal Kiwi’s step-by-step guide to producing your very own and unique Castile soap.

Clara del Rey // 19 June 2015 // #GoingGreen #WasteNot

Self-made, eco-friendly all-purpose house cleaning spray | © Clara del Rey

Soon after beginning my conversion to a waste-free lifestyle, I found myself re-evaluating my entire approach to cleaning our house. I used to be one of these persons who thought that when it comes to removing dirt and stains, the stronger the chemicals I used, the better. Also, I firmly believed that each space in the house required its own particular product, and so I did the only ‘logical’ thing: I accumulated dozens of sprays, bottles, tubes, cans—you name it, filled with toxic liquids under my sink. For me, this was normality, and a necessary step in the process of living in a healthy and clean house.
The trigger that eventually made me rethink my assumptions wasn't other than trying to reduce the amount of plastic I was purchasing and tossing to the landfill. And so I began doing my own research on how other people living a plastic-free lifestyle manage to resolve the cleaning issue. Soon I discovered that not only is there a sheer multitude of recipes and tutorials available for making these products easily yourself, but also a hundred more reasons (at least!) to abandon the conventional ones. Many of the chemicals those bottles contain are quite harmful for us and the environment. The antibacterial component triclosan, for example, which is commonly added to dishwashing liquids is non-biodegradable. Or take your common polishers and laundry detergents:

writes the eco-blog Mother Earth living. Such VOCs have been linked to causing cancer, and can lead to nausea, wheezing, and skin rashes. This is why I came up with the idea of making one—and only one—disinfectant that I always keep in the same reusable bottle, of course. It is harmless for my body, and yet an effective alternative to the products sold in supermarkets. Mine is made from vinegar, which is very effective with lime scale, bathroom scum and tarnishes on metal; tea-tree oil, a natural disinfectant; soda, a mild abrasive with low toxicity to forming detergent when reacting with grease; and a squeeze of lemon to inhibit mold growth and deodorizing (orange or lime or grapefruit peel or juice work just as fine). You don’t believe me? Then check out these 5 nontoxic recipes for effective cleaners from the GAIAM life blog and see for yourself.

Clara del Rey // 18 June 2015 // #GoingGreen #WasteNot

(Almost) waste-free tooth brush, mouth wash, and tooth paste | © Clara del Rey

This is what a waste-free teeth-kit looks like: bamboo brush, homemade paste and concentrated herbal mouthwash, stored in a glass jar. If you give it a quick thought, disposable plastic toothbrushes are a big environmental concern. Each of us uses an average of one toothbrush per month that systematically gets tossed to the landfill, because they are recycled in only very few countries. There are several proposals to avoid toothbrush waste, but for me, bamboo seems to be the most practical one. Bamboo grows fast and can biodegrade, so it keeps my conscience clear. I also make my own toothpaste with only two ingredients: coconut oil and baking soda (you can add essential oils of your choice if you like), and it truly works well for me, my teeth are whiter than ever, but you can also buy your paste in an aluminum tube, and make sure to recycle it properly.

Lauren Stinger, from Trash is for Tossers, inspired me with her recipe for homemade toothpaste. She writes in her blog that there are at least three good reasons why she eliminated storebought toothpaste from her bathroom:

1. The packaging: Yes, this is a very obvious aspect. Most tooth pastes come packaged in plastic or aluminum tubes, plus an additional carton. Self-made toothpaste can be produced in greater amounts and stored in a glass jar.
2. The ingredients: Have you ever wondered what the ingredients of your tooth paste are? Just to name two examples: Triclosan, which is commonly found in tooth care products, has been linked to cancer, and socium laryl sulfate (SFS), which makes your tooth paste foam evenly, can potentially harm your gums – yuck!
3. The savings: You can produce your own tooth paste for as little as one tenth of the regular store price. That alone is quite a good reason to try it out, if you ask me.

So, check out Lauren’s video tutorial for creating your own, homemade tooth past and try it yourself!

link 

Clara del Rey // 17 June 2015 // #GoingGreen #WasteNot

Reusable depilation kit | © Clara del Rey

If you try to keep a sustainable lifestyle, sooner or later you will come across the eternal question: What do I do about my facial and body hair? The easiest solution is to stop removing it once for all, but that is just a personal choice and let’s face it, not for every taste.

Because I do care about waste but at the same time, I want to remove my body hair, I came up with the idea for this reusable depilation kit. The electric epilator (2004) was a present from my mum when I moved to Madrid for my studies, and still looks and works like new. The grandpa-style stainless steel razor (2011) cost £5 and has been with me ever since. The fact that industries have hidden steel razors from our markets, substituting them with disposable ones made from plastic, is one way economic interests for profit clash with the actual needs of nature and the environment. Because these products just endure, and you don't need to buy more than two or three in your life, it is safe to say that they are quite uninteresting to money makers. Here's an interesting post by Lauren Stinger of Trash is for Tossers about her approach to zero waste shaving.

Clara del Rey // 16 June 2015 // #GoingGreen #WasteNot

Crystal rock deodorant, bought in Kansas City, April 2014 | © Clara del Rey

Once I had completely freed the showering process from waste, my second resolution for a sustainable bathroom was to swap classic deodorants (aerosol or roll-on) for a deodorant crystal rock. It has been more than a year now since I bought this one in Kansas City (April 2014), and it still goes on and on, potentially lasting for several more months. It came packed in a cardboard box, but even if you only find it in a plastic container, the fact that it lasts for so long makes buying it absolutely worthy.

Unlike the usual deodorants, crystal type deodorant isn’t fragranced, and for that reason it can take you a while to get used to it. And yes, this type of deodorant won’t always keep you from sweating (it is not an anti-perspirant), but it inhibits bacteria and so prevents body odor from occurring. They are typically made from minerals and salts that occur in nature. Furthermore, it doesn’t block your pores and it seems to be free of chemicals that are assumed to be related to different kinds of health risks, for example breast cancer—so tons of good reasons to give it a try. Want to learn more about this eco-friendly alternative? Then check out this user review on mineral rock deodorants.

Clara del Rey // 15 June 2015 //  #GoingGreen #WasteNot

When I decided to begin my journey toward a waste-free lifestyle, the first space I put my hands onto was our bathroom. Besides our kitchen, this is, the room where we store most products packaged in single-use, toxic and non-biodegradable materials (you’re guessing right, most of the time this is plastics). And it’s not even hard to realize this: Almost all products found in the bathroom, from cleaning supplies and detergents to body care products, everything appears to be packaged in plastic bottles that are designed to be used just once.

Waste-free soap bars | © Clara del Rey

So let’s start with one easy step. It is actually very easy to substitute all your shampoos, conditioners, and shower gels with their fragranced, natural and wrap-free bar equivalents. I’m not even talking about the countless additives and chemicals that are commonly identified in many beauty and cleansing products. When it comes to packaging materials, doing the simple math of calculating the amount of plastic containers I’d be saving the environment by changing this simple habit truly encouraged me to become waste-free. These bars look great – and they clean my skin and hair so effectively that, for me, there is no way back! Now, for those of you who’d like to try out a few of these things in their bathrooms as well, check out these five simple tips toward going ‘zero waste’ in your bathroom. Also, if you got curious about these package-free soap bars, why not make your own from scratch? These recipes from the treehugger blog will surprise you and get you hooked on making your own soap, trust me.

Alexandra Magaard // 28 January 2015 //  #GoingGreen

Guten tag liebe Schülerinnen und Schüler! I hope everyone is enjoying a pleasant end to a cold January (at least it has been chilly in Washington, D.C.!). I want to discuss the latest United States and India talks on climate change, or what “The Guardian” calls, “a key moment as major economies begin to deliver on the promises made in Lima to fight climate change.” President Obama recently embarked on a three-day visit to India (his second overall visit to the nation!), and Climate Change was at the top of his agenda. India is the third-largest carbon polluter in the world (after the People’s Republic of China and the United States).

Traffic in Mumbai, India on December 5, 2014. Source: The Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/15/us-india-joint-climate-change-action

Unfortunately the visit ended with little specific action, but President Obama and Prime Minister Modi did set a list of goals to expand green energy and lower green gas emissions. India agreed to increase efforts to combat climate change with targets for higher levels of solar power and energy efficiency in the next two years. As well, India officially agreed to reduce its production of “hydrofluorocarbons” (HFCs). HFCs are commonly referred to as, “super greenhouse gases” and are 3,830 times more potent than CO2. The United States Environmental Protection Agency deems these gases to have a very high global warming potential (GWP) relative to other greenhouse gases.

President Obama and Prime Minister Modi of India on January 25, Source: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/opinion/a-new-chapter-for-america-and-india.html?_r=0

These talks signal increased cooperation and efforts by the two countries to go green. Hopefully this will only continue, and perhaps, one day, both President Obama and Prime Minister Modi will even say: when the going gets tough, the tough go green! Alex

Alexandra Magaard // 22 January 2015 //  #GoingGreen

Hi everyone! Congratulations are in order, because our very own award winning team from the Gymnasium Alsdorf has won yet another prize. The team just received the RWE Climate Protection Award (Klimatschutzpreis RWE). The prize merits them 2000 Euros, and together with the 750 Euros that the team already won through Going Green, they are now able to provide their school with water fountains and dispensers that the school was not previously able to pay for. What a great way to spend their earnings! Congratulations again to the Gymnasium Alsdorf and great work! If anyone is interested in reading further about the prize-winning team, here are two recent articles. http://www.rwe.com/web/cms/de/289390/rwe-deutschland-ag/presse/pressemitteilung/?pmid=4012314 http://www.aachener-zeitung.de/lokales/nordkreis/projektgruppe-des-dalton-gymnasiums-erhaelt-rwe-klimaschutzpreis-1.981007 And in honor of the Gymnasium Alsdorf, when the going gets tough, the tough go green! Alex

Alexandra Magaard // 16 January 2015 // #GoingGreen

Good day everyone, and happy 2015! I hope you all had a festive holiday season and a smooth slide into the New Year :) First, here is a link to the official video of the Going Green Finale at the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Berlin. This video encompasses the event, student presentations and a general summary of the project. You also can find a link on the Going Green Facebook page. Thank you to the member of the Going Green team for making it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6wwXU8wBPU&feature=youtu.be Next, I wanted to provide you all with a glimpse into the United States’ current environmental controversy, the Keystone Pipeline XL. Here are some basic facts: The Keystone Pipeline XL was originally proposed in 2008. It is a 1,179-mile (1,987km) pipeline extending from Hardisty, Albert (Canada) down through the United States to Steele City, Nebraska. The project is designed to strengthen and support the United States’ and Canadian crude oil production. The Keystone pipeline is predominately supported by the Republican Party (A recent study by CNN found 80 percent of Republicans are in favor of it, in contrast to only 39 percent of Democrats) who cite that this project would create jobs and help the United States grow less dependent on Middle Eastern oil. While the Democratic Party, President Obama’s political party opposes the pipeline claiming that it will increase the threat of climate change while damaging local environments.

A map of the Keystone XL Pipeline, Source: http://keystone-xl.com/about/the-keystone-xl-oil-pipeline-project/

Last Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled in favor of the pipeline. This ruling allows the Keystone XL pipeline to run through the state. Since then the GOP (Grand Old Party, also known as the Republican party), who presently controls the House of Representatives (one branch of the United States’ legislative body), voted to approve the pipeline in a 266-153 ballot. However President Obama is against this project, stating that it will increase greenhouse gases and potentially harm local ecosystems throughout its construction, and he threatens to veto the bill. That would mean that the President would block this legislation from becoming a law by refusing to sign it. The United State’s legislature can only overcome the Presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote. However, Obama has not veto-ed yet, which makes it again a fresh debate. The CNN poll also uncovered that 57 percent of Americans are in favor of this bill and 28 percent are opposed (the other 15 percent is of no opinion)…I guess we will have to wait and see what happens!

The Keystone Pipeline XL, photo source: The British Broadcasting Corporation, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30737766

If you are interested in reading more about the pipeline, below is a link to the New York Time’s coverage of it. Enjoy! http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/k/keystone_pipeline/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier That’s all for now, and I will continue to state in 2015: as the going gets tough, the tough go green. Alex  

^1 Alexandra Magaard // 13 December 2014 // #GoingGreen

This picture is the "Plenary Panel" at the Conference on December 8, 2014. Photo Source: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/10/lima-climate-talks-on-track-for-record-carbon-footprint

Hi everyone! I have just a couple of updates before the holidays. First, I offer my congratulations to all of the winners of the Going Green 2014 competitions! It was wonderful to see that there was such a large turnout at the final events in Berlin and Dusseldorf. You all worked so hard on your projects - well done! Secondly, this past week has been an important one for international environmental policy. It was the United Nationals Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru. The event officially took place from the first of December until yesterday, the 12th.

The event is the 20th yearly session of Conference of the Parties (COP 20) from the United Nation's 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). It gathered representatives from 195 countries in Lima, Peru to outline a blueprint for the next milestone agreement on climate change, and the policy from this past week in Peru will later be finalized at the United Nation's next summit in Paris, France in 2015. Feel free to check out updates on the Conference from the United Nation's official website, and I am sure you all, like me, are looking forward to the upcoming Paris summit as well :) Lastly, I want to inform you all that this is the final blog post for the month of December. I will begin posting again in the second week of January, with a weekly post on Environmental activity worldwide and in particular, the United States. Until then, I wish everyone a happy holidays, einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr and as always to remember: when the going gets tough, the tough go green. Alex

Alexandra Magaard // 13 December 2014 //  #GoingGreen 

Hi everyone! I just wanted to remind everyone about the two project events taking place this week. The Going-Green 2014 team is excited to welcome everyone to our final events in Dusseldorf tomorrow and in Berlin this Friday. We have been thoroughly impressed with everyone's hard work this school year and as well, everyone's project submissions. As well, I wanted to mention our "most popular award contest" (conducted on our Facebook page) for the last time. Voting closes at 6pm tomorrow. Make sure you support your favorite ideas! We are looking forward to seeing you all soon, and until then, when the going gets tough, the tough go green. Alex

Alexandra Magaard // 25 November 2014 //  #GoingGreen 

Hi everyone! I hope everyone is staying warm this November. I just wanted to provide a couple of project updates. First, I would like to announce the Project’s “most popular award contest.” It will be on our Facebook page later this week and is worth watching out for! Secondly, thanks to any and all of the Project’s participants. The Going Green team has been thoroughly impressed with everyone’s contributions, and we are very interested to learn about how all these projects were implemented in the schools. We can tell everyone worked very hard on his or her projects, and vielen dank to all who helped make Going Green a huge success. We owe the project’s accomplishments to your involvement and thoughtful presence. Thank you to all the students, teachers, Experts of the Week and anyone who simply engaged in the project (even if that means reading one blog post). We could not have done it without you! We look forward to seeing you at the final events in Berlin and again, please keep an eye out for the “most popular award contest” on Facebook. It should be exciting. We plan to keep this blog in the future, so everyone can stay updated with how the projects panned out. There also will be opportunity for guests post and please let us know if you may be interested. In the meantime, thank you again for all your hard work, and when the going gets tough, the tough go green! Alex

Alexandra Magaard // 10 November 2014 // #GoingGreen 

The Conference is in Aichi-Nagoya Japan. 

Pictured: One of the first meetings today for UNESCO Youth. Source: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco-world-conference-on-esd-2014/resources/photo-gallery-youth-conference/

Good morning everyone! I hope you had a pleasant weekend. This week is a special week. The UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is taking place from today until Wednesday. It is the final event to commemorate the conclusion of the United Nation’s Decade for Education and Sustainable Development that began in 2005, and it also is a milestone for assessing for the future.  

I believe, it might be of interest to everyone that the first UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development occurred in 2009 in Bonn, Germany. The Conference was made through the collaboration of UNESCO, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Commission for UNESCO. This year’s Conference has four goals: to celebrate the “Decade of Action,” to reorient education to build a better future for all (reassess what is an adequate education for sustainable development is), accelerate action for sustainable development and set the agenda for ESD beyond 2014. The Conference kicked off last night with a celebratory opening ceremony. The UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, and his Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince of Japan both spoke, and the opening ceremony’s keynote speaker was Princess Lalla Hasna of Morocco, President of the Mohammed VI Foundation for the Protection of the Environment.

Princess Lalla Hasna greeting the Japanese government. Photo source: http://www.maroc.ma/en

She said: “To think and act for the sake of the environment - in the broadest sense of the term - means to be fully aware that the planet is not only a precious legacy, but that it also implies a tremendous responsibility for us in terms of preserving the interests of future generations.” It was a well-regarded keynote address. If you are interested in reading further about the conference, please click on the link provided below! http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco-world-conference-on-esd-2014/ I wish you all a successful week, and I think of the UNESCO conference today when claiming: when the going gets tough, the tough go green. Alex P.S. Please remember to follow us on Facebook !

Alexandra Magaard // 05 November 2014 // #Experts #GoingGreen 

Alexandra Magaard // 31 October 2014 // #GoingGreen 

Alexandra Magaard // 26 October 2014 // #GoingGreen 

Alexandra Magaard // 20 October 2014 // #Experts #GoingGreen 

Hallo liebe Schülerinnen und Schüler!

I hope you have a great week. Today’s blog post is extra special. The expert of the week this week, Christianna Stavroudis, has already been introduced. Today’s post will be a guest post.

(Here is a link to the original post about Christianna.)

Sarah, a student from the Goethe Gymnasium in Saxony, Germany had an interesting exchange with our Dr. Crister Garrett, the expert of the week of October 6 – 11^th. Dr. Garrett’s answer will be the main contributor to this week’s post.

 

Sarah asked Dr. Garrett about sustainable fashion. She wondered: How sustainable are my clothes? What working conditions or safety standards threaded my jeans or laced my shoes – and why are the majority of my clothes made in developing countries, rather than in Germany or even the U.S.? Is there anything I can do to help the people producing my clothes?

Dr. Garrett had an interesting answer for her. He answered Sarah by telling the story of our T-shirts:

He then related our T-Shirts to Germany, the U.S. and the low-wage workers:

The Bowler Editions T-shirt factory. Photo: Ryan Speth, Flickr

 

Many Germans and Americans cannot afford such an expensive but perhaps more fair t-shirt. A lot of Germans and Americans are not even making 8.50 an hour. It is hard to afford fair clothes. It sounds strange, but for millions of Germans and Americans struggling to make a living, the cheap t-shirt helps their families a lot to be able to clothe themselves.

The low-wage jobs in places like Laos or Bangladesh or Romania allow families there to often buy the food to prevent family members from going hungry. Wages are often terrible, but a terrible wage for a family is often better than no wage, if it means food on the table. So why don’t governments demand higher wages? Sometimes they do, but that can often mean a factory get closed and moves elsewhere. That is not fair perhaps, but it is economics.

Alexandra Magaard // 13 October 2014 //  #Experts #GoingGreen 

Jeff Watters, The Ocean Conservancy

Hi everyone! I hope you had a pleasant weekend. The project features two experts this week and without further ado, I would like to introduce Jeff Watters and Dr. Kevin Krizek.

Jeff Watters is the current Acting Director of Government Relations for the Ocean Conservancy.  Find a link below to his writings for the Ocean Conservancy. He will be your specific guide to ocean wildlife protection and NGO & State initiatives on environmental policy.

http://blog.oceanconservancy.org/author/jwatters/

Before joining the Ocean Conservancy, Jeff served as lead legislative assistant to Senator Maria Cantwell (Washington state), working specifically on the Senate Subcommittee for Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and the Coast Guard. He has extensive experience with the policy-process, environmental legislation and surfing (just kidding, I meant Ocean legislation ☺ ).

Here is a link to his video interview with the U.S. Embassy’s Going-Green team.

Alexandra Magaard // 09 October 2014 //  #GoingGreen 

Alexandra Magaard // 06 October 2014 // #Experts #GoingGreen

Happy Monday, everyone!

I would like to virtually introduce everyone to your expert of the week, Dr. Crister Garrett.

Crister Garrett has been on the Going Green team right from the start. He is the project’s expert concerning everything related to politics and civic engagement.

He is an American citizen currently teaching at the Leipzig University. He will be your official guide to U.S. politics, society and understanding cultural differences within an international context. I bet he even speaks German, too!

Dr. Garrett has a variety of international experience. He has lived in Thailand, Lebanon, California and Europe for many years.

He conducts research on contemporary trends in political, economic and social reform and their impact on global governance. Dr. Garrett’s research focuses on the United States, Germany, France and Sweden. He is currently working on a research project exploring the politics of transatlantic environmental governance.

Dr. Garrett has also been a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow, a Rotary International Fellow, and a European Union Fellow for International Politics and a DAAD International Guest Scholar.

I’m sure Dr. Garrett would be happy to answer any and all questions! I am quite curious about his current research.

Good luck this week everyone!

When the going gets tough, the tough go green.

Alexandra Magaard // 29 September 2014 //  #Experts #GoingGreen 

Hi Everyone,

I would like to introduce our latest expert of the week, the distinguished Dr. David Goldfield!

Dr. Goldfield will be your guide to the history of the environmental movement and the topic of “Green Cities.”

Dr. Goldfield is the Robert Lee Bailey Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte and has published sixteen books to date.

His books detail various aspects of American and Southern (American) history.  His works include: America Aflame,  The American Journey and Cotton Fields and Skyscrapers.

Picture Source: http://davidgoldfield.us/books.html

Professor Goldfield has lectured across Germany and is the Editor of the Journal of Urban History.  He currently serves as a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians and will be, I am sure, happy to answer any and all of your questions.

He will also join us in Germany for the final events in various German cities and the student conference in Berlin! Feel free to contact him!

I hope that you have a great week!

When the going gets tough, the tough go green.

Alex

Alexandra Magaard // 26 September 2014 // #GoingGreen

Alexandra Magaard // 23 September 2014 // #GoingGreen 

Berlin, Germany (source)

Hallo liebe Schülerinnen und Schüler!

Today, the 23^nd of September is a benchmark for the Global Environment the United Nations’ Annual Climate Summit takes place today in New York City.

The Summit today was preceded by hundreds of thousands of citizens protesting all over the world in favor of pressuring lawmakers to implement change against Global Climate Change (GCC).

There were more than 2,500 marches around the world this past Sunday, September 21st, all of which were dedicated to mobilize against Global Climate Change.  These protests took place with an estimated 15,000 people in Berlin, Germany, 30,000 people in Melbourne, Australia and 40,000 people in London, England, New Delhi, India and Bogota, Colombia.

This past Sunday’s events were genuinely a worldwide effort to combat Global Climate Change.  The biggest protest, incidentally, took place in New York City with an estimated 310,000 people participating – this included the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and former Vice President Al Gore.

New York City, United States of America, source: http://nypost.com/2014/09/22/climate-change-skeptics-call-out-marchers-hypocrisies/

This year’s Climate Summit aims to: strengthen emissions, increase climate resilience and mobilize international political action by 2015, with hopes of a less than 2-degree Celsius rise in the global temperature.  The UN Climate Summit is an international meeting of heads of States and Governments

The 2014 Summit has four themes: Climate Health and Jobs, Climate Science, Economic Case for Action and Voices from the Climate Front Lines.

Source: http://www.un.org/climatechange/summit/ 

Let’s see how the Summit plays out. For further updates or information, here is a link to the official website. http://www.un.org/climatechange/summit/

I hope the world leaders bear in mind, when the going gets tough, the tough go green.

Alex

Alexandra Magaard // 22 September 2014 // #Experts #GoingGreen 

Hi students, it is the post you have all been waiting for… the experts of the week!

Alexandra Magaard // 16 September 2014 //  #GoingGreen

Hi everyone! Hallo allerseits!

Herzlich willkommen to the official blog for the U.S. Embassy’s “Going Green 2014 Project.”  My name is Alex Magaard, and I am the lucky person in charge of the blog.  I am the U.S. Embassy’s virtual intern, who will address your questions about the Moodle site, development of the project or any other concern.

You will be able to check this site for current updates and insights into American sustainability initiatives and perspectives.  Every Monday I will announce the “expert of the week,” whom you and your students might want to contact.  This will provide background information on the expert.

My background:  I am a 21 year old college senior finishing my Political Science and German Language Bachelor of Arts degrees at James Madison University.  I have always been interested in the environment and believe that my activism started when I was eight years old and built a replica of The Cathedral of Notre Dame out of re-used egg cartons for my art class.

I grew up in Wayzata, Minnesota. , which for anyone who does NOT know where that is (I would be surprised if you did) – Wayzata is a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Or as I tell friends, “I’m from the center of the U.S.A. and hours below Canada!”

I grew up biking downtown to the Lakes (or to the Ice cream store) with family and friends.  Minneapolis is continuously ranked as America’s “most fit city.”  According to the American Fitness Index, Minneapolis has won the title for the past three years.  This directly coincides with Minneapolis’ environmentalism.  Minneapolis earns the title “the fittest city,” due to its rampant bike paths.  The United States Census Bureau Supplemental Survey has also named Minneapolis the number one bicycle commuter city in America.

The city of Minneapolis formed these bike paths to promote Environmental activism, alternative transportation and Minnesotans’ health.   Increased bike paths and more, such as citywide plans to increase alternative-fuel vehicles, are a part of the city of Minneapolis’ 2005 Sustainability Initiative – a local attempt to combat Global Climate Change.

Indeed, the United States is full of various local and national attempts to promote sustainability, and you will be able to learn more about those within the next few months.   You can also read news about and connect with others through the Going Green 2014 project.  Vielen dank für ihre Aufmerksamkeit – thank you for your attention and good luck with the project, everyone!

Always remember: when the going gets tough, the tough go green.

Alex