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Learn How to Recycle Right

Author: Claire Wayner ’22

Many of us are living in very different locations because of COVID, so it’s important to get familiar with your area’s recycling guidelines for curbside pickup. Each municipality has their own rules, which sounds frustrating at first, but trust me – it won’t take you very long to get used to them, and you’ll save a lot of carbon emissions and resources in the process (recycling aluminum cans, for instance, saves 95% of the energy originally used to manufacture them!). Recycling correctly is also key to reducing contamination, which can cause whole bags of recycling to get thrown out. 

Start off by Googling recycling rules for your city or county. Many municipalities create “cheat sheets” for you to print out and stick on your fridge to remember which items are recyclable and which are not. For those items that aren’t accepted for curbside recycling, some might still be accepted at grocery stores or special recycling centers (a classic example is a plastic bag – most grocery stores have plastic bag collection bins by the entryway). I encourage you to go the extra mile and collect and drop off those items that your municipality doesn’t accept at the curb. 

Recycling Center in Park City, Utah
Photo Credits: Claire Wayner

This fall, I’m living off-campus with friends, and we discovered that our house doesn’t get any curbside recycling service. You might be in this boat, too! In these cases, there is usually a recycling center nearby where you can drive your materials on a weekly basis. I found a local recycling center in town, and every week, when we go grocery shopping, I bring our recycling with me and drop it off at the center, where I have to sort it by the material. I know this sounds tedious, but I actually really look forward to visiting the recycling center – the act of sorting teaches me where my recycled materials are going. It’s not a lot more work, as it’s right next to the grocery store, and in some states, you can even make money from dropping off your recyclables (like states with beverage container deposits).

Send us photos of you recycling, and know that it makes a difference. Only 9% of plastic, 25% of glass, and 50% of aluminum cans are recycled. You can help increase those numbers!

Claire Wayner ’22 at a Recycling Center in Park City, Utah.
Photo Credits: Claire Wayner ’22

Good News Friday 11/20/20

Author: Grace Liu ’23

Welcome back to Good News Friday! I hope you’re ready to read some positive picks from recent environmental updates. This week, we’re happy to hear about Japan’s commitment to carbon-neutrality, rebounding bee populations, and an initiative to save coral reefs. 

Image credit: seagul via pixabay.com 
  1. Japan joins carbon-neutrality: During his first major policy speech, Japan’s new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, committed the country to carbon neutrality by 2050. Japan is currently the world’s fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and the announcement comes just weeks after China, Japan’s regional rival, said it would reduce its net carbon emissions to zero by 2060. 

According to Mr. Suga, “There’s no question that having to make such a drastic change in the extremely short period of just 30 years is very difficult.” But, he adds, “I’m optimistic.”

Image credit: katja via pixabay.com

2. Bring back the bees: The latest bee colony report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows a 14% growth in bee colony numbers across the nation. Some states report an even more substantial increase. For example, Maine recorded a surprising 73% growth in bee colonies in the past two years. However, some native bee populations are still in decline, so the next step is to figure out how we can protect both honeybees and native bees.

Image credit: Francesco Ungaro via pexels.com

3. Scientists save coral reefs: Scientists with Raising Coral Costa Rica have been cultivating an underwater nursery for corals by snapping off coral pieces from existing reefs. This nursery helps the team test techniques to grow coral and restore ancient reefs in Golfo Dulce, southwestern Costa Rica. While the research helps revive local ecosystems, the group hopes to restore reefs in neighboring countries as well. According to scientist and diver Joanie Kleypas, “It’s exhausting but we’re rewarded with the fact that the corals want to grow … As long as they don’t give up, we won’t.”

I hope you enjoyed our selections this week! Please remember that there are always good things happening in the sustainability sphere if you know where to look. If you’d like to share some Good News with us, submit an article by contacting us.

Learning Lenape: Connecting with Amerindian America as Princetonians

Author: Christian Hernandez ’22

Whenever people ask where I am from, I respond, “near Houston, Texas”. The responses that ensue generally mention something they’ve heard about the state or a stereotype related to cowboy hats, dry western range, or chili containing no beans. Only the last item on that list is true for my home city of Manvel: it’s wet and many people there (including myself) prefer ball caps. 

Benjamin West‘s painting (in 1771) of William Penn‘s 1682 treaty with the Lenape4

Likewise, many people, even students at Princeton, often apply uninformed, stereotypes to Amerindian tribes and their histories. With the exception of the information provided by Natives at Princeton, our knowledge of the tribes that originally lived in our region is simplified and secularized. For example, a recent MOL 350 syllabus briefly noted that Lenni Lenape people once owned university land, but it did not provide the contact info for the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape communities still in New Jersey today! If you ask when the Lenni-Lenape ancestors arrived in New Jersey, most would guess 10,000 years ago. However, the Lenni-Lenape didn’t enter Princeton until around the High Middle Ages!1 Two years ago, I wouldn’t have known that there is a disputed yet fascinating literary record of Lenni-Lenape migration from Siberia (the Walam Olam). How many of us know that American football’s first professional team2 was named after 7-10 ft giants called the Allegewi (Allegheny) that were enemies of the Lenni-Lenape people?3

If you want to help mitigate the general ignorance on this subject, I invite you to join me in connecting with some of the oldest Americans (the Lenape say the giants were another). The Here and Then initiative focuses on connecting students with the past and present reality of Amerindians. In terms of involvement, students read oral histories, learn about places and people, uncover local-familial Amerindian ties, and seek out Amerindians with us today. My ultimate aim is for each student to incorporate Amerindian ideas and culture into their daily lives. For me, this has included familiarizing myself with Ojibwe uses for plants, interpreting Hopi rock art, or creating a Cherokee timeline involving my Cherokee ancestors’ migrations from Mayan Mexico (granted my distant grandfather Solomon Lynch is the only such relative). 

Please contact me at cah11@princeton.edu or visit my website at www.restorationecoculture.com if you’d like to get involved or learn more. It is very free-style and readily adaptable to a Princeton schedule: it’s what I do instead of Netflix. I hope to continually provide posts on specific tribes or time periods here on the Tigers Go Green Blog as well. I’d be glad to welcome you into uncovering the hidden history of Amerindian America.

This 400-year-old maple tree in southwestern Wisconsin was a Kickapoo tribes council tree. PC: Christian Hernandez

Christian Hernandez ’22 is a member of the USG Sustainability Committee

References

  1. Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape. (2007). Our Tribal History. Retrieved November 14, 2020, from https://nanticoke-lenape.info/history.htm
  2.  P. (n.d.). Birth of Pro Football. Retrieved November 14, 2020, from https://www.profootballhof.com/football-history/birth-of-pro-football/
  3. EsoterX. (2015, July 24). The Lenape-Allegewi War: A Native American Titanomachy. Retrieved November 14, 2020, from https://esoterx.com/2015/07/19/the-lenape-allegewi-war-a-native-american-titanomachy/
  4. West, Benjamin. Penn’s Treaty with the Indianslabel QS:Len,”Penn’s Treaty with the Indians”. from  until 1772 date QS:P571,+1771- -00T00:00:00Z/8,P580,+1771-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P582,+1772-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 1771. State Museum of Pennsylvania, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Treaty_of_Penn_with_Indians_by_Benjamin_West.jpg.

Good News Friday 11/13/20

Author: Camellia Moors ‘22

Welcome to the third edition of our Good News Friday series! While it might be Friday the 13th, that’s no reason to focus on negative news. Here just a sample of some of the positive goings-on that have happened this week:

Image Credit: Pauline Askin for Reuters via Yale Environment 360
Image Credit: Dean Faulkner via ABC News
  • Australian Solar Power: South Australia recently became “the first major jurisdiction in the world to be powered entirely by solar energy.” For approximately an hour on Sunday, October 11, the state was able to meet all of its energy needs with a mix of rooftop and commercial solar power. While one hour might not sound like a lot, this test of solar power capacity lays the foundation for using even more solar power in the future and helps ease concerns about solar power reliability.
Image Credit: Geng Xue for Linggas via Inside Climate News
  • Reusing Greenhouse Gases: Linggas, a Chinese industrial gas company, recently demonstrated its method for capturing and purifying the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (aka laughing gas) emitted by nylon manufacturing. Nitrous oxide’s global warming potential is approximately 300 times that of carbon dioxide and accounts for 7% of American annual total greenhouse gas emissions. This new mitigation method takes carbon (or, in this case, nitrogen) capture a step above what is normally expected, opening doors for the future of climate change mitigation.

Environmental news doesn’t always have to be doom and gloom. If you’d like to share some Good News with us, submit an article by contacting one of our Blog Editors.

Sustainable Meals for Busy Students: Oven-Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Author: Alev Studenikina ‘23

Everyone loves sweet potatoes! They can be cooked in a variety of ways and taste especially wholesome in the Fall season with the anticipation of Thanksgiving.

While, sadly, most of us right now cannot savor food marvels like Curried Sweet Potato & Lentil Stew or Maple Glazed Sweet Potato Cake made by the Campus Dining chefs, sweet potatoes are such an amazing ingredient that even a simple dish can be mouthwatering. 

Also, did you know that sweet potatoes are the way to go in terms of sustainable food production that would address the challenges of feeding the world population? The sweet potato “provides more calories per hectare and per growing month than all the major grain crops” while containing vitamins A, C, B6, manganese, potassium and antioxidants. After the discovery of the Covington sweet potato variety, well-suited to the climate in North Carolina, billions of pounds of sweet potatoes can be grown annually in this state, and sweet potatoes are farmed in other states such as California, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Louisiana. This means that sweet potatoes are relatively locally grown for many people in the USA, giving them a lower overall carbon footprint compared to other foods.

Enough of the facts – here is a simple recipe for healthy and delicious oven-baked sweet potato fries!

Ingredients:

  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • Vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
  • Salt (to taste)
  • Spices (turmeric and paprika, to taste)

Steps (15 min prep time + 30 min in the oven):

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

Step 2: Wash the sweet potatoes and cut them into approximately fry-sized pieces.

Step 3: Line a tray with baking paper and transfer the sweet potato pieces onto it.

Step 4: Add a drizzle of olive oil, plus the salt, turmeric and paprika.

Step 5: Mix everything together so that each piece gets coated with the oil and spice mixture.

Step 6: Spread the pieces out on the tray so that there is some space between them (otherwise they will not get a nice crust). I could fit one cut-up sweet potato on the tray, so I baked the two in turns.

Step 7: Put the tray in the oven for 25-30 min. After 20 min, turn on the grill setting or the fan inside the oven to dry out the “fries” a bit.

The result:

There was actually more from the two sweet potatoes that I used, but these “fries” are irresistible when they are just out of the oven, so quite a few were gone before I got to take this picture!

This series is brought to you by student group, Greening Dining

Fast Facts About Fast Fashion

Author: Eve Cooke ’22

Image Credit: Gatis Sluka, 2020.

What is fast fashion?

Fast fashion—like fast food—is cheap, easy to get your hands on, and not that good for you or the environment. Merriam-Webster defines fast fashion as “An approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers.” Fast fashion companies can sell their clothing at such a low price because the environment and the workers who make the clothes are absorbing the cost. To maximize profits, fast-fashion companies underpay and overwork their workers, cut corners on quality control and workplace safety, and produce environmental emissions that pollute our air, water, and land.

There are several organizations that are dedicated to reforming fast fashion companies and educating consumers, including the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Fashion Revolution. As consumers and citizens of the world, we have the power to take action against fast fashion. 

Here’s a list of some of the other hidden costs behind fast fashion, along with ways that you can take action to mitigate the damage caused by this industry:

What can we do?: Join the Fashion Revolution and support their campaign to pressure fast fashion companies to put an end to forced labor from their supply chains, pay their workers a living wage, provide safe working conditions, and to be transparent about who makes the clothes they sell.

What can we do?: Remake, an organization dedicated to ending fast fashion, suggests that “[by] doubling the life of clothing from one to two years, we can help reduce emissions from clothing production and disposal by as much as 24%.” You can also try to only buy clothing that you need and that you will wear over and over again. If you have the resources, supporting ethical and sustainable brands and investing in durable pieces is a really great option, but making thoughtful and careful purchases is also an important way for anyone on any budget to shop more sustainably.

Follow Mend on Instagram for sustainable fashion and repair tips!

Remember to take care of the clothes you already have by repairing rips or missing buttons and altering or upcycling clothes you don’t wear anymore. If you want inspiration or information about repairing and upcycling clothes, check out Mend’s Instagram (@tigers_who_mend).

What can we do?: Try to buy second-hand clothing. If you are in Princeton, check out Greene Street or the Nearly New Shop. You can also buy and sell used clothing on various websites and apps such as eBay, Depop, Etsy, ThredUP, and Poshmark. Vintage clothing is also an affordable way to find high-quality and unique clothing on a budget. If you are cleaning out your wardrobe, try swapping clothes with your friends or selling your clothing online. That way your clothes will wind up with someone who will actually wear them!

Want to learn more about fast fashion? Join Princeton Mend and John-Hopkins University on November 13th to watch and discuss The True Cost!

Eve Cooke ‘22 is a Mend Leader and EcoRep for the Office of Sustainability

The Value of Shopping Local

Author: Claire Wayner ’22

This fall, I’ve been experiencing a lot of hopelessness about environmental work. From the wildfires in California to the rampant deforestation of the Amazon, it seems as if our planet is collapsing around us. COVID-19 and the lockdown has made me feel even more like a small cog in a big wheel. What can I possibly do to make amends, to heal this planet and our crumbling climate, when I’m stuck at home?

To my surprise, being at home has taught me a lot about how I can reduce my own impact on the planet through personal lifestyle changes. One small example of that is my increased efforts to shop locally. I’ve been visiting a weekly farmer’s market and farmstand, buying items like in-season tomatoes, peaches, and eggplant. In many cases, what we’ve bought has been cheaper than at the grocery store – not to mention that it is fresher and tastes better. In other cases, like the occasional meat we’ve bought, I’ve felt better about my personal carbon footprint, knowing that the meat traveled less of a distance and wasn’t raised on deforested land in the Amazon.

Park City Farmer’s Market in Utah.
Photo Credit: Claire Wayner

Shopping for local food has also helped me to feel more supportive of my community. Grocery stores are large, brightly lit, and often sterile-feeling. Especially during COVID’s lockdown, I’ve been itching for social interaction. By shopping local, I feel more connected to the food production process, knowing where my food has come from and knowing that my payment is going to directly benefit farmers in my area. 

Buying local is also not limited to food. Many businesses near you are probably suffering because of the economic lockdown. By patronizing local establishments instead of ordering what you need online, you’re helping to keep your city alive while minimizing your carbon footprint (online shopping adds a lot of emissions when it comes to transporting the goods to you). Check out your local bookstore, or order a meal from a local restaurant (in my next blog post, I’ll talk about how to recycle a lot of the single-use takeout waste you get).

Park City Farmer’s Market in Utah.
Photo Credit: Claire Wayner

So how have you been shopping local? Leave us a comment with a photo or two!

Good News Friday 10/30/20

Author: Grace Liu ‘23

Welcome to the second edition of our Good News Friday series! Whether you’re excited about or dreading the results of the election, we can all use some good news. Here are a few happy happenings in the sustainability sphere to brighten up your week:

“Solar panels in the mist” by OregonDOT is licensed under CC BY 2.0
  1. China chooses carbon neutrality: In a surprising announcement at the annual UN climate meeting, President Xi Jinping committed China to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. This decision could lower global-warming projections by 0.3 degrees Celsius, the largest reduction ever estimated as the result of a policy change, according to Climate Action Tracker.  Every country that commits to carbon neutrality adds pressure on other nations to join this global effort. Currently, the US and India are two of the biggest economies outside of this committed carbon-neutrality group.

“Inside the Eelgrass beds” by eclectic echoes is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
  1. Seagrasses save ecosystems: As part of a 20-plus-years project, researchers and volunteers from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and The Nature Conservancy have spread more than 70 million eelgrass seeds over the salt marshes off the southern end of Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The eelgrass beds have grown to cover 3,612 hectares, and long-term monitoring of the restored areas reveals a thriving and resilient ecosystem, with the seagrasses acting as a carbon and nitrogen sink. The researchers say that the success of this project provides a glimmer of hope for ecosystems and the climate.

“Snow Leopard” by Sideshow_Matt is licensed under CC BY 2.0
  1. Legislation restores leopard populations: Despite their resilience and superb hunting abilities, most leopard species are endangered due to habitat degradation and poaching. However, according to collaborative research from the University of Copenhagen and colleagues from China, leopard populations in northern China are on the mend. This population rebound is linked to the Chinese government’s 13th five-year plan, which was implemented in 2015 to restore biodiversity in the area.

Even though the news is filled with debates and disasters (or disastrous debates), there is always hope hidden in the margins. If you’d like to share some Good News with us, submit an article by contacting one of the Blog Editors.

Sustainable Meals for Busy Students: No Parm Eggplant Parmesan

Author: Kara Steele ‘21

Have you ever been to your local farmer’s market? Going to the farmer’s market can be a really fun way to support local businesses and connect with the community (especially now since they are mostly outdoors and socially distanced). Visiting farmer’s markets can also be a good way to learn more about the crops grown in your area as markets often offer local, seasonal produce. While it is fun to try new things and eat super fresh food, eating local, seasonal food can also reduce your environmental impact and food waste. By eating food grown closer to you, you can reduce the energy needed to transport the food to you and reduce necessary packaging. Eating local can also minimize food waste as over 50% of food waste happens when the food is in transit or storage.

Photos of Athens Farmers Market taken by Caitlin Jett.

Lately I have been finding a lot of eggplant at my local farmer’s market, so I went on a hunt for some tasty eggplant recipes. The winner so far is plant-based eggplant parmesan, which is featured below.

Photo from page 103 of 30 – Minute Vegan Dinners by Megan Sadd.

Ingredient list: 

  • Two to three small to medium sized eggplants
  • Salt (1 tbsp + ¾ tsp)
  • Water
  • Flour (4 tbsp)
  • Breadcrumbs (Italian preferred)
  • Garlic powder
  • Italian seasoning
  • Pepper
  • Nutritional Yeast
  • Marinara sauce 
  • Spaghetti 
  • Optional: Parmesan or plant-based cheese

Steps:

  1. Wash and cut the eggplant into quarter inch slices. I usually use two to three small- to medium-sized eggplants. Fill a bowl with a tablespoon of salt and a quart of warm water and mix. Then add two more quarts of cold water and the eggplant slices and let sit for 30-45 minutes.
  2. Preheat the oven to 450˚F.
  3. Prepare your dredging liquid. In a bowl add about a ½ cup of water and 4 tbsp of flour and stir. 
  4. Prepare the breading. In a separate bowl, add: 2 cups of breadcrumbs, ¾ tsp salt, 1 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp Italian seasoning, 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, and pepper to taste. Pour this mixture onto a plate.
  5. Prepare your assembly line. Line up the bowl of dredging liquid, plate of breading, and a pan lightly greased with olive oil.
  6. For each slice of eggplant, dredge it in the dreading liquid and coat it with the breadcrumb mixture and put it on the pan. If the breadcrumbs on the plate get too saturated with liquid they may stop sticking, so mix in some dry breadcrumbs if needed.
  1. Bake the eggplant slices for 18 minutes, then flip them and cook for another 10 minutes. Check their tenderness with a fork. If the eggplant is still chewy or tough, you can cook it longer until it becomes more tender and less bitter.
  2. If you want, you can add a sprinkle of parmesan to the slices when they have about 5 minutes left to cook, but you can opt to leave this step out for a more plant-based meal.
  3. I like to serve it with marinara sauce and spaghetti, but feel free to mix and match as you prefer! Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from page 103 of 30 – Minute Vegan Dinners by Megan Sadd.

This series is brought to you by student group, Greening Dining

The Lazy Student’s Guide to Sustainability

Author: Grace Liu ’23

Do you want to help save our planet but also can’t be bothered to get out of bed? Well, this is the blog post for you! Here are some sustainability tips that require almost no effort at all.

Level 1 – Couch Potato 

Don’t want to move an inch? There are plenty of ways to be green on the internet.

Level 2 – Sweet Potato

These tips you can do from the comfort of your home. Some of them even require net negative effort!

  • Take shorter showers – Need I remind you that nobody can see your legs on zoom? “Shave” minutes off your shower time instead and save gallons of water! While you’re at it, might as well let your hair air dry instead of blow drying.
  • Eat more plant-based meals – Look, I’m not asking you to go fully vegan or anything, but do you realize how much time and effort it takes to cook a steak? You could whip up a quick veggie pasta or salad in a fraction of the time (and a fraction of the cost)!
  • Adjust your thermostat – as the temperature cools down, there’s no need to turn the heating up. Instead, cozy up with some blankets and tea/coffee/hot chocolate.

Level 3 – Hot Potato

Who’s a couch potato? Not you! Here are some quick tips for when you’re out and about.

  • Carry a reusable water bottle or utensils – Want to reduce your single-use plastic waste while safely dining out? Use a reusable water bottle or reusable utensils – all you need is a metal fork wrapped in a napkin for most meals!
  • Buy ugly produce – Reduce food waste by picking the funny looking fruits and veggies while shopping. They are just as nutritious, and it’s what’s on the inside that matters 😉
  • Bike/walk instead of driving – On the surface, this might sound like a lot of effort, but if you get your exercise in while commuting, there’s no need to go to the gym later…

Sustainability doesn’t have to be difficult. Whether you’re surfing the internet or marching in a climate strike, we can all do something positive for the planet!

“Heart potato” by cuorhome is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0