Woo!

Earth911, The Pizza Box Mystery

I know this is a horribly late post but there is going to be another meeting about Recycling today at 12:30 in A204. (that’s Friday February 20.)

Decisions will be made at this one so, lets make it count.

There will be snacks and drinks provided as well, because whats an SMFA event without food.

See you there.

But first, a little back ground story.  Its all began in the spring of 2008, the semester was winding down and a few students decided to attend one of the last Student Forum meetings (Now Student Voice).  Near the end of the meeting I asked about recycling at the school.  I had seen some blue bins around, some were labeled for bottles, some paper.  The response I received was that the infrastructure for the program was in place, we had bins and a contract with Allied Waste disposal company.  The only thing that was missing from the program were students.  There was no one to take out the recycling.  So, sporadically, over that summer Ernie Plowman and I worked to construct some semblance of a working model.  The fall semester rolled around and we were ready to go, and it turned out to be pretty successful.  For the fall 08 semester, there were 7 volunteers and 2 paid individuals working on this program and keeping it going.  However, after the holiday, most of the participants had to drop out due to concerns about work and class.

That brings us to today.  Recycling is new and hurting, the people behind it are few and it needs more.  Were trying our best to keep up with the schools output of recyclable material but its not easy with so few people, and with the output as varied and inconsistent as it has been.  So I’d like to take this time to encourage you to make a few considerations when it comes to your waste.

1. Please do not mix recyclable paper with recyclable metal/glass/plastic.  It is a pain to sort through and it makes our jobs much harder.  Just keep and eye out for the labels on the bins and dispose accordingly.
2. The wax paper cups set up at the Poland Springs water coolers are NOT recyclable, AW will not accept wax into their gears.  If you must use those cups, DON’T!  Just bring in a water bottle or a jar or something that will stand up to more use than those stupid little things.
3. I know its a pain but do your best to rinse out your Metal/glass/plastic containers after your done with them.  It’s not necessary but when we don’t have to deal with sticky bottles and bags, it makes our part of the chain easier.
4. Last, COME TO RECYCLING MEETINGS!  VOLUNTEER SOME TIME!  DISTRIBUTED LABOR IS LESS LABOR!  If every undergrad helped take out bins during this semester, every undergrad would only have to take out 2 bins TOTAL THIS SEMESTER.  That’s it, not to mention the faculty, staff and grad students.  At the end of our work we all have material that’s left over, its unavoidable.  All that recycling is asking – not only recycling at SMFA, but the idea of recycling in general – is for you to consider where that leftover material goes and what its effects will be.

All is not lost, the infrastructure is still in place and there’s a small group of people that are interested in helping.  This program is new and everyone is getting acclimated, this could grow and should grow into a vital part of our community, but that group need to get bigger, more people are needed for this to succeed, which is measured by how many people participate.   All of us at SMFA has already started and we”re doing good, we just need to take it to the next level.

see you at the bin.

“CSA” stands for “Community Supported Agriculture” and is a program that links members of a community with farmers local to their community.

In this program, farmers determine their operating costs for a given growing season, divide that by the amount of members they can support and sell shares of their harvest to their community.  That means fresh, local, often organic produce each week all summer long!  There are even CSA’s for honey, herbs and spices, meat and dairy.  Some farms will require you to pick up your weekly share, others will deliver to one point in the city and you can pick it up from there.  Some farms have a work component where they will require you or you can volunteer, depending on the farm, to work on the farm in exchange for a reduced cost up front.

This link benefits farmers by keeping them operating and supporting the farmer’s families and benefits community members by providing them with fresh, often organic produce.  And the whole system is beneficial to the environment and economy by keeping transport of the harvest low and keeping money in the small-scale economy you are most closely tied with.

You can find a more thorough explanation of the program and benefits in this article from National Geographic’s The Green Guide on CSA’s, another explanation is in this article from LocalHarvest.org

LocalHarvest.org also has a directory of CSA’s that you can search and  you can even sign-up for some right there on-line!

Thanks for reading and stop by often for more updates!

Save the World!

Chris Dombeck, SMFA Recycling

When:  Friday, February 6, 12:30pm

Where: A308

Oh yeah, and there will be food.

The time has changed, it is now beginning at 1:15.  Same place, same green, same food.

This blog will be for getting important information out to the smfa community; information about how the school is involved with recycling and vice versa, how you can help and about green issues in the greater world.

The first order of business is to alert everybody to the “General Interest Recycling Meeting” that is going to take place sometime at the end of January or the beginning of February.  This will be an opportunity for the entire community to take place in a dialogue about recycling and other green issues at smfa.

Also, there will be food.

That’s it for now, check back often and thank you kindly for reading the first post:)