GreenBean

Final Blog (Wow!)

2009-12-15T20:25:00.000-08:00

Social Marketing:

Our trayless dining campaign, as it was our first social marketing campaign, did not follow all of the steps exactly for a social marketing campaign. At the beginning, we started out with the general campaign purpose of reducing waste. To achieve this end, we chose to focus on the use of trays in the dining halls. By doing a bit of research, we found out that trays actually contribute to a great deal to food waste and use a lot of water, as well as detergents. We thought that removing trays from the two dining halls would help us reduce the waste produced by saving both food and water. Further on in the campaign, however, we learned that our dishwashing systems are not operated the same way as those of other schools. Apparently the dishwashers are run almost constantly, meaning that going trayless wouldn't actually save water. This was a shame to find out because we had thought reducing water use would be a great benefit to going trayless and had used it as one of our reasons in trying to get our peers to accept this change. I suppose this whole problem could have been avoided if we had taken a closer look at our dining halls from the get-go, but alas, we did not. This certainly shook up our campaign a bit when our opposition realized we were advocating for something with reasons that weren't completely true.

For the audience, we had decided Dining Services was our primary audience and students and the administration were our secondary audience. Although we knew Dining Services would be the final say in the removal of trays, we didn't realize at the beginning how important and necessary Dining Services would consider student support. I think we were under the impression that if we were convincing enough, that Dining Services would just take away the trays and force students to adjust. This was not the case.

We also addressed the issue of our competition. We thought our biggest competition would be athletes, who might use a lot of cups/plates, and any other students that would find going trayless to be a big inconvenience and bother, mainly freshmen and sophomores. I don't think we realized then that our competition would also be students that felt personally affronted by our move to take away their trays (about which they would write in our conservative publication...) and especially Dining Services, which would have to make a lot of adjustments to accommodate this change.

I think we were a bit more disorganized in the area of campaign objectives. I hate to say it, but I think we, me included, were overly optimistic that we would quickly be able to get rid of trays once we presented our compelling arguments to Dining Services and the student body. At one point, I know our goal was to have some trial trayless days before Thanksgiving break and to have trays completely removed by the time we got back. This did not happen. We underestimated all the work that Dining Services would have to go through to remove trays and how much positive response from students they would need to commit to this change. From the onset, we did not have the most realistic objective and we did not set out a very specific timeline to accomplish our goal. These are things we should have considered further at the beginning, as the objective is one of the most crucial parts of a social marketing campaign. It's hard to fulfill objectives when the objectives aren't fully developed.

For the marketing mix step of the campaign I think we had a lot of ideas that were never carried out. We thought a lot about the ways we could promote the behavior change of going trayless, like having signs before students got to the stacks of trays or having stickers with convincing facts on the trays or making a sort of art display with the trays. This type of advertising, however, never came to fruition. A lot of students knew about our campaign more from the facebook group we created or from word of mouth/students that complained in The Primary Source.

Our implementation plan was rocky as well. We didn't have a set plan from the onset, but the first thing we decided to do was gather the facts from other schools that had gone trayless. We then used this information as support in our facebook group, which we invited everyone we knew to. Surprisingly, this resulted in over 1200 students joining the group (and then there were the few vocal students that chose to criticize our campaign and some that addressed legitimate concerns on the wall). Based on these results, we thought we would schedule a meeting with the director of Dining Services, but who knew how hard it would be to get her in a meeting?? We were only able to score a meeting with her right before the last class, but in the meeting a few lovely students from class showed up with our very professional-looking and well-researched proposal. Apparently there were very few questions she asked to which our classmates didn't have a response, so that was positive news. Thanks to one student in our class, we've also gotten some of our Senate involved in this campaign as well. At this point I guess we're just waiting to see how Dining Services will proceed and if they'll implement our recommended trial period next semester. We still plan to have an ad hoc committee with the Senate working on this campaign for next semester, so it'll be interesting to see what they can accomplish if Dining Services still doesn't budge.

By the end of class we hadn't really thought much about an evaluation plan for our campaign considering it was about as much as we could do just to present our information to Patti. This is something that'll need to be addressed once trayless dining finally goes into effect. An ideal evaluation plan I think would involve getting the data about food waste produced during a week with trays (as in, before trayless dining is implemented) and comparing it with the data about food waste once trays are removed. If somehow the process of dishwashing is changed so that the water is not always running, it would be important to collect data on water usage as well. If the data show that there is a significant enough reduction in food waste (and possibly water waste) with the removal of trays, then we will know our campaign has been successful. Additionally, it may be important to look at how going trayless affects Dining Services' energy/water/food bills.

Psychology:

In this course I've learned a lot about behavior and the psychology of it. I don't think I ever realized before how hard it can be to change a behavior to which you've become accustomed. I've certainly learned this through the behavior challenges we did. Although I was shocked the week we did the zero waste challenge about how difficult it was to avoid producing waste, I don't think I've changed my behavior all that much in that respect. It's certainly something I need to work on, but it's also something I often neglect to think about. I have a greater awareness of this issue now, but with my own shortcomings in committing to a drastic behavior change relating to waste, I can understand how it may be difficult for some people to automatically embrace the changes I advocate. And from what I've learned in class, there really is a certain way to approach someone about changing their behaviors without preaching or making them upset. I'm still working on this one, as I tend to get very impassioned about issues and then strike!, but I realize that I would get much better results if I would approach people differently. There are ways to either put spins on things so that people accept them (appealing to their values) or to sort of convince them to do it for you (it's what good friends do!).

It seems to me that empathy has a lot to do with how you approach people about behavior change. If you can try to put yourself in their position to see why they behave as they do, it will help you to understand them rather than immediately accusing them of wrongdoing, which can turn them off completely. No one likes feeling bad because they are or aren't doing such-and-such an action, and this is something I know I need to keep in mind so that I can approach the situation differently. Perspectives are key.

Cognitive dissonance was also an important concept we talked about. Dallase, you gave me a name for that feeling which I truly detest! But I understand now that it's important to reflect when I experience this feeling so that I know why I'm feeling it. It probably means I'm acting out of line with my values, so it's really something to watch out for. (Beware of cognitive dissonance...)

Environmental Literacy:

Coming into class I definitely had an awareness of environmental issues, but I soon realized that it was rather limited. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, senior year of high school I pretty much became a champion for recycling. It wasn't until we talked about the issue in class that it came to my attention that reducing our consumption of recyclable goods should be the focus rather than simply recycling. I never realized that any of the three R's should have a greater priority than any of the others, but it certainly makes sense why reducing is better than reusing, which trumps recycling.

Additionally, the zero waste challenge and the clothing conscience activity made me think about things I had never thought about before. It was a shock to realize how much waste one person can produce in a week; I really tried that week to limit my waste production (besides the candy!) so I know that usually I produce much more waste. It was great to have a hands-on experience with waste to gain an awareness of our own contribution to what ends up in landfills. It really is the packaging that gets you.

The clothing conscience activity brought light to the issue of sweatshops and clothes miles, both of which I had never given much thought. It was sort of awful to realize just how much of all of our clothes, and mine especially, were probably made in sweatshops. The carbon footprint of my clothing was also something astounding. In the same vein, we also talked a lot in class about food miles and how it's often better to eat locally, though Scott told us of a particular instance where getting food trucked from farther away was actually better for the environment than getting it from a local farm. I felt like there were a lot of food issues we touched upon in class which I had all but ignored before. In general, I think the class helped me understand the environmental impact of some of the seemingly benign actions we carry out each day.

Critical Thinking:

Along with environmental literacy, I realized there is not necessarily an easy answer to the question of which action is more environmentally friendly, hence critical thinking. There is still a lot of debate surrounding some of the issues so it's often necessary to look into them and decide for yourself. For sources, I think that research published in peer-reviewed scientific journals is especially reliable. I also think that reputable news sources, like The New York Times and The Boston Globe, often have articles with reliable information. But it's tricky because sometimes the author of an article may be affiliated with this or that environmental agency or industry, which can reveal biases in the article. Especially with publications from environmental organizations, which may and probably do contain reliable information, there has to be concern about whether the publication takes a completely objective look at the issue or if it seems to be influenced by something else.

To determine if information sources are accurate or biased it is necessary to look not only into the authors and their affiliations, but also to look for where they got the information they are using. Do their statistics come from a governmental agency or from a company study? It is crucial to look at the funding for whichever group conducted the research as well. Is research about the environmental effects of meat production being paid for by a meat company? It is important to take all of these factors into account and to then evaluate the source for objectivity and reliability.

Community Building:

I think it’s really important to have a supportive and like-minded community to create environmental change. The challenges facing us seem much less daunting if you know there is a group of people that want to work to tackle them. There is often the feeling that one person can’t accomplish much on his/her own, so it’s encouraging to be involved with a community that shares your same ideas/values. Also, with a community there is always general discourse surrounding whatever brings you together, so it’s a great opportunity to share ideas. Additionally, I’ve found that in communities like this there may be pressure, but in a good way, to get involved; sometimes we all need that extra push to participate in things outside of school and work, which can seem difficult enough on their own.

This year I decided I wanted to get involved in creating environmental change so I joined the campus group ECO. I’ve mentioned this before, but we’ve been working on the Leadership Campaign, which aims to pass legislation in Massachusetts relating to clean energy. It’s been great working with this group because we all share a passion for the environment and so we always have ideas floating around about things we want to do. Likewise, our class served as a supportive community. I thought it was helpful to hear what everyone was doing on a personal level to be environmentally conscious. It was comforting to know that some of my peers are struggling with the same issues of how to reduce their environmental impact/how to address the environmental problems we are confronted with. Besides coming together as a class to address/discuss some environmental issues, I think we also rocked the campus boat, as Dallase would say. Now there's more of a buzz in the air (going trayless!).

I do think I will continue to shift from saying to doing. It would be hard to live a life in contention with my values, as cognitive dissonance would be a constant reminder that something wasn't right. Although I do seek to live an environmentally conscious life, I recognize that that is not easy. In fact, some behaviors are downright hard to change and even now I am somewhat reluctant to start tackling them. However, I think maintaining involvement in ECO will help keep me motivated. I also feel a personal obligation to do my part for our world and I don't see that dissipating anytime soon. For me, this class has been inspiring and our discussions have ignited many sparks in my mind about things I can do. That should keep me motivated I think.

Thank you Dallase and Tina for this class. I really enjoyed it and your enthusiasm was wonderfully contagious.

2009-12-06T17:11:00.000-08:00

Clothing Conscience

2009-12-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

This week, to bring attention to the issue of where and how clothing is made, we wore badges that stated how far our clothes have traveled, what percentage were made in sweatshops, and what percentage were second-hand. Although the information on my badge was a very rough estimate, it was probably more or less true. It was difficult to find out for sure which companies used sweatshops, but it's probably safe to say that the majority of my clothes were made in them. Additionally, I can't think of any item of clothing I have that was made near Boston; most were made in Vietnam and China.

I had never given much consideration at all to clothing and to where and how it's made, so this behavior challenge revealed a lot to me, but as I've learned to expect, along with awareness came frustration. Although I knew sweatshops existed and could imagine that some of my clothes were made in them, I never realized how much of my clothing probably was. Also, even though I knew of sweatshops, it's hard to connect the clothes you see in the store with the person that is actually making them, with someone that is very real and underpaid and that must suffer working in dangerous and unhealthy conditions just to produce some T-shirts, etc.
In fact, what's even more upsetting is that the workers making my clothes could be even younger than me, which is truly appalling.

To think that we as consumers so often ignore these issues of human rights is kind of ridiculous. We are so separated from the process that all we see and really consider is the final product. I would compare it to the meat people see in the supermarkets and how far removed it is from the living and breathing animal it once was. Since I adjusted my own thinking about meat to recognize that this or that steak was once an animal that probably lived a life of misery and cruelty, it's hard to bear the thought of eating it. Despite their similarities, I still had not changed the way I thought about clothing, or products in general, and it's hard to say if I have yet.
I've grown so accustomed to living a life of consumption, not necessarily tremendous, but the average (which in the U.S. is more than average) that it's hard to change your views so drastically on something you've accepted for so long. While I had to make a conscious decision to give up meat back in the eighth grade, in my opinion that's much easier to do than to give up buying products made in sweatshops, since it seems so many companies use them. I guess, as the anti-trayless people would say, it's inconvenient. I'm not sure how difficult (or how expensive) it might be to find clothes not made in sweatshops and that is produced relatively locally, which was another issue this challenge addressed--the carbon footprint of our clothes, something I had previously neglected to think about.

In any case, even with this knowledge in mind, when I went to Urban Outfitters on Friday to buy some gifts, I ended up trying some clothes on (naturally), even though I know they use sweatshops. I didn't end up buying anything, but that's more because of the fact that I shouldn't be buying clothes right before Christmas than because of how the clothes were made. Here, I think, is a perfect example of cognitive dissonance. I would have bought something from there (and honestly likely will in the future) even though I know that the way the clothes is made is not right, that by buying them, I am effectively supporting this system of unjust labor.

And what's up with that? How could someone ignore a truth like that that's just staring them in the face? It's because I know this type of thing is happening, but I don't really know. I've never seen a sweatshop or known someone that's worked in one or personally heard of people negatively affected by them. Of course I know all of this exists, but I don't think it's sunk in deep enough. But it's something I'll have to work on and struggle with. And that's what these challenges are all about I think, coming to realize a truth that should make you think differently about an accepted behavior so that you can work to change it for environmental justice, for human justice.
And to finally get to the part about other people's reactions to the badge I was wearing. Surprisingly a lot more people seemed to notice the badge than the bag of waste, probably because it was right in front of them. I had a lot of people ask what it said, but I felt like people more or less read it and then were like "oh" or something of that sort. Perhaps I should have pushed it farther, as in itself it wasn't necessarily a catalyst for discussion. Some people maybe thought the statistic that 95% of my clothing were made in sweatshops (rough estimate) was alarming, but I think it's pretty realistic, and it's realistic to think that most of their clothes were probably made in sweatshops as well. I did try to start a discussion about it the other night, but I don't think people were in the mood to talk about it then (think after midnight on Friday). I probably brought it up too awkwardly, as it's sort of difficult to casually bring up sweatshops but I do recall someone saying something to the effect of "well, at least they have jobs." And that's a sad reality to consider, to think that a job working in a sweatshop is the best that is available to some people.

I honestly still don't know a tremendous amount about sweatshops, though I get the basic idea. And while it's insufferable, to only be vaguely cognizant of this problem is not enough to cause behavioral change. Unless you really internalize it and see how it conflicts with your moral values, there's probably nothing you will change. Examining this issue frustrated me not because it's yet another thing to seriously think about, but because I've been living my life as if this issue did not exist even though I'm well aware that it does.

I was talking to a girl in my class about this challenge and she said she knew Nike used sweatshops and that it was "bad", but conceded that she "really likes Nikes." And here it is again, a testament to the fact that behavioral change is not so easy even when you know (some) facts. I think for most of us this sort of drastic behavioral change is something that almost necessitates a personal experience, because until then it's hardly real to us. And maybe we'd have to seek such an understanding out for ourselves, but it's clear that we should rock the boat on this one.

Thanksgiving: Introducing My Eco-Self to my Family

2009-11-29T13:50:00.000-08:00

So Thanksgiving was interesting. Before we all sat down to eat, I made a little announcement introducing my eco-self. I'm fairly certain that most of my family knows that I've become increasingly interested in environmental issues, but I just put it out there again. One of my aunts immediately mentioned an idea she had had recently about human-powered gyms and then her son, my cousin, said there were already some in existence; my aunt thought there must be a way that gyms could be completely sustainable. Now I'm not sure if I had ever heard of human-powered gyms before, though it sounded somewhat familiar, but it truly is a great idea. Why not harness human energy and use it to generate electricity? My aunt also mentioned someone she knew that was building some sort of "green" building and that we should check it out.

During dinner, I brought up a few other things, or else we stumbled upon them in conversation anyway. We got to the subject of bags and my uncle was saying how first they were told to use paper bags, then they were told to use plastic to save trees, but now they're told not to use plastic either and instead to use reusable bags. For some reason, I felt he connected me with the people that are telling consumers to do this or that, as in, why can't you guys just make up your minds? Another part of his comment, I felt, was the whole aspect of, "well, you've been wrong before." I don't think this was necessarily a jab at me, though I can understand his frustration with the competing advice that's constantly doled out about how to be green.

My uncle also brought up the recent leak of emails about the UN's climate change research. For a conservative like my uncle, who I may have had reason to suspect was already skeptical of global warming, this could cement any doubt he may have had. Really, this leak could not have come at a worse time, particularly with Copenhagen just around the corner. Though I don't know much about these emails, just that they indicate there may have been some manipulation of data (though we don't know if that's true), I do know that for those already skeptical of climate change and the science surrounding it, that this could seal the deal for them. It's really upsetting to think that just the word "leak", attached to the emails pertaining to climate research, has the ability to immediately shed so much doubt on this environmental reality that we've been trying to get people to accept.

At dinner, I also talked about sleeping out with the Leadership Campaign as a show of our refusal to use dirty electricity. So that same uncle asked why I didn't sleep out every night. I'm not actually sure what I said to that, I think my aunt may have said something about how the electricity was going to be used anyway, and then there was a bit of discourse about that, but I did mention our receptive meeting with the governor. Sometimes my family gets to joking with me about my passion for the environment, but I know that they are supportive of me. I thought it was really great to have dialogue with my family about some environmental issues. Even if everyone isn't in agreement with whatever measures the environmental movement is championing, discussion at least gets people thinking. It was also interesting to get a different perspective on some of these things which I have already accepted, such as using reusable bags, but which not everyone has caught on to.

After dinner, I was hanging out with my cousins and one of them, my uncle's son, said something about how it must have been fun to get the third degree for being a hippy. And then I had to think, am I really a hippy? Yes, there are a lot of things I think we should be doing for the environment and I'm trying to do some of them, but there's so much more that I could be doing. Sometimes I think I'm too idealistic, as in, nagging my mom constantly about remembering to bring her reusable bags to the store won't end environmental destruction and won't stop climate change. There are times when, in retrospect, I realize I've been sitting on my high horse calling for my family or friends to do this or that. And I'm starting to wonder how radical I appear, because radicals get a bad rep and I don't want people to brush me off because they think I'm some left-wing extremist.

So...Thanksgiving dinner was enlightening and gave me a lot of food for thought (excuse the corny joke). But it really is something to think about, how I come across to others. My friends may joke, calling me an eco-terrorist, but there is always some truth to jokes. So maybe I'll tone it down, maybe. In any case, I know that my family, and even my friends (and my uncle, who just happens to love arguing), support me and that's great to know.

Zero Waste Challenge

2009-11-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

Looking at my bag...well, I'm a bit ashamed. Here is what is contains: paper towel, some floss, a few pieces of toilet paper (for the runny nose), Carmel Creams wrapper, Hershey's chocolate bar wrapper, Sour Patch Kids wrapper, Milky Way wrapper (gosh, this is pathetic), a creamsicle wrapper, and a little paper cup. That's pretty much it. But first, let me say that I don't usually eat this much candy. As I explained before, the Carmel Creams were an impulse buy, then one day I got really hungry and the only food we had in our room were chocolate bars. And the Sour Patch Kids, well, my friend bought them so I thought I could get out of putting the wrapper in my bag, but because I mostly ate them they made me add it. And the Milky Way, well another impulse buy I guess. But the little paper cup--when I went to buy the cider for our potluck, there was a little old woman at a table with milk who asked if I wanted to hear about Jersey cows. Now, I mean, I wasn't particularly interested, but how can you refuse a little old woman? So I said sure, and then she asked me what kind of milk I drank and proceeded to pour me a sample of it. I swear there was nothing I could do, and then she directed me to a trash can, but I knew it was my waste to keep. Shucks!

As you can see, this whole challenge has made me feel like I need to justify all of my actions. I feel guilty looking at my bag, knowing I could have done a better job. Towards the end of the week, it seems to have become a more realistic collection of the waste I normally produce in a week (though, substitute the candy wrappers with tissues and cotton pads). In any case, as I mentioned before, waste is everywhere, it's ubiquitous. It's surprising to me how difficult it is to go through a day trying to produce as little waste as possible. It really was a challenge, and for me, the lesson was well-received. I realized just how cognizant you have to be to limit the amount of waste you produce. I'm actually kind of disgusted to think that I, one person, produced even that much waste in a week, and what's worse is that it would usually be even more than that. And I don't think I'm all that different from other people, so if we're all producing that much waste, that's a LOT of waste that going to end up in a landfill somewhere.

I was also surprised by the fact that even though I had my bag openly displayed on the back of my backpack, no one stopped me to ask what it was about. I did tell all of my friends about the challenge, and they would call me out on waste that I had produced, but other than that... I do think I caught someone staring at it from afar wondering what it was, but no one approached me about it. For me, openly displaying it served as a great deterrent to producing waste. I was especially embarrassed about the candy wrappers, but I managed to mostly conceal them behind the paper towel (is that cheating??).

This challenge was eye-opening for me. Before, I never thought about all the waste I produce. I mean, I know I use a lot of tissues but I didn't think about all of the other sources of waste. Thankfully, there is composting in the dining hall and behind Miller; those types of resources are incredibly helpful in trying to produce zero waste. I'm interested to see how the challenge went for the other students. When I met up with my group on Saturday, I saw two of the bags which contained very little--clearly people hard at work. The best way I can see for me to produce less waste, I think, is eating fewer snacks. Or buying snacks in bulk. I don't think I could be a handkerchief-user, though; my roommate described them as being "crusty rags" and my own perception of them isn't very favorable. That takes true dedication. I'll just resolve myself to use fewer tissues I think.

Quick Update on Zero Waste Challenge

2009-11-18T21:23:00.000-08:00

So, the zero waste challenge, really not so easy...It's only Wednesday (technically Thursday morning) and I've already realized how much of a conscious effort you need to make to try to reduce the waste you produce. I literally have not used a new tissue since Monday night (kind of gross) even though I'm normally a huge tissue-user (we also ran out of tissues, but I haven't gone to buy any more). Additionally, on Tuesday I had an impulse buy at the vending machine in my dorm. After consuming my Caramel Creams, yes Caramel Creams, I realized the waste that I had created in my rash decision. Not only that, but my roommate found it hilarious that I would have to carry around a Caramel Creams wrapper in the bag all week, broadcasting to everyone that I ate that embarrassing snack--pathetic! But it certainly made me think, and then I promptly forgot at dinner tonight when I grabbed an orange creamsicle from the dining hall. Added another wrapper and a wooden stick to my bag, jeez...

You really can't let your guard down, that's something I've learned. There's packaging absolutely everywhere! We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

Communication

2009-11-16T14:28:00.000-08:00

I don't think the importance of good communication can be overstated. When thinking about communication, the swapping of information isn't the only thing that comes to mind, but also how things are relayed. For instance, two different people could give the same exact speech but the presentation of it will be the key to determining if the audience is engaged and/or excited. Of course, a monotonous tone or an overall lack of enthusiasm is no way to convey information to someone if you want them to take note. You need to be animated and show that you yourself are interested; it can even help to make hand gestures to keep the audience in tune with what you're saying. And in high school they always emphasize eye contact when giving speeches, which is exactly right. After all, it's really not all that interesting to watch someone that is looking down and reading word for word off a paper.

Now communication plays a huge role in any kind of movement, and so it does in environmental movements. Not only does communication within the group lead to cohesion and a united front, but communication to outsiders can also get them excited to join the cause if done properly. As we talked about in class, as students concerned about the environment, we can't preach to other students about the values of, say, going trayless, but we can inform them of the benefits and also try to appeal to them in other ways that will make them understand why it is important. This is something that is more difficult than it seems and which I expect we will probably struggle with. One of the most important things to do is to keep our audience in mind. If we forget that, then any communicating we do may be in vain.

On another note, I'd like to share some of what I think is an amazing piece of writing that my senior year English teacher, Mr. MacEachern, wrote when we asked him to write his own college essay (he wrote about his experience in and after college). His writings are the kind that I think always touch you in some way. Here is a brief excerpt: "So, what is my point. I don't know and I am probably not going to get into your college as a result. I am here because I happened to choose BC and my sideburns were too long and I bought a Boston Globe one day. So many things seem left to chance. But I guess it is in those chances that our life exists." To me, this is really powerful, especially coming from a person for whom I have tremendous respect. He manages to seamlessly incorporate humor into a sort of philosophical discussion. This is something that I consider good communication, because it truly affects the audience, at least it did me. The whole essay is really much better than that one excerpt (you can't get the whole picture), but nevertheless, I aspire to be able to communicate the way Mr. Mac does here.

Eco-Rep Symposium (or how I spent my Saturday)

2009-11-09T13:33:00.000-08:00

My group for the symposium was responsible for signage, meaning directing people to the location of the event and essentially putting together the folders with sustainable materials. Most of our tasks came together Friday, in finally assembling the folders with all of the necessary information, and on Saturday, when we decided the easiest and most visible way to direct people to the buildings would be to chalk. Chalking was accomplished in short time, and as far as I know, people didn't have difficulty finding the buildings.

Although we put the symposium together mainly last week, I think it turned out really well. I'm not sure of the exact number of people in attendance, but there was a pretty good showing and a variety of schools represented. I found the get-to-know-each other game to be a good introduction that put people more at ease. I also thought the sessions I attended were interesting. I'm excited at the prospect of Tufts own eco-rep program being established on campus for next semester, as it seems that other schools are experiencing a lot of success with theirs. It was also interesting to hear that other schools are facing some of the same barriers that we are, particularly with regard to the whole tray situation.

Breaking down into groups was another aspect of the symposium that I found really helpful. It was great to hear other people's experiences on their campuses and any ideas they had that might be useful. And to top it all off, much to the credit of the food group, lunch and dinner were a hit. Tumbleweed Anonymous was also incredibly entertaining (where does all this talent come from?).

As in most cases, it's usually best to start projects earlier than later. Besides the preliminary planning done by Dallase and Tina, I don't think the ball really start rolling until last week. That left a lot of the smaller details to be figured out, particularly all of the folder materials on Friday. For me, this worked out best and I imagine it's a common situation because things aren't usually cemented until the last minute. I hope this didn't put any undue pressure on anyone, though we were sort of burning the midnight oil. Nonetheless, everything turned out swell, almost as if we'd been preparing for a much longer time.

I would definitely consider the event a success. I think it says a lot about Dallase that she was able to get students from all over to come to our symposium. It was really great to see everything come together on Saturday as one cohesive event.

As the focus of the class is "shifting from saying to doing," I think it was important for us to work on such a hands-on project. It's all about practice; as Dallase was saying, picture a basketball team composed of players that had only read manuals but never played. That would certainly be a mess, but if they'd practiced, they'd be much better. So, too, I think my ability to put on any sort of event, or take action, has been improved through this experience.

Going Trayless?

2009-11-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

Our campaign to go trayless has me worried. Although we seem to have a good amount of support for the facebook event, almost 900 students, it seems that the dishwashing procedure for our dining halls is different than that of other schools, i.e. the water is run constantly. Obviously saving water was one of the main impacts that we expected to have in going trayless, but if the water is, in fact, always on, then we won't actually be saving any. I know someone that worked as part of TUDS and they said that in Carmichael the water is always on, so I suppose the same must be true for Dewick. This is disheartening, but I'm wondering if there is a way that we could change that and how much that might cost the school.

On the facebook event there are already people picking apart our arguments for going trayless because compared to other ways to save water, such as taking shorter showers, it won't have as much of an impact. There's also the idea that it doesn't matter how much food is wasted because it all ends up composted anyway, which Frances countered by saying that preparing less food would save energy. I'm wondering if there are other reasons to support not wasting food (if it's all composted) because, as one student pointed out, we're not donating leftovers to food banks or anything of the sort.

I don't want to be advocating for students to go trayless if it will have little to no impact. It's upsetting to me because I had thought this was the best social marketing campaign and found some really interesting statistics from other schools showing a significant impact. However, the way Tufts dishwashers operate will keep this campaign from having any great impact. This is definitely an issue we'll need to confront because, as one student mentioned, there's no need to inconvenience the student body if we won't be saving water and energy.

This is all just very frustrating because if we had the necessary infrastructure, it seems like the support is there to ditch trays. As it is, though, there are holes in our argument whichw we can hopefully fix by talking with dining services and/or the administration about the way dishes are done. We definitely had a lot of great ideas about how to get our message across to students, so it would be nice if we could do something about this dishwashing system and continue on with our social campaign. In any case, I'll continue going trayless.

Class? Yes!

2009-10-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

I have been enjoying this environmental action class immensely, so much so that every week I return to my room incredibly excited about the things that myself and others can do and also incredibly inspired. The class has made me think differently about a lot of things and has shown me the power of being informed. For instance, before the class I had always touted recycling as the right thing to do and placed an incredible emphasis on it. Sure, it's beneficial, but I had never looked any further into it. I didn't realize that in some instances it can leave an even bigger carbon footprint than not recycling and is also the weakest of the 3 R's.

For me, that was quite the eye opener because I discovered I had been going about things all wrong, unfortunately. Was I the eco-friend that actually didn't know what she was talking about, swept up in the green movement because it was the popular thing to do? Perhaps, but I have still felt that this is where my biggest passion lies. You can't take everything people tell you for fact, even if you want to believe that promoters of the environment have all the right and unbiased information. Although the critical thinking worksheets are not the most exciting assignment, they have forced me to sit down and delve further into these pertinent issues. And I've actually enjoyed doing so because the information is interesting and not necessarily what I had expected.

I also enjoy the psychology aspect of the class. I have never taken a psychology class but have always wanted to. It's a different perspective that I can tell will be really helpful. Trying to get people to change their behaviors or accept new ones is all about how you present your idea and how you talk to them. I haven't always been able to convince people to change and it's still difficult now, but I've learned that you can't preach. And for someone that wants to get others to make changes, that's an important lesson and I'm glad we talk a lot about it.

This class has really influenced me. People have such great ideas in class and some are going to great lengths to limit their impact. Sometimes this makes me feel inadequate, but more than that it is inspiring. From hearing about one student's challenge with her friends to take 6 minute showers, I have tried to adopt that behavior too. It's refreshing to be surrounded by so many students that care about the environment.

I just hope that we can get started soon on our group project. Although the google group hasn't necessarily been the easiest way to share ideas (so many emails!), I think it has served us well. I'm excited to come to a decision and then to put it into practice.

BLOG ACTION DAY

2009-10-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

The Loch Ness Monster, public speaking, The Haunting in Connecticut...but climate change, now that is scary.

And I mean this in the sincerest way. I don't even want to think about what the world will be like if we continue with the status quo, unconcerned with the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. You know that expression, "It's never too late"? Well, boy is that wrong. If we don't take action now, RIGHT NOW, we'll miss the boat on this one.

What I think a lot of people are not understanding is the urgency of the situation. If we don't do something now, this problem will not resolve itself. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is already beyond the suitable level for sustaining life as it is on Earth. Even if we were to impose strict measures right now on carbon dioxide emissions, the carbon dioxide that has already been emitted into the atmosphere will remain there for quite some time. This is why it's imperative that we act now.

As a society, we seem to take for granted the way that things have always been, but research shows that even a 2 degrees Celsius increase in the global climate will have disastrous consequences. Think about it: glaciers are already melting, which is destroying the habits of some Arctic wildlife (i.e. polar bears!); this extra water could lead to coastal flooding and even threatens to submerge small island nations, displacing their entire populations. Additionally, storms are likely to be much more severe and frequent. The U.S. was not even well prepared for Hurricane Katrina, so how will it respond to even greater disasters?

It's really disheartening to see the apathy so many people have towards this issue. But if we don't act now, we're only hurting ourselves. Eventually we'll have to pay. So why don't we join together now and show our leadership that we demand decisive action to prevent climate change? We'd only be doing a disservice to ourselves and future generations if we didn't do our part. I hope we can act now and save our planet.

www.blogactionday.org

First Group Project

2009-10-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I don't want to be at all slacking in promoting eco-consciousness on campus through the work that we're doing in class, but I feel like I might be. This year I decided to finally pursue my interests and have been faithfully attending the ECO meetings and have taken on the position of Tufts media coordinator (along with another girl) for the mostly student-run organization Massachusetts Power Shift, which is committed to getting the state to pass a bill saying it will use 100% clean electricity in the next ten years. This is particularly important for us to achieve because of the UN Climate Change Conference that will be taking place in Copenhagen on December 7th and may be a last chance to get an international measure passed regarding this issue. So I've been running around to meetings for that, and if anyone's interested, there's going to be a flash dance in Government Center this Saturday, October 17th. We've also been planning a lot of promotion for our first big event on October 24th, which is the International Day of Climate Action--let's get the word out about 350 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere, the "safe upper limit" according to 350.org and of course, Dr. James Hansen. Enough with the rambling....

Being in ECO and working on this specific campaign, I have access to a group of students on campus that already has an interest in doing its part to save the environment. Any ideas that

we come up with in class for our project, going trayless in the dining halls and getting rid of disposable cups, I'm sure they will be interested to hear and to get involved with. I'll share with them whatever we decide upon, especially because they might be looking for some projects to get involved with particularly after Climate Fest.

Additionally, half my suite is composed of rugby girls. I think I may be able to infiltrate the team in this way and perhaps get them to promote our cause. Next theme for rugby social, anyone?? I also know someone that is just starting to train for WMFO; maybe she could be persuaded to mention something on air when she gets a slot.

And as for doing, I'm ready to kickoff this campaign just as soon as we have our focus and strategy determined. It's clear from the discussion board that we're headed in one direction, but there have been a few other concerns, particularly with respect to how we're also going to have an impact on the SMFA. Once this is all clear and agreed upon, I'm really interested to see where we can take this and what we can accomplish.

Social Marketing Ideas

2009-10-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

A lot of things went through my mind as I was reading the selection about social marketing, not the least of which was that it seems like a lot of work. Now that's not to say that it isn't doable or that I'm not up for the challenge of getting others to change their behavior for the sake of the environment, because I certainly am, but I was relatively ignorant of the many considerations involved. My social marketing ideas prior to reading that article were much more simplified, but I'm convinced that a social marketing strategy that takes all of those things into account will be much better suited to its purpose. What I definitely realized is that a great deal of planning is involved. To be successful in getting people to change their behavior you can't haphazardly throw a campaign together; it takes forethought in many different arenas.

I found one point the selection made to be particularly interesting/useful. It said to know the target audience and to understand that you are not the target audience. This is something that for me, at least, can be very easy to forget. When trying to convince people to adopt a new behavior, it's crucial to remember that they are not me and therefore, that they probably aren't and won't be as riled up about the environment and its current state as I am. I need to figure out the right way to convince them of the legitimacy of our cause, realizing that they may not be swayed by the same information as me; it may need to be even more compelling and obvious. At the same time, it is also important to consider, as the text discusses, how realistic our expectations of what we can achieve are. With all sorts of special interest groups, it seems to me that if you get a bunch of excited and overzealous kids thinking about how they are going to get others to change, they will quickly come up with ideas, but they may overshoot the mark. We can't change the world in one fell swoop, but rather, as the text suggests, we must use the "installment plan". If we advocate for a succession of small reasonable changes for our target audience to adopt, I think we will be a great deal more successful than if we advance the idea that everyone should become hunters and gatherers.

Another thing the article got me thinking about was the benefit to the target audience for adopting new eco-friendly behaviors. While this is an obvious consideration, I can't say that I know the answer. For me, personally, a benefit of adopting such behaviors is the feeling of knowing I am being conscientious and taking responsibility for myself and how I affect the Earth. This, for me, is rewarding and I feel good about myself as a result. However, I don't think everyone would be convinced by this; it's not easy to stir an environmental passion in the hearts of everyone.

So what will we need to offer them in exchange for changing their behavior? In some instances there are price benefits, say a 10 cent reduction in price for bringing your own mug to Diesel, but 10 cents to most people is just a dime. There will need to be another incentive, and I think there is a lot to be said for the argument pertaining to the future of the Earth and the condition it will be in for future generations if we continue with our destructive ways. I can't imagine many people will want to live in a world with severe weather problems, mountains of trash, and dwindling resources, and this is where I think we need to convince them. For our own sake, as we age with this Earth, and for that of future generations, change is necessary and must be immediate.

Behavior Challenge Experience

2009-09-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

As I stated in my last post, the habit which I want to break is the use of trays in the dining hall because it leads to the waste of both water and food. So far, I have tried to break this habit by walking past the trays and heading straight to the plates. As a stretch, I might consider this a form of physical restraint under operant conditioning; however, it would be just as easy for me to somehow forget my goal and to absentmindedly grab a tray.

Probably a more suitable strategy that I have used to break my habit is that of positive punishment, as a form of self-punishment. At this point, I can honestly say that I have remembered each time I go to the dining hall to not use a tray. If I were to grab a tray, though, I know that there would come a point at which I would recognize my mistake. At this point, I know that I would immediately feel a sense of guilt and probably also embarrassment, particularly because it is important to me to break this habit. Additionally, I have asked some of my friends to go trayless with me, and I know that if they saw me with a tray, after all of my preaching, that they would certainly point out my error, implying that I should know better. I think my knowledge of this consequence, of my friends' reactions to my "slip," would be enough to make me feel a sense of disappointment in myself and thus, I would be self-imposing a punishment to make me curb the bad habit in the future.

On another note, as I mentioned, I asked some of my friends to join me in breaking this habit, and they, somewhat to my surprise, have actually participated. I find it really rewarding to know that they are willing to join me in this cause. And I think part of the reason that some of them have agreed is because of the way I asked them. I was very earnest when I asked if they would join me, and I don't think I allowed my aggressiveness to come out in this instance. Although they may not remember each time, when we have eaten together they have pointed out that they are only using a plate or have told me that they haven't used a tray since such-and-such a day. It makes me quite pleased, and it also makes me think about the power of persuasiveness and how if everyone were able to get their friends to join them, that pretty soon we could make a much larger impact.

Let's Break a Habit

2009-09-18T15:37:00.000-07:00

At first, when told to think of a habit that I might want to try and break, nothing really struck me. I thought about what habits I might have that are unintentionally hurting the environment. And then I realized that I get a tray at every meal in the dining hall, which means more dishes to wash and more water used. Additionally, there's something about a tray that makes you feel like you need to completely fill it before you can sit down to eat. For me, I'd chalk it up to the expression "your eyes are too big for your stomach." In any case, it leads to taking too much food and then to throwing the extra away. This is what happens to me at school with the buffet dining style, but I know at home it would never fly if I left food on my plate, you know, because there are people out there that are starving and I should be grateful for what I have.

For the past few days I have successfully gone trayless. It's really only difficult once you have your plate full and need to get silverware and carry a drink, but honestly nothing can truly justify complaining about that (I clearly need to toughen up). I've also noticed fewer scraps left on my plate, which I consider a mild accomplishment. Less waste and water conservation are good for everyone.

I hope to continue with my reformed habit. One only has to remember to ditch the tray (and not be a wimp!). There may be a few lapses in the future, but I'll be very proud of myself if I stick to it. No matter how small, it does make a difference, and that's all that matters to me.

My Eco-self

2009-09-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

So one of our first assignments in the Environmental Action class was to introduce our "eco-selves" to our peers. While I did make a point of telling my friends, "Hey, this is my eco-self," I'm sure that I had already garnered that reputation for myself, making the declaration almost unnecessary. They all know that I will harp on them for using plastic bags (especially those from Hodgdon) or for leaving the lights on in their rooms when they aren't in them. And someone is often with me when I go into the empty, yet lit, laundry room, turn off the light, and proceed to complain about how anyone could think it was necessary to leave the light on when no one is there.

I think I developed this reputation at some point in high school, junior or senior year. It began at lunch when we had recycling bins in the cafeteria and I would insist that all of my friends recycled their bottles. Senior year, in AP chemistry, when our teacher gave us an assignment to do research on an environmental issue, one of my friends chose recycling and entitled his handout "Why Does Chelsea Freak About Recycling?" I also used my graduation speech as an opportunity to preach to the audience about recycling; I can only hope that some of them listened.

With my friends, more so than I'd probably ever be with strangers, I'm particularly adamant that they act in environmentally conscious ways. One time when shopping with my friend, she'd purchased a few lotions and I suggested she just put them in her purse (it seemed ~big enough to me) instead of getting a bag. She seemed to think I was being a little ridiculous (I'll do anything to save a bag) and opted for the bag despite my pleas. I can't win my friends over every time to do what I think is right, but I know I've had at least a bit of an impact. One of my friends said that she just recently understood my passion for the environment, though previously she hadn't seen how someone could develop such a passion. That makes me really happy.

My eco-self has been out for quite some time, so this wasn't any sort of challenge for me, though I understand how at first it can be difficult to say something to those around you about the things you find important. It's a good feeling when you know you can share that side of you with your peers. If anything, it's admirable to love and appreciate the environment and to fight for its protection.