E-Cycling at Whole Foods this Saturday!

This Saturday, April 21st, the Whole Foods Market in Monterey is holding an E-Cycle event in honor of Earth Day. From 9 am – 3 pm, you can drop off your electronics for recycling.

They accept the following items: TVs, computer monitors, computer systems and components, copy and fax machines, scanners, printers, cell phones, telephones, CD and DVD players and discs, video games, MP3 players, stereo equipment, all batteries, miscellaneous wiring and cords.

They are NOT accepting: household appliances and lightbulbs.
Happy E-cycling and Earth Day!

Drinking Green

When it comes to things we consume and being environmentally friendly, we tend to think about our lettuce being organic and our apples being in season and grown on a local orchard. When it comes to alcohol, sometimes our green decision making doesn’t quite make it full circle. We may make sure that we know exactly where our kale comes from and whose farm our chicken ran around on and what it ate. But then our wine might be flown in from France or we might have no idea where the vodka in our cocktail came from.

This article in The Atlantic explains how you can extend your environmentally friendly ways to your alcohol consumption as well. Read on to learn about green wine, beer and liquor. The same things that we apply to our food like distance traveled and chemicals (not)used are applicable to our drink choices as well.

Link here: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2012/04/whats-most-eco-friendly-way-get-drunk/50971/#

Tree Planting at Fort Ord

Well, folks, we took a huge step forward in our efforts to offset our school carbon emissions! On February 25th, a rather large group of volunteers headed out to Fort Ord to plant the trees that we have been growing since the fall of 2010.  In just four hours, we planted 29 Valley Oak Trees. It’s been a real treat to see these trees grow from acorns into little saplings planted in the ground. Our babies are all grown up! I wish them lots of luck making it in the big world! May they grow to be big, strong, and sequester lots of carbon.

Thank you to everybody who spent their Saturday morning planting trees with us and, of course, Christina and Rose from The Return of the Natives organization.

See pictures here!

Spring Trade and Investment Conference THIS SATURDAY

Hey all you Sustainable People!

This SATURDAY, March 3rd, the spring Trade and Investment Conference is taking place here on campus! The conference theme this year is Global Integration and the Future of Development. It promises to be a great day full of education and some academic celebrity sightseeing! “Celebrities” like Dr. Charles Wheelan, author of Naked Economics, President   Sunder Ramaswamy and Ambassador Faizel Ismail, the Ambassador Permanent Representative of South Africa to the World Trade Organization will be speaking. Don’t miss it!

Follow the link here for more information about the day as well as a tentative schedule.

Forks and Knives: Watermelon rinds, corn cobs and broccoli stalks, WHAT?

Welcome back! We hope you all have had an enjoyable winter break and that you are ready for another great semester with the SSC.

When you think of sustainable eating, what do you think of? You probably think of words like locally sourced, organic, sustainable agriculture, and maybe even composting scraps. What about eating as much of the fruit or vegetable as you can? I know I had never thought about this before. What if there was a way that you could eat parts of your produce that are thought of as “throw-away” pieces. Think: leaves of the broccoli plant, corn cobs and the rinds of watermelons. Who knew?

Here is a list of how you can eat those uncommon parts of fruits and vegetables:

CARROT, CELERY AND FENNEL LEAVES Mix small amounts, finely chopped, with parsley as a garnish or in salsa verde: all are in the Umbelliferae family of plants. Taste for bitterness when deciding how much to use.

CHARD OR COLLARD RIBS Simmer the thick stalks in white wine and water with a scrap of lemon peel until tender, then drain and dress with olive oil and coarse salt. Or bake them with cream, stock or both, under a blanket of cheese and buttery crumbs, for agratin.

CITRUS PEEL Organic thin-skinned peels of tangerines or satsumas can be oven-dried at 200 degrees, then stored to season stews or tomato sauces.

CORN COBS Once the kernels are cut off, simmer the stripped cobs with onions and carrots for a simple stock. Or add them to the broth for corn or clam chowder.

MELON RINDS Cut off the hard outer peels and use crunchy rinds in place of cucumber in salads and cold soups.

PEACH LEAVES Steep in red wine, sugar and Cognac to make a summery peach-bomb aperitif. (According to David Lebovitz’s recipe, the French serve it on ice.)

POTATO PEELS Deep-fry large pieces of peel in 350-degree oil and sprinkle with salt and paprika. This works best with starchy potatoes like russets.

YOUNG ONION TOPS Wash well, coarsely chop and cook briefly in creamy soups or stews, or mix into hot mashed potatoes.

TOMATO LEAVES AND STEMS Steep for 10 minutes in hot soup or tomato sauces to add a pungent garden-scented depth of tomato flavor. Discard leaves after steeping.

TOMATO SCRAPS Place in a sieve set over a bowl, salt well and collect the pale red juices for use in gazpacho, Bloody Marys or risotto.

TURNIP, CAULIFLOWER OR RADISH LEAVES Braise in the same way as (or along with) collards, chards, mustard greens or kale.

WATERMELON SEEDS Roast and salt like pumpkinseeds.

What do you think? Ready to try some out?

Click here to read the New York Times article.

Student Work: Air Travel Carbon Offsets

Has worry about increasing your Carbon Footprint caused you to decrease your air travel? Or maybe you have no choice but all you can think of while eating your peanuts and watching the in-flight movie is the amount of Carbon that you are emitting.

Thanks to Shannon and Mike, there is now a list of airlines and their various Carbon offset programs available to you! This list explains which airlines have programs for Carbon offsets, providing you a way to choose airlines responsibly.  Airlines on the list include: American Airlines, Air France, Emirates Airlines and Lufthansa. Take a look and make sure you refer to the list the next time you buy your plane tickets.

Click here to see the most up-to-date list.

Click here for a downloadable PDF: Carbon Offset Programs-Airlines.

 

Calling All Acorn Collection Volunteers!

We have decided to expand our Fort Ord Restoration Project! This means that we need YOU to come with us to collect more acorns.

WHEN: Saturday, November 19th from 10:00-13:00 (arrive at Fort Ord at 10–meet at MIIS first at 9:30)

WHAT: Collecting Valley and Oak Live Acorns.  We will start at the Toro Park gate off of Hwy 68 and hike from there to various sites where we will collect acorns.  The hike will be around two miles with some steep slopes.

WHERE: Fort Ord–meet at MIIS for carpools
Make sure you bring the following items with you: water, snacks, closed toe shoes, sunscreen, rain gear (if there is rain on the forecast), hat and sunglasses.

Please email miisssc@gmail.com to say you’ll be there (or if you have any questions)!

Lists of products you can drop off this week

Terra Cycle: If you haven’t stopped in to see the new Terra Cycle bin (in Samson Center), you must! You will be happy to know that Terra Cycle accepts the following items:

  • Candy wrappers
  • beauty product containers
  • Solo Cups (or any #6 plastics)
  • Ink cartridges
  • Tape Dispenser parts (any brand)

Other recyclable waste: Aside from the above items, we will be accepting the following items to help you be a good product steward:

  • Electronics (e.g. video game consoles, televisions, computers, etc.)
  • Batteries
  • CFLs
  • CDs

NIKE Shoe Recyling Drive: We are also now collecting old athletic shoes. Bring any pairs of shoes that are headed for the trash and we will help you recycle them instead! These shoes can be any brand. Nike will also accept Livestrong wristbands. However, please note that we CANNOT ACCEPT the following:

  • shoes containing metal
  • cleats or dress shoes
  • wet or damp shoes
  • sandals or flip flops
  • armbands/bracelets

*For more information, check out Nike’s website here: http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/get-involved#list