Fall in Love with the Environment this Valentine's Day

It's Valentines Day <3 Love is in the air, and so are harmful toxins, greenhouse gases and an increase in CO2! But don't worry, let Cupid help you fall in love with the environment and take these 7 easy steps to go green today!

There are little things you can do every day to help reduce greenhouse gases and make less of a harmful impact on the environment:
1) Pick up trash you see on the sidewalk. When trash is left on the ground it finds its way into sewers and into the ocean. In 2010 there was eight million tons of plastic trash that ended up in the ocean.
2) Pay attention to how much water you use. Little things make a big difference, so try shutting off the tap while you brush your teeth, reduce your time in the shower, even washing your clothes in cold water makes a difference.
3) Walk, take a bike or carpool to your destination. You can reduce greenhouse gases while enjoying the fresh air or just riding with friends!
4) Recycle. So much of what we use can be recycled, and the more we recycle the less natural resources we use.
5) Compost. Plant matter that is composted instead of thrown into landfills actually helps reduces greenhouse gases. It's easy to start your own compost bin!
6) Change your light bulbs! Compact fluorescent light bulbs last 10 times longer than standard bulbs and use at least two-thirds less energy. They not only save you money but also save the planet.
7) Turn off the lights when you leave a room. Unplug appliances when they're not being used. It only takes a second to be environmentally conscious.

A Guru's Guide to Recycling

Recycling in 2018 doesn't include just paper and water bottles, with today's advances in technology we are able to recycle more than ever.

Most standard recycling bins that you'll find on campus will take any plastic bottles, any paper products, aluminum cans, and even glass. Recycling these products instead of sending them to landfills makes a big difference. For example, the recycling of tin cans saves 74% of the energy used to produce them. Paper is one the largest products recycled and just one ton of recycled paper saves enough energy to power the average American home for six months! But did you know you could also recycle old electronics, batteries and light bulbs?

You may not be able to throw electronics and batteries into your recycle bin on the curb, but they have very valuable and even harmful components that should be recycled properly. Rechargeable batteries usually contain nickel-cadmium, lithium ion, or nickel-metal-hydride, all of which should be recycled to reclaim valuable compounds and keep toxins out of the environment.

If you're lucky you can get through college with just one laptop, and maybe a few visits to the VCC. If your unlucky (like me) you'll go through three laptops and a few hard drive replacements. While my busted laptops seemed useless at the time, they were actually still full of valuable resources. Nearly 100% of a computer is capable of being recycled, so don't make the same mistake as me (like not having an insured laptop) and throw away something you can recycle. It's easy to recycle once you know what you can recycle and where.

The How-To Guide to Composting

As you can imagine, all you can eat dining halls lead to a large amount of food waste. While trayless dining helps to reduce food waste by 25-30%, there were still 13.7 tons of food waste between September through November 2017 in Commons Dining Hall. When food waste is sent to decompose in landfills it reacts with metals to produce harmful greenhouse gasses. Don't worry, that food wasn't just thrown away, it was composted through Natural Upcycling. Natural Upcycling is an upstate food scrap collection company that takes food waste and turns it into a reusable resource. With every ton of food waste that is composted, 0.9 tons of CO2 emissions are saved. There are several benefits to composting and it's easy to do! Follow these quick tips below to start composting today!

What you will need:
1) Carbon-rich material (leaves, straw, dead flowers)
2) Nitrogen-rich material (grass clippings, vegetable peelings, fruit rinds)
3) Garden soil
4) Site that is at least 3x3ft

To start your own compost you'll need to layer the material above starting with the carbon-rich material, then nitrogen-rich, followed by soil. Make sure to moisten each of the layers and continue piling on until the pile is 3ft high. Every couple of weeks the material will need to be turned by taking a fork or shovel to move the stuff at the center to the outside and vice versa. The compost needs to stay moist to allow for proper decomposition. You can always add new material to the compost, which is a great way to use your food scraps and add to your compost pile.

The Environment Pays Less with Tray-less Dining

The Hospitality Services at Rensselaer does our best to reduce our carbon footprint and stay green at all our resident dining halls. One big improvement we've committed to in the past few years is the initiative to maintain a "trayless" dining environment.

The larger impact of trayless dining comes from the reduction in food waste. A recent study from Aramark revealed a 25-30% decreases in food waste during trayless days at 25 different colleges and universities. Students have a tendency to pack on the food when they have a tray that can carry multiple plates. With the absence of trays, students are lead to make more careful plate choices and therefore waste less food during meals.

Trayless dining is a simple and easy solution to reduce waste and save money. Not only have we made an effort to be trayless in resident dining, but we've recently pushed the initiative to our retails locations as well. Just this past semester The McNeil Room has gone trayless. While the food waste might not have been the biggest concern in our retail location, the energy and water saved from cleaning the trays make an environmental impact. Trayless dining conserves energy by eliminating the need run those trays through the dishwasher anytime they are used by patrons.

Go Green in 2018

New Years is a time to reflect on the past year and decide what measures we can take to be happier, healthier, and a better person in general in the coming year. With that, this New Years I challenge you to think about the impact that you have had on the planet Earth this past year and make a difference this coming year. Here are some pledges you can take to decrease your footprint and become a greener citizen:

1. The Better Bag Challenge: Promise not to take any disposable plastic bags for a whole year. Instead, bring your own reusable bag.

2. Take Back the Tap Pledge: Pledge to choose tap water over bottled water whenever possible, fill a reusable bottle with tap water, and support policies that promote clean, affordable tap water for all.

3. The B.Y.O Pledge: Pledge to bring your own mugs, water bottles, and reusable bags to work, school and whenever you are on-the-go.

4. The Lights Off Pledge: Pledge to turn the lights off whenever you leave a room for two months.

5. Colgate Make Every Drop Count Challenge: Pledge to turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth.

6. Zero Waste Pledge: Pledge to recycle or repurpose all waste. (Bonus: you even get a free gift for this one!)

Happy New Year!

2017: a Year in Review

Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Taylor Swift's comeback, The Women's March, Beyonce's Pregnancy announcement, etc.-- all things that made 2017. Here are Rensselaer Dining Services, we have had quite the eventful year as well. From zero waste Commencement Day to compost bins in the Rensselaer Union, 2017 has been full of positive, sustainable changes on the Rensselaer campus. Let's take a chance to look back and reflect on our sustainable year at Rensselaer.

Zero Waste Commencement Day: The class of 2017 was honored with a joyous celebration at the ECAV football stadium. Though the graduation celebration was obviously the highlight of the event, coming in close second was the fact that it was entirely zero waste! This means that all the garbage produced by the event was either recycled or composted-- none of it was destined for a landfill.

Red's Best Sustainable Seafood: Every Friday on campus, a Red's Best fish is served in each of the dining halls. Red's Best provides sustainably caught fish meaning the process minimizes energy expenditure.

Campus Composting at Rensselaer: Student's at the largest retail location on campus, the Rensselaer Union, have the opportunity to utilize a compost bin in order to dispose of leftover foods and napkins. This minimizes the amount of landfill waste that we, as a campus, create.

Reusable Mugs/Bags: All students on a meal plan received a free reusable mug and bag to use throughout the year. This was an effort to reduce coffee cup waste and plastic bag waste on campus.

Clean Water Aid: When trouble struck campus, in the form of a boil advisory, Rensselaer Dining Services was there to save the day with free bottled water for students as well as canned sodas and juices inside the dining hall.

Straight A's on Vegan Report Card: Peta2 came out with vegan report cards for 2017 and Rensselaer scored straight A's. Scoring was based on the availability of vegan services. Rensselaer currently fulfills 7 out of the 10 criterion, earning us an A.

Get Local Meals: Locally sourced ingredients have become an integral piece of our dining halls. Twice a month we host "Get Local" meals in which all the ingredients are locally sourced from New York. On a daily basis, we also feature dairy products sourced from Byrne Dairy in Lafayette, New York.

What an incredible year it has been! The progress that we have made within dining services and as a campus is inspiring. Looking ahead, 2018 is going to be filled with even more of a sustainable push toward an even brighter future.

Get in the Giving Spirit

In 2016, the United Nations launched their bold and transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In this agenda, there are 17 sustainable development goals focusing on wiping-out poverty, fighting inequality, and tackling climate change.

As the holiday season descends upon us, with the second night of Hannukah tonight, and Christmas, Winter Solstice and Kwanzaa in a little over a week, it is officially time to get in the spirit of giving. That being said, here are some ways you can tackle at least one of these 17 sustainable development goals this holiday season. 

Goal 1: Donate to End Poverty, an organization focused on ending poverty through microenterprise. 

Goal 2: Contribute your time to volunteer for or send in a donation to the Sodexo Stop Hunger Program. 

Goal 3: Donate to Doctors Without Borders, an organization that delivers emergency medical aid to impoverished, disease-stricken countries worldwide.

Goal 4: Donate to or become a child sponsor at Save the Children, an organization focusing on providing worldwide education.

Goal 5 + 10: This holiday season, reflect on the times that maybe you haven't been so open-minded and accepting. Then make a change in 2018. Being kind is easy.

Goal 6: Help fund the building of clean water sources in Africa by donating to The Water Project.

Goal 7: While the cost of solar panels and windmills is far too steep for the average person to afford, investing in switching the lightbulbs in your house from incandescents to LEDs or CFLs can save 5 to 10 times the amount of energy expended. 

Goal 8: While there is not much you can do to help economic growth in other countries, you can educate yourself. In most places in the world besides the United States, the average person lives on about $2 a day. To put this in perspective, the average meal costs about $12.75 in the United States. 

Goal 9: Donate or volunteer your time to Construction for a Change, an organization that focuses on building necessary infrastructure such as medical buildings and schoolhouses in impoverished areas of the world. 

Goal 11: Talk to a town councilman or councilwoman about the sustainable projects currently in the works in your town and how you can contribute. Remember, you can always start your own!

Goal 12: Make it your New Years Resolution to be a responsible and thoughtful consumer. Remember, we only have one planet and change starts with one person. 

Goal 13: Become a member of the Climate Action Campaign to stop climate change. You can also donate and/or volunteer at one of their events!

Goal 14 + 15: Make it your goal to only consume sustainably caught and killed seafood, meat and poultry.

Goal 16: Don't be a bystander to injustice. See something, say something.

As you can see, it is incredibly easy to get involved this holiday season. From taking a moment to reflect on your own actions, to donating to an organization or even volunteering, you can make a difference. Remember, change begins with one person, so be the change you want to see in the world and others will follow. 

Happy Holidays! Chag Sameach! Likizo Furaha!