Meet ECO, Moravian's Environmental Coalition!

The last Environmental Coalition (ECO) meeting, Monday 26, had a great turnout: old officers, new officers, fresh faces, and familiar faces.

It’s exactly what the club has been hoping to see.

ECO, Moravian’s Environmental Coalition, is like a case study of the global green movement. Both are too often under-attended, underestimated, and little understood.

ECO’s officers are looking to change that.

Hi. I’m the club’s publicity officer. I’ve been in ECO since I was a freshman (that makes three years), but last year my friends took on leadership roles. I’ve had a renewed sense of purpose since. I think the club has, too.

The Environmental Coalition was formerly called EnviroCo.
The club changed its abbreviation as part of an identity overhaul.

ECO’s mission is to spread awareness of environmental issues and have fun doing it. Last year’s events, I think, reflect that. 

• Earth Hour. On Saturday March 26 2011, as part of the global call to turn out lights for one hour, ECO had acoustic music and glow in the dark Frisbee to lure students out of their artificially lit dorms.
  
• Trash on the Patio. We sorted one day’s worth of trash from a freshman dorm than sorted it to reveal how much we could have recycled or composted. A: over half.
  
• Canoe and Bike Trip. Last spring, we joined our friends at the PA Wildlands Conservancy for our fourth trip since we’ve teamed up.The trip begins at Sand Island, a recreation area along the Lehigh River,a walk away from Moravian's living and learning community, the HILL. The trip involves biking the historic canal-towpath that follows the river. Four miles later, participants hop into canoes and paddle back to Sand Island. The event is one of ECO's most popular.
  
• Recycled Art Contest. In April of 2011, ECO held its second annual Recycled Art Contest. Students were challenged to make sustainable art out of their recyclables. Cash prizes were awarded to first, second, and third place. 

Judges assessing Recycled Art Contest Entries.
The tea set, Moravian's Art Club took first place.

This year we’re planning to bring back old favorites, like our Vegan-Vegetarian Thanksgiving Nov. 20 in the Marketplace, and organize some new events. 

ECO also wants to team up with other clubs and campus initiatives like:

• Peace & Justice Club
• Alternative Energy Club
• Lehigh’s Green Action
• and environmental clubs at other Lehigh Valley schools.

 ECO's next meeting is Monday Oct. 17 at 4pm in the HUB. 

See you there :)

Kickin' it at the Fair Farm Bill kick-off meeting

Last week, I went to the Fair Farm Bill kickoff meeting with Gina, a roommate of mine who also cares about sustainability. The meeting came at the end of a long day for each of us. We were tired, not much in a campaigning mood.

But as soon as we made it to the meeting room in the Bethlehem Public Library, Mara Schechter, of Food & Water Watch, and other almost fifty other organizers welcomed us with huge smiles and even bigger enthusiasm.

Before we knew it, an hour had passed; we had laughed, nodded, brainstormed, enjoyed a handful of great conversations, and left with a plan for getting Moravian students engaged in the Fair Farm Bill (legislation that would protect small farms from and help farmers better compete with big buisness.)

When we got home, we even sat in my room for close to an hour talking more about environmental issues.

Those Fair Farm Bill organizers woke us up last night.

The crowd itself revealed the diversity of the movement; there were college kids, older and middle-aged people, a guy in suspenders, a lady in a “Frack That!” shirt, and a few people in nice slacks and shirts. Mara used social networking and plain old networking to get the word out. 

We all listened as guest speaker, Richard Lane, executive director for Focus International, took to the podium to tell his story about growing up on a Dairy Farm on the Hudson River. He described a tough but rewarding way of life, one he has watched disappear.

Why? “Less than half of the small farms in the US,” Lane said, “can break even.” Many farm he said, just because they believe in it.

The Fair Farm Bill would help prevent such injustices and would help small farmers more readily get their goods to local markets.

Used with permission of
Buy Fresh, Buy Local Greater Lehigh Valley.

It all goes back to one simple belief. “The shared resources we all rely on,” Mara said, should be “managed and regulated in the public interest.” Not in the interest of corporations.

Gina and I, along with a group of Lehigh students from Green Action, attended the breakout session on Grassroots Organizing. A young guy named Dan led it.

Our democracy works when we elect officials who do what we tell them, Dan said. So we have to, “ constantly remind them what they have to do. They listen to whoever they hear the most, whoever’s the loudest.”

The campaign wants to be the loudest voice. We’re looking for 2,000 signatures on a petition to pass the bill. We also hope to flood Senator Casey’s office on Tuesday, Sept 27 with calls supporting the bill. ECO, Moravian's Environmental Coalition will have a table in the HUB and will be urging students to make the call.


There will also be a table in front of the Bethlehem Brew Works (a local restaurant that uses locally grown food)

Moravian students: look up Gina and I to know what you can do on campus.

For more info on the movement, contact Mara Schechter @ mara.schechter@gmail.com.

Going green with good food and good people

The air is a little chillier. We’re shelving summer clothes and taking out scarves, sweaters, and office supplies. My email is blowing up. 

Fall is here. School has started. And already there is a lot going on in the Lehigh Valley.

In my inbox of parking notifications and meeting requests, I was happy to receive an email fromMara Schechter. Mara, a recent college grad, contacted me in hope that I could help spread the word at Moravian about a campaign she’s working on for Food & Water Watch.

Curious, I checked them out and found I already knew the group, or at least their work. They helped get Starbucks to stop using milk from cows treated with artificial growth hormones and exposed environmental, health, and equity issues in the water bottle industry.

This time, Food & Water Watch is tackling inequality in the food industry. And Mara is looking to help.

Her Bethlehem campaign will empower people to “make our food system work better for small farmers and our communities, and give consumers access to safer, more sustainable food.”

The first step? Urging the Senate to pass Fair Farm Rules, designed to help smaller farmers compete with and gain protection from big industry.  Learn more about the bill at Change.org.

goodies from the Fair Farm Bill Kickoff meeting Wednesday night

The food industry certainly has its issues. “Right now, our country’s food system is broken,” Mara said. A few large corporations have control of the system, “risking public health, driving out small and mid-sized farmers, and hurting the environment.”

Documentaries like Food Inc. have really put the icing on the questionably-made cake. They show that our food is shipped, processed, injected, and man-handled more than we could imagine. Often, food like produce is selected less for its taste and more for its ability to withstand this abuse.

People like Mara and the folks at Food & Water Watch see a smart solution. Why not buy our food from people we know? 

Local farmers will put our money more directly back into the community. We'll save tons of CO2, emitted when trucking our food around, and prevent the countless insults to nature that occur during food processing. 

That’s the idea behind Buy Fresh, Buy Local. PA’s southeast chapters identifies 91 farmers markets (the closest is just by Lehigh), 248 farms, and 119 restaurants where consumers can find locally sourced food like,

• heirloom tomatoes
• farmstead cheeses
• varietal wines
• pasture-raised lamb
• crisp apples

These are some of the regional foods Buy Fresh, Buy Local celebrates. Check out the site and you’ll find not only what’s in season, but also yummy recipes from other locals.

Here's the Great Lehigh Valley's chapter: http://www.buylocalgreaterlehighvalley.org/ 

Maybe you got to take a break from stuffing your face with fresh blueberries and eggplant, and check out Mara’s kick off meeting. It was held Wednesday, Sept. 21, in the Bethlehem Public Library. 

Missed it? No worries! 

To learn more or get involved contact Mara Schechter at mschechter@fwwlocal.org.

Invite friends to the group by adding the event on Facebook.

Welcome to The Green Light.

Hi, my name is: Caiti!

 Get to know me in 10 seconds:

I’m from: the shore of New Jersey

My favorite kid’s movie: The Little Mermaid, easily

I’m happiest when: I’m hiking somewhere amazing

The coolest thing I ever did was: climb Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, 14,259 feet higher than where I was born. Not easy.

Me on the summit of Longs Peak.

I’m blogging because: I’m taking an online journalism class

I’m happy to be blogging because: there are some amazing people involved in the green initiative at Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA, and in the Lehigh Valley. I’ll do my best to give them the voice they deserve.

Give me 30 more!

There’s a rumor out there. Moravian students, like many others, think “going green” is tedious, arduous, smelly, messy, annoying, a sacrifice. If you’re one of them, you’re missing out!

Well then what is all this green stuff? What’s sustainability?

First, forget your grandma’s definition of sustainability: the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance.

It’s this simple. Sustainability is about being smart. It’s a concept that seeks solutions that are beneficial to

1)    our environment- Local farms, for instance, produce food that need not be

trucked and processed (which would waste energy).

2) our communities- When you buy from that farmer, your money goes to support his or her family, which will in turn support in your community.

3) our economies- By producing food in an environmentally responsible way the farmer helps preserve resources, like land and clean water, that are economic essentials. By paying for his or her goods, you’re building a strong local economy that is less susceptible to the fickleness of the nation’s economy.

What does this mean for us?

Through more efficient resource use, Moravian College could save money. (Think solar panels to cut down energy bills or new plumbing and heating to conserve energy.)

 If we buy locally, we can help sustain families in the Lehigh Valley.

If we just think twice, maybe Moravian students will make choices that make us happier, healthier, more fulfilled: Frisbee over Facebook, veggies over burgers, the forefront over the sidelines.

Students would go for green if more people would go with them. It’s not stupid to walk the extra few feet to the recycling bin or the extra mile to south campus. People would go for green if they knew just how big of a deal our environmental issues are.

More people—especially young people!— should know they have the power to make a better community for themselves. I’d like to help. Consider this the green light.

Why do I care?

I’m lucky, lucky to have spent time in some incredible places in my pursuit of a career as a National Park Ranger. Maybe I’m even selfish. I’ve swam in the turquoise lakes of Glacier National Park, ambled through Colorado’s quaking aspen, and grew up exploring the Atlantic Coast. I don’t want to the magic of these places to slip away, and certainly not through my fingers.

I want to have fun, enjoy life, and do it in a way that leaves more fun and enjoyment for the people after me.

Are you in?