Sustainability Education Station

By Sarah Baulac, Academic Initiatives Working Group Intern

Part of my work as the AIWG intern is to update the sustainability course listings on the IUOS website. This list is a compilation of courses across campus related to or focused on sustainability. It serves as a tool to help students gain a quality sustainability education.

There are two types of courses on the list: courses related to sustainability and courses focused on sustainability. The IUOS website defines these terms as follows:

Pondering Sustainability

By Angelo F. Bardales, Green Teams Coordinator

From the onset of our internships at IUOS, we are encouraged to start thinking about what sustainability means to us, to form our own definition on a personal level—if we hadn’t already started doing so beforehand. In our first reading from A Conservationist Manifesto, we encounter an etymological approach to such words as growth, wealth, and patriotism. While we do not need to take such a detailed approach right off the bat, we can use it as a starting point.

The Future of Food at Indiana University

By Angela Babb, Food Planning

What is sustainable food? Many would say that to be sustainable, food must be four things, starting with local. Specific definitions of local change with each region, but the shorter the farm-to-table distance, the better. Secondly, sustainable food is fair; workers must be paid well, have access to health insurance and be treated justly. Sustainable food must be ecologically sound, so no harmful chemicals polluting our shrinking supply of freshwater. Last but not least, sustainable food is humane, meaning animals have easy access to food and water and ample space to move and thrive without unduly stress.  How much of the food at Indiana University is considered sustainable? We should be finding out soon after the upcoming IU Food Summit, held by the IU Office of Sustainability.

At a time when people are becoming progressively aware of the terrible realities of the global food system, institutions are feeling increasing pressure to acquire food more closely aligned with the values of sustainability, and they hold a unique position capable of facilitating substantial change. Between the months of August and May, students of Indiana University account for more than half of the population of Bloomington, a southern Indiana town of approximately 80,000 with 42,000 students and thousands of faculty and staff members.

Creating a Sense of Place

By Sarah Brindle, Sustainability Funding Development Intern

I’ve lived in Bloomington for five years now, and in those years I’ve had many great experiences. I graduated college, started grad school, adopted my first dog, met my fiancé, and will be getting married here in December.  While here, I’ve also been able to eat many breakfasts outside at Runcible Spoon, buy fresh eggs at the farmers’ market, eat ice cream at Chocolate Moose, dine on 4th street, see performances at the Buskirk-Chumley, and volunteer at a nonprofit. All of these experiences and more make Bloomington my home.

The outside eating area at Runcible Spoon.

Scott Russell Sanders, author and former IU English professor, writes in his book A Conservationist Manifesto that part of living sustainably is creating a sense of “place” where you live. Sanders writes that

“A powerful sense of belonging to our home ground can draw us out of our self-preoccupation and revive our concern for the public realm. It can help transform us from rootless wonderers into inhabitants, from consumers into stewards (96).”

Meet the Summer 2013 Interns

By Jessica Plassman, Project Coordinator

The 2013 Summer Internship Program in Sustainability kicked off today with the first workshop. The two-hour long seminar, which will recur every Monday throughout the program, served to introduce interns to the office by discussing office procedures, program details, and the underlying concepts of sustainability. 

Sixteen new interns make up the summer program and hold positions in a wide-range of sustainability initiatives. Throughout the summer, the workshops will facilitate collaboration among interns, including sharing networks and resources vital to program success, and will involve a long-term discussion of sustainability and behavior change through the lens of the book The Conservationist Manifesto by Scott Russell Sanders.

Two Polar Bears and a Dragon: How might art help build sustainable communities?

By Julia Denison

In my years as fine arts student at IU, my extracurricular attempts to merge sustainability and art often led me to create works that utilized recycled goods as a primary art material or directly illustrated sustainability topics. Recently, however, I have been learning about the role that art of any form can play in sustainability efforts.

Public art, for instance, has the power to help people within any community develop a shared sense of identity, and this shared identity is a necessary element in the building of sustainable neighborhood or city. Regardless of economic or social barriers that may exist between groups, public art, or art that is specifically for and available to the public, offers itself up as something all community members can claim as their own. Over time, a large mural or sculpture can become part of what makes people proud of where they live. If people believe their community is unique in some way, they may be more likely to treat it with respect. This might inspire them to work towards improving overall quality of life, which could even mean supporting a new farmers market, expanding and protecting green space, or setting stricter standards for waste management.

My personal attempt to contribute to such an effort came in January, when I painted a mural in an elementary school in Nashville, TN. Re-zoning had resulted in a new school population comprised of students from two adjacent, but different neighborhoods, and I was charged with the task of creating imagery that celebrated the uniqueness of each while reinforcing a oneness within the student body. The polar bears and the dragon seen here are pieces of sculptural art that have been objects of pride in the two neighborhoods for many years. The eagle is the school mascot and the flags acknowledge the many countries represented by the student body. The rest of the mural blends significant buildings and landmarks into an imaginative map and skyline of the city of Nashville. By highlighting sculptural and architectural neighborhood icons within the context of the entire city, my hope is that the mural will inspire students to see the uniqueness of their community in a larger, more colorful way.

Julia Denison is a former IU student who served as a member of Volunteers in Sustainability and a representative to the Student Sustainability Council. She can be reached at denison.julia@gmail.com

This Week in Sustainability 4.1.13

Upcoming events are listed in a weekly email bulletin and on our calendar. If you do not receive our weekly email and would like to, please email sustain@indiana.edu to subscribe.

Select ongoing events and opportunities are highlighted in our weekly email, while the full list of items are available on this weekly blog post. Instructions for submitting an item to either our calendar or blog are at the end of this post.

IUOS Website | Twitter | Facebook |  Calendar

Featured news, ongoing events, and opportunities: 

Graduate Student Sustainability Research Development Grants Available (posted 3/25)
Application Deadline: Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Description: This program provides opportunities for Indiana University graduate students to develop new research programs related to sustainability. The grant program, sponsored by the IU Office of Sustainability, University Graduate School, School of Public Health, and the Integrated Program in the Environment, awards grants up to $10,000 to any graduate student from the IU Bloomington campus.  Funds may be applied to graduate student fellowships (up to $5,000) as well as field, laboratory, computational, or library research.  Both individual applicants and teams of graduate student are encouraged to apply. Priority will be given to high-quality interdisciplinary projects that include participants from multiple disciplines.
Questions: For more information about the grant program and information on how to apply, click here.  To learn more about sustainability initiatives at Indiana University, click here.  Any questions can be directed to Emily Rex, at ekrex@indiana.edu.

“Where Does Our Food Come From?” Farm Internship 2013 (posted 3/25)
Application Deadline : Monday, April 15, 2013
Description: Work and learn about small-scale local market intensive farming and food distribution on Schacht Farm in Bloomington.  Students will keep a field journal, and write presentation about their experiences, while participating in all aspects of farm work, including: pasture broiler chickens, pasture hens and hogs, CSA operation, and Farmer’s market sales.  This internship counts towards the new Minor in Food Studies Anthropology, with up to 6 credits available. Hours are variable depending on the number of credits. There will be 2 summer sessions: 1. 8 weeks from May 7 – June 28 and 2. 6 weeks from May 7 to June 14.
Questions: For more information or an application, click here, or contact Professor Richard Wilk at:  wilkr@indiana.edu or 855-3901.

The Office of Sustainability at the College of Charleston Summer 2013 Internships (posted 4/1)
Application Deadline : Friday, April 5, 2013
Description: Two paid internships are available (one graduate, one undergraduate) are available for the summer of 2013 at the College of Charleston.  The full time 30 hours per week internships run from June 3 to August 9, 2013.  This program is looking for motivated and dedicated students who have a passion for sustainability and are seeking to work on initiatives within this subject of interest.  Interns will work with campus associates and community members to strengthen the Office’s relationship with the Charleston community.  Possible projects include: Sustainable Greek, Orientation and New Student Outreach, Residence Life Programming, Waste and Energy.
To Apply: Please send a resume, 2 professional references and a letter of intent why you want to work for the Office, how your skills and experiences make you a good candidate for this position and what you wish to work on during your time with us.  All of this information can be sent to sustainability@cofc.edu by 5pm on Friday, April 5, 2013.  Interviews will take place in person or via Skype during the week of April 15, 2013.
Questions: For more information or an application, contact: https://www.exchange.iu.edu/owa/14.2.309.2/scripts/premium/jejones2@g.cofc.edu”>jejones2@g.cofc.edu .