John Oliver on Food Waste

You probably already know that Americans waste too much food.  This summer, comedian and political commentator John Oliver broke down why the problem is much worse than you may realize – and he offered some practical solutions for what to do about it.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, as much as 40 percent of the food produced in the U.S. never gets eaten and Americans throw away $165 billion worth of food every year, roughly 20 pounds per person every month. That’s enough waste to annually fill 730 football stadiums.

Continue Reading…

Plastic, Plastic Everywhere

Oh, plastic. It seems we can’t live with you and can’t live without you.

The amount of plastic used and disposed of in our country is astounding – think 33 million tons each year. The making of plastic is the largest manufacturing industry in the United States, and we’ve become pretty dependent on the modern conveniences that plastic provides.

In the kitchen, on the road, in our doctor’s office, and on the sports field, plastic can go a long way to keep us safe and comfortable. But what happens next? Continue Reading…

On Getting Trashed

Move-in Day Trash in the Home of Scholars

Let me be the first to say it: College Park Scholars is getting trashed this year – and I think it’s going to be great.

Yes, I can explain.

For the first time in its 21-year history, College Park Scholars has chosen a theme for the coming year, the goal being to provide students in all 12 of our programs with a shared intellectual experience. We chose Trash: The Problem of Waste in Our Lives and World as our first theme, because it is a complex, multifaceted problem that demands thoughtful, creative, hands-on solutions. It seemed uniquely suited to Scholars because it connects so powerfully to our core values of interdisciplinary study, applied learning, and caring, conscientious community. It also affords us a great opportunity to use the living part of our living-learning community as an incubator for best practices in how a college campus can better manage waste. We are making concerted efforts to produce less trash in all our offices and activities. We are also thrilled that Chestertown Hall, which houses the Scholars Environment, Technology and Economy program, will be participating in a pilot composting project.

Scholars will offer an exciting mix of curricular and co-curricular activities in support of the Trash theme. A lecture series called Trash Talks will kick off on September 30 with Majora Carter, a MacArthur Award-winning urban revitalization strategist with a powerful message about how a cleaner, greener infrastructure can help move people out of poverty. There will also be a film series, with a mix of documentary and feature films focused on trash from a variety of perspectives. Students who participate in the Sustainable Tailgating program can earn Scholars Cup points for helping to gather trash and recyclables from visitors during home football games. Students interested in doing trash-related research or practicum projects can compete for a special prize at next spring’s Academic Showcase. There will also be a number of field trips and service opportunities throughout the year that will show students the environmental and economic challenges posed by trash as well as some of the innovative ideas businesses and communities have adopted to meet those challenges.

So, getting trashed in Scholars means digging in to a big problem with the determination and creativity that will be required to fix it. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Stay tuned to this space for more details and further reflections as the year of Trash unfolds in Scholars.