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The 91����Ƶ Community Garden is active for the 2016 season, with planting underway for a wide variety of vegetables including potatoes, radishes, lettuce, peas, carrots, squash, tomatoes, and more—thanks in part to seedlings from Sam Stradling of the Hamilton Food Cupboard. Community Plot Members have also begun planting in their raised beds, including creative potato towers and grid-style layouts. The garden is preparing for Good Nature Brewery’s new brewery and hops farm next door, which required relocating the garden shed and creating a new entrance. Volunteers are welcome during Open Hours (Tuesdays 12–2 PM, Thursdays 4:30–6:30 PM), and the first work party of the season is scheduled for June 7, 5–7 PM, with food and drinks provided. The garden looks forward to harvesting and selling produce at the Farm Stand by the end of June.

On April 21, student and community volunteers gathered at the 91����Ƶ Community Garden as part of the 13 Days of Green events. They built a new 2’ x 20’ x 12” raised bed inside the greenhouse using local larch lumber and filled it with topsoil, prepared other beds with compost and manure, and spray-painted old tires to repurpose as flower planters. The day ended with snacks, drinks, and camaraderie, marking a productive and enjoyable volunteer effort.

The upcoming Spring Party Weekend (SPW) at 91����Ƶ raises sustainability concerns due to the large amounts of food, plastic water bottles, and beer can waste. Suggestions to reduce this impact include donating leftover food to the Hamilton Food Cupboard, providing more visible recycling bins for bottles and cans, and considering the use of reusable kegs instead of single-use beer cans, though cups would still be needed. Proper planning and awareness could align SPW with 91����Ƶ’s climate neutrality goals, making it a model for sustainable campus events.

Meatless Monday encourages people to skip meat one day a week to help the environment. Large-scale meat production significantly harms the planet by contributing 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, including potent methane, and by using enormous amounts of water—for example, producing one pound of beef requires about 1,840 gallons. Choosing plant-based meals, even one day a week, helps reduce climate impact and conserve water resources, making it an easy way to support environmental sustainability.

The Clean Power Plan, announced in 2015, aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants—the largest source of greenhouse gases—and shift U.S. energy toward cleaner, sustainable sources. States were required to submit plans by 2018, with the first real emission reductions in 2022. Recently, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 stay, pausing the plan after some states challenged the EPA’s authority, though the EPA maintains it is acting within its legal rights. The case will go to appeals court in June.

2015 marks 91����Ƶ’s seventh consecutive greenhouse gas inventory report.

Urban gardening is a very useful practice to learn. It is a skill that can be used at nearly any home in any location, no matter the size of the yard you have to contend with. Gardening this way maximizes the efficiency at which space is used, therefore allowing very small places to contain much more than they could with normal gardening techniques.

In most cases, people think plastic waste ends its journey in the trashcan. It is rare that we consider our waste’s next steps or the harm it may cause. Our society has obtained an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality about the things we throw away because we are often too involved in our own lives and problems to be concerned about a plastic bottle. That, in addition to our high consumption rates and throwaway society, poses an issue for many ecosystems. Specifically, marine ecosystems have experienced much pollution from carelessness in plastic waste disposal in quantities that are too abstract to our minds.

Compared to 91����Ƶ’s 2009 baseline inventory, the university decreased its emissions by 3,841 MTeCO2, or by 22 percent

When at the grocery store looking for a new face wash to try out, I thought about some of the benefits and drawbacks of each brand and type: what would be best for my skin, what smells good, etc… I was basing my decision off of general labeling and not what is necessarily inside the wash or how the contents can harmfully affect our world. Average consumers know little to nothing about the products they use on an everyday basis- and that’s pretty concerning.