San Luis Obispo
I attended the 4 day UC/CSU/CCC Sustainability Conference at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo over the weekend. Here's just some of the highlights of the presentations/workshops:
1) Fog Collectors -- With a growing demand for water in the future, Prof. Daniel Fernandez of CSU Monterey Bay talked about using fog collectors to get water from fog. Water from fog ... who'd have thunk? Well, the Chileans actually. :D
2) Zero Waste Program -- In Ellison Hall at UC Santa Barbara, more than 85% of their garbage is diverted from landfill. To take care of food composting, they have their own compost bins in the building. Talk about discipline. I don't think I can even get my workplace to divert a lot of their items (paper, plastic bottles, etc) away from the garbage can and into the recycle bin. Just to share a quick story, I once had a co-worker who threw her soda can right into the garbage during an Energy and Recycling Meeting. That's essentially the mindset of a lot of my co-workers. Up to now, the cafeteria workers are still using styrofoam even though the city outlawed their use.
3) Jerome Ringo -- this guy from the Appollo Alliance gave quite a speech on social justice and the environment. Ringo is African-American and he discussed how he was the only African-American member of the Louisiana and the National Wildlife Federation and also how whenever he attends conferences such as the one in Cal Poly, the attendees are primarily white. He doesn't understand this b/c he believes that minorities and the poor are the ones who are usually most affected by environmental issues. For instance, he asked the audience where are power plants, railroad tracks and oil refineries often built? They're often built where the poor and minorities live, he answered.
4) Organic gardening -- The conference stressed buying local and organic food. I attended presentations showing such gardens at CSU Chico, UC Santa Cruz, etc. They also provided a tour of Cal Poly's own organic garden:
After three days of presentations and workshops (and eating locally-grown, organic food .... even the danish pastries were organic .... hehe), I couldn't handle another day talking about sustainability. I guess I couldn't sustain going to another sustainability workshop/lecture. hehe. Luckily, on the last day, the conference had a few tours available. I decided to take the tour of Cal Poly's Center for Marine Sciences located at a pier. Some of the marine life at the pier included seals, sea stars, pelicans, crabs, etc. Here's a video I shot of some of the marine life at the center including an octopus eating a crab:
Anyway, the next UC/CSU/CCC Sustainability Conference will be in Santa Barbara, California next year. Can't wait ... maybe. hehe
Technorati tags: Cal Poly Sustainability Conference
1) Fog Collectors -- With a growing demand for water in the future, Prof. Daniel Fernandez of CSU Monterey Bay talked about using fog collectors to get water from fog. Water from fog ... who'd have thunk? Well, the Chileans actually. :D
2) Zero Waste Program -- In Ellison Hall at UC Santa Barbara, more than 85% of their garbage is diverted from landfill. To take care of food composting, they have their own compost bins in the building. Talk about discipline. I don't think I can even get my workplace to divert a lot of their items (paper, plastic bottles, etc) away from the garbage can and into the recycle bin. Just to share a quick story, I once had a co-worker who threw her soda can right into the garbage during an Energy and Recycling Meeting. That's essentially the mindset of a lot of my co-workers. Up to now, the cafeteria workers are still using styrofoam even though the city outlawed their use.
3) Jerome Ringo -- this guy from the Appollo Alliance gave quite a speech on social justice and the environment. Ringo is African-American and he discussed how he was the only African-American member of the Louisiana and the National Wildlife Federation and also how whenever he attends conferences such as the one in Cal Poly, the attendees are primarily white. He doesn't understand this b/c he believes that minorities and the poor are the ones who are usually most affected by environmental issues. For instance, he asked the audience where are power plants, railroad tracks and oil refineries often built? They're often built where the poor and minorities live, he answered.
4) Organic gardening -- The conference stressed buying local and organic food. I attended presentations showing such gardens at CSU Chico, UC Santa Cruz, etc. They also provided a tour of Cal Poly's own organic garden:
After three days of presentations and workshops (and eating locally-grown, organic food .... even the danish pastries were organic .... hehe), I couldn't handle another day talking about sustainability. I guess I couldn't sustain going to another sustainability workshop/lecture. hehe. Luckily, on the last day, the conference had a few tours available. I decided to take the tour of Cal Poly's Center for Marine Sciences located at a pier. Some of the marine life at the pier included seals, sea stars, pelicans, crabs, etc. Here's a video I shot of some of the marine life at the center including an octopus eating a crab:
Anyway, the next UC/CSU/CCC Sustainability Conference will be in Santa Barbara, California next year. Can't wait ... maybe. hehe
Technorati tags: Cal Poly Sustainability Conference
Labels: Environment
posted by Wil at 4:12 PM
11 Comments:
Taking water from fog is a neat idea ! It is the first time I'm hearing this.
on #3 - so true. Environmentally sensitive plants are always constructed in areas far from the affluent subdivisions. This is because the rich who fund these plants don't want a mess in their backyards :(
Saw a documentary of fogwater collection on TV many years back somewhere in the higlands of Central America. Blogger Pagano of Sagada complained once of water shortage in his lovely hometown, this should alleviate that problem.
Wonder if it's safe to do this in Baguio where pollution is becoming the norm these days.
On number 3 - is that why Joe DiMaggio left Martinez, CA coz of those refineries and railroad tracks nearby? hehe....Part of Richmond are well-to-do despite Chevron's presence and Benicia is somewhat a mystery, an upscale community with Exxon next to it.
Cheers and hope you get to see Reagan County next year!
A very innovative seminar I must say; ideas so far into the future. I think we need them over here, too.
if you do collect water from fog, does it include collecting the pollution in the air as well? just a thought.
i've always wanted to create my own organic garden. i think i'll keep on dreaming for now.
Sounds like it was a good conference. Ringo spoke on EJ issues at an environmental law conference at yosemite that i got to go to for free thanks to husband's firm.
We once tested fogwater and were able to detect pesticides concentrations. I think a lot of the areal deposition detected came from very local sources... although I wouldn't be surprised if other contaminants travel farther, too.
bw, money goes a long way, as they say.
I should've taken a picture or video of the prof.'s presention. He had a mini-fog collector and showed us what the fog nets looked like.
TB, the fog collector might work in the Philippine Cordilleras. I remember all the fog in Baguio and the dew collecting on the leaves. I guess the water quality that's collected depends on where it came from. Maybe there's such a thing as acid fog. hehe.
I thought DiMaggio was from North Beach. I've only passed through Richmond and Martinez, but I can't imagine anyone wanting to live right next to an oil refinery.
Major Tom, the Philippines would definitely benefit from these kinds of conferences. It's pretty well known that Pinas has environmental problems, probably more so than other countries.
1914, Joe D was born in Martinez and parents moved him to SF in 1915, year when Shell Refinery was built. His parents must have smelled something fishy, hehe.....
John Muir, conservationist of Scottish descent died in 1914 having lived in Martinez for over 20 years. A good trivia question on Jeopardy regarding those years.
I think nylon threads are the best to collect those fogwater but drinking it is another story. Well, it can always be boiled.
Cheers!
kayni, I've been thinking myself about trying to grow vegetables again ... composting, all that good stuff.
I think if there was any contamination, it would be mainly from the fog.
sis, Ringo was so good that I can barely remember anything that the speaker following him said. The following speaker was Lieut. Gov. John Garamendi, btw. hehe
The fogwater from Prof. Fernandez was primarily in the Monterey Bay area, so I guess there's not as much contamination over there as opposed to the valley.
TB, Prof. Fernandez described the collector he used as mesh.
I'd move, too, if an oil refinery or power plant or incinerator moved into my neighborhood. Air quality can't be good.
water from fog? hmmm, i wonder if the amount of water is worth it though.
i just finished editing a paper on organic farming certification. heehee. so i smiled when i saw it mentioned.
jerome had an interesting point, most funded projects do not deal much with education and focus on infrastructure. education is needed so the end-users (people in marginal areas) learn to make the most of their environment
BTW, have you ever been on the 2 week sustainability program in switzerland? its called youth encounter for sustainability (yes)
in our former place, we have to segregate our trash to biodegradable & not. or else the garbage collector won't get them
caryn, I was too much of a slacker in my youth to have been involved in something like that Swiss conference. hehe
there's a NY Times article that details how a South American town used these fog nets to be able to provide water for their community. the nets are huge. I'll look for it and update this post with the link.
tin, that's good they did that at your former place. I guess they don't do that at your current place? hehe
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