Author Archives: Melanie Goldman

Global Learning

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I think that global engagement is the most important part of global learning, as it takes actually wanting to make change to see change. As the old adage says, actions speak louder than words. Throughout this class, we have learned of so many ways we can be more sustainable, whether it be being conscious of our water consumption, eating locally, avoiding buying items from certain companies, taking public transportation, etc. But to know is not enough, we need to actually partake in these more sustainable methods. I have been a vegetarian for about 11 years, and while it wasn’t for sustainable reasons then, I love that my choice to not eat meat benefits the environment. Since I already to do so in that manner, I try to go the extra mile to find foods that are more local, organic, and have less packaging so I can further my efforts to make my eating habits more environmentally friendly. I recognize that I am privileged enough to make these decisions. There are steps people can take to cut out meat in a more sustainable and affordable way, for example the program Meatless Monday, where one can choose to not eat meat one day of the week. This is a good way to get communities engaged, involved, and cooperating to make more sustainable choices. 14% of greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to livestock, and a global shift to a vegetarian diet could mean reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 63%. This of course is a big ask, but the implications of simply changing one’s diet are huge.

 

20 Remarkable Vegetarian Statistics for 2024

Geeking for Geothermal Energy

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Geothermal energy is a great source of renewable energy that has yet to become as mainstream in conversation as other sources like water, wind, solar power. For one, it is renewable and therefore more sustainable and better for the environment than coal and other fossil fuels. The rate of extraction for geothermal heat is so that the demand does not outweigh the supply. Another benefit of geothermal energy is that is can produce energy despite any weather conditions. While a great renewable option, solar power relies on weather conditions, and can’t operate 24/7 like geothermal energy. Additionally, geothermal energy could be harnessed both domestically and imported, making it a valuable asset. Geothermal power plants do not emit greenhouse gases and they consume less water than other plants.

 

https://www.energy.gov/eere/geothermal/geothermal-basics

Impact of “Meatless Monday”

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I asked my friends how many days a week they eat a meal that includes meat. I wanted to ask this question because I’ve been a vegetarian for about 10 years, so it was interesting to compare the impact my friends’ eating habits to mine. A lot of initiatives have done research that shows eating vegetarian for just one day a week can reduce the impact that the meat industry has on global warming. For example, the Meatless Monday campaign states that eating less meat “can help reduce the incidence of chronic preventable diseases, preserve precious land and water resources, and combat climate change.” As you can see in the column chart above, Laura and Keerthi have the most sustainable impact with only 5 non-vegetarian meals per week.

 

About Meatless Monday

Unequal Access to Education

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Every child has a right to an education, however millions across the globe do not have access to education (this is not to mention the children who do have access to a low quality education). According to 2012 numbers, 120 million children were not enrolled in elementary school or middles school, with 50 million of those children living in Sub-Saharan Africa. Education is the key to improving communities and societies, without it, poverty lines increase and social mobility becomes harder. The chart below shows the number of children not enrolled in elementary of middle school in the year 2000 compared to the year 2012 across the world. The green bars indicate female children not enrolled in school while the blue bars represent male children not enrolled in school. As you can see, it is more common for girls to not be enrolled in school than it is for boys, which is another social injustice. More work needs to be done to ensure that children have access to quality education!

https://www.statista.com/chart/3180/out-of-school-children/

Giant Iceberg Floats by Newfoundland

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In 2017, a massive iceberg drifted past a town in Newfoundland at a whopping 15 stories above the water. This number is especially large when taking into consideration that the tip of the iceberg is only 10% of the entire mass of the iceberg. It’s not uncommon for icebergs to float by Canadian shores, but lately more and bigger icebergs have made their way south, calving off of Greenland. This is concerning, as a rise in temperatures (in part due to rising green house gas emissions) means that glaciers are shrinking. With glaciers melting and calving off more and more icebergs, the sea level is set to rise as well, meaning that icebergs won’t be floating past Canadian shores, they’ll be floating over them. Also concerning is the inconsistencies in how many icebergs calve annually, with 1,546 icebergs clogging shipping lanes in 2014 (one of the top 6 most severe cases in over 100 years), and only 687 icebergs 2 years later in 2016. GHG have real effects, and more needs to be done to reduce them.

 

https://www.livescience.com/58783-huge-icebergs-drift-by-canadian-village.html

Wasting Food and Its Impact

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Composting is a practice employed by gardeners and farmers in which they replenish and enrich the soil with leftover yard/food waste. In addition to enrich the soil and helping plants grow, composting reduces the emissions of methane. This is due to the fact when left in landfills, organic waste generates methane. By separating out organic waste into compost, a significant amount of methane emissions are reduced. Composting also promotes soil’s water retention, which in turn means there is less water waste.

In 2018, an estimated 2.6 million tons of food was composted, which is the equivalent of one person composting .42 pounds of food per day. However, since composting isn’t part of peoples’ daily routine (everyone has a garbage can, but how many people have a composting bin?), we waste about 1.4 billion tons of food. Americans waste the most food annually at a whopping 80 billion pounds. Our food waste could be significantly reduced if we began implementing a steady routine of composting. Normalizing and standardizing composting would reduce the size of landfills as well as improve the agricultural climate.

Before the COVID pandemic, 35 million Americans had food insecurity. Today,  50 million Americans have food insecurity. With over 80% of food waste coming from households and restaurants, there is such a real difference we could be making to reallocate food waste either to those in need and with food insecurity, or to compost facilities to add to long term improvement.

 

https://www.rts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/RTS_Food_Waste_Guide_2021.pdf

https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/reducing-impact-wasted-food-feeding-soil-and-composting

How Much Water Do We Waste Daily?

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Only about 0.3% of Earth’s water is safe/accessible to drink, and still we waste so much of it with simple, everyday tasks (NGWA). Turning the faucet off when brushing your teeth has become common practice among the general population, but what else could be wasting water? In his article, Adam Hadhazy seeks out the least wasteful option when it comes to household chores. For example, he writes that hand-washing dishes (while it may seem like the more sustainable choice) can use anywhere between 20 – 40 gallons of water, while most dishwashers only use about 10 gallons per load. He also explains that going to a professional car wash wastes less water than washing it yourself, with car wash garages using up to 45 gallons of water per car and doing it yourself using between 80 and 140 gallons (more than triple going to a garage) (Hadhazy). Additionally, car wash garages are more sustainable and environmentally friendly, as they recycle water and are under a U.S. mandate to direct wastewater to treatment plants to avoid polluting nearby water sources. Spreading more knowledge about how much water we actually use in our day to day lives could make such a difference in when it comes to changing the general populations’ attitude regarding climate change. When you understand just how much water you’re wasting while washing the dishes or doing laundry, the problem becomes real and more relevant.

 

Hadhazy, A. 2008. Top 10 Water Wasters: From Washing Dishes to Watering the Desert. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/top-10-water-wasters/

 

Mullen, K. 2021. Information on Earth’s Water. National Groundwater Association. https://www.ngwa.org/what-is-groundwater/About-groundwater/information-on-earths-water

got milk?

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In the past few years, non-dairy milk products have seen a rise in popularity and sales. This move away from dairy milk was at first attributed to diet concerns and a trend in cutting out dairy, but lately the current climate conditions have been factoring in to the general populations milk-buying decisions. Non-dairy milks range from pea milk to walnut milk to soy milk, and they’ve been marketed as healthy alternatives to cow milk. Another draw to non-dairy milks has been concern for animal welfare, which could also explain the rise in veganism/vegetarianism (Gustin). However, concern for the changing climate has started to creep its way to the top of people’s list for choosing alternative milk products. Since non-dairy milks make up 10% of the milk market, competition runs high, and many alternative milk companies are funding research to find out exactly how big each alternative milks’ carbon footprint is. One study found that a liter of pea milk results in 387g of carbon dioxide, a liter of almond milk results in 396g of carbon dioxide, a liter of soy milk results in 397g of carbon dioxide, and a liter of cow milk results in 1,467g of carbon dioxide (Gustin). With these numbers, it’s easy to market non-dairy milks as the more sustainable choice. Representatives of non-dairy milk companies make the argument that even nut milks which require a lot of water and other resources to produce are more sustainable than cow milk, therefore competition within the non-dairy market should cease, and companies should instead work together to help as much as they can to affect climate change.

 

Gustin, G. 2018. Cows vs. Nuts: Who Gets to be Called Milk, and Are They Climate Friendly? Inside Climate News. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24012018/almond-soy-milk-non-dairy-climate-change-impact/

Melanie Goldman

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Hi! My name is Melanie Goldman and I’m from Westchester, NY. I am a junior psych major and I recently visited my friends abroad! I love to read and spend time with my family and friends. My understanding of sustainability is limited in that I have never formally learned about it, only pieced together information from the news, articles, and other forms of social media. I look forward to learning more about what I and others can do to reduce our collective carbon footprint in a realistic way, as well as really understanding the scale of the situation we are in.