on oct. 17, 2024, as a part of the world food forum in rome, italy, the fao hosted a discussion session for high-level leaders and representatives to discuss their global framework on water scarcity in agriculture, or wasag.

wasag is a partnership initiative of fao and brings together “government agencies, international organizations, research institutions, advocacy groups and professional/membership organizations,” according to their website.

their discussion session outlined 10 ways that wasag plans to build upon their partnership with the fao and combat water scarcity. the session had three goals in mind:

• to enhance collaboration and mobilize commitments,
• to agree on key wasag governance, and
• to highlight priorities in addressing scarcity in agriculture, while strengthening the connections between the agriculture and water sectors.

water scarcity has already caused massive crop failures worldwide, and this issue will only continue to grow. the fao reports that around the world we’ll need to produce 50% more food by 2050, when the global population is expected to hit 10 billion — requiring at least 25% more water. the broader goal of wasag is to make water more accessible to ensure a higher level of food security. 

“wasag is core to fao’s commitment to integrated water resources management for the effective transformation of global agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable,” fao director-general qu dongyu stated on the wasag website. 

wasag was created in 2016 to help fao uphold its commitments related to the 2030 sustainable development agenda. wasag focuses on sustainable development goals 2 and 6, which include alleviating poverty and creating clean water and sanitation, respectively.

the 10 actions presented at the rome conference ranged from supporting partnerships between wasag and all fao member nations that address water scarcity, to establishing a technical advisory committee that would provide technical advice to wasag members and partners.

the technical advisory committee will meet twice a year as well as annually with the leaders of working groups and task forces. there are six groups of wasag, including water and migration, drought preparedness, financing mechanisms, water and nutrition, sustainable agricultural water use, and saline agriculture.  

one of the youth representatives from the world food forum youth assembly, maggie markow, suggested that the advisory committee would need to expand its scope to be successful.

“let this water dialogue be a stark reminder water is just not technical, it is political, and it is our responsibility to ensure it is accessible to all,” markow said. 

besides markow, dongyu also said people should not only learn the technology behind combating water scarcity but also learn why it is so important to fight against water scarcity and its related issues.

“we should be learning the spirit of fighting against the situations we are facing like climate and weather change,” dongyu said. 

wasag ended their declaration reiterating they want to make all their resources established in other parts of the declaration available for their partners. they also stated they want to keep working with fao, as supported by the director of the land and water division at fao li lifeng.

“fao is supporting all member countries to jointly address the water scarcity challenges. “wasag is a flagship partnership in the fao new water journey. we look forward to hearing solutions and experiences that can be brought to the global arena,” lifeng stated on the wasag website.

the loop, run by sustainable gw, is open weekly on fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in academic building room 122. the exchange includes clothing, shoes, and accessories donated by gw community members, and free to the community. sofia tjia, an intern at sustainable gw, said the loop’s goal is to make sure students on campus have access to clothes they need and to teach students to be more mindful about their consumption habits.  

tjia said the loop started as a “random room” but was turned into a store by another intern who thrifted furniture and other decorations to create a space. besides the clothes, the addition of comfortable couches and trendy music playing in the background makes the clothing exchange a hang-out space.

“we wanted it to be a fun place people can get the clothes they need,” tjia said. 

accessing the loop

the loop is located on gw’s mount vernon campus, a 15-minute shuttle ride away from the main foggy bottom campus. tjia said she has spoken with customers who live on the foggy bottom campus who make the journey over to mount vernon simply for the loop. 

“it’s so cute people plan to go to the vern just to come to the loop,” tjia said. “it’s really heartwarming.”

tjia said the loop’s grand opening day held on aug. 30 was “very busy,” but what keeps the “momentum” of community members coming back to the loop is making it clear the clothes available change “very often” since they get new donations every week. 

in the two weeks leading up to halloween, tjia said the loop also created specific racks with customers so community members could get affordable and sustainable costumes.

limiting over-consumption

even though everything at the loop is free, customers are not required to exchange clothes but tjia said they “encourage” an exchange. tjia said she tells community members to be “mindful” about overconsuming even second-hand clothes. 

“the hype of everything being free at the loop can sometimes overshadow the fact we still do not want you to overconsume,” tjia said. 

she also said the loop is trying to draft a “policy” that discourages the over-consumption of clothes. she said the main goal of the loop is for community members to find clothes that make them happy and that they will bring back to their wardrobe and wear consistently. 

keeping clothes out of the landfill

since the opening of the loop, tjia said she has helped divert almost 2,000 items from landfills.

according to gw’s office of sustainability, they receive more than 25,000 pounds worth of clothing donations per year. before the loop, these went only to their community partners. 

these community partners include bread for the city, which provides clothing and other services to low-income residents in the district, and love and light, which helps veteran and military families in woodstock, va., among others. 

engagement associate at the office for sustainability juliana carvalho manages the loop along with other programs related to engagement and outreach on gw’s campus. 

according to carvalho, she helped create the loop thanks to several students who had the idea of creating a permanent thrift store rather than occasional pop-ups, and receiving a “surplus” of donations through bins located around gw’s campus. 

she said the loop receives clothes their community partners do not want, such as bulk sorority shirts. carvalho said the more “interesting” items they have received are a canvas tote bag with approximately 55 plushies sewn onto it, which was adopted by a patron in the first few minutes after the loop’s grand opening, and tall platform neon gym shoes which are still looking for a home. 

affordable clothing

besides the sustainability aspect, she said the loop is also addressing the needs of the gw community by providing affordable clothes students might need.

“there are certain kinds of clothing that college students might be looking for that are particularly expensive, like business casual clothing, for example, clothing for their internships and summer jobs,” carvalho said. 

she said the loop makes sure students in need are also aware of other resources available for them on campus, such as the store, which is a student-run food pantry providing resources for students experiencing food insecurity. 

“the students who come to the store know that the loop exists,” carvalho said. “we’re just cross-promoting the resources.” 

besides being open every friday, carvalho said they open the loop at different times to specific student groups who would benefit from having extra time to look around for clothes they need. 

“we really wanted to create an experience where students would feel excited about coming in and getting their clothes,” carvalho said. 

the associated press called the race in the early morning of nov. 6. the final battleground state of arizona was called saturday evening, leaving trump with 312 electoral votes, including all seven swing states, and harris with 226 electoral votes. 

based on trump’s 2024 campaign platform, known as agenda47, the republican national committee (rnc) platform, and trump’s past denial of climate change, trump’s second term in office is likely to have far-reaching implications on climate change efforts.

energy production:

“republicans will unleash energy production from all sources, including nuclear, to immediately slash inflation and power american homes, cars, and factories with reliable, abundant, and affordable energy,” the rnc platform states. 

the rnc agenda also stated their goals of making america energy independent again and achieving lower energy prices than during trump’s first administration. 

on trump’s agenda47 website, regarding energy, they cited research from the heritage foundation, an organization “mobilizing” the conservative movement, stating biden has increased the cost of gas and oil by 50%. 

the agenda47 website also states biden’s climate regulations have caused the u.s. to surrender its economy to china. it also identified what they considered negative outcomes of biden’s climate regulations, including stopping drilling for oil in alaska’s arctic national wildlife refuge and canceling the keystone xl pipeline. according to agenda47, the pipeline would have “created 830,000 barrels of oil per day” for american refineries and “created high-paying jobs.”

paris climate accords: 

trump’s campaign website stated that if he wins the 2024 presidential election, he will exit the paris climate accords again.

united nations climate change states the paris climate accords is an international treaty designed to combat climate change. the treaty was adopted on dec. 12, 2015, by 196 countries, including the united states, at the climate change conference cop21 in paris, france. 

trump during his first administration announced his intentions to leave the paris climate accords on june 1, 2017, because of the “unfair economic burden” it left on americans. 

on his first day in office on jan. 20, 2021, president biden rejoined the paris climate accords. as part of rejoining the agreement, biden pledged to cut all greenhouse gas emissions from the u.s. electric sector by 2035 and make the u.s. a carbon-neutral country by 2050.

politico reported trump leaving the paris climate accords for a second time would mean the u.s. would no longer be among the 200 world governments that have made non-binding pledges to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

inflation reduction act:

one of biden’s main efforts to address climate change during his presidency was through the inflation reduction act (ira), signed on aug. 16, 2022, which provided funding for local projects focused on clean energy, climate mitigation and resilience, agriculture, and conservation-related investment.

trump said that if he wins the 2024 presidential election he would pull funds away from the biden administration’s inflation reduction act during his second term. trump did not specify what programs funded by the ira he would pull back on.

“it actually sets us back, as opposed to moves us forward,” trump said. “and [i will] rescind all unspent funds under the misnamed inflation reduction act.”

but in trump’s previous administration, the new york times reported that by the end of his presidency, trump had completed “rollbacks” on 98 environmental policies and was in progress on an additional 14. 

trump’s climate change denial:

before trump ran for president in 2016, he was known for calling climate change, or global warming, a “hoax”: “the concept of global warming was created by and for the chinese in order to make u.s. manufacturing non-competitive,” trump wrote on x in 2012. 

more recently, on sept. 29, three days after the impact of hurricane helene on the southeastern u.s., trump denied the existence of climate change, during a campaign rally in pennsylvania, calling it “one of the greatest scams of all time.”

trump did not address climate change in his victory speech. 

he will be inaugurated as president on jan. 20, 2025, on the west front of the u.s. capitol.

republican nominee and former president donald trump and democratic nominee and current vice president kamala harris will face off on nov. 5 for the presidency and have stated differing opinions on climate change.

the harris’ campaign

harris, with current president joe biden, has worked to address climate change through legislation such as the bipartisan infrastructure act and the inflation reduction act. 

both the bipartisan infrastructure act and the ira gave funding for local projects which will alleviate the effects of climate change and benefit other areas of the economy. the ira was signed on aug. 16, 2022, and a year after it was signed the biden administration stated it has made changes. 

within the first year the ira was signed into law, there was $110 billion in new clean energy manufacturing including $10 billion in solar manufacturing. the administration also awarded over a billion dollars to protect communities from the impacts of climate change when struck by hurricanes or droughts. the white house stated within the first year of the ira’s implementation american families were projected to save between $27-38 billion on electricity bills between 2022 and 2030.

in a speech regarding its second year anniversary, harris spoke positively about the ira while running for president, saying the legislation is also improving manufacturing and innovation. 

“while taking on the climate crisis and lowering utility bills for families, it is helping us to rebuild american manufacturing and drive american innovation,” harris said.

but there is a question of whether harris will continue to address climate change in her agenda called new way forward if she wins the presidency. seth schuster, a spokesperson for the harris campaign, said there is not another candidate who will “fight harder” to combat climate change. 

“she’s proud to have delivered the most significant climate legislation in american history with president biden,” schuster said. 

according to her presidential campaign website, as president she will “unite” citizens to tackle climate change and build on president biden’s “historic work,” including environmental justice, increasing resilience to climate disasters, and lowering household energy costs.  

“she and governor walz will always fight for the freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis,” her website states. 

harris picked minnesota gov. tim walz as her running mate and democratic vice presidential nominee in early august. 

as governor, walz has championed many initiatives on climate change, including 40 during the 2023 legislative session in minnesota. one legislation included a law requiring all minnesotans to get all their electricity from carbon-free sources by 2040 to stop climate change caused by coal and gas pollution.   

a report from npr stated climate change activists have given “praise” to harris for picking walz as his running mate, including from jamie henn of fossil free media.
“tim walz had the best climate record of any of the vp contenders and has been unafraid to take on big oil,” henn wrote on x.

trump’s outlook

before trump ran for president in 2016, he was known for calling climate change, or global warming, a “hoax,” which he attributed to china in 2012. 

“the concept of global warming was created by and for the chinese in order to make u.s. manufacturing non-competitive,” trump wrote on x. 

during his first administration, the brookings institution said trump was more interested in stopping climate policy than addressing climate change, highlighting his 2017 executive order stating for every new regulation, two regulations have to be eliminated. 

the new york times reported that by the end of his presidency, trump had completed “roll backs” on 98 environmental policies and was in progress on an additional 14. 

trump’s agenda47, a plan detailing what policies he would enact during his possible second administration, does not state climate change as an issue which should be addressed. he instead focuses on making america produce more oil.

trump stated, “america must have the number one lowest cost energy and electricity on earth” through producing more oil. his website also stated this will lower inflation and allow america to become the manufacturing “superpower” of the world. 

“to keep pace with the world economy that depends on fossil fuels for more than 80% of its energy, president trump will drill, baby, drill,” his website states. 

during his 2020 presidential campaign, trump also spread misinformation on climate change, saying wind turbines cause cancer and sink property values by 75%. 

during a recent rally in pennsylvania on sept. 29 for his 2024 presidential bid, three days after the impact of  hurricane helene, trump denied the existence of climate change. 
jd vance, trump’s running mate and the vice presidential republican nominee, responded to hurricane helene in relation to climate change during the vice presidential debate between him and walz, hosted by cbs on oct. 1.

vance took a bipartisan approach to hurricane helene by saying he and walz’s “hearts” and “prayers” go out to those affected, calling it an “unbelievable, unspeakable human tragedy.” he said they both want the federal government to help people affected by natural disasters.

but vance said he and trump want to make the environment cleaner and safer since americans worry about these “crazy weather patterns.” 

“we want as robust and aggressive a federal response as we can get to save as many lives as possible,” vance said. 

the last day for u.s. citizens to cast their ballot is election day on nov. 5.

nasef partnered with the united states department of state to create a modified version of minecraft, dubbed farmcraft, to teach students about new innovations in farming through gaming with the broader goal of connecting play and learning along with showing students farming as a possible career path. chief innovation officer of nasef claire labeaux said farming in recent years has been more innovative and farmcraft is looking to provide students with this new knowledge. 

“our objective is to help kids view what careers they might pursue and then help them sort of get a little sampling of it,” labeaux said.

learning by playing minecraft

maurizio pastore developed farmcraft for nasef by designing the gameplay students experience. he said students are given enough money to begin the game where they buy their first plot of land in the rural area and choose a crop to plant.

the plants include fictional crops such as posh plum, ring radish, moon melon, root fruit, dream berry, and bloom bean. the end goal of the game is for students to grow 1,500 of each of the six crops. 

students then plant their crops and start by watering them. but pastore said plants dry out, weeds begin to grow and bugs infest plants, which students either need to manage manually or pay up for machines in the game to take care of those problems. 

after the first round pastore said students harvest then sell their grown crops for money, which they can then use to purchase upgrades in the laboratory for the crops or technology, along with more plots of land, to make more productive farms.

“farmcraft 2024 is focused on the impact of digital technology on agricultural productivity,” the farmcraft website states. 

pastore said the newest version of farmcraft, or farmcraft 2024, introduced students to farming in suburban and urban areas. he said students are forced to purchase plots in these areas because certain crops grow the best there. 

getting kids excited about solving real world problems

pastore said nasef and developers tried to make farmcraft as applicable to the real world as possible.  

a volunteer, who helped run the game at the wff and wished to remain anonymous because she is not associated with nasef, showed local middle schoolers how to play the game and educated them about its real world applications.

“kids are really interested while playing minecraft because they actually learn and remember things,” the volunteer said. 

the volunteer was present for all four days of the wff and said people and students have kept coming back to try out farmcraft. 

“people kept going so there was a line to play,” she said.

labeaux said every year nasef releases a new version of farmcraft with 2024 being the first year they introduced suburban farms with greenhouses, and urban vertical farms. she said they decided to include these different farms to show students how technology has evolved within farming. 

“farming today is not what a lot of kids view it as,” labeaux said. 

tapping into a global community

besides having students play at the wff, labeaux said nasef takes farmcraft to other conferences to introduce the game to students. labeaux also said many elementary, middle, and high schools have implemented farmcraft as part of their curriculum. 

“this game is played around the world,” labeaux said. 

she said more than 12,000 students from more than 63 countries, including colombia, japan, kenya, and the united states, have played farmcraft.

labeaux also said after students have finished playing farmcraft at the world food forum, they have the option of joining farmcraft’s virtual programming. she said there are two challenges that students aged eight through 18 years old can join along with virtual exchange programs. 

students are first challenged with creating a minecraft world educating others on food transportation in the student’s area. another challenge is using a custom map created by nasef to grow crops then ship them to a desert biome where crops cannot be grown. 

nasef with farmcraft also hosts virtual exchange programs connecting students with other students around the world to discuss their different educational and personal experiences. the virtual exchange programs for 2024 will happen on nov. 12 and dec. 12. 

“we would love to have them join,” labeaux said.

agroadapt is an interactive board and virtual game where participants are split into three groups: policymakers, community leaders, and farmers. for three rounds, the groups play to win the most points by collaborating with other groups in dealing with the effects of climate change. beau damen, the developer of agroadapt, said the goal of the game is for participants to learn the importance of group collaboration in the face of climate change. 

“if you’re working in different directions, the overall outcome may be worse for the system,” damen said. 

damen said he developed the game last year and delivered the final product at the beginning of 2024. he said the world food forum is his first event sharing the game with the public rather than with internal groups.  

although the game is not yet available for purchase, damen said they are sharing the game at other events throughout the year.

“i think slowly we’ll get it out to our network,” damen said.

understanding real-world problems through gaming

in the game, participants get more points if they work collaboratively with groups rather than working by themselves. the points are added up using a computer algorithm.

to begin the game, participants are split into three groups and given a specific amount of coins. policymakers are given 50 coins, community leaders are given 30 and farmers are given 20. 

next, the groups vote on which fictional country in which they want to grow their crops, floralandia, rainlushia or sereniplains. damen said the countries are based on the environments of real countries based on gathered data. using this data, damen created a biophysical simulation, creating these countries using mathematical formulations. 

“we’ve made them fictitious for the purpose of the game, but the data underneath is actually from real countries,” damen said. 

once a country is chosen, groups choose what crops they grow. the goal is to pick a crop that secures maximum production through a climate disaster.  

policymakers give a recommendation of what crop to grow to the community leaders and the community leaders recommend to the farmers, but the farmers have the final decision on what crop is grown. if the farmers go along with recommendations from the other groups, they get coins because they collaborated. 

how to play

the first round begins in 1980 where players pick five strategies against climate change cards. the point of these cards is to protect crops against the impending natural disaster caused by climate change. each card has an environmental, economic and social score which can either be positive, neutral or negative. the cards are paid for with the group’s coins. 

players then receive points based on how well their strategies worked when a natural disaster such as a drought, flood, or wildfire occurs. they do not know what natural disaster they are preparing for but are given the likelihood of each one affecting their country. crops and strategies previously picked determine how many crops are lost. the players either win or lose coins depending on how well or poorly the teams’ strategies performed.

the same process repeats for the second and third rounds, which take place in 2010 and 2040, respectively. but the amount of time farmers, community leaders, and policymakers get to interact with each other increases each round. the team with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. 

each round of the game is led by a game master. for one round of agroadapt played at the world food forum, the game master was rutendo mukaratirwa, 28, who is a geospatial scientist in the land and water division of the fao. mukaratirwa said she was a member of the game development team, like damen. 

mukaratirwa has held the role of game master over 10 times and has seen players’ perspectives change on how to combat natural disasters through playing this game. mukaratirwa said towards the end of the game, players are more willing to spend their money on a solution. 

“they are more open and willing to collaborate and lose money,” mukaratirwa said. “but in the end, they win and can actually get more points.”

playing agroadapt at the world food forum

one participant of agroadapt was dante bertocci, 23. bertocci is the ceo of his own startup company and in the game, was on the policymaker team. he said during the first round, his team did not collaborate with other teams because they were focused on making use of their money but ran out of time to make a decision on how to spend their coins.

“policymakers have a tendency to take their sweet time,” bertocci said.

bertocci’s start-up involves gathering agricultural byproducts, grinding them up, sterilizing them and using them as substrate for mushroom cultivation. although he mainly works with farmers, bertocci said agroadapt allowed him to step into the shoes of a policymaker. 

during one game of agroadapt, the farmers won, which included team member adam gerrand, 63, who is a forester working for the fao. he said farmers are “at the bottom of the heap” because they do not get paid as much as other groups. 

gerrand said “thankfully” the farmers’ strategies worked, even though they prepared for a drought, but were hit with a wildfire. 

“we were kind of lucky, but we ended up doing well,” gerrand said.

although he did not work on the agroadapt development team, gerrand said he’s worked on other games and finds them engaging for people. he said the game has “really good” concepts as it makes policymakers, community leaders, and farmers interact with each other to receive better scores. 

“if you have fun, you learn better,” gerrand said.

one of the cbs news debate moderators norah o’donnell asked about climate change in relation to hurricane helene, which hit the southeastern united states over the weekend, and has killed more than 160 people with hundreds of more missing. o’donnell said scientists say climate change makes these hurricanes “larger, stronger and more deadly” because of the historic rainfall.

according to a cbs news poll from april, 70% of americans overall and more than 60% of republicans under the age of 45 favor the u.s. to take steps and try to reduce climate change. o’donnell first addressed vance on climate change.

“what responsibility would the trump administration have to try and reduce the impact of climate change?” o’donnell asked.

vance began his response by calling hurricane helene an “unbelievable, unspeakable human tragedy.” he said before the debate he saw a picture of two grandparents and their grandchild on a roof before it collapsed and swept them away to their deaths. 

vance took a bipartisan approach while answering the question as he said he and gov. walz’ “hearts” and “prayers” go out to those affected by hurricane helene. he said they both want the federal government to help people affected by natural disasters.

“we want as robust and aggressive as a federal response as we can get to save as many lives as possible,” vance said. 

vance said he and republican presidential nominee donald trump want to make the environment cleaner and safer since americans worry about these “crazy weather patterns.” 

even though vance began on a bipartisan approach, he then criticized the biden administration on their approach to climate change. he said his “democratic friends” are concerned about carbon emissions from manufacturing affecting the environment. vance said if the democratic party was worried about carbon emissions, they would want to consolidate manufacturing in the u.s. 

“what have kamala harris’s policies actually led to? more energy production in china, more manufacturing overseas, more doing business in some of the dirtiest parts of the entire world.” vance said. 

the biden administration in 2022 spent $583 billion on imports from china but that number then dropped to $501 billion in 2023. during the last two years of the trump administration, $479 billion was spent in 2018 and $419 billion was spent in 2019 on imports from china.  

vance also called the u.s. the “cleanest economy in the entire world.” but according to the 2023 hinrich-imd sustainable trade index (sti), which measures economies’ level of sustainability, new zealand is ranked first with the u.s. ranking ninth.  

walz then responded to vance by first addressing hurricane helene where he said he has been in contact with governors of the affected southeastern states since he was co-chair of the governor’s council. 

but walz quickly turned to addressing climate change where he said even though vance sees it as a “problem,” he criticized trump’s approach.

“donald trump called it a hoax and then joked that these things would make more beachfront property to be able to invest in,” walz said.

he then said the biden administration has made “massive” investments through the passage of the inflation reduction act which provides funding for clean energy and combating climate change. 

walz said the biden administration has created 200,000 jobs across the country. but a fact-check from cnn found the number walz mentioned includes both the current number of jobs created and anticipated jobs. 

walz also said the u.s. is both producing more natural gas and more oil along with more clean energy, compared to the past.

“we are seeing us becoming an energy superpower for the future, not just the current,” walz said. “and that’s exactly what makes sense.”

the u.s. energy information administration found increases in production in natural gas along with stating the u.s. is producing more oil than ever. the organization also states the u.s. is using more renewable energy too but considerably less than natural gas and oil. 

vance then responded to walz’s statements by drawing back on his points on how the biden administration is importing manufactured goods from other countries. he said if their administration followed their beliefs regarding climate change they should be doing more manufacturing and energy production in the u.s. 

“kamala harris herself doesn’t believe her own rhetoric on this,” vance said.

vance also said when the biden administration is creating clean energy, they are using taxpayers money to import solar panels into the u.s. from other countries such as china. instead he said the u.s. should be working to produce more solar panels domestically.

“if you really want to make the environment cleaner, you’ve got to invest in more energy production,” vance said.  

data from the international energy agency states china produces the majority of four out of five materials used to create solar panels. 

walz then responded to vance by addressing farmers in his home state of minnesota who have seen the effects of climate change by noticing a drought one year and a flood the next. he then again honed in on laws passed by the biden administration allowing the u.s. to solve the problems of climate change in the future. 

“how do we make sure that we’re protecting by burying our power lines? how do we make sure that we’re protecting lakefronts and things that we’re seeing more and more of?” walz questioned.

walz ended his response criticizing trump by saying he invited oil executives to mar-a-lago where he told them to give money to his campaign and he will do “whatever they want.”

a report from the new york times in may stated trump invited oil executives from companies such as exxonmobil and eqt corporation to mar-a-lago where he asked them to donate $1 billion to his campaign and he would “roll back” on environmental rules affecting their business. 

o’donnell concluded the climate change discussion by saying the “overwhelming consensus” among scientists is the climate is warming at an “unprecedented rate.”

with chapters across the world, freecycle gives community members the ability to post unwanted items for free pick-up or post inquiries for wanted items as well. in washington, d.c., the community interacts via the facebook page, washington dc freecycle. 

one person’s trash is another’s treasure

according to the epa, in 2018, the average american produced 4.9 pounds of trash daily, totaling 1,789 pounds of trash per year, of which only 32.1 percent was recycled. 

“our mission is to build a worldwide sharing movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources and eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community,” freecycle mission statement states.

the freecycle website states their network comprises 5,000 local town groups with over 11 million members with the washington d.c. freecycle group amassing over 13,200 members. the only rules to join is everything a user posts must be “free, legal and appropriate.”

“membership is free, and everything posted must be free, legal and appropriate for all ages,” the website states. 

one member of washington d.c. freecycle is arun isukapalli, 41, is a tech product manager who said he found the group when moving back to the washington, d.c. metropolitan area about a year ago from new zealand with his wife. 

although the previous owners of their residence left items behind, he said they got “almost everything” they needed off facebook marketplace or freecycle. 

“we haven’t bought anything new,” isukapalli said.

building community

one admin of the group is gloria strange, 35, who is a massage therapist and said in an ideal world” freecycle should not be “niche group” but rather a government run organization. strange said she wants to see a more “collectivist” idea of community rather than having to rely on purchasing more items or help from the government. 

“i would like for us to see community as the pillar instead of the government,” strange said. 

strange also said she downsized to a smaller apartment three years ago and used freecycle to give away some of her furniture. but she said the most items people try and give away are cardboard. 

another admin of the d.c. chapter, garner chandler, 64, is retired but now volunteers as the co-vice president of the woman’s national democratic club. chandler said she moved to washington, d.c. from the panhandle of florida approximately two and half years ago where she found the group online. 

she recalls one woman on the site who posted how she was starting over after her husband left her and she was renting a one bedroom apartment with two babies. chandler said between half a dozen and a dozen people asked to help through giving away some of their unwanted goods. 

“our community is obviously passionate about the environment or helping each other out,” chandler said. 

joining freecycle

chandler said all one has to do to join washington d.c. freecycle is answer a few simple questions, get approved by a moderator and they are in. she said she has accepted people in as little as four minutes. 

“it’s easy to join the group,” chandler said. 

even if one joins facebook with the intent of only joining freecycle, or is a new user, it does bar not them from joining washington d.c. freecycle unlike other groups. instead, their posts are reviewed by admins for the first 30 days while they are in the group. 

the organization can help college students living in dorms save money and the environment. 

at the beginning of the school year, a college student can find free furniture and other necessities during move-in season. while dumpsters are often overflowing with reusable goods at the end of the school year, students can post their reusable goods on freecycle to give away. 

if interested in getting involved in washington d.c. freecycle, click here. or if not located in the washington, d.c. metropolitan area, look up “freecycle” on facebook and click join group.

moderators david muir and linsey davis asked current vice president and democratic presidential nominee kamala harris and former president and republican presidential nominee donald trump about their stances on climate change. one third of registered voters, or 62% of harris’s voters and 11% of trump’s voters, reported climate change as a “very important” issue when voting in this year’s presidential election. 

before discussing climate change, the candidates mostly used the presidential debate to discuss three hot button issues: abortion, the economy and immigration. 

trump and harris also attacked each other on other non-issues. trump called harris a “marxist,” stating her father, who is a professor in economics at stanford university, “taught her well.” harris also referred to trump as a “fella” and said viewers are going to hear a “bunch of lies.” 

the first question about climate change came more than 90 minutes into the presidential debate. davis was the one to ask the question: 

“we have another issue that we’d like to get to that’s important for a number of americans, in particular younger voters, and that’s climate change. president trump, with regard to the environment, you say that we have to have clean air and clean water. vice president harris, you call climate change an existential threat. the question to you both tonight is what would you do to fight climate change?”

the vice president, who responded first, began her statement by saying trump has previously called climate change a “hoax.” she said while working for the biden administration, they have invested heavily in clean energy.

“i’m proud that we have invested a trillion dollars in a clean energy economy as we have also increased domestic oil and gas to historic levels,” harris said. 

according to a fact-check reported by abc and what the new york times called “misleading,” the three laws passed by the biden administration addressing funding for climate change, the bipartisan infrastructure law, chips and science act of 2022 and the inflation reduction act, would not exceed $1 trillion.  

harris has cited this statistic multiple times in campaign speeches. 

beyond her work in the biden administration, she also said people who are denied or cannot afford home insurance and are “victims” of natural disasters have nowhere to go after they are displaced from their residences. 

she agreed with davis’ lead-up to the question on how young people “care deeply” about climate change. a cbs news poll from april stated 76% of americans aged 18-29 say the u.s. “needs to take steps” to slow down the effects of climate change. 

but harris then pivoted back to economic issues, discussing auto workers and how the biden administration has increased manufacturing jobs in the united states by 800,000. 

trump, in response to harris jumping back to the economy, avoided the moderator’s original question on climate change altogether.

he said in his response that the biden administration has lost 10,000 manufacturing jobs within the last month. the u.s. department of labor monthly payroll report stated manufacturing jobs declined 24,000 in august. 

due to this decrease in manufacturing jobs, trump said auto manufacturers are leaving the u.s. and building “big” auto plants in mexico with some owned by foreign countries like china. 

“what they’ve done to business and manufacturing in this country is horrible,” trump said in reference to the biden administration. 

he then moved over to talking about how current president joe biden and his son hunter biden are receiving money from foreign countries like ukraine along with $3.5 million from the mayor of moscow’s wife. 

“this is a crooked administration, and they’re selling our country down the tubes,” trump said. 

the house committee on oversight and accountability, the house committee on the judiciary, and the house committee on ways and means reported in june members of the biden family have received $35 million from countries like ukraine and russia. but they could only prove biden’s son hunter and brother james, along with their “related companies,” received money and not the current president. 

trump did not deny calling climate change a hoax. 

even though climate change is a “very important” issue among over one third of voters, both nominees pivoted away when the lone question was asked.

according to bridgers, he felt motivated to pick up agricultural work after witnessing several grocery stores close in the area. he wanted to provide his neighbors with what those store closures took away from them: nutritious fresh food.

today, bridgers works as a farm manager just yards away from his childhood neighborhood for an urban farm created by dc greens called the well at oxon run.

“i’m truly grateful to have the opportunity to come back home, come back to my community and be a steward of this space,” bridgers said.

dc greens is a non-profit that focuses on elevating health equity by increasing the accessibility of healthy foods. one of the ways they have pushed towards this goal is through the establishment of the well — a community farm focused on giving away healthy foods at no cost, teaching residents how to grow their own produce, and connecting the community to nature.

in 2018, dc greens lost their k street urban farm to the establishment of a pepco electrical station. in response to the loss, the organization began planning for a bigger, multi-use community farm called the well. three environmental non-profits — dc greens, the green scheme, and friends of oxon run park — began fundraising for the space. 

with the help of local donors and d.c.’s department of energy and environment, the well opened for its first growing season in june of 2022. the well harvested 4,000 pounds of fresh food in 2023 and reopened for its third growing season in march 2024.  

the project was in response to ward 8’s growing food insecurity issue. d.c.’s southernmost district offers only one full-service grocery store for its nearly 90,000 residents — down from three in 2016. lack of access to fresh food can contribute to health issues such as diabetes. in ward 8, residents are four times more likely to have the disease.

this scenario is often described as being a “food desert,” however staff at the well reject this term, instead calling it, “food apartheid.” 

“a desert is naturally occurring,” bridgers said. “this is more systemic, structural and man-made. food apartheid speaks to the intentional segregation of access of resources to a group of people.” 

the term “food apartheid” was first coined by political activist karen washington. washington noted the term “food desert” ignores the systemic racism which affects a community’s ability to access a healthier variety of foods.

many in ward 8 face compounding issues in attaining fresh foods from the lone giant food grocery store on alabama avenue se because of financial and transportation concerns. 

david outlaw, a resident of ward 8 regularly shops at the sole grocery store. outlaw said he had never heard of the well but thought it was similar to martha’s table, another program he participates in.

for residents like outlaw who have never heard of the well, its location is easily accessible as the farm sits at the intersection of the bellevue, congress heights, and washington highlands neighborhoods. 

bridgers compares the well to a “lighthouse” as its location attracts residents towards each other. 

“we use food as an entry point to connect with community members,” bridgers said. 

melanie guerrero works as the program coordinator for the well. guerrero knew she wanted to both work outside and within the community. she jumped around working with different farmer’s markets before landing a home at the communal farm.

“i knew i wanted to be around people who wanted to be outside,” guerrero said, chuckling. 

guerrero explained that the farm engages in regenerative agriculture to grow its foods. this means the urban space uses no pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or machinery to upkeep the space. 

the farm boasts about not ordering anything from suppliers like amazon or home depot. instead, farm manager bridgers creates natural fertilizers and insecticides from organic material already at the farm.

beyond growing food, the farm hosts events like yoga, painting parties and environmental education classes to engage residents with their community. guerrero added that the well is more than an opportunity to learn about agriculture and access food.

“i would really describe this space as a healing opportunity inside and out,” guerrero said. “it’s an opportunity to learn about how food is grown and access fresh food, but then also do something for yourself spiritually, mentally, physically.”

charles rominiyi supervises operations at the well. he shared that community members expressed a desire for a safe, multi-use, natural space comparable to a public library or recreational center. 

“the well is an answer, or a response, to a community need,” rominiyi said. “everyone knows the statistics about grocery stores in ward 8. you see how that barrier disrupts the everyday lives of people living in this community.”

before rominiyi got involved in the well, he found his love for community engagement when he was an americorps volunteer for metro teenaids — a nonprofit in washington, d.c. focusing on youth aids and hiv prevention. after that, he maintained school gardens for the dc office of the state superintendent of education. 

when he saw that he could combine his interest in gardening and love for community engagement, he too hopped on the well bandwagon. 

“the well is a beautiful concept,” rominiyi said. “i feel most alive when i’m doing community work.”

bridgers, rominiyi and guerrero have all dedicated their time to community building at the well. they find exceptional meaning in their work and feel “blessed” to be a part of it. 

one of bridger’s favorite parts of the job is handing out homegrown pumpkins to families at the well’s fall festival.

“being able to shift people’s mindsets about their interactions and processes with food is a pleasant thing,” bridgers said. 

guerrero mentioned that picking just one of her favorite instances is like going through a “cabinet of memories.” she mentioned a grandmother who routinely brings her two grandchildren. 

“her two granddaughters run to come and hug me,” guerrero shared. “those moments are really special. that i get hugs from community members is important,” guerrero said.

guerrero added she thought she would never find a job like her’s at the well. in college, she had a professor who told her she was going to have to “swallow” the fact she would have to work in an office cubicle.

“i’m just proving him wrong!” guerrero exclaimed. “my office is a farm!”

at the well, rominiyi formed a life-long connection with absalom jordan, the chair of friends of oxon run park. when they first met, jordan physically embraced rominiyi and gave him “wisdom” that he explained would last long beyond his days at the farm. 

“he always comes and calls me a brother and wishes me well,” rominiyi shared of jordan.

even though rominiyi believes the well has done a lot of work, he knows there is more to do. rominiyi said there must be stronger efforts to decrease food apartheid in ward 8 by opening more full-service grocery stores and other resources like the well.

“we feel good about what we’re accomplishing,” rominiyi said. “but ultimately we know that this work doesn’t stop.”