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. 

senegal at a crossroads: economic prosperity or climate protection? 

“in electing me, the people of senegal have decided on a break with the past,” said bassirou diomaye faye in the first interview after his election as the president of the small but geostrategically important nation in western africa. 

in the midst of the “free sudan” and “free congo” movements, an amplified focus on african struggles has echoed through the american and european publics. meanwhile, senegal has also had a glimmer of hope to remedy some of the problems that have burdened its people in recent decades. 

in 2023, the country’s youth mobilized in protests aimed at opposing the efforts of then-president macky sall to stay in power for longer than two mandates, and in 2024 the country elected its youngest president to date, diomaye faye, as part of a leftist movement that promises to eradicate corruption and increase economic justice. 

however, one particular dilemma has arisen: is the move toward more progressive economic policies harmful to the environment? or must a break from the past be accompanied by environmentalism? 

such questions have become pressing particularly as the new administration has promised to begin working with australia’s woodside lng, a liquified natural gas company and a large contributor to fossil fuel pollution, to ensure that senegal’s natural resources are utilized to increase the nation’s prosperity. 

pollution is a persistent problem

long before the election of diomaye faye, pollution has been a problem, especially in the capital city of dakar. walking through dakar, one may walk past market stands full of fruits and vegetables, bustling streets filled with people proudly donning traditional clothing, and speedy motorcycles zooming through the busy traffic. 

but exploring the city quickly turns painful due to the immense amount of smog generated by second-hand cars brought from european countries and burning trash. in 2019, prior to the pandemic, bbc reported that air pollution levels were exceeding by more than seven times the world health organization’s limits of particulate matter (pm), and according to the united nations environment programme the situation has only worsened since.

with the capital city of dakar already struggling with decreasing air quality, what do people in senegal have to say about the choice between progress in the western sense and the promise of additional revenue versus the need to preserve the peoples’ and climate’s health? 

kéba djibril mané, who teaches french, wolof, and several other languages spoken in africa to foreign students affiliated with the peace corps and additional international programs in the city of dakar, said he is appalled about the pollution situation in senegal.  

“pollution has reached an extraordinary level,” he said. “i know many people who have health problems because of pollution. and this pollution is largely due to cars. you wait for a taxi in the street. a car passes, but there is smoke. everyone is affected.” 

a choice between health and opportunity

beyond his passion for languages, djibril mané is also interested in politics because he has seen the effects pollution can have on health and wants to see this issue being addressed effectively by the country’s leaders. his sister-in-law, the wife of his older brother, became sick from the air pollution in dakar. because she developed a respiratory disease, he said, her family had to move to a rural area where there are fewer economic opportunities but the air is cleaner.

stories like that of djibril mané’s sister-in-law are common in dakar. in an article published in the new york times in 2019,  the chief of the pulmonology unit at a hospital in the capital of senegal was quoted stating that asthma is one of the main childhood diseases in the city and that over a third of the city’s population has some form of lung disease. 

moreover, according to an article published in the journal of pulmonary and respiratory medicine in 2019, there is a direct correlation between the poor air quality and the prevalence of respiratory manifestation in dakar. 

specifically, during a six year period (2011 to 2016), nearly 350,000 patients in dakar were treated for respiratory symptoms, which gradually increased over time. the manifestation of both upper and lower respiratory diseases was strongly correlated with exposure to sulfur dioxide (so2) and nitrogen dioxide (no2). due to the poor quality of the air in dakar, children and adults were likely to not only contract a range of respiratory illnesses, from cough and acute respiratory infection to asthma, bronchitis, and angina, but also to have persistent forms of such diseases and recurrent outbreaks.

mask up to protect against (covid) toxic air quality

according to djibril mané, pollution has become such a prevalent issue that many have realized the masks of the covid era should be worn all year around for protection not against viruses but against the toxic substances in the air. 

“you have to hide your face in your sleeve, we cover our faces like that after about a minute on the street. even today, there are people who wear masks,” he said. “now, people are used to the masks because of covid, and covid came and went, but people have continued to wear masks. i have. if you ask why you want to put on the mask again, it is very useful, not only to protect yourself against covid, but for dust, pollution in general during the day. when i go to town, there are too much dust, fumes, toxic gases, etc.”

djibril mané said he is aware that second-hand cars constitute one of the biggest sources of pollution in senegal and overall in africa. he also knows a key reason for this pollution is that european nations such as france impose bans on older cars, but that countries in africa then import those refurbished cars from europe. 

“it’s not just cars by the way, it’s a lot of things. many things are imported second-hand, there are tvs like that, large or small. there are refrigerators and there are gas stoves and other materials which are not within the environmental standards at the international level, they are prohibited for use in europe,” he said. “when they can no longer use them in france, they say ok, we cannot use them in france, but we will use them among africans.”

“not good for health. what should we do instead of destroying them? recycle them?” djibril mané said.

“there is the buñuul. it means black in wolof. this is what french people call africans pejoratively. he’s a wolof. it is the only wolof word that is in the french lexicon.”

“france has the right to choose that it needs good health for its population and it needs a good environment for its population. but africa doesn’t have that right. this is the inhumanity, the lack of humanism, of neocolonialism.”

while djibril mané is not opposed to developing new economic opportunities such as those related to natural gas, he thinks the association with western companies for such endeavors will not lead to success. he said he views western countries and companies as entities that seek to keep africa in poverty and africans marred by disease both by exporting used products to africa and by exploiting africa’s natural resources.

‘everything they do on other continents, they don’t do in africa the same’

“unfortunately, western policy toward africa is much more based on racism, because often everything they do on other continents, they don’t do in africa the same,” he said. 

el hadji faly, a college student who is interested in the betterment of african youth, mental health, and environmental action, and who published the book therapy is banned in africa, is somewhat more optimistic about environmental aspects in senegal. 

in high school, hadji faly had the opportunity to live and learn in the united states for a year and to compare the environmental situation in american and african settings. moreover, in 2023, to continue his studies during the political protests, he transferred from a university in senegal to a university in rwanda, which allowed him to consider how pollution fares across african countries. hadji faly thinks there are both challenges and opportunities in regards to environmental issues in senegal. 

hadji faly acknowledges the negative impact that pollution has long had in dakar. 

“yeah, it was definitely a problem because i have allergies, unfortunately. so when i was living in dakar, it was really tough sometimes because of all the smoke coming from the cars and the buses. it really affected my health and wellbeing,” he said.

dakar’s all electric bus fleet 

however, hadji faly also feels that pollution in dakar has come down a little since the introduction of electric buses. the city “just got a bunch of electric buses, but the old ones are still in use,” he said. “if we could get rid of the old ones and keep the electric ones, it would be really good for the environment. i guess it’s a process, but we can get there.”

in march 2024, dakar launched its bus rapid transit (brt) system which the administration claims to be leading the way for african cities. it is a nearly 20-kilometer (approximately 12.5-mile), fully electric bus system that according to the institute for transportation and development policy in dakar is expected to carry 300,000 passengers a day, reduce travel time per person to nearly half, and shift toward zero emission urban transport. with access to public transit, officials hope residents of dakar will use private vehicles less and thus contribute to the improvement of air quality. 

djibril mané agrees that electric buses provide some relief from pollutants, but he also thinks it is too little, too late. 

“this is precisely the problem. we are in the 21st century. those are tools that existed in other countries more than 20 years ago,” he said. 

in his view, senegal should be at the forefront of environmental innovation, but western european countries are not allowing african countries to develop and adopt new technologies at the pace needed to mitigate environmental issues while protecting valuable resources. 

djibril mané points out that  the contracts were actually signed under macky sall regime, and those contracts are disastrous for senegal because the vehicles are imported at high prices, with requirements to be repaired in western european countries, but without contribution from senegalese workers. 

djibril mané particularly fears the lobbying power regarding such economic advancements that disregard local needs of the economic community of west african states (ecowas). 

“we have to be sincere. we africans must know. we know it, the majority know it,” he said. “but there are always lobbies that are there, which do not want the people to follow these ideas,” he said. 

neocolonialism by any other name

“ecowas is not there for the interest of africans. ecowas is there to obey the orders of the settlers and continue to be the long arm, as we call it, of neocolonialism.” 

both djibril mané and el hadji faly believe that the new leadership of senegal will try to provide real solutions for both economic justice and environmental protection. according to djibril mané, the political movement of the new president resonated with youth because of the message “we are poor today, but in reality, we should not not be poor because we have mineral resources, we have human resources, the right people. if we are still poor, it is because a small group of people take the wealth of the country.” 

this movement now has a mandate to address economic issues. one of the critical challenges for the new administration will be to pay attention to justice for those who have been underprivileged while also maintaining mindfulness for environmental aspects. 

elsa park, a u.s. teen who spent 10 months in senegal during the 2023-2024 school year through the u.s. department of state’s kennedy-lugar yes abroad program, agrees that there are opportunities as well as challenges in regard to balancing the need for economic development with mindfulness for environmental action. during her stay in senegal, she saw change as the regime of macky sall was replaced by the new administration of bassirou diomaye faye. high school students were urged to spend multiple saturdays cleaning up their schools and to also participate in cleanups in the city, in their neighborhoods, and on beaches. “for young people, it was nice to feel that you were making a difference,” she said. 

under the new administration of senegal, additional environmental action initiatives have been started. specifically, $5.5 million will be dedicated to promoting environmental health. this will be achieved by reducing the release of unintentional persistent organic pollutants (upops) and toxic chemicals as well as establishing laws for the rational management of urban waste, a major contributor to harmful particle releases. moreover, senegal’s national waste management unit in collaboration with other agencies has installed 18 standardized collection points where communities can deposit their waste.

the united states has taken an interest in collaborating with senegal’s new administration. in july, deputy secretary of state kurt campbell traveled to senegal and met with president diomaye faye and entrepreneurs. campbell highlighted the two nations’ shared dedication to good governance. he announced u.s. investments in senegal’s economy, including the millennium challenge corporation’s $550 million power compact to increase energy access solutions can boost economic growth and help address environmental challenges.

while concerns remain about the government’s collaborations with highly polluting organizations such as australia’s woodside lng, senegalese youth have found grounds to believe that it is possible to increase the prosperity of regular people while also engaging in good stewardship of the environment. 

said hadji faly: “i think we just need good leaders, some people who are ethical and who fight here for the population, not only for themselves.”

meanwhile, in county cleveland in teesside, northern england, one-third of families re-wear dirty clothes and  one-quarter are in hygiene poverty, however many feel they are priced out of buying the newest fashion trends or new clothes in general.  

thrift for the future

enter the festival of thrift, an annual celebration of sustainable living that is looking to make a change in the fashion industry and help aid residents in teesside while also aiming to make an impact on a global scale. every september, the festival of thrift erects dozens of stalls for local second-hand clothes sellers and artisans to offer items for sale, in a new chosen location across teesside and cleveland. 

while the festival provides an opportunity for selling and recycling clothes, co-creative director at festival of thrift, tanya steinhauser sees the festival as a chance to educate and inspire those attending. “the idea of the festival is to showcase a really diverse and vibrant program that’s filled with hands-on workshops and innovative performances, interactive installations and provoking talks. everything revolves around sustainability in the smallest and widest senses,” she said.  

in its 12-year lifetime, the festival has grown year-on-year. this has meant that steinhauser and her team have had to find creative ways to engage the festival goers as well as make good use of the site. this year’s event hosted various workshops on how to plant, grow, and harvest your own food. just a 20 yard walk around the ground would show you the ins-and-outs of repurposing old, ripped jeans, as well as  workshops in ancient japanese mending skills to bring broken household items back to life.  

being an epicentre of all things sustainability with so much on offer i asked stienhauser to pick one must-visit for future festivals. “i am quite excited about the future foods activity area,” she said.  “i’m really into growing and cooking from scratch and these workshops  on kind of fermenting things, because obviously food waste and kind of methane waste from food  waste is a big issue as well. so just teaching people hacks again around how to turn  something that might be going off in your fridge to something that you can put in a jar and  eat in a couple of months. but the future food area is kind of, there’s a mural that and i’m  quite excited about that.”

cutting out fast fashion

fast fashion is on the rise, but many don’t know what it is and whether they are endorsing it. in short, fast fashion is all about making clothes quickly and cheaply, usually copying the latest trends. the idea is to get people to buy a lot of new clothes frequently because it’s affordable. but these clothes often don’t last long, and the process can harm the environment and exploit workers. it’s about quantity over quality, leading to a throwaway culture where people buy, wear, and toss things at a rapid pace.

throw-away culture is taking the hot seat right now, from 2000 to 2015 the rates of clothing sales has more than doubled, while the general usage of clothes decreased.

but according to steinhauser this quickening pace of buying, wearing, and discarding is unsustainable. “so we really like a slogan, ‘decades, not seasons,’” she said. steinhauser recommended thinking long term about your wardrobe, investing in higher priced items of higher quality. 

nicer clothes tend to last longer, ultimately cutting down the cost in the long run and mitigating the environmental effects of fast fashion. “the materials used are a really important thing to consider. buying clothes made of natural materials like hemp and staying away from stuff like latex and polyester makes a huge difference,” she said. 

“repairing and renting, even sharing or swapping clothes are all good options,” steinhauser said.  

with fashion so readily available, us consumers have also had a change of mindset on how we buy and use our fashion and for some possibly sleepwalk into the fast fashion culture. steinhauser believes it is also down to us to be proactive and change the way we think about how we buy and consume fashion: “the modern world has given so many kind of other options that just make us not really rethink what we’re doing and that there are alternatives that actually, help us, live towards a more hopeful, hopeful climate future which is something we need to make an active decision to find and utilize.”

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.

reeves was a planet 世界杯欧洲预选赛免费直播 at duke university in 2023 and a storyfest 2024 grand prize winner for her comic, “your friendly neighborhood spider-party: community scientists use spider webs to monitor air pollution.” she traveled to the galápagos islands with planet forward and lindblad expeditions in july 2024. in the galápagos, she reported on the iguanas from above project, which uses drone research to inform conservation efforts for marine iguanas. reeves now works as the assistant director of policy and programs at the rachel carson council. 

sano was a planet 世界杯欧洲预选赛免费直播 in 2021 and a senior correspondent in 2022, in addition to being a multiple-time storyfest finalist. a recent graduate of new york university’s steinhardt school of culture, education, and human development with an m.a. in food studies, he currently works as the organic program associate at beyond pesticides and has written extensively about agriculture and food systems.

the pair met when they were both recipients of the udall scholarship, which seeks to identify future leaders in environmental, tribal public policy, and healthcare fields. we sat down with joy and max to discuss their work, their love story, and the role planet forward has played in their lives and careers.

q: what is it that got both of you into the world of both environmental work and environmental storytelling?

joy: i always kind of knew it was going to be an environmental focus for me. like many folks, my parents are environmentalists; my dad worked in the epa when he was my age, and in various organizations in d.c., so i grew up with those values. that, combined with the cartooning upbringing, lent itself very naturally to climate storytelling and environmental storytelling. the udall scholarship in undergrad, which is how we met, was a big catalyst in my decision to commit to the field. 

max: she’s much more succinct than i am probably going to be. i did not grow up with that direct connection to environmental values or issues. i grew up in new york city, and i lived in lower manhattan when hurricane sandy hit. it was a very big eye-opening moment, seeing how even a few blocks away from wall street and these huge, powerful institutions, nothing protects you from the climate crisis.

and so, as a 12-year-old at the time, also going to a middle school dubbed the “green school” because it had solar panels on the roof and taught about sustainability, it seemed like such a bizarre disconnect with my middle school trying to be this representation of the future, but then also the climate crisis undermining that.

i always liked to write and had an interest in following political issues; i was an intern at a local newspaper in high school, did different types of writing when i was a model united nations kid in high school, and carried on doing reporting in college. i knew i wanted to commit to storytelling, but i was being pulled in a lot of different directions, and i think getting involved in environmental research and learning how to communicate that to implement and change policy, is where i found a natural synergy of, “oh, i can actually use storytelling and journalism to fulfill an advocacy role.”

q: so y’all are engaged, and it’s kind of a planet forward love story. what is the story of how y’all came together? 

m: we met because we both were nominated as undergrads for the udall scholarship, and they help support young people and other professionals at the intersection of environmental policy, healthcare policy, and indigenous and native american affairs policy, and so we met through the undergraduate program.

it was supposed to be in person in tucson, arizona, for a three-day conference, and the intended outcome of the conference is to bring people together as college sophomores and juniors to begin to build those relationships and connections as we figure out what we want to do. but because of covid, it was virtual, so i was very disappointed. it was a year out from when the pandemic began, so i think a lot of us were looking forward to building those relationships and connections.

little did i know that we would be put in one of the zoom breakout rooms to discuss media and storytelling, and joy talked about her climate cartoons. at the time, i was part of the executive board for the greenzine, a project out of my student environmental club, and i thought it’d be very cool to incorporate the work that she was doing. and because i hadn’t seen it before, it really was astounding to me, and i used that as an opportunity to reach out to joy — through zoom dm. i learned very quickly how similar we were, and we were able to talk online for a year, actually, before we met in person. we didn’t meet until maybe just under a year later when she was visiting new york, and we just hit it off.

j: there is some truth to the “planet forward love story” because he was in new york, i was in north carolina, and we did not get to see each other very often. we were broke grad students. it was hard to get the plane ticket, get the train ticket, whatever it was — it was always difficult. so we ended up often applying to the same conferences and letting those conference experiences be a convenient coincidence to also spend time together.

but planet forward was different. i could tell max was bringing me into his world and an organization he really connected with and cared about. i came to the planet forward summit as a spectator, tagging along with max, and by the end of it, i had gone to all these workshops, talked to all these people, and felt like a part of planet forward. i met a bunch of the correspondents, and i actually pulled max aside and was like, “am i stepping on your toes? can i share this with you, or do you want this to be a max thing?” and he very kindly was like, “no, you can totally apply to be a correspondent.”

so our planet forward summit that we went to together was in 2023, and we started to picture ourselves living in d.c. for the first time. we were both here, we really loved the city, and then he proposed to me in may, so a month after the planet forward summit.

q: both of y’all were planet 世界杯欧洲预选赛免费直播 s and storyfest finalists — y’all did all the really cool planet forward stuff. how do you think planet forward helped prepare you for the careers you’re working in now?

m: in the world of advocacy, you need to know how to leverage the power that journalists and journalism platforms have to help push forward new ideas that perhaps the general public hadn’t been thinking about. part of what i have been doing is trying to figure out how we can leverage letters to the editor and op-eds to help push forward some of the objectives and the policy work that we want to do.

but also just learning how to distinguish between different characters and different actors and how to step into different shoes of different types of organizations, individuals, and entities — i feel like that’s something that planet forward was really helpful with for me. knowing your audience when you’re trying to advocate for a certain type of policy solution is super important because how you talk with a farmer might be very different from how you talk with a public health professional or with a pesticide spraying company.

i think knowing how to take a step back and remove yourself from agendas that you agree with and agendas that you disagree with, and learning how to frame your solution in different ways is super powerful. that was something that i think planet forward was really helpful with.

j: i second all that, and i think the storytelling background has helped me in everything from meetings with senators to internal zoom meetings on a boring tuesday where storytelling might just brighten up the team’s day. so i think working in advocacy, and my work in advocacy, is grounded in the foundation of factual storytelling and journalistic integrity that i learned through planet forward.

i felt like i was able to just accelerate to the next level, because i had some comfort finding stories, but i had no idea how to even operate a digital camera until i went to the galápagos, but i’m almost certain i’m going to keep pursuing photography for advocacy purposes, and that’s really exciting.

m: a big part of what i do as well is public comments, like testifying for and against bills. the only way you can really do that effectively is by crafting stories and making sure that you’re amplifying people’s lived experiences, and how they would be impacted by a new rule that the epa is coming out with, or the reversal or the improvement of a certain rule that you know makes people’s eyes glaze over if you read it. but if you are able to come up with a template that is modifiable for members of your organization, it can be a super powerful tool for advocacy in that way too.

q: anything else y’all would like to share with the world of planet forward?

m: being vulnerable is scary, whether it’s in your professional life or in your personal life, and that was definitely something that i think i had to consider when reaching out to joy because i knew that our relationship was going to blend both worlds, but that’s part of why i knew that i wanted to pursue our relationship.

it was the perfect blend of having these shared professional and personal values. so i think that ties into advocacy and journalism work too, because learning how to be vulnerable and connect with your interviewees, and being able to just connect on a human level is very underrated and under-discussed. part of being a journalist is learning to build that trust — if you can’t build relationships, it’s sort of a non-starter.

j: there is a certain beauty to starting a romantic relationship with someone who shares your values, fundamentally. and all jokes and memes about dating within the environmental movement aside, i think at the end of the day, when you’re sitting on the couch and you’re watching frustrating climate news or debates, and you have someone sitting next to you who’s on the exact same page as you and is being vulnerable and sharing those values, i would choose that person 1,000 times over. and that’s why, that’s why i chose max.

we received a number of interesting questions pertaining to sustainability. however, one question stood out to me: how do you compost in d.c.?

i chose this question not only because of planet forward’s location in the heart of washington, d.c. but also because it has been at the forefront of my mind recently.

i recently made the cross-country move from california to washington, d.c., to join the planet forward team as an editorial assistant and begin graduate school at george washington university.

the move to d.c. from california has come with numerous exciting and eye-opening moments. however, one of the first differences i noticed about my new home was the lack of green trash cans around the city to dispose of organic waste. 

growing up in california, it was the norm to have a green waste bin alongside your recycle and trash bins. for me, the green bin was the receptacle to throw lawn clippings, fallen leaves, and — after hopping on the compost train a few years ago — my food scraps.

to hype up my home state for a moment, in 2022, california began to require organic waste collection services for households and businesses in every city.

the convenience of composting in california is key to the state’s success. when every household is equipped with a green bin that’s taken from the curb weekly, there’s almost no excuse not to compost. 

in stark contrast, there exists a lack of government-provided composting services in d.c. this means people have to get crafty with how they compost in the district.

with this column entry, i hope to show you that while composting in d.c. may be more difficult than in other parts of the u.s., it doesn’t have to be an impossible task. 

why compost?

composting is important because it reduces the greenhouse gas emissions emitted when organic waste is sent to and decomposed in landfills. according to the epa, food waste accounts for 58% of landfill methane emissions. separating food waste from other trash allows bacteria to decompose the organic material and recycle the waste into nutrient-rich soil.

by redirecting food waste from landfills to the compost bin, we as students and individuals can do our part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

what can you compost?

the foods that can be composted are:

• fruit and vegetable scraps
• eggshells
• bread
• dairy products
• meat
• bones
• soiled cardboard
• coffee grounds and tea bags

however, make sure that items commonly attached to produce, such as fruit stickers, rubber bands, plastic wrap, and other non-degradable items, are kept out of your compost.

composting around d.c.

the easiest way for those in d.c. to compost is by collecting compost at home and depositing it at one of the food-waste drop-off locations around the city. these drop-off locations are at designated farmers markets and are open the days of the market. check out this website for a complete list of where and when to drop off your compostable items. 

between your weekly trips to the compost drop-off locations, look into purchasing an at-home compost bin for smell and pest control. here’s a link to an affordable compost bin with a filter.

alternatively, you could withhold from purchasing a compost bin if you use a bucket with a lid and store it outside. the final option is to store your compost in the freezer, to reduce the smell and rotting of the food.

it’s crucial to keep an eye on your at-home compost to ensure it’s not taken over by mold or pests. check your at-home compost daily by noting the look, smell, and aura of the compost.

composting at your university

to see if your university offers composting bins and other options, a good place to start is by looking up your campus sustainability department. 

at george washington university, students have additional resources that aid their composting efforts. sustainable gw offers students free countertop-size compost bins for use in their dorms or off-campus residences. to request a compost bin through sustainable gw, complete this form.

additionally, gw now has a compost drop-off location on campus. gw students and community members alike, can drop off their compost at the smart food waste collection bin, located in kogan plaza. 

for those on gw’s campus, i recommend signing up for sustainable gw’s newsletter to stay up-to-date on the hours of operation for the kogan plaza collection bin.

the last option is for people willing to spend. if you have an extra $32 a month lying around, there are multiple compost pick-up services that will conveniently pick up your compost from your house. compost cab and compost crew serve the local d.c. area, but similar compost pick-up companies exist in other parts of the country.

the big picture

composting is a small act that makes a big difference in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and fighting climate change. while in contrast to california and other compost-friendly states, d.c. may not be the easiest place to compost, that shouldn’t prevent us from trying. hopefully, the sources listed in this column provide a platform to kick-off your composting journey. 

however, as i’ve been a resident of d.c. for less than a month, i’m open to learning composting tips and tricks from more seasoned d.c.-ers (is that what we call ourselves?). please feel free to share your composting insights with us by dming us on instagram.

happy composting!

the farm’s growing season lasts from march to october, during which the space is open and hosts a plethora of health and wellness activities for the community, said charles rominiyi, the well’s program manager.

according to dc greens, a nonprofit organization that works to advance health equity and build a more resilient food system, the well harvested more than 4,000 pounds of fresh produce for the local community in 2023.

community members are allowed to plant and pick produce during the well’s hours of operation.

breaking new ground

dc greens opened the well in june 2022. “it was really a collaboration by community members, government agencies, and nonprofit agencies who dreamt of a space where community members could come and reconnect with nature, the land, and take wellness classes,” rominiyi said.

washington, d.c.’s ward 8 councilmember trayon white was one of the well’s largest donors, rominiyi said.

councilmember white said he has been working on ways to curb food insecurity in anacostia and the well was a way of doing that.

“we’re looking to bring in more grocery options to the ward, especially healthy grocery options, but it’s becoming tougher. we put a lot of energy, in the last couple of years, into the well at oxon run, a state-of-the-art community farm. it’s probably one of the biggest community farms in the city and in ward 8,” white said.  

cultivating community

this year, march 18 marked the well’s opening week, for which there were several on-site events. there was a seed giveaway, a “plant a seedling” workshop, a senior lunch, tours of the well and a community volunteering day — all shared with the community through the dc greens newsletter.

rominiyi said the events had a great turnout, with attendance varying from 20 to 50 people per event. “opening week was great. it’s really when we can get everyone excited and let the community know about all our plans for the year. we think it was a great success,” rominiyi said.

when entering the well, people are greeted by mimi the tree, which stands as a witness to the success of the community through the years, even in the face of adversity, rominiyi said. when the land was being excavated, the original plans were to cut the tree down. however, community members wanted to preserve this hundred-year-old sycamore oak tree as a reminder of how far the well has come, rominiyi said.

“we ask the community what we should grow, and we grow what they ask us to,” rominiyi said.

greatness on the horizon

according to the well’s farm manager, kenneth bridgers, the farm has eight growing fields scattered across the space which grow various foods such as bok choy and kale in the spring, strawberries and figs in the summer, and swiss chard, and snap peas throughout the year, among other crops. 

most of the seeds are provided by johnny’s seeds, a national seed provider, but members of the community can also drop off seeds at the farm’s seed exchange bench, rominiyi said.

the well is not the only community farm in anacostia, according to rominiyi. however, what makes the well unique is that the staff also conducts wellness and peace programs, which engages the community in several ways, such as in the youth section of the farm, rominiyi said.

“we partner with the green scheme, which brings young people to the well to use the youth garden beds, learn about environmental literacy, environmental sustainability and environmental justice,” rominiyi said.

another unique aspect of the well is the programming pavilion, the structure of which allows for rainwater collection during the off season. the staff treats this rainwater and uses it to water plants in the greenhouse when the well is closed to the public, rominiyi said.

“i’ve been here since the start and we’ve seen tremendous growth in engagement. we can’t wait for all the great things that are happening this season,” said bridgers.

evanston, il – a team of northwestern university climate scientists teleport back in time with naturally preserved records they extract as cylindrical cores of lake sediment.

the sediment layers in the cores open the way to time travel through climate changes over the past 20,000 years. third-year ph.d. students bailey nash and aidan burdick analyze cellulose and carbonate materials, respectively, found in sediment over time to better understand how we can prepare for accelerating human-caused climate change now and moving forward.

after carefully extracting the sediment cores from lakes in greenland and the midwestern united states, the team brings them back to professor yarrow axford’s quaternary sediment laboratory on campus for the laborious analysis.

“this research is very iterative,” burdick said. “you do one thing, you learn something from it, you move on to the next, and eventually, you build a body of knowledge over time.”

burdick focuses his research on the midwest, looking at sediment deposits from lakes around the region. by building a record of illinois’s hydroclimate, his research will help serve illinois and midwest city officials by improving water resource management, among other applications.

“we can already see clear evidence of way more sediment being deposited after europeans arrived [in illinois], probably because of agriculture and things like that,” burdick said. “i’m using this core to try to understand lake chemistry in the context of carbonate materials. we can use the chemical variations in the minerals to see how the local hydroclimate has changed over time.”

while burdick is focused on the midwest and great lakes, nash noted that much of the team’s work takes them to the arctic, specifically in south greenland where deglaciation began around 15,000 years ago driven by rising air temperatures. this upcoming summer, nash will be visiting the community of narsaq to conduct her research.

“one of the primary questions that i’m trying to address through my ph.d. work is how arctic lakes respond [to climate change], especially in regard to their lake levels,” nash said. “so, did lake levels rise or fall during periods of past warmth? and what does that mean for arctic communities that rely on these similar arctic lakes today as a municipal water source?”

after extracting cellulose from ancient plant matter in the sediment, nash uses a mass spectrometer to analyze cellulose isotopes over time. cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer on earth, and the isotopic signature of cellulose that gets preserved in geologic materials can serve as a record of differing past climate conditions.

“these isotopic compositions can say a lot about whether lake level was higher or lower in the past,” nash said, “or if the environment was warmer or colder than it is today — those pieces of the climate story.”

it’s not well understood whether lake levels in the arctic will rise or fall in a warming world, but the risk of lakes either flooding or drying up is a climate concern across the world. thus, nash feels this must be investigated. because their work takes place on indigenous land, nash also emphasized the focus their group has on community engagement and performing scientific research respectfully and ethically.

“these communities have a very complicated relationship with western science in general and the people that we represent when we come back,” nash said, “so it really takes time and open-mindedness entering these communities and building trust, honestly, and laying the foundation of mutual respect and understanding.”

in a field dominated by men, nash gravitated towards axford’s lab not only because of her specialization on arctic paleoclimate research but specifically after reading axford’s science article titled ‘thanks to the glass ceiling breakers,’ outlining her experiences as a woman in stem.

“today, i’m living my dream,” axford wrote in her 2016 article, “and yet, despite how far science has come… i have lost track of how many times i’ve met a colleague for the first time and been told, ‘i’ve read your papers. i thought you were a man!’”

“i was just blown away by everything she had to say [in the article],” nash said. “i thought she seemed like such an incredibly strong glass ceiling-breaking scientist… the arctic is the most rapidly warming region on the planet today, which poses a very immediate concern for climate scientists. i was very compelled by the argument that studying past and current arctic climate change impacts can help us better understand and prepare for current and future climate change impacts globally.”

can you imagine the lush rain forests of haiti sprouting up across the buildings of new york city? madjeen isaac, a brooklyn-based artist, is a painter and sculptor who incorporates her haitian roots in her depictions of her city. isaac’s style employs magical realism to warp landscapes and reimagine plant pots with human faces. her focus is on centering black people and immigrants in moments of leisure and liberation to challenge the constraints of reality. she says she wants her work to, “…capture the essence of what i see on a day-to-day basis and reimagine it in worlds that can emulate what abundance looks like to me.”

isaac is currently an artist at brooklyn’s non-profit arts organization smack mellon, which is located near the manhattan bridge. this organization supports under recognized women artists by providing them with exhibition opportunities, studio workspaces, and equipment access for projects. she has also worked with grown in haiti, an environmental program that fosters sustainable communities and ecological stewardship through education and agroforestry and strives to educate future generations to transform landscapes to create a self-sufficient haiti.

having grown up in a caribbean neighborhood, isaac has advocated for environmental justice, food equity, and land sustainability. her artwork supports those endeavors as the topics she visualizes often include scenes of urban gardens and lush plant life sprouting out of concrete structures. although her work speaks for itself, you can learn more about her process and inspiration by listening to my conversation with her above.

transcript below:

oscar nzekwu: representing gw, planet forward, my name is oscar nzekwu and welcome to the next episode of art-vironment, where we honor black artists who contribute in spreading environmental awareness through their artistic disciplines. today, i met with an artist who uses her painting and sculptures to challenge the constraints of reality. now introducing, madjeen isaac!

so for people who might not know about you, can you please introduce yourself and tell everybody about the art that you do?

madjeen isaac: my name is madjeen isaac and i was born and raised in brooklyn, new york. i grew up in flatbush and it’s a neighborhood that is predominantly caribbean immigrants and christians. and i grew up in a haitian household.

a lot of my work is about me reimagining and recreating worlds where i merge both urban and tropical landscapes. i love highlighting my upbringing and cultural identity.

on: i’m also aware you do sculpture. so do you also capture that through your sculptures too?

mi: yeah, my sculptures are interesting to me. right now for sculpture, i do work in clay and they’re like these planters that kind of resemble heads. i call them ancestors. and i’ve been, you know, playing around with the idea of like, creating my own space. creating altars – just a space that feels really good to me and thinking a lot about spirituality and how i grew up with my caribbean-catholic household. finding my own definition of what that means for me.

on: do you consider yourself as an environmental activist?

mi: funny that you asked, because i recently have been thinking about this, like whether i’m an environmentalist or not. i don’t know if it’s appropriate to claim the title, but i think about it very, very often. in my works i highlight, or i like to think about disparities within my communities, where it could either be housing disparities or displacement, little to no access to green spaces, or just safe spaces for leisure or rest. yeah, just thinking how a lot of our relationships to the environment- like how many alternatives we have, how much say do we have, how we can exist.

yeah, i just get kind of sad when i see developments taking over in my community or even vacant lots just existing for quite some time and nothing is being done with it. i feel like there’s a sense of pride but also defeat that exists within my community and i would love for there to be more conversation about how we can get involved. there are a lot of community gardens that exist and i do volunteer at community gardens, which feels really rewarding for me. and i think one of my goals is to find out ways in which i can galvanize more people to be in those places, especially immigrants who have a background in either farming or growing their own herbs.

on: in your artwork, how do images appear in your work, like images of nature?

mi: so i usually have greenery overgrowing and just existing on top of buildings in a way that is very obnoxious, but also very beautiful. i’m looking at my works now as i share. there’s just so much green happening and i think there’s also people tending to the farm and existing. right now i’ve actually been exploring ancestors. i give ancestors existing in spaces no matter how far we migrate or where we are in the world. and so i’ve been playing a lot around with celestial beings and greenery or celestial beings carrying around herbs and foods that haven’t always been present in generations. yeah, i’m just thinking about our relationship to medicinal foods and concoctions of herbs for healing.

on: how does magical realism play a role in your art?

mi: magical realism is something that i’m often that folks are drawn to within my works. and i’m often reimagining as a tool, creating hybrids. and a lot of my process involves deconstructing and reconstructing images. and so i think i’m often putting things together that don’t necessarily make sense. but it makes sense to me because it’s kind of like a conceptual idea of what i’ve always been around growing up and what i wish to see.

and i think that, you know, it gives folks the opportunity to also dream. so i feel like dreaming can be a luxury. we don’t always have the time to be able to dream. but i would hope that my works can hold space for that. yeah like just- what are ways in which we find remedy through trusting our imagination for better realities and futures.

on: going back to new york city, what do you think is the biggest environmental issue that new york city faces?

mi: i feel like there’s two. which is displacement due to housing insecurities. there’s a lot of new development here because old structures have been either broken down to then build new ones, but they’re also high in cost and no one can afford it. so a lot of development that’s out there, especially in the downtown area, is literally- they’re up but they’re empty, which is unfortunate. i guess our relationship to green spaces- i know there’s prospect park, there’s also other parks that exist throughout, but i think that there could be more green spaces that we can tend to and just insist on having access to. and that can also just be lawns that are in front of fewer buildings. i feel like those can be put to better use – or even rooftops.

on: what’s the environmental message that you want people to take away form your art?

mi: yeah, i want people to lean into what feels right to them, to claim their right to a better reality. and that could either mean more rest, leisure, maybe leaning into your ancestral practices of agriculture. and i think just, i want people to really understand what their roles can be within their environments or communities. i feel like we’re all experts in something and we can all learn from each other.

on: when people have seen your work, have (they) become more active in trying to speak up?

mi: that’s a really good question. i think that- i feel like my works exist as beautiful archives of what could be. they can also be blueprints for these types of conservations and actions. i don’t think that my painting is just enough to create change. i think that i can utilize them to do that, whether that be through ongoing workshops or to galvanize people to join me in- whether it’s volunteering at community gardens and just in those spaces or creating your own garden. i think that there’s so much more that i can do. painting is definitely a first step, but then actualizing it and putting into practice is also another.

on: for future artists, what advice would you give them if they want to attack or address environmental issue or get active in environmental activism?

mi: starting where you are and seeing what’s available to you. maybe thinking about what you’re struggling with or what your community is struggling with. you have to start as well. but it’s always just like- start where from where you are. and normally you have to look far, but i’m pretty sure that there’s always just something within your vicinity that is happening that you can like, shed some light on just tend to.

on: excellent, excellent. thank you for letting me interview you! you are amazing, my god!

mi: cool! this was great! thank you for holding space.

on: from the wise words of madjeen, make sure you understand what your roles can be within the environment to claim your right for a better reality. i would like to thank madjeen for letting me interview her to explore how her magical realism plays a role in the environment. and if you want to learn more about madjeen and her work, follow her on instagram at madjeenisaac.

thank you for tunning in to my episode of artvironment. remember, stay green on the scene. this is planet forward. oscar nzekwu signing off. peace!

atop the ford motor company’s rouge factory in dearborn, michigan, a vibrant 10.4-acre “living roof” stretches across an otherwise cloudy horizon, made up of thousands of tiny succulents. birds, insects, and pollinators flock to the rooftop, while hundreds of factory workers assemble trucks in the building below. 

the size of eight football fields, ford’s green roof is one of the largest in the world. every year, it collects and filters rainfall and, according to the henry ford museum, improves air quality in the building’s vicinity by up to 40%. notably, the museum reports the rooftop also reduces the building’s energy footprint by 7%, inching the company closer to its carbon neutrality goal.

installed more than 20 years ago now, company leaders at the time were quoted in press releases as saying the project was “not environmental philanthropy” but “sound business,” and, in the press & guide, “living proof of ford’s ongoing commitment to being an environmentally conscious corporate citizen.” the major project has since been acknowledged for helping kick off the green roof industry in north america.their living roof is just one project in ford’s efforts to decarbonize, which are part of a larger national movement toward carbon responsibility and environmental and social governance, or “esg,” in corporate spheres. ford is currently pursuing a goal of sourcing 100% carbon-free electricity for their global manufacturing operations by 2035.

a large rooftop with a small footprint?

ford employs over 177,000 workers globally and operates facilities in more than a dozen countries around the world. according to a ford 2024 integrated sustainability and financial report, about 1% of ford’s total co2 emissions come from operations whereas the vast majority of them result from tailpipe emissions as well as “energy production and consumption during vehicle use.”

tailpipe and energy production during use fall under the definition of scope 3 emissions, which are the kind that are indirectly linked to a company’s activities, such as those that result from a company’s product after it is purchased.

according to the 2024 ford report, in 2023 ford’s scope 3 emissions totaled 384,119,775 metric tons. given that total, a green roof would redress a fraction of a percent of ford’s total emissions.

the living rooftop’s meadow was installed at a cost of $15 million. “it was a risk. and it paid off,” added douglas plond, senior manager of the ford rouge factory tour. in his view, the rooftop’s value comes from its ample community benefits. 

“i think we see over 100,000 people come through this facility per year. so, we’ve sparked the interest of someone — at least one person — to see all the green initiatives that have gone on here at ford motor company. […] somebody may have gone home and said ‘well, i’m gonna try doing this at home,” plond said.

looking at the whole picture

ford, in addition to its emissions goals, aims to use only locally sourced clean energy in its manufacturing plants by 2035. other automakers like bmw and general motors have also announced sustainability ambitions, including carbon neutrality goals. automakers like subaru have focused on greening their plants, such as indiana’s subaru sia factory which produces zero landfill waste and is the only u.s. auto factory to be declared a natural habitat. 

still, back in dearborn, critics remain skeptical toward greening a plant that produces f-150s. among them is daniel becker, director of the sierra club’s climate change program. “whatever they did to the plant is marvelous, but if they’re producing pickup trucks that pollute too much, what are they accomplishing?” becker asked, as quoted in index project.

while the emissions of ford vehicles per kilometer driven have decreased 6% since 2019, according to ford’s 2024 integrated sustainability and financial report, “slower than expected demand,” in ev’s will require flexibility on ford’s part as they reach for carbon neutrality. recent market setbacks have curbed ev demand and prompted ford to shut down an f-150 lightning production shift at the dearborn factory. 

slowing growth of ev sales across ca, weakened carbon reporting rules from the sec, and difficulties decarbonizing ev supply chains raise ongoing questions about the future picture of sustainability. 

on the other hand, there are other initiatives at ford worthy of public attention: 

in 2022, for example, ford made the largest clean power purchase agreement in history, right in michigan. the contract with dte energy exceeds any other renewable energy purchase from a utility in the united states— including those by large tech companies. a press release by the energy company details that by 2025, all of ford’s purchased electricity for vehicle manufacturing in michigan will be carbon-free, and ford will avoid close to 600,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually.  

“i think one of the things that we’ve focused on in the last few years, in particular, is the sourcing of the energy to run the plant. that’s been the biggest thing — trying to make contracts with [electricity suppliers] where our clients are located. […] and i think that that’s probably moving the needle the most,” said alyssa werthman, ford’s environmental sustainability manager.

essentially, whenever a company like ford buys more renewable power than they need, they can supply not only their factories but several of their major suppliers, and millions of homes. artealia gilliard, environmental leadership & sustainability at ford, notes that these agreements both strengthen the grid and “create that push and pull in the market.”

as a symbol of sustainable commitments, ford’s living rooftop is in many ways intended to compliment the company’s even more concrete strategies to leverage its corporate power for good: buying into power purchase agreements, persistently improving the accessibility and recyclability of electric vehicles, and directing all suppliers towards sustainability. 

“we also write the requirement for our suppliers to establish science-based greenhouse gas reduction targets and action plans to support carbon neutrality no later than 2050 globally into our supplier code of conduct,” werthman said.

according to gilliard, it is these initiatives that “[drive] the suppliers to do exactly as we’re doing, which is purchase carbon-free electricity. it drives them to invest in the grid where they’re pulling from — or create their own.”

the bottom line

the living rooftop could have valuable signaling power as a “living pledge” toward more robust scope 3 decarbonization at ford.

even amid ev sales challenges, recent progress is promising. ford motor company received an “a” rating in a 2023 carbon disclosure project report and is reportedly on track to meet its 2050 carbon neutrality goal.

though the direct impact of the roof may be small, the greenery above the production lines may continue to be a useful living reminder of this commitment.