this video is all about local action individuals can take against the litter problem in the foggy bottom neighborhood of washington, d.c. in 2022, residents of d.c. on average produced 5.87 lbs. of waste per person per day, much of which can often end up on the ground. annually, this can amount to well over 2000 lbs. of individual waste production.

this video aims to teach viewers about the issue at hand by adding visual elements that the audience can engage with, understand, and motivate other citizens to do their part – not just in d.c. but around the world!

a long standing presence of the us military on the island of vieques, puerto rico has left its warm, turquoise waters and sandy, beach getaways tainted by ammunition waste and chemical contamination leaving spirited residents and restoration task forces to pick up the shrapnel.

in 1941, the u.s. navy purchased 27,000 of the 33,000 acres that comprise the island of vieques. for nearly 60 years, the viequenses people “coexisted” in the crossfire between the divided training areas on the 50.8 sq mile island, roughly the same area as the city of las vegas.

following the death of a civilian navy employee, david sanes in 1999, civil unrest ensued, eventually leading to the departure of the us navy presence in 2003. however, the navy left the island peppered with remnants of undetonated bombs, pfas chemicals, uranium, mercury, napalm and more. all of which are toxic materials known to have serious effects on human health along with generational impacts on the health of island youth.

caught in a crossfire: life on the island

the navy’s departure followed years of persistent displays of civil disobedience by viequenses. before that, residents on the island lived an alarmingly close 8.7 miles from the “live impact area” where military jets, traveling between 500 and 1,300 miles per hour, trained for high altitude bombing on the easternmost part of the island. according to author katherine t. mccaffrey, an error in four seconds of fire from a ship could land up to 14 or 20 miles from the target, while a four second error from an aircraft pilot could drop a bomb up to 50 miles from a target. 

local vieques resident, elda guadalupe carrasquillo, grew up during the navy’s occupation and recalls the windows of her grade school classroom shaking during active munitions trainings. carraqquillo was raised on various army bases before settling in vieques with her family around age 10. “when i was in a real military base, even though i saw a lot of military things, there were no actual live practices like here in vieques,” she said.

despite carrasquillo’s familiarity with the events that occur on a military base, she affirms these training sessions were “too close” for the safety and comfort of residents. today, carrasquillo works with an agro-ecological farm on the island, la colmena cimarrona, and is a middle school teacher. in addition to the violent nature of living so close to these “live impact areas”, residents also suffered from legacy pollution due to the chemical and material shrapnel. 

rates of cancer amongst viequenses are 31% above that of the rates of cancer on the main island along with 4 times the rate of hypertension amongst residents. coupled with this, pollutants like agent orange, depleted uranium, and pfas have leached into the island’s soil, groundwater, and air leaving residents vulnerable to exposure through a variety of mediums.

“we don’t know how contaminated our underground water sources are,” carrasquillo said. she also noted that a large majority of students on the island require individualized educational plans due to learning disabilities which recent studies have found links between cognitive development and pfas exposure.

uxos and remediated sites: successful strides in clean-up efforts

in 2005, the island was placed on the national priorities list, as a “superfund” site — one that requires investigation and clean-up by the u.s. government. today, several locations around the island have been successfully remediated to become recreational spaces for islanders and tourists.

a notable site from the eastern sect of the superfund sites, the puerto ferro lighthouse was constructed in 1896 by spanish colonizers. the lighthouse lies within the 535 acres that comprise uxo area 15, an unfortunate title that refers to the presence of unexploded ordnance like bombs and bullets on the land. despite the contamination, the scenic area on the southern coast of vieques overlooks a bright blue coastline and slopes upward as you move inland.

the area around the abandoned structure is home to a thin forest of mangrove trees, lagoons, and salt and sand flats. but in just one year, over 23,000 explosive bombs were dropped on these coastal hills. in 2013, the us navy initiated priority action to facilitate public access and to encourage recreational and commercial activities at puerto ferro and the surrounding beach areas.

the area was investigated for munitions and explosives of concern anywhere from 1 to 4 ft below ground surface level. the area was ultimately remediated seven years ahead of schedule, and upon completion provided public access to formerly restricted areas as well as educational kiosks and monuments for visitors to interact with.

moving to the western sect of the superfund sites, former open burn/open detonation sites (swmu 4 and uxo 16) were also successfully remediated ahead of schedule to provide further public access to recreational spaces like the beaches around the island. several pieces of munitions were removed from the site, however, not all were recollected. despite this, a 2018 remedial investigation report found the likelihood that these munitions were still physically present in the area was improbable.

balancing the health of the land and the people

a large part of the uxo sites on the island have been remediated, and are in the concluding or monitoring stages of the clean-up process. while numerous sites still remain around the island, within the next decade, most of the entire island is expected to be remediated.

nonetheless, carrasquillo expects challenges and uncertainty ahead. “we know it’s never going to be completely clean and maybe it’s not going to be usable for what the viequenses need,” she said.

still, carrasquillo characterizes viequenses as “resistant,” embodied in the peoples’ continued advocacy for their own health and the island’s environment. following the clean up of munitions around the island, she hopes to see the island begin to restore its emotional and mental wellness through strengthening their relationship with the land stating, “if we can heal our land little piece by little piece so we can also be healthy, maybe we can help vieques recover.”

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.”

but along with the fun and celebrations of the holiday, comes a lot of waste. thus, halloween is a great time to assess your waste production. 

there are many ways to reduce your consumption levels surrounding the spooky holiday, including trading old costumes with friends, making your halloween decorations out of repurposed materials, and diying your halloween costumes. check out this fun and informative video published on planet forward last year about the importance of sustainable halloween costumes. 

however, one area that we still find to be a bit of a sustainability challenge is halloween candy wrappers. 

the issue of candy wrappers

candy and snacks pose a big problem due to the single-use plastic that comes with the treats. on average, americans buy more than 600 million pounds (based on recent sales numbers) of candy per halloween season. this candy produces a massive amount of discarded plastic packaging and individual candy wrappers. 

multiple organizations have created candy wrapper recycling programs to help mitigate this problem.

loggerhead marinelife center ran a nationwide unwrap the waves program to collect candy wrappers and recycle them, to prevent them from entering our oceans. for the three years this program ran, unwrap the waves recycled more than 450,000 candy wrappers.

similarly, rubicon created its trash to treasure program in 2019 to distribute recycling boxes during the halloween season to businesses, schools, and community organizations, in which people were encouraged to bring their candy wrappers. once filled, the candy wrapper-filled boxes were sent back to rubicon to be cleaned, sorted, and turned into renewed plastic to be used once more. 

in its five years of operation, trash to treasure saw great success, expanding to schools and organizations in every state of the country and valentine’s day season, in addition to halloween.

despite this apparent success of the program, rubicon announced that it would be pausing trash to treasure for the 2024 halloween season.

with rubicon’s program also suspended, there isn’t an equivalent free candy wrapper recycling program.

terracycle sells candy and snack wrapper recycling boxes. however, with a small recycling box at $105, this price range is unfeasible for most individuals.

so what’s the solution to the candy wrapper conundrum?

short answer: it’s not so easy

while consumers can do their best to opt for buying halloween candy with the least amount of plastic packaging, halloween candy exists on the short list of foods that need some sort of individual packaging. 

trick-or-treating etiquette necessitates that candy given out is pre-wrapped with seals and closings intact. this is so parents can ensure that the candy their children are given is safe to eat. thus, we cannot get rid of candy wrappers entirely. 

candy corporations should do their part

we should encourage candy corporations, such as hershey, nestle, and mars, to produce our favorite candies with compostable or recyclable packaging.

additionally, candy corporations themselves should run large-scale candy wrapper recycling programs. taking from the structure of trash to treasure, these corporations should give schools, businesses, and organizations recycling boxes, free of charge, to collect candy wrappers and reuse for the production of future candy. 

mars has done this on a microscopic scale. in 2022, the candy corporation that makes snickers and m&ms, partnered with rubicon to distribute 17,400 candy waste collection bags to u.s. consumers. people were able to fill the bags with candy wrappers and mail them back to a special recycler, g2 revolution, in illinois. 

if all 17,400 bags were mailed back full, mars would have recycled 2 tons of recycled wrappers, which is only a fraction of the total amount of candy wrappers discarded every halloween season. 

better recycling infrastructure

even if more candy corporations ran candy wrapper recycling programs, there still exists the issue of a lack of proper infrastructure to recycle candy wrappers.

candy wrappers and plastic wrappers, in general, pose a difficult challenge for recycling because they are often made of mixed materials, such as plastic and foil. these different materials must be separated during recycling, which adds time and energy to the recycling process. 

additionally, candy wrappers tend to be thin and flimsy, which allows them to easily bypass recycling sorting machines.

candy wrappers must be thoroughly cleaned of the food waste prior to being recycled and the mix of colors on candy wrappers often produces an unappealing brown color when recycled into new materials.

these difficulties cause recycling candy wrappers to be costly and they produce such low-grade plastic that the value of the new plastic doesn’t meet the value of the recycling process. which, in turn, means candy corporations are not inclined to commit to this process. 

better, more efficient recycling infrastructure must be invented to reduce the cost of candy wrapper recycling and make it more profitable for the organizations that engage with this process.

looking to the future

hershey has stated that it is committed to having 100% of their plastic packaging be recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2030.

additionally, mars has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to redesign 12,000 packaging components to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable.

this is a large feat to surmount, and we will all be watching to see if the first and fourth-largest candy corporations by sales, respectively, can do what it takes to minimize candy wrapper waste and advocate for more sustainable practices, especially with seasonal candy. 

with that, have a safe and festive halloween!

north america has the highest diversity of freshwater mussels in the world, with almost 300 different species. also known as the “liver of the river,” freshwater mussels filter and protect aquatic ecosystems. despite being able to filter between eight and 15 gallons of water per day, mussels face a myriad of threats including industrial development which affected these populations as factories popped up along the schuylkill river during the industrial revolution. 

at its worst, philadelphians said the river did not even resemble water. now, scientists at the fairmount water works (fww) freshwater mussel hatchery are working tirelessly to create a space where visitors can learn firsthand about the life of a freshwater mussel and how cleaner river water depends on one of the most imperiled aquatic animals in north america.

in 2017, the philadelphia water department teamed up with the partnership for the delaware estuary to open the hatchery, which is free to the public, and located within the fww interpretive center. the hatchery was designed and imagined by the academy of natural sciences at drexel university, victoria prizzia of habithéque, inc., and artist stacy levy.

introducing philadelphians to the power of the mussel

the hatchery sits along the schuylkill river, which provides 40% of philadelphians with drinking water, with the other 60% being provided by the delaware river. the location of the hatchery, along with preserving pieces of architecture from the original waterworks building are all intentional. according to stacey heffernan, the environmental education planner, “mussels are the gateway animal to get people to care for the waterways.” the hatchery’s proximity to the schuylkill, one of philadelphia’s most iconic green spaces, places it in a culturally significant and emotionally resonant site for many locals.  

in addition to this, the hatchery also runs educational programs for philadelphia youth. four schools from the surrounding area participate in the “mussels in the classroom” program. this provides teachers with their classroom’s own recirculating aquaculture system and some juvenile mussels. with this, students are able to engage first-hand with measuring mussels and monitoring water quality. 

the hatchery also runs a “mussels in the field” program located at the audubon discovery center, which provides youth from six nearby school districts with similar hands-on interactions, as well as introduces students to blue-green infrastructure. once a month, the discovery center also hosts “mussel maniacs” where adults can participate in similar field work and connect with other conservation enthusiasts. 

rebuilding a population of workhorse filterers

since the hatchery opened in 2017, they have consistently propagated around 10,000 mussels each year. the fww mussel hatchery strays away from what these types of aquatic field stations often aim to do, which is to focus on restoring endangered native populations. instead, the hatchery is working to build up common species that once thrived in the schuylkill prior to industrial development, which could lead in local efforts to purify water sources for philadelphians. 

in the wild, mussels have a few main ways of propagating, but scientists in the hatchery lab do these manually. this past year, the hatchery achieved a new personal record of the highest number of successful propagations with 20,000 mussels. so far this year, the hatchery more than doubled their yearly propagation numbers with just two inoculation trials. they also performed their first study to determine the rate at which two species of freshwater mussels could remove pollutants. 

looking ahead, the results will be used to determine how mussels can work as a complement to traditional pollution control technologies. with all these new milestones, heffernan says, “we have made a lot of strides in a short period of time.

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.

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.”

a century ago, tens of thousands of people would swim in its waters on hot summer days. however, since the 1970s, swimming in the river has been illegal due to pollution concerns, and advocates now argue that it is time to change what they call archaic laws.

in 1965, president lyndon b. johnson labeled the potomac a “national disgrace” while also championing its restoration. the clean water act of 1972 aimed to make all american waterways fishable and swimmable, and subsequent efforts, such as dc water’s clean rivers project, have made significant strides in improving water quality. local government officials have expressed optimism that some parts of the potomac will be open for swimming by 2030.

“the ban” focuses on the complex history pertaining to swimming in the potomac river and the debates on how to open it up for swimming again. dean naujoks, a potomac riverkeeper, claims that certain parts of the potomac are currently safe for swimming up to 90 percent of the time. denis crean, an open water swimmer, even defies the ban and runs programs promoting the use of the river for wellness practices such as “wim hof techniques” to address mental and physical health issues. despite push backs from law enforcement, he continues to advocate for change. meanwhile, jonathan champion, the associate director of the water quality division in the d.c. department of energy and environment, expresses cautious optimism about lifting the ban, but emphasizes the need for continued testing, which is often hampered by bureaucratic constraints and budget cuts.

decades of prohibition have left a lingering perception of the river as dirty and unsafe for swimming, despite significant improvements in water quality. the lack of awareness about such advancements, coupled with the enduring stigma of pollution, may deter some people from embracing the idea of swimming in the potomac once more. as discussions about reopening the potomac for those who wish to swim in its waters intensifies, addressing concerns and effectively communicating the strides made in environmental restoration will be crucial in building public confidence.