washington, d.c., is one of the participating cities of the climathon, and george washington university hosted the d.c. hackathon. students and professionals  from as far as north carolina participated. participants came from a wide variety of ages, backgrounds, and walks of life — from aspiring textile engineers to first-year undergraduate students. the theme of this year’s climathon was “closing the loop on textile waste,” as textile waste and sustainable fashion are topics not discussed enough in the climate conversation. 

perhaps the coolest thing about hackathons is that most participants enter solo, not necessarily already having a plan. it is during those 24 hours that participants form teams, brainstorm potential project ideas, and finally plan and present their idea(s) to the judges. truly, a day packed with innovation, collaboration, and potential for some world-changing proposals to arise.

the final projects ranged from mobile apps to blankets made from textile waste to clothing sorting services — all of which were truly reasoned, innovative, and creative approaches to reduce textile waste and make sustainable clothing options more available and accessible to the d.c. community — and beyond. 

one project in particular that stood out for demonstrating considerable potential on gw’s campus was “remix your loop” — a reimagined thrift store for gw students that makes a wide variety of clothes accessible to all students on campus. the idea was designed by some of the hackathon’s youngest participants: freshmen iradukunda claudine and alise ndacayisaba, and sophomore brianna reynolds.

claudine finds that the root of the textile problem is that “we are always overconsuming in america, whether it’s food or supplies or clothes, and we get lost in this influx of nonsense.” thus, this overwhelming issue fueled their passion to create a tangible, innovative project like remix your loop.

when pitching their project, these young women emphasized the shocking statistic that gw donates 97,000 pounds of textiles per year, coming from clothing donation bins on campus. oftentimes, these textiles are donated to companies that send the clothing abroad to developing countries, which creates more harm than intended as these clothing imports ultimately hurt local clothing businesses. thus, they envisioned an idea that would not only put these (literal) tons of clothing to good use on campus, but also engage the gw community on the important conversations that we need to have about sustainable fashion, responsible consumption, and other related topics. when they took a glimpse of the kinds of clothes that were donated on campus, they found all sorts of quality pieces of clothing. essentially, they thought to themselves: why not put these quality clothes back in the hands of the students?

from this discovery, came the proposal of their thrifting hub, remix your loop. the ladies explained the various perks and unique characteristics of their “reimagined thrift store”: it would provide students with far more affordable options to a wide variety of clothes, which is especially needed in an area where the majority of local clothing stores are high-end and expensive. the store would also provide students with a creative outlet. remix plans to partner with fashion and art students to serve as makeshift “fashion designers” for the store, who would help customers interested in customizing or revamping clothing pieces they find to their own unique liking. 

team member ira claudine finds potential in all clothing donations to be reused in some capacity, and this is where remix your loop would serve as the creative middleman. 

claudine said: “people always see an item as having use for one thing. but in actuality, you can easily turn an existing t-shirt into a tank top, instead of wasting your money and buying a new clothing item you may just wear once or twice.” 

the designers at remix your loop would help customers with such a process. they even considered having classes open to the student body where students would be able to sew and redesign clothing items — fostering a creative outlet and community that the school currently lacks.

there are plenty of other much-needed functions that this thrift store would serve. for example, for a school with a huge internship and professional culture, students often find themselves needing several professional outfits for their wardrobe, but may not be able to afford them. remix your loop would serve any students’ clothing or accessory needs for any occasion, simply using the existing supply of clothing donations from the gw community. 

luckily, a concept that already sounds too good to be true may just turn into a reality. the remix your loop team won 2nd place in the competition. they will receive a $2,000 grant to kickstart their project, as well as guidance from mentors to support them through the execution process.

interested in participating in this exciting event in the future? climathon is an annual event and can be found in cities around the world. if you’re local, gw has always been the host for the d.c. climathon, and this school certainly does not fall short of innovative minds. who knows? you may just be the mastermind behind the next big solution to climate change.

storyfest finalist and planet 世界杯欧洲预选赛免费直播  olivia urbanski, of loyola university chicago, talked about the video she made while studying abroad at ol pejeta conservatory featuring sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino, who died on march 20, 2018.

harrison watson, of jackson state university in mississippi, and a storyfest 2017 finalist and amazon traveler, talked about the use of language in storytelling — how words can take us to a deeper place than images and sounds, and his interest in the intersection of religion and environment.

anna sumi a recent george washington university grad, spoke of her adventures to siberia in summer 2017, and the challenge of translating science. one major issue for these arctic urban areas is the melting permafrost, for their infrastructure is built according to the permafrost layer, and its degradation will disrupt the entire foundation of these cities.

alaine johnson of yale-national university of singapore, a 2018 planet 世界杯欧洲预选赛免费直播 and storyfest finalist, talked about her studies, which have her looking at how patterns of urbanization are effecting the way we are linked with the environment. using yoga as an example, she said the instructor is telling you to feel the earth beneath your feet — but it’s kind of hard to do that when it’s 22 stories below you. 

zack smith of suny-esf, and also storyfest 2017 finalist, spoke of the magic of sound, and the power that vibrations have to transport the listener to a place.

up next: what’s your sustainability story? >

what this study doesn’t include is the trash that is discarded on the sides of roads, beaches, oceans, and other waterways that can harm wildlife and leach chemicals into the environment, according to going zero waste. due to the impact of trash on the environment, a new movement called the “zero waste movement” aims to reduce waste produced so much that some people can fit their yearly trash in a mason jar. most daily products we use are produced to be disposed of, rather than reusable everyday products, such as tupperware for storing food rather than plastic wrap.

the zero waste movement even tries to reduce recycling because, as going zero waste says, many containers or local recycling programs aren’t actually recycled into being used again. in this podcast i discuss how plausible it is for a college student to contribute to the zero waste movement.

citations:

about zero waste. (n.d.). retrieved january 28, 2018, from https://www.goingzerowaste.com/zero-waste-1/

11 facts about recycling. (n.d.). retrieved february 18, 2018, from https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-recycling

municipal solid waste. (2016, march 29). retrieved january 28, 2018, from https://archive.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/web/html/

welcome back to sciencecast: climate change series! in episode five, we focus on sustainable agriculture and how the food we eat impacts the environment. instead of meeting with uw experts, we turn to students who are knowledgeable about food insecurity, gardening and farming and the connections between agriculture and climate change. we met on-site with hannah deporter, an administrative director at f.h. king students for sustainable agriculture, as well as nikki rasmussen and krista marshall, the co-executive directors of slow food. while both student organizations deal with food, the knowledge they provide their members with goes well beyond a good meal.

the process began in march, and the rebel market was able to accomplish level one certification from the green restaurant association this past june.

“being the first level one certified green restaurant is unique because no other higher education institution has done this nor any restaurants in mississippi. we hope this pushes other dining facilities in the state to become certified green,” said amy greenwood, marketing coordinator for ole miss dining.

ole miss dining serves more than 20,000 students daily and operates 20-plus locations on the university’s campus. this takes a lot of resources and energy to operate such a vast market. as a result, ole miss dining wanted to learn how to utilize their resources and better their services.

“the in-depth process consisted of communication with ole miss dining vendors and an examination of menu options,” said valerie schultz, residential food service director for ole miss dining. “additionally, green restaurant association conducted a comprehensive walkthrough of the building to determine water flow, automatic lighting and various types of light bulbs in use, energy efficiencies of all equipment, proximity to various modes of transportation and reusable takeout options.”  

“in order to become certified green, ole miss dining made hundreds of changes and additions to their various locations around campus,” greenwood said. “the dining services removed all styrofoam from their facility and replaced it with reusable glassware, dishes and utensils for dine-in customers, and reusable take-out containers.

“those changes helped decrease the amount of waste significantly.”

but the changes don’t stop there. ole miss dining retrofitted facilities with energy-saving lighting, high-efficiency hand dryers, low-flow toilets, and made accommodations to effectively recycle.

“the biggest change will be the increase of vegetarian and vegan options on the menus at the rebel market,” schultz said.

this means that 40% of ole miss dining’s main dishes are vegan or vegetarian because they require significantly less energy and water to produce than meat-based products.

“we look to continue our green certification by adding to the facility over the next year,” greenwood said.

which means ole miss dining will save even more energy and resources in the future.

according to the epa, an american produces a daily average of 4.5 pounds of solid trash each day, pushing us to the top of the list for greatest annual per capita trash generation. these statistics mean more than needing extra muscle to take out trash in the u.s. compared to other countries. it means that we are suffocating our earth and are far from living as sustainably as we should. we’ve all heard the words “reduce, reuse, and recycle,” but what exactly can we as college students do to lighten our trip to the trash chute and give mother earth a breather?

as college students, we have the power to change the world for the better. with a few minor change-ups in your weekly routine, you can help start this change and prove that living sustainably is achievable for even those stuck in a dorm. 

here are a few tips and tricks for college students to reduce their waste (and save some money)!

1. ditch the paper towels. we all need these to clean up the spilled easy mac in our microwave and to wipe up the coffee spilled on our laptops. but, paper towels will fill up your trash cans fast and at around $1.50 a roll, they’ll empty your pockets even quicker. pick up some wash cloths or kitchen towels at a nearby store for $5 and throw them in your weekly wash once they’ve cleaned up all your spills. bonus points if you let them air dry instead of using the drier!
2. ask your bartender to hold the umbrella. going out to get drinks with friends or to happy hour with coworkers is something we’ve all done. your regular fruity drink might come with umbrellas, a straw, and a plastic sword plunging through a maraschino. ask your bartender to hold the decorations and i promise that your drink will still taste the same. bonus points if you’re using a cloth napkin instead of a paper one!
3. pass on the plastic. if you typically grab a dasani for $2 in between classes to stay hydrated, this is your wake up call! you’re not only wasting money on water that is extremely similar from what you would get from your tap, but you’re also contributing to the approximately 19 billion pounds of plastic that clog our landfills. if you switch to a reusable water bottle, you’re saving yourself a lot of money and doing the oceans a favor. if you’re one of those people who likes to keep their water cold, there are reusable water bottles that insulate your beverage and prevent condensation from occurring outside of your bottle. “you’re welcome” in advance for saving your textbook from water damage!
4. fill your own box. each time you go to the dining hall to fill up a disposable container with food, mother nature sheds a tear. try bringing your own tupperware to the dining hall for your next meal. since it’s airtight, you can bring extra food home and save it for some midnight snacking. additionally, speak to the manager if you’re planning on doing this – many stores and hot food bars offer discounts if you use your own containers!

by taking these little steps and working on reducing your waste every day, you are inspiring others to do the same and making a world of change. good luck!