in june of 2020, the george washington university announced an initiative to eliminate single-use plastics on campus. as the first campus in the district of columbia to implement a policy of this kind, i wanted to dig deeper into the specifics of it. what are the specific logistics of the policy? what challenges has gw encountered implementing it? what do students think of gw’s efforts? after interviewing a director of sustainability at gw and surveying students, i got to the bottom of the story. 

speakers included new epa  administrator michael s. regan, nbc’s legendary broadcaster al roker, national geographic explorer and filmmaker john d. sutter, the mayor of phoenix — the hottest city in america — kate gallego, and gw’s own president thomas j. leblanc. student correspondents highlighted their work and we proudly announced the winners of the planet forward storyfest 2021 competition.

these interviews to come, shared here later this week.

in the meantime, read a summit summary in this story from gw today.

what do you see? ivied buildings, trimmed hedges, and manicured lawns full of students scattered about? looks to me like the college experience.

but here i sit in my gw dorm, receiving emails urging me to witness swarming bees outside my window – a phenomenon unfit to the foggy bottom backdrop, yet they came from dr. hartmut doebel’s bee farm atop bell hall. their small but strong presence reminds us that wildlife is campus life. whether we recognize it or not is our choice.

gw’s campus contains over 200 different species [1] and grounds manager, zach pittinger has chosen to recognize our neighbors, rooting campus grounds in ecosystem services and making gw more sustainable for students and bees alike.

cities house denser species populations than those in the wild – from pollinator trees like redbuds to synanthropic species like house sparrows. but urban ecosystems are less diverse [2]. through development we’ve disturbed the vegetative structure and resource availability of previous ecosystems [3],[4], driving native species richness down and allowing invasives to exacerbate that decline. continued planting of annuals and non-natives purely for beautification reduces species richness, productivity and sustainability.

to bring the biota back, we need to cultivate larger, native, and resilient environments on our campuses. increasing native vegetation allows for native-adapted animals to return and pollinate. this restructuring creates corridors for urban species dispersal [5], improved air quality [6], runoff retention and filtration [7], cooled urban heat island effect [8], higher carbon storage [9] and enhanced student wellbeing [10].

“sustainable landscape design is propelling young people in my industry to turn back to horticulture” says zach, with decreasing pesticide use, storm water solutions, and a focus on wildlife and education. but zach points out this is a rediscovery of early agricultural practices of native cultivation. we are moving from a post-world war ii era of neatly manicured land covered in mulch to a different ethos.  

“now we are asking for the return of wild spaces – to work with nature, not against it and evoke a sense of wild,” says zach.

when diagnosed with lyme disease in high school, zach spent his year off gardening with his mom. when i asked, “why gardening?” zach replied, “creating beauty in your backyard is very healing.” in this combination of passion and a love for native plants, zach saw the college campus as a perfect opportunity for beauty, efficiency, and healing to fully integrate for students.

initially attracted to the 2016 gw’s sustainable landscape guidelines – a resource for gw grounds cultivation, it was no coincidence that zach found himself running gw’s 22-person grounds department, “injecting renewed energy and enthusiasm in implementing these guidelines” says kimberly williams from the gw office of sustainability.

in 2018, sustainable grounds – an informal coalition of zach and eager faculty and staff was born. spearheaded by gw’s director of sustainability, meghan chapple, this group unites diverse expertise – from adele ashkar’s prior work as director of gw’s landscape design program to dr. ginger allington’s focus in biogeography. when new projects arise, sustainable grounds huddles together to increase native perennial species richness and develop their optimal placement for pollinator/migratory species attraction and water retention.

“the landscape is the first thing students and parents will notice,” says zach.

it’s a difficult task – preserving the campus image and student experience while cultivating wilder grounds. the urban campus environment is dynamic, as zach exclaims, “we may have just finished landscaping a small townhouse garden, only to be ripped up by the need to excavate a crushed sewer pipe”. though heavy traffic and student life stress the ecosystem, they also present an opportunity to test resilience and to educate our community. “if it can handle hurricane winds, torrential flooding, salt spray, foot traffic, cigarette butts, harsh changes in soil ph, and constant disturbance, then you’ve got yourself a winner,” says zach.

this “living lab” is a uniquely holistic initiative allowing “gw to improve its impact on the local ecosystem and provide students with opportunities to learn about urban sustainability,” says kimberly – a fitting goal for a research university.  

in fall 2019, g street park will be sustainably renovated – a space currently devoid of biodiversity and a “sense of place,” says zach. students use the space as a thoroughfare now, but kimberly illustrates, “with native plants that attract pollinators, outdoor seating, and a sharp aesthetic, g street park will provide a beautiful location for students to gather.”

future plans include planting over one hundred new trees at mount vernon campus, adding thousands of native perennials, renovating flowerbeds at most residence halls, and transferring to locally sourced or our own leaf mulch. zach is looking to enhance our green roofs and ultimately certify campus as an arboretum or botanical garden.

gw grounds is reinventing their community role, taking interns and student volunteers as well as providing future tours to engage students with their new campus. the gw community can further aid in these efforts “by appreciating the native, natural landscape and seeking to view landscapes that are not formally manicured as beautiful,” says kehan desousa from gw’s office of sustainability.

“this work flies under the radar for most of the gw community, but by stopping to smell the asters, students, faculty and staff can not only enjoy the greenery of our urban campuses, but also appreciate their valuable role in restoring a healthy ecosystem,” says kimberly.

it’s time to tweak the campus vision. can you re-imagine the wild side of campus life?

at the feb. 13 planet forward salon on tackling the food waste and loss problem, experts chip bowling, meghan chapple, and vimlendra sharan joined host frank sesno to lead the discussion on the topic. this event brought students, professionals, and policy leaders in the field together as the conversation covered how to combat food waste and loss here in the u.s. and abroad — and the challenges and potential solutions for each.

1. food waste is personal.

everyone has wasted food, or has seen it happen. the way we grow, sell, and consume food must fundamentally change if we are to sustain our growing population and reduce the carbon footprint of food waste. a cultural shift must occur in order for this to happen. in developed countries, we waste as much food as sub-saharan africa produces in a year.

food waste is one of united nation’s sustainable development goals. partnered with the world resources institute, the u.n. aims to halve total food waste by 2030, and to do so the problem must be tackled at both production and consumption levels.

2. food loss is different from food waste.

according to un-fao director vimlendra sharan, 35% of food is lost between delivery and retail sale. produce is easily damaged en route to supermarkets, and retailers will reject food for aesthetic reasons, such as bumps on vegetables or a slight discoloration of fruits. the top three food groups in terms of share of total value of food loss are meat, poultry, and fish, followed by vegetables and dairy products.

startups like local cowboy help match food delivery services with charities and food banks in the area. on a policy level, incentives like the good samaritan food donation act encourage retails to donate food with liability protections. currently, there are no financial penalties in the u.s. for wasting food.

3. 28% of all variable land contributes to total food waste.

it’s not just the food we are wasting—it’s the water used to cultivate crops, the energy used to harvest it, and the fuel consumed to transport our food. about 1.4 billion hectares of land (about 3.5 billion acres – the equivalent of about 1.7 brazils in land mass) is used annually to produce food that is lost or wasted.

farmers like chip bowling, a third-generation farmer from newburg, md., and chairman of the u.s. farmers and ranchers alliance, know they must heed the call for more sustainable harvesting practices. “we’re becoming more transparent about how we grow and cultivate our food,” he said on the panel. “while people like farmers, they may not like how we farm.”

4. students are leading innovators of food waste solutions.

college students are on the forefront of implementing sustainable changes in their communities. last call, for example, is an organization founded by two innovators from gw: alumna erin mcgeoy and senior chloe king. last call shares end-of-the-day restaurant deals with members of the community. food that otherwise may be thrown away is sold to subscribers at a discounted rate, anywhere from 50% to 70% off, benefiting both the vendor and the consumer.

5. how we communicate the story of food waste is key.

“people aren’t thinking about how they are connected to the planet,” said meghan chapple, director of gw’s office of sustainability. food is an afterthought in urban metropolises since city dwellers are so far removed from the production of the food they eat. many colleges like gw have opened community gardens and kickstarted on-campus compost programs to bring students closer to their food.

the panel agreed: guilt and shame aren’t effective when it comes to changing behavior. telling a story on food insecurity or sharing a personal anecdote is a compelling way to convey the real challenges of food waste. all across the supply chain, we must work together to curb food waste and better appreciate what we consume.

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on earth day 2008, knapp signed the american college and university presidents’ climate commitment, where the university committed to reducing its carbon footprint and measuring greenhouse gas emissions. in 2010 gw released an official climate action plan, setting its goal of being carbon neutral by 2040, and during knapp’s tenure the university has remained on track to reach that goal.

knapp said the most important act of sustainability that he has done is to “develop the leadership capacities of the students to be in this for the long haul.” students have wide-ranging interests on sustainability, which gw then fosters and cultivates the students to be able to go in the free market and work with any person, corporation, or government. one way that this has been done is through establishing sustainability as a minor which allows students “to see how everything is connected.”

the president also worked with corporations and governments to reduce their carbon output, and become more sustainable. a major collaboration that was done under knapp’s tenure is the capital solar partnership with american university and george washington hospital. these corporations created four solar farms that allow gw and the other partners to obtain half of their energy usage from solar. the energy from these farms is enough to power 9,000 homes — the equivalent of taking 18,000 cars off the road, and 85,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.  

gw also has become a trusted advisor to the washington, d.c., local government on how it should handle their run-off, by spreading what was done on gw campus to the surrounding area. these partnerships were done by both president knapp, and the board of trustees, which put sustainability first on campus. 

most recently, knapp signed on the university’s behalf the “we are still in” declaration in response to the united states’ withdrawal from the paris accord, along with what has grown to more than 300 colleges and universities, impressing that the university and its students, faculty and staff remain committed to the goals it committed to in 2008.

i’ve been a student at the george washington university for three years now, but just a few days ago found the best spot on campus: the roof of lisner hall. why? well not only is the view incredible, but it’s home to one of the world’s most valuable insects, the bees.

head beekeeper and gw senior gabby discafani let me enter her world – and the world of a million hard workers. i was in awe of the whole operation; the bees are incredible to watch.

but how long will this last?

at the end of september, the u.s. fish and wildlife service added bees to the endangered-species list for the first time.

moral of the story: if humans don’t change their attitudes about climate change, we’ll lose one of our most beautiful, valuable, and natural living resources. watch the video to see what i saw, and you’ll never swat another bee again.

we are facing climate change in the united states in the form of more intense and frequent storm events, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires. right now we have adapted, but that does not mean that climate change is under control. many countries around the world are dealing with serious threats right now; they are bearing the brunt of our behavior, and the burden that they are carrying now will only get heavier.

we sat down with sabrina mccormick, who worked as a producer and associate producer on the showtime original series years of living dangerously, in which hollywood celebrities span the globe to experience climate change.  sabrina has committed herself to learning about the intricacies of the extreme impacts of climate-related phenomena like heat waves, emergent vector-borne disease, and climate-related disasters. she has coupled this knowledge with her passions for filmmaking and storytelling, discussing with us the importance of communicating these complicated facets of climate change.

“seeing is believing,” she said, reflecting on her time spent in bangladesh for the filming of the series finale “moving a mountain” with michael c. hall. “if we can’t see what the future will look like either bad or good, we don’t know, we don’t believe it, we aren’t going to do anything.”

film is a critical tool that can be used to address the complex task of communicating the intricacies of climate change and encouraging immediate action. “this is a task that we have as media makers and as newsmakers, to show audiences what their world can be like and then through that process, get them to actually do something.”

filmmakers like sabrina have taken on this important task and are telling climate change stories, inviting audiences to consider the abstract idea of climate change in a personal way. what’s your climate change story? what have you experienced and seen? show audiences, use media tools, and empower others to learn more about how climate change could affect their lives and the lives of many vulnerable people like those in bangladesh and around the world.