And the winners are...

Results are in for the ASI student government positions. See the Golden Gate Xpress article here: http://www.goldengatexpress.org/2014/04/12/student-government-election-results-announced/

President: Kenneth Collins
Vice President of Internal Affairs: Sara Padash
Vice President of External Affairs: Naeemah Charles
Vice President of Finance: Ramon Gonzalez
Vice President of University Affairs: Virginia McBride
First Representative at Large: Phoebe Dye
Second Representative at Large: Kai Santiago
Third Representative at Large: Sharlana Turner
Graduate Representative: Omar Romero
Senior Representative: Horst Carreno-Bauer
Junior Representative: Sarah Pishny
Sophomore Representative: Ismail Muhammad
Business Representative: Itzel Centeno
College of Education Representative: Linda Duncan
College of Ethnic Studies Representative: Luis De Paz
College of Health and Social Sciences: Kayla Tolentin
Liberal and Creative Arts Representative: Celia Gonzalez
College of Science and Engineering Representative: Samuel Boikaner.

Sweet Ride

Tonight is our opening reception for our bike-themed art exhibit, Sweet Ride. Come by for refreshments and a chance to win 2 amazing bikes we're raffling off at 7:30pm. See you there!

Earth Month!

Why stop at Earth Day when you can have an Earth Month?? Sustainable Initiatives, along with other campus organizations, has put together an array of events in April. Check them out! We are doing exciting things like a denim giveaway, Fair-Trade coffee tasting, bike themed art show, and more! Go green or go home!

Cooking With Sharon: Part Deux

Our sustainable leading lady is back again! This week, Sharon will be cooking up an amazing vegan dish with the most under-loved vegetable of them all: Brussels Sprouts. For some reason, common thought is that Brussels Sprouts taste horrible, and that children especially won't eat them. We're here to break those stereotypes with a delicious recipe no one can resist!

Sweet Chili Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients:
1/2-1 lb Brussels Sprouts
1/2 onion, diced
3-6 garlic cloves
1/2 inch piece of ginger
2-3 tablespoons of sweet chili sauce
2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sesame seeds for garnish
Pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Remove stems and wash Brussels Sprouts. Slice into halves. Mince the garlic and ginger. Dice onion.
2. Turn on stove. Heat olive oil in pan on medium heat
3. Add garlic and ginger and cook for 30-45 seconds. Add onions and sautee for 7-9 minutes or until translucent.
4. Toss in Brussels Sprouts and cook for 10-15 minutes or until they are nice and brown and slightly charred.
5. Add the sweet chili sauce and soy sauce and sautee for 1-2 minutes
6. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and black pepper
7. Serve with pasta, rice or lentils.

Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MldAyU7MBvY

Food Waste in America

The United States is the 3rd most populous country in the world, behind China and India. With over 2.2 million farms covering an area of 922 million acres, No one in this country should ever go hungry. However, the data around food waste in America is astonishing. Getting food from the farm to our fork eats up 10 percent of the total U.S. energy budget, uses 50% of U.S. land, and uses 80% of all fresh water consumed in the United States. Yet, 40% of food in the United States today goes uneaten. This not only means that Americans are literally throwing out $165 billion each year, but also that the uneaten food ends up rotting in landfills as the single largest component of U.S. municipal solid waste, producing the majority of our methane gas pollution.
 Reducing food losses by just 15% would be enough food to feed more than 25 million Americans. Current figures estimate that 1 in 6 Americans lack a secure supply of food for their tables. Increasing the efficiency of our food system is a sustainable solution that requires collaborative efforts by businesses, governments and  most importantly, YOU the consumer. Consumers can waste less food by shopping wisely, knowing when food goes bad, buying produce that is perfectly edible even if it’s less cosmetically attractive, cooking only the amount of food they need, and eating their leftovers. Pay it forward by donating goods and/or volunteer time to local food banks, charitable organizations and homeless shelters. Waste not!

Cooking with Sharon, Part 1

Our amazing Sustainability Strategist, Sharon Daraphonhdeth, shows us how it's done in the kitchen! An advocate of sustainable, healthy eating, she is putting together a cooking video series which features in-season, sustainable, vegan dishes. Enjoy!

Cooking with Kale

Ingredients:

1 bunch of kale 

1-2 tablespoons of olive oil 

3-4 bunches of garlic 

¼ onion diced 

1 lemon 

salt & pepper to taste 

Mmmmm kale! Kale is one of new favorite vegetables trends. What’s great about kale is that it grows easily in the bay area and is very easy to take care of. Here’s my recipe for a simple way to cook some kale in less than 15 minutes:

Heat up olive oil in a medium sized pan. Sauté garlic for 15-30 seconds or until the garlic aroma releases. Throw in the onions until translucent, about 5-6 minutes. Toss in the kale and mix together. Cook until kale is soft. Turn off heat and squeeze about half a lemon or a whole lemon depending on taste and mix. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with grains, salad, or bread. 

Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLEcpBs9Fqc

You Are What You Eat

When it comes to sustainability, one of the greatest impacts we have is what we choose to eat. Here are some easy (and yummy!) ways to eat healthy and sustainably:

Eat Low on the Food Chain!
Eating low on the food chain means that less energy goes into producing your food, increasing your sustainability. Think about it, the water and energy that goes into producing grains is exponentially increased to produce meat. The EPA estimates that it takes ~2,500 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef, whereas it only takes about ~26 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat. And it's not just about input, but also output. The production of any food has a waste output associated with it, and just like energy input, that figure decreases the lower you are on the food chain.

Eat Local!
One of the best things you can do to reduce your environmental footprint is to eat local. The further your food has to travel to get to you, the more energy it consumes and pollution it produces. Here in California, we are fortunate enough to have amazing climates and nutritious soils which can produce just about anything. Farmers' markets happen in almost every city in the Golden State, and not only are you more sustainable by choosing farmers' markets, but also contributing money to the local economy, which benefits everyone. Plus, food prices at farmers' markets are considerably lower than at corporate stores, making your dollar go further for better quality. It's a win-win situation! With the consumer demand for sustainable produce, more and more big chain stores like Safeway are even offering locally sourced food. Make sure to use your consumer power to "vote" for the products you want, and companies will supply them!

Eat What's in Season!

Ever buy strawberries in the wintertime? They look red and ripe but once you take a bite, they are sour and flavorless. Foods grown in-season consume a lot less production energy than when they are grown out of season, and they taste much better, too! CUESA (the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) has a great website which provides a list of in-season foods, where you can buy them, and delicious recipes! Go to http://www.cuesa.org/eat-seasonally to check it out. 

Eat smarter, eat healthier and eat sustainably!

The Dark Side of Valentine's Day

St. Valentine's Day is a holiday that has been celebrated all over the world for centuries, with roots in Ancient Rome and christian folklore. It is a day to commemorate love, romance, and folk traditions. It is one of the most common days for people to give and receive gifts, and unfortunately, there are ethical issues directly associated with the traditional Valentine. The good news is that there are plenty of companies that produce sustainable and ethical products for you to give to that special someone. 

Chocolate

Chocolate is made from the cacao bean (aka cocoa), which grows primarily in the tropical climates of West Africa and Latin America. Cocoa is one of the largest agricultural exports, and the West African countries of Ghana and the Ivory Coast produce about 75% of the world’s cocoa supply. With a huge worldwide demand for chocolate, companies have resorted to using child labor and slavery to produce cocoa at competitive prices for the export market. The children of West Africa live in abject poverty and many are forced to begin working at a young age to help support their family. Some end up on the cocoa farms because they need work and are told the pay is good, while other children are sold by their own relatives to traffickers or directly to the plantation owners. It has also been documented that traffickers often abduct young boys from small villages in neighboring African countries and bring them to cocoa plantations as slaves. Most of the children are 12-16 years old, but children as young as 7 have been filmed working on the plantations. The sad truth is that most of these children have never even tasted chocolate.

In recent years, organizations and journalists have exposed the widespread use of child labor and slavery in West African cocoa production. In the aftermath of these reports, the cocoa industry has become increasingly secretive, restricting access to farms and workers to ensure that their violations against social justice aren't made public. It's like some sort of chocolate mafia. There are journalists who have attempted to document these conditions on cocoa plantations in West Africa, and have never being seen or heard from again, presumed captive or dead. There have even been incidents where journalists have been detained by the governments in these countries and then jailed and deported. 

Industry leaders such as Nestle and Mars use these unethical methods to secure their cocoa supply, and their massive amounts of money and political power means that child labor and slavery will continue to be "business as usual" for cocoa production. The best thing you can do to help these children is to only buy chocolate and cocoa products from Fair Trade certified companies. The Food Empowerment Project has compiled a huge list of chocolate companies to help you make informed and equitable purchases: http://www.foodispower.org/chocolate-list/ 

Flowers

More than one-third of American adults will buy flowers on Valentine's Day, which equates to about $1.7 billion. The majority of those flowers come from Colombia and Ecuador, countries with alarming rates of substandard working conditions and child labor, especially in their flower industries.

At least 8.3% of flowers in the U.S. were cut by child laborers in Ecuador, according to the most recent data. During the school year, 80% of the workers in Ecuador's enormous flower industry are children, according to a report by the International Labour Organization. 

Two-thirds of flower workers in both countries suffer from work-related health problems like nausea, impaired vision and asthma, and sometimes even more serious issues like birth defects and miscarriages. Labor rights organizations cite the industry's use of dangerous pesticides as the reason for this. The U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project says that 20% of the pesticides are so toxic that they're either restricted or outright banned in the U.S. and Europe.

Women make up half of the flower work force, and they are often subjected to abusive conditions at plantations. Of the women interviewed by the International Labor Rights Forum, 55% said they had been subject to sexual harassment at work and 19% that they had been forced to have sex with a supervisor or coworker. This means that 5.7% of flowers you see for sale today were cut by women who have been sexually harassed, and 2.0% cut by women who were raped by a supervisor or coworker. 

When you want to get flowers for someone, the safest bet is to buy local! Most small, independent florists will know exactly where their product comes from, you just have to ask. When shopping at larger businesses, read the labels to find out where the flowers were grown and harvested. 

Have a happy, sustainable and ethical Valentine's Day and join Sustainable Initiatives for our Valentine's Day event at the Richard Oaks Multicultural Center on February 12th: https://www.facebook.com/events/370511756424895/ 

 

Governor of California Declares a Drought State of Emergency

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink! This week, Governor Brown released an official State of Emergency for California's water supply. As January comes to a close without even an inch of rainfall in the state, we are officially in a drought, folks! In fact, this drought is the worst since we started measuring our water supply, over 100 years ago. This means that water allotments must be diverted from agricultural uses to urban uses, which has a domino effect on our whole system. Rising food prices, water rationing, decreased water quality, wildfires, economic losses and food shortages are on the horizon for California, but luckily, there are things that YOU can do to help. Think about all the ways that you use water in your day to day life. Think about it much deeper than just turning the water off while brushing your teeth. What are you eating? The amount of water used to produce different foods varies greatly from product to product. How many gallons of water do you use in your daily routine? Showering, watering your plants, doing the dishes; every simple task of your day involves some amount of water. Here are some easy tips to help you conserve water:

1. Limit the length of your showers and use warm water instead of hot (heating up water actually consumes more water).
2. When using water-hungry appliances like dishwashers and washing machines, make sure that they are running at full capacity. No partial loads!
3. Eat low on the food chain. The EPA estimates that it takes about 2,500 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef whereas it only takes about 25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat. Have some whole grain pasta with veggies for dinner and skip the steak. Doing this a few times a week can dramatically lower your water usage.
4. Got plants? Instead of letting your shower water run down the drain while it's warming up, collect it and use it to quench your green friends. With some humidity-loving houseplants, you can even put them right in the shower with you!
5. Know the peak water usage hours for your area. In San Francisco, the best water usage times are before 12:00pm and after 6:00pm.
6. Take advantage of your geographic situation. Open windows to create a cross breeze and cool your apartment without the a/c. On cold days, resist the urge to crank up the heat and bundle up in your favorite sweater instead.
7. Buy clothes secondhand! The amount of water used in the textile manufacturing process is astronomical. Buying used clothes is more sustainable and uses much less water.

These are just a few of the many simple changes you can make in your day to day water usage. For more information on conserving water in California, visit http://saveourh2o.org/ a website created by the California Department of Water Resources and the Association of California Water Agencies with the goal of permanently reducing water usage in our state, whether or not we are in a drought.