Assessing Sustainability

To know if something/place is green or sustainable a person has to do their "homework" and research it, whether it be your home, workplace, school or even your lifestyle. 

This weeks blog assignment for my Environmental Science class was to assess RCC's campus in sustainability. Green factors that I  think are important when assessing if a campus is strong in environmental advocacy are as follows:

1. Establishment of a Green Committee (Student Sustainability Collective) - Organization helping promote sustainability on campus.
2. Utility consumption (water, electricity, gas) and if the campus utilizes any renewable type of energy for campus operations.
3. Campus advocacy of using public transportation (frequent bus timetables) and or bicycle use (designated areas or lanes on campus)
4. Whether or not there is a Recycle program in place.
5. Cafeteria/Bookstore operations - products sold and methods of waste disposal.
6. Whether or not there is a student/community garden on site.
7. Landscaping choices; usage of California native vegetation and/or drought-tolerant plants.
8. Resource efficient appliances in use; automatic light sensors, communicative thermostats, water efficient sink/toilets.
9. Office/Teacher supplies; usage of sustainable materials (recycled paper, etc.)
10. Technology; use of energy star certified equipment and settings

These are the Top 10 I could think of, realistically almost every single aspect on campus could be analyzed and assessed to determine RCC's sustainability. The sustainability factors can be compared to other colleges with environmental audits to distinguish the relativity of certain factors. I will focus on one factor assessment from another college, the Cafeteria/Bookstore. 

In the fall of 2005 the Student Sustainability Coalition at Santa Barbara City College issued a SBCC Campus Sustainability Audit, revealing the campuses current sustainability practices. I am of course interested in the Cafeteria/Bookstore findings. According to SBCC's audit the bookstore practices typical "General Stewardship Practices" this would include the recycling of paper, batteries, cell phones and the buying of some products that are made from post-consumer material. The Cafeteria's assessment was rather low, key issues that were assessed have yet to be "researched" or implemented.
 
To further assess a certain sustainability area at RCC I picked one area and researched it, particularly utility consumption. In order to obtain further information for utility consumption at RCC I would need to do the following:

• Find a comparable college similar in size and population to RCC. Santa Barbara City College and Riverside City College are very similar in size and student population, approx. between 19,000-20,000
• Contact  Melinda Chavez (951) 222-8770 Ext. 8660 she is responsible for Accounts Payable: Utilities within the Financial Department at RCC. I would then request and review utility invoices to analyze amounts of energies used; wattage, etc.for a specific fiscal school year.
• I would then do the same with Santa Barbara City College, review energy/resource invoices within a specific fiscal school year.

Although differences in energy/resource providers may vary from region to region and prices may fluctuate depending on weather, season and energy demand, the analyzing of units, gallons, wattage, etc. would be comparable on a invoice to invoice evaluation. These are detailed steps I would take to further research an area of sustainability at RCC's campus.

On a disappointing side note I discovered the last time RCCD performed an annual waste management report was in the 08/09 fiscal school year and promising upcoming green changes in 2012. It's now 2013 those changes have yet to happen.

24 Hour Observation, Consumption and Conservation

Have you ever thought about how much time, effort and Earth's resources go into any single item? I know I do, quite often.

For example, a venti coffee from Starbucks may just be a beverage, but the multiple components that went into producing that one cup of joe is quite grand. Think about it, the growing of the coffee beans, the location in which the beans are grown, the transportation of the beans to the factory, packaging, transportation to a Starbucks Distribution Center, transportation to individual stores, materials/machines used to brew the coffee, the cup; plastic cup, plastic lid, plastic stir, cream, sugar, etc. Get it? This list can go on and on. When analyzed a single production of a single cup of coffee can be staggering, it reminds me of a man made food chain. 

In 24 hours I tried to observe almost everything I used that came from Earth's resources. I decided to observe a typical weekday to display what most of my week looks like in terms of what I use. I  then choose one item on my list and researched  more about the product, scroll down to read results of the item I chose. The items have been categorized:

1. Food and Drink:
   
   • Water: 10 Cups
   • Breakfast Foods:
   • 100% Whole Grain Omega + Instant Oatmeal
   • Tangerine   
   •  Snacks
   • Trader Joe's Unsalted Almonds (16 Ct.)
   • Lunch: 
   • Fresh & Easy: Eat Well Lunch: Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli 
   • Dinner:
   • Fresh & Easy: Guacamole Kit (Chopped Tomatoes, Cilantro, Onion, Lime Wedge)
   • 1 Can of Premium Skinless Boneless  Alaskan Pink Salmon (Bear & Wolf) 
   • 1 Whole Wheat Tortilla (Mission Tortilla)   
     
2. Housing and Other Buildings:
   
   • My Home: 525 Square Ft. Apartment Circa 1950's
   • Work: 5,500 Square Ft. Office Building Circa 1990's 
    
3. Transportation and Road:
   
   • My Car: 2012 Nissan Versa Hatchback: 30 MPG, Automatic,4 Cyclinders, 1.8 L
   • Amount of paved Roads/Freeway used: 44 Miles
    
4. Clothing:
   
   • Cotton Socks: Merona
   • Cotton Underwear: Champion
   • Cotton Pants: Dockers
   • Cotton Polo: IZOD
   • Leather Boots: Eddie Bauer
   • Jeans: Denizen    
    
5. Office Supplies:
   
   • Dell PC (9 Hr. Usage)
   • 30% Recycled EnviroCopy Paper (50 Sheets)
   • 75% Recycled EcoPen
   • Allwoxk 48 Line Switchboard Telephone System
    
6. Personal Care Products:
   
   • Sonicare Electronic Toothbrush
   • Orange, Cinnamon and Mint Nutrismile® All Natural CoQ10 Tooth Gel (JASON)
   • Nioxin Shampoo
   • Trader Joe's Tea Tree Bar Soap
   • Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Facial Cleanser 
   • Neutrogena Naturals Multi-Vitamin Nourishing Moisturizer    
    
7. Leisure activities:
   
   • TV- 2 hrs
   • Personal Computer: MacBook Pro - 2 hrs
   • Book- "Naked" by David Sedaris
   • Garden- Watered Tomato Plant (1), Succulents (4), Philodendron (1) 
     
8. Other (not listed in categories):
   
   • Approx 2 Gallons of fuel
   • Matress
   • Cotton Sheets
   •  Alternative Down Pillows (2) 
   • Water Used: 10 Minute Shower & Bathroom Use(Toilet, Sink)
   • Glass Bowl (used for dinner) 
    
   

The item I chose to further research and explore is Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Facial Cleanser. I chose this item to see if the "Natural" product is in fact really a) natural  and b)earth friendly. Unfortunately, a lot of companies "brand" products stating it is "earth friendly" or "natural" when in fact sometimes it is not.
 

Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Facial Cleanser:

INGREDIENTS                                            SOURCE

Water	Purified Water
Cocamidopropyl Betaine	Coconut Derived
Decyl Glucoside	Corn/Coconut/Palm Kernel
Glycerin	Vegetable
Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine	Coconut/Palm Kernel Derived
Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate	Coconut/Palm Kernel Derived
Salix Alba (Willow) Bark Extract	White Willow Bark
Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride	Guar Bean
Sodium Benzoate	*
Fragrance

I bought this "need" product from Target and the "naturals" label is what ultimately led to my purchase. The product is used as a face wash and I use it on a daily basis in the shower. It contains Bionutrients, nutrients found in nature that help replenish and cleanse the skin. 

In an attempt to find out where the ingredients are acquired/harvested from I called Neutrogena and spoke to Andrew, a helpful and friendly customer service representative. Andrew was unable to tell me how the ingredients are obtained or the geographic location of the ingredients, he did however tell me that the product is produced and shipped from Los Angeles, CA. I was very happy to find out it was made and shipped somewhat locally.

When I shop, I shop with a "green heart" I try and buy products that will benefit me but also lessen harsh environmental impacts. I will use this product until the bottle is depleted in which I will then recycle it. From my research I feel  that the effects this product has on the environment is rather low especially considering it's mega parent company Johnson & Johnson. According to Neutrogena and from a manufacturing point of view the product  is :

• 
  94 % Naturally Derived
  
  
• 
  Product was not tested on animals
  
  
• 
  50% Post consumer recycled content in our bottles
  
  
• 
  100% Recycled Paper: Folding cartons are made from 100% recycled paper with 60% post-consumer recycled content and are Forest Stewardship Council(FSC) certified. The recycled paperboard cartons use 75% less water in processing than virgin paperboard does
  
  
• 
  Supports Clean Water
  Neutrogena partnered with The Nature Conservancy, a global organization dedicated to protecting natural sources of clean water for people, plants and animals
  
  
• 
  Renewable Energy
  The Neutrogena Naturals website is brought to you by a Green Server,a self-sustainable, sun-fueled and wind-powered server that only uses renewable energy to keep our website running "off the grid"  
  
  
  As stated in the previous paragraph this is just from a manufacturing point of view, I'm sure the harvesting of the ingredients (wherever that may be) used in the product definitely have an impact on the environment. Due to the lack of information I could acquire from Neutrogena I am unable to estimate the effects of the ingredients acquired for product.
  
  
  The Neutrogena Naturals products came into production within the last decade. However, the Neutrogena company has been producing personal care products since its establishment in 1930. Prior to facial cleansers a bar of soap and hot water was all that was needed to wash the face, scrub-a-dub-dub. 
  An alternative to this product would be a Do-It-Yourself Facial Cleanser Recipe:
  Lemon Juice & Baking Soda Cleanser or Milk (or Yogurt) & Honey Facial Cleanser. I might give one of those a try, it would definitely be cheaper and more environmentally friendly.
  
   I really enjoyed this assignment it gave me a chance to really look at everything I use on a daily basis. I was very satisfied with the item I chose to research, I was thoroughly impressed with the amount of energy and money Neutrogena puts into making a product more sustainable. I will definitely try a home recipe, if it doesn't work out I will have peace of mind when purchasing my next  Neutrogena Naturals product.