Tag: environment

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News

Leaders and environmental groups react as the Amazon continue to burn

Spanning eight countries and more than 5 million kilometers squared, the Earth’s largest rainforest is still ablaze. Earlier in August, day turned to night as smoke from the fires darkened the Sao Paulo sky.

The record number of fires in the Amazon rainforest are mobilizing environmental groups and spurring debate about the forest’s Indigenous population. According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, the number of active wildfires in the Amazon rainforest increased by more than 80 per cent since last year.

Sustainable Concordia is concerned about the wildfires and deforestation. Their mission statement advocates sustainability through “acting locally and networking globally.” In a statement to The Concordian, Sustainable Concordia emphasized the economic link between deforestation and the fires.

“The fires (at least in part) are being set on purpose, driven by an exploitative capitalist system that values products and profit over people,” wrote Emily Carson-Apstein, Sustainable Concordia’s External and Campaign Coordinator.

Environmental group Greenpeace Brazil also blame deforestation. Márcio Astrini, Greenpeace Brazil’s Policy Coordinator, denounced in the Mongabay the practice while linking it to the thousands of fire hotspots.

“Deforestation only damages Brazil’s economy, the planet’s climate and endangers wildlife and the lives of thousands of people,” wrote Astrini.

In an interview with The Concordian, Christian Poirier, Program Director of Amazon Watch, said the cattle and mining industries are the most significant contributors to deforestation. Amazon Watch is a California-based nonprofit dedicated to protecting the rainforest and Indigenous rights. According to Yale University’s Global Forest Atlas, 450,000 kilometres squared of deforested land now are used for cattle ranching. He said removing trees for cattle ranching is often achieved by intentionally setting fires but this year’s increase is unusual.

“Fires are an annual phenomenon to clear parcels of land, but this year it’s an on an unprecedented scale,” said Poirier.

Like Sustainable Concordia, Poirier is concerned about economic incentives that encourage deforestation. In a statement, Poirier said that President Jair Bolsonaro encouraged farmers to light fires, with anti-environmental rhetoric.

“Farmers and ranchers understand the president’s message as a license to commit arson … in order to aggressively expand their operations into the rainforest,” wrote Poirier.

The fires attracted international attention at last weekend’s G7 summit. Leaders from around the world offered technical and financial support. According to AFP, the G7 pledged $20 million. Bolsanaro initially refused the aid. He has since agreed to accept foreign assistance as long as Brazil controls the funds.

Following the G7 summit, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed $15 million to fight the wildfires and praised international collaboration. However, Poirier said Canadian-owned mines are part of the problem, referring to Toronto-based and traded Belo Sun Mining Corporation.

Belo Sun operates the Volta Grande Project, a proposed open-pit mine in the Amazon located on a 160,000-hectare property. According to Environmental Justice Atlas – an organization that tracks global environmental conflicts – the project seeks to open Brazil’s largest open-pit gold mine. Mining operations often require massive amounts of deforestation and mineral extraction – two detrimental procedures to the forest’s sustainability.

Last July, Reuters reported on Belo Sun’s numerous legal challenges in Brazillian courts over construction permits. State and Federal Court cases have left the project on hold. On Jul. 12, Belo Sun released a statement lauding a Federal Court of Appeals ruling in Brazil’s capital, Brasília. However, the judgment was described as a “procedural win.”

With legal disputes ongoing, uncertainty surrounds the Volta Grande Project and the Amazon’s future. Despite international outcry, wildfires continue to burn in the world’s largest rainforest. For now, what effect these fires will have on the Amazon and the world-at-large remains unknown.

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Briefs

World in Brief

The Amazon forest has been burning for the past four weeks at an alarming speed. In July only, areas of the forest were being cleared at a rate of five football fields a minute according to The Guardian. While there is only a portion of the forest on fire, experts estimate that 2019 might be the most destructive year for the Amazon in 10 years.

Tension rises as two drones crashed in Beirut’s southern suburb on Sunday, according to Reuters. While Israel has not claimed responsibility for the drone strikes, Lebanese president Michel Aoun claims the attack as “a declaration of war.” The Hezbollah also warned Israeli soldiers at the border to await a response.

President Donald Trump proposed nuking hurricanes before they made landfall in an attempt to neutralize the storms. However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) suggest the results would be “devastating,” according to the BBC. “Radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas,” said the NOAA. Trump denied making this proposition in a Tweet.

Chemists will be gathering in San Diego this week to present latest research on chocolate and cannabis. According to new research, chocolate’s properties can throw off potency tests, leading to inaccurate labeling in states where marijuana is legal, according to the Associated Press. Chocolate edibles may contain a way bigger dose of THC than their label, sometimes sending consumers into unexpected trips.

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

Categories
Opinions

Let’s talk about the environment

graphic by Ana Bilokin

Why the upcoming protest about climate change is needed

On Friday, March 15, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., many Concordia students will participate in a walkout to protest inaction from authority figures on the issue of climate change. The strike will be in solidarity with international climate strikes and walkouts in other institutions in Montreal, such as McGill and UdeM. Later in the day, protesters will join a Montreal-wide march to stand up for climate action.

Now, although I do not condone skipping class, I would like to stress the importance of the call to action this protest aims for: to raise awareness on the current environmental crisis we find ourselves in and to act now for a more sustainable future for our planet. To get a little scientific, the Keeling curve (which many aren’t aware of) is a graph of the accumulation of measurements of the concentration of CO2 emissions taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii from 1958 to today. The sense of urgency to take action stems from the Keeling curve, as it has been increasing—this year it has reached its highest level of CO2 concentration measured ever!

As a Master’s student in environmental assessment, in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, I’ve learnt about the environmental science behind these issues firsthand and the detailed extent of how humans impact the planet. Just last week, our class visited the Anthropocene exhibit at the National Gallery of Canada. Witnessing attendees appreciate the beauty in photos of environmental destruction as art was terrifying, to say the least. However, it did bring about an opportunity for the public to learn about the effects we’ve imposed on our environment, similarly to what the walkout aims to do.

March 15 is an important date since many schools will be on strike that day to follow the European demonstration movement initiated by Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish political activist working to fight against climate change and global warming. It is crucial to acknowledge that this walkout is a response to a global issue. It is also important to emphasize the international scale of this crisis, as seen by the lone protest of Thunberg. Her actions have led to a powerful global movement of school climate strikes, spreading to countries in the UK, Australia, Belgium, Germany, the United States, Japan and dozens more, demanding politicians act on behalf of the planet, according to The Guardian.

At the UN Climate Change COP24 in Katowice, Poland, in December 2018, Thunberg announced, “[World leaders today] only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess even when the only sensible thing to do is to pull the emergency brake.” Following this urgency for action against today’s environmental issues, Concordia’s Department of Geography, Planning and Environment has begun a number of projects in support of raising awareness and promoting ways to reduce our environmental impact.

Some of these projects include Concordia’s Climate Clock, which shows how current greenhouse gas emissions affect our planet’s trajectory to reach two degrees. Another project is Climate Bytes, which aims to translate complicated studies on climate change into “digestible byte-sized pieces of information” for the public to more easily understand the science behind these issues. Another is the newly formed Climate Emergency Committee, which allows students within the department and professors in the field to come together and discuss the issues and ways to move forward in addressing these problems.

To learn more about these issues, I invite you all to attend the upcoming Sustainability in the City and Beyond conference from March 19 to 21 at the Loyola Jesuit Hall and Conference Centre. Here, the Climate Emergency Committee will be speaking more about their work.

Remember, the need for action is urgent, and the time to become aware of environmental issues and how to help is now!

Graphic by Ana Bilokin

Categories
Opinions

Don’t damage the earth when getting dressed

Graphic by @spooky_soda

How fast fashion negatively affects our environment and how we can do better as consumers

I know that as a student, it is hard to keep up with the fast-changing world of fashion trends that incite our consumerism while on a tight budget. We tend to buy from the stores right around the corner from our homes. It’s close, it’s cheap and it gives us access to more. But, have you ever stopped and thought about how damaging these stores are for the environment?

Fast fashion is characterized by the mass production of clothes and cheap prices, to the extent that some stores have around 52 different seasons every year, according to the documentary The True Cost. That means new clothes coming in every week, which hooks consumers and attracts those who are more money-conscious. It sounds great in theory—I mean, who doesn’t like variety and low prices? However, the reality and the manufacturing ethics behind these products are not so great.

Behind these clothes are starving women and children who work long hours and for little money, according to The Guardian. Not only that, but these workers are abused in order to meet unrealistic deadlines, according to the same article. According to The Independent, these factories mostly operate in Asia and are known for their use of toxic chemicals, large amounts of material waste and contamination of one of the most precious natural resources: water. Large amounts of water. Thus, fueling the overheating of our planet, according to BBC. Since clothes have become even more accessible than before, we buy more, we use less and we waste on a larger scale.

If you are vegan, vegetarian, or pescatarian, you probably already have a grasp on how harmful agriculture is for the environment. But did you know that, according to Forbes, the second largest industrial polluter world-wide is the fashion industry? If you are committed to minimizing your consumption of animal products and you are already interested in being more environmentally conscious, why not apply this living ethic when it comes to shopping?

Montreal is known for its style—I’m sure you know what I mean. The further you wander out of downtown and into the Plateau-Mile End, the more evident this becomes. Thrift shops also start clouding your vision, as there are plenty, and some are really worth checking out. Buying second-hand clothing is an amazing step towards being more sustainable: you help small businesses, you reuse, and it is affordable (unless you’re shopping in the Plateau). Plus, it has its advantage beyond the environmental question—you won’t be wearing what everyone else already is.

Some of my favourite items in my wardrobe have been found in thrift shops, and surprisingly, I purchased them from Value Village. It is a huge store and can be a little overwhelming, but if you have a good eye and some enthusiasm, you will find some valuable treasures. Another one of my favourite thrift stores is definitely Ruse Boutique; it is a consignment store that always has unique pieces from renowned brands at unbeatable prices. If you are not already sold by these two suggestions, you should try Annex Vintage, Cul-de-sac, Citizen Vintage, Eva B,  Empire Exchange, Bohême Friperie, or just walk up St. Laurent Blvd.

If thrifting is not your thing, you could start being more conscious when you shop by selecting only products made with recycled materials, non-toxic dyes or organic fabrics. Although these small changes won’t fix the global environmental issue at hand, they do make an impact that multiplies as more people adopt them. If this article sparked anything in you, I would highly encourage you to watch The True Cost (available on Netflix), investigate and stay away from the most damaging mass production brands, like Zara, H&M, and Forever 21. Reusing makes you feel and look better. And more importantly, will help the environment. It’s a win-win situation.

Graphic by @spooky_soda

Categories
Opinions

The final straw in ignoring the disabled community

Graphic by spooky_soda

The straw ban might help the environment, but it completely disregards one group of people

The excessive pollution the Earth has been plagued with in the last few decades is no secret to anyone. One can simply take a stroll down any beach to realize how we have failed to maintain a certain level of purification. Discarding cigarette butts, beer bottles and plastic water bottles in the sand and the ocean, as if the world is our dumpster. Shame on us. What happened to the world being our oyster?

In spite of the blatant disregard some humans have for the planet, one cannot ignore the numerous initiatives taken against excess pollution, urging individuals to take action. Greenpeace, for example, is a world-renowned organization aiming to restore the Earth to its former clean-slate glory and minimize environmental crises as best they can.

Lately, many countries and even some corporations around the world have taken it upon themselves to reduce plastic waste by banning plastic straws, since it is one of the many sources of ocean pollution. While this may be a step in the right direction for environmental issues, there is one thing that has not been taken into consideration.

When political, social or environmental solutions are discussed among government officials, I imagine they have a list of people they wish to please. Will this benefit women in general? Do we fear negative repercussions for people of colour? Are we sure the LGBTQ+ community is not badly affected by this? I am by no means critical when using this caricatural image of governmental discussion concerning serious matters. On the contrary, I believe I am being quite utopian when I say governments actually take all these people into consideration when making decisions.

Nonetheless, throughout the years, certain decisions have been made for the benefit of the aforementioned communities. And yet, more often than not, a specific group of people are blatantly disregarded: the disabled community. Disabled individuals may have their own parking spots, but even those get stolen by disrespectful people. I have even noticed at times, public transport isn’t accomodating to individuals in wheelchairs.

And now, while the ban on plastic straws is helpful to the environment, it is detrimental to a significant portion of the disabled community. It is a wonderful step toward bettering the planet, something even the disabled community doesn’t fail to applaud cities for. However, people seem to forget that the purpose of straws is not just to make your iced coffee easier to drink; it is vital to many disabled people’s lives.

I am by no means well-equipped to say this nor do I speak on behalf of the community, as an able-bodied woman. Nonetheless, I do not fail to see that more often than not, they are being ignored.

British YouTuber and TV presenter Jessica Kellgren-Fozard explained her take on the matter in an 11-minute video, stating that as a disabled woman, the ban of plastic straws was “the last straw.” It is another instance where the disabled community has been ignored. Diagnosed at 17 with hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies, she has difficulty gripping objects due to her weak limbs. Therefore, the use of plastic straws in her everyday life is vital.

In the video, Kellgren-Fozard explained that while the ban is helpful for the environment, plastic straw pollution only accounts for 0.025 per cent of oceanic pollution. It kind of makes you wonder why there is a sudden insistence on banning straws when there are far worse things to take care of, right?

I personally believe this governmental initiative (adopted by the US, U.K., and parts of Montreal, among others) is a step in the right direction. However, it is not perfect, as members of the disabled community have highlighted. It also made me think how we are often quick to take into account gender equality, racial issues and sexuality, but disabled people are oftentimes forgotten. While taking positive steps like banning plastic in general to help the environment is good, we shouldn’t forget about certain groups of people who might be deeply affected by such a ban. I believe with constant communication and learning, we can all build towards a clean planet suitable for all.

Graphic by spooky_soda

 

Categories
Student Life

A look at global warming through a camera lens

Members of Concordia's Italian Studies Association alongside photojournalist Luca Bracali. Photo by Enrico Barbini

Photojournalist, explorer and environmentalist Luca Bracali uses photography to help save our planet

Some educate in classrooms. Others, like Luca Bracali, an Italian photojournalist, explorer and environmentalist, aim to educate youth about global warming through a camera lens.

“My job is to try to save a bit of our planet,” said Bracali at a talk hosted by Concordia’s Italian Studies Association (ISA) on Nov. 6. “I am really in love with our planet because it belongs to everybody. It is the only thing that we need to share.”

Bracali wanted people around the world to understand the importance of the environment, and he chose photography as the medium because it is “the most international language of all,” he said.

Bracali’s love of photography started when he was a child. “When I was really young, I was really shy. I decided to start with photography [as an outlet].” His career began with photographing cars and fashion models, but he soon realized taking photos of material possessions was not fulfilling.

In 1991, when Bracali began travelling the world, he discovered his true mission—to help save the planet using photography. “I fell in love with this after my first trip,” he said. Since then, Bracali has traveled to 140 countries and worked for National Geographic. His photography focuses on capturing the natural world’s picturesque mountains, wildlife, northern lights, deserts, prairies and icebergs.

Photojournalist Luca Bracali gave a talk at Concordia University on Nov. 6. Photo by Enrico Barbini

In 2003, Bracali traveled to Antarctica to visit the Vernadsky Research Base where a hole in the ozone layer was first discovered back in 1985. It was during this trip that Bracali decided he wanted to explore the topic of global warming and find ways to help protect the planet.

According to Bracali, one of his most challenging trips was a visit to the North Pole. “It’s something that I had done once in my life, and it’s the only trip I would not do twice.” He said even the simplest things, such as water to drink, were difficult to come by. “You don’t have anything to drink […] you have to melt and dig the snow,” he said. “As soon as you remove your gloves, you can get frostbites. You use fire to melt the snow and, finally, you can drink something.”

The greatest threat Bracali faced on that trip, however, was the possibility of encountering a polar bear. “You go to sleep with a gun,” he said. “If the bear enters your tent, you have to find the gun [in the dark].”

Bracali said the ultimate goal of his photographs is to show the danger our planet faces because of global warming. “I try to capture something related to ice-melting, [or] something that is there now that won’t be there anymore in 20 years, such as ice or polar bears,” he said.

When discussing the everyday habits people can change to help save the planet and reduce waste, Bracali emphasized the importance of conserving water. “For showers, maybe you can have two or three showers maximum per week,” he said. He also suggested people avoid long showers by turning off the water when using soap and only turning it back on to rinse off. “Water is a precious element,” Bracali added.

According to Giuliano Sandoval, president of Concordia’s ISA, the purpose of Bracali’s talk was to actively raise awareness about global warming. “We can make a difference, even in the smallest action. We all need to be concerned with our planet,” he said. “Things are changing, and global warming is happening. People need to be conscious of it.”

Olivia Venneri, the vice-president of finance for Concordia’s ISA, said the talk was part of the association’s initiative to advocate for the environment and educating young people. This included going “to elementary schools, high schools and CEGEPs to talk about the environment.”

During his talk, Bracali also offered advice to aspiring photographers. “Be ambitious but very humble,” he said. “Have a project on your mind and try to develop it as much as you can. With technology nowadays, everything is so easy, so you must keep a very focused project on your mind.”

He later told The Concordian: “My goal is trying to teach young people how to preserve and take care of our planet. I want to go to elementary [schools] and to universities to show [students] the beauty of our planet,” he said. “It’s your planet. Please open your eyes.”

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Opinions

Students practicing sustainability at Concordia

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

In light of Concordia’s first Zero Waste Week, we at The Concordian would like to take a moment to remind our peers of some of the ways we can effect positive environmental change in our communities.

Achieving a more environmentally sustainable society requires effort on the part of both the individual and larger institutions such as governments, universities and corporations. While it may seem intimidating and difficult to instigate large-scale change, it is important to remember the resources we have access to in a democratic society.

Voting for politicians with green platforms, reaching out to your member of parliament or protesting against public policies that hurt the environment are all ways that we as individuals have the power to shift our society to be more sustainable. If enough people voice their priority for the environment, it will bring these issues to the forefront of our country’s politics and force our leaders to either adapt or lose support.

Nonetheless, changing our broader society’s stance on environmental issues is an extremely slow process. For this reason, The Concordian believes supporting sustainability is equally, if not more, important on a personal level—by that, we mean taking action in your own life. This includes finding ways to ‘green your home’ to minimize energy consumption, eating less meat, refusing to invest your money in environmentally unfriendly corporations and buying local foods with as little packaging as possible—check out the grocery store LOCO in the Mile End where you bring your own containers to buy food that uses zero packaging.

While your impact will obviously be greater if you commit to doing more of these things, some people seem to have a faulty all-or-nothing mentality about living a sustainable lifestyle. According to CBC, Florence-Léa Siry, the co-founder of the Zero Waste movement, “doesn’t expect anyone to be an extremist in their habits.” People have different limitations, such as time, money and dietary restrictions that affect their ability to live sustainably. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still have a positive impact. For example, it takes between 6,810 and 9,460 litres of water to produce a single pound of beef. Imagine how much could be saved simply by cutting your weekly consumption of beef in half.

There are also many ways you can act more sustainably here at Concordia. You can support groups like Concordia’s Greenhouse, Sustainable Concordia, People’s Potato and Divest Concordia by attending events and volunteering your time. You can shop at places like Le Frigo Vert—a green foods store run by Concordia students—or donate money to any of the groups listed above. If you are part of an organization on campus, you can consult the Dish Project and the Sustainability Action Fund when organizing events to find out how to make them as environmentally friendly as possible.

As individuals, we can reduce our ecological footprint by changing the way we go about our everyday lives. Simple things like buying food with limited packaging, taking public transportation and using less electricity all have a positive impact on the environment and send a message to producers and politicians that we as consumers and citizens value sustainability. We at The Concordian hope each and every one of you understand the importance of taking at least one of these steps towards living a more sustainable life. One person’s actions may not seem like a lot, but as a community of over 45,000 students, there is little doubt that we have the power to make incredible change.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

 

Categories
Student Life

How to become actively involved in the zero-waste movement

Graphic by Florence Yee

Quebec actress Mélissa de La Fontaine talked about her experience joining the movement

Quebec actress and environmental health advocate Mélissa de La Fontaine talked food waste and consumption during her Conférence Zéro Déchet on March 21 at Université de Montréal.

During the conference, which was held in French, de La Fontaine touched on her experiences living a zero-waste lifestyle and offered tips for people interested in joining the movement.
She talked about her experience moving from Shawinigan to Montreal, and how she started raising her awareness on environmental issues and the rising problem of food and material waste in Canada. She said through her activism, she wants to encourage all Montrealers to make better environmental decisions.
“You should all know that the garbage that we throw daily, it does not disappear. It ends up at landfill sites,” de La Fontaine said. According to de La Fontaine’s research, there are two ways these sites pollute our environment—many non-compostable materials, such as plastic produces methane and well-water. “Methane ends up in the air that we breathe, while well-water is a form of juice that garbage creates, which can end up in our oceans and deeply harm fish,” she said.

De La Fontaine propelled herself in the movement after reading environmental activist Bea Johnson’s book Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying your Life by Reducing your Waste. The book helped de La Fontaine become more educated on waste and environmental issues in Canada. The environmental advocate said she believes if everyone made small, regular contributions towards waste reduction in their own homes, it would do a lot of good for the planet. According to a 2016 Huffington Post article “Let’s Work Towards A Zero-Waste Future By Creating A Culture Of Reuse,” people throw out “an average of 4.7 trash bags of clothing every year,” which is equal to 2.6 billion pounds of garbage that goes into landfills per year.

“We do not need to count every piece of garbage we throw out, but rather all contribute according to our personal limits. We all have limits, so it’s not about going to extremes,” de La Fontaine said. She said following a minimalist lifestyle is a good way to reduce waste. When you live a minimalist lifestyle, you are dedicated to buying less and focusing on only necessities.

She outlined a four-step technique to limiting waste in urban households. The steps are refusing, reducing, reusing and recycling.

Refusing is about saying “no” to extra, unnecessary items. This includes trinkets organizations tend to give away at conferences. It also includes promotional cards and flyers distributed on the street, or “freebies,” as de La Fontaine called them. “You are telling the organizations to make more of these items, which causes an issue when they use petrol and energy to create them,” she said.

Reducing is about minimizing the purchase or use of household products, among others. Reducing not only saves money but also lowers the demand for certain products that harm the environment, but that also create pollution when they are manufactured.

Reusing is about utilizing items such as bags and containers. De La Fontaine suggested to buy reusable plastic containers and grocery bags that can last for many years and do not cause damage to our planet.

While de La Fontaine said recycling seems fairly self-explanatory, it’s important to do it correctly. Composting is one of the most important waste-reducing processes, she said. About 50 to 60 per cent of garbage being thrown out in Quebec is compostable, according to Statistics Canada.

“I would recommend composting things like fruit peels, which is very easy to do,” de La Fontaine said.

De La Fontaine said she hopes in the next five years, Canadians will start taking serious action towards environmental health, reducing waste and saving the environment from further pollution.

For those interested in finding out more about the zero-waste movement in North America, de La Fontaine highly recommends reading Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying your Life by Reducing your Waste.

Categories
Student Life

Tips on taking the dive into the dumpster

Graphic by Thom Bell

A discussion about the food industry through the dos and the don’ts of dumpster diving

When faced with the idea of diving into a dumpster to collect dinner, some may think ew. In our society, garbage is thought of as filthy. So, naturally, a stigma surrounds the dumpster diving practice. But think again.

On March 10, Concordia students Isabella Donati-Simmons and Aven Fisher organized a workshop to talk about the art of ‘diving.’

The workshop, coordinated by Les Échelles, a collective with a focus on a sharing lifestyle, explored the dos and don’ts of the practice, as well as the larger problem of food waste in Canada. The event gathered about 30 people, half of them already experienced divers.

“We are not experts. We are just avid dumpster divers,” Fisher said to start off the workshop.

The participants and organizers discussed major problems surrounding food waste in Canada and around the world. From consumer standards of food aesthetics to transportation and transnational agreements, to the lack of personal connection with food, participants discussed some of the reasons they felt food waste is such a big problem. “The food system is an extremely complex web. It is not just a straight line,” Fisher said.

In Canada, $31 billion worth of food is wasted each year, according to a 2014 report from Value Chain Management International, a global company aiming to improve the efficiency of food chains. This marks a 15 per cent increase from 2010. The same study shows that 47 per cent of this waste comes from individuals in their homes. “It makes you wonder why some are still starving or food insecure, especially the First Nations peoples,” Donati-Simmons said.

Fisher and Donati-Simmons went through “the dumpster rules.” According to the organizers, divers shouldn’t necessarily look at the best-before dates on unopened products and packages. They say it is more important to rely on smell and look instead.

Some products contaminated by mold are still edible. The U.S Department of Agriculture established a list of food which can still be eaten if moldy. This includes hard cheese, firm vegetables, and salami. Donati-Simmons recommends cutting about an inch around and under the mold.

Dumpster divers should equip themselves with a light, preferably a head lamp, gloves and reusable bags. The best places to dive are around small grocery stores or bakeries. The organizers also recommended paying attention to garbage day schedules and store owners’ garbage habits. Fisher also pointed out that it is important not to take more than you need, with respect to other divers.

While the practice is not illegal, it is illegal to trespass. “Most tenants are okay with it and will indicate where to look or even give you wastes, but don’t leave it messy,” Fisher said.

“The best thing is to be respectful [as divers],” Donati-Simmons added.

To clean food collected on a diving trip, a bath of water and vinegar or dish soap does the trick. It must be naturally air-dried before refrigeration to avoid spores during storage. The food can then be prepared or frozen after being dried. The most common uses of recollected food are in soups, jams, smoothies, kimchi or as dried fruit.

The workshop was followed by a diving initiation in the Plateau and a meal at Donati-Simmons’ and Fisher’s house with the recollected food.

“Dumpster diving is sharing, finding new uses, changing the waste culture and realising what our society does,” Donati-Simmons said.

Graphic by Thom Bell

Categories
Student Life

Sustainability and creativity harvested into one

Photo by Cristina Sanza

Concordia farmer Elizabeth Chernichenko is bringing small-scale farming to big heights

Nearly four hours away, on the Quebec island of L’Isle Aux Allumettes, resides 26-year-old Concordia student Elizabeth Chernichenko. The island borders the Ottawa river and is home to less than 1,500 people. There, Ontario-native Chernichenko owns a small waterfront property, about two acres large. It carries a stretch of marshland, various trees, and a humus vegetable field. A variety of potato plants, beans, peppers, zucchini and herbs, among other produce, flourish on the land. Chernichenko calls it Classic Eve Gardens—her very own farm, where she is in charge of all aspects of it: from the growing and harvesting of produce, to the business aspects such as pricing and selling.

“I think that this project was an effort to do what I loved as a job—to be self-employed,” said Chernichenko. She said she wants to learn about ecology, agriculture and the business side of small-scale farming, in conjunction with her undergrad degree in human environment from Concordia. “I’d like to have a very well-rounded practical and university theoretical education,” she said. She stays at the farm Thursday through Sunday, and comes back to Montreal for school the rest of the week.

Chernichenko said she was interested in environmental issues and sustainability from a young age. She worked with environmental stewardship organizations after high school and volunteered at farms in her early adulthood. After working full-time at an organic farm last summer, Chernichenko realized how much she enjoyed farming.

Photo by Elizabeth Chernichenko

“I found that I hadn’t been exhausted like I had been at other jobs, like in the service industry or in the movie industry. I could work countless hours [at the farm] and still find myself really enjoying my time and myself,” she explained. “I found out last summer for sure, that organic farming and gardening was an area that I could find my growth, knowledge-wise, entrepreneurial-wise and personally.”

With a little bit of luck and the right connection at the right time, she was able to acquire a property in L’Isle-aux-Allumettes. A co-worker at the farm where she worked was looking to give up land they had recently inherited. They asked Chernichenko if she would like to take it over, and after a long bout of thinking, she took up the opportunity and started her own business. It took over six months of planning before she moved.

“I had to prepare myself for the complete unknown. I’d never lived alone in the country before, let alone so remote,” she said. Upon telling friends and family her plans, they weren’t too optimistic. “It was a really hard thing to overcome. Very few people were supportive, either skeptical or negative about me doing it,” she said with a laugh. “I showed them.”

The Classic Eve Gardens logo features a sketch of a woman’s face, wearing a floppy hat and sunglasses. Chernichenko said the somewhat feminine look of her logo was intentional. “I wanted to say that yes, it’s a pretty little farm run by a ‘pretty little girl,’ but the products and business should speak for itself when a person looks at the fruit of labour,” she said.

Farming involves a lot of physical labour, as well as thinking outside of the box, Chernichenko said. “Farming is a career of problem-solving,” she said. “You have goals, you have a vision, and you take whatever resources you have. You have to be extremely resourceful and creative.”

Creative she has been. Chernichenko’s farm doesn’t have a water infrastructure—instead, the water is sourced naturally, from a springpool on the upper part of her property. “It was this beautiful, fresh, ground-filtered water that was coming out and pooling. It was home to a lot of frogs,” she said. Since her property is on a slope, she had the idea of creating an aqueduct to feed the water down to the plant field by digging a trench.

Photo by Cristina Sanza

However, with the dry weather, the water would get absorbed. “I ended up having to put a hose in, build a dam and let gravity feed it down the line into a hole that I dug by my field. That was my water source the entire summer: good old-fashioned gravity,” she said with a laugh. For her, learning the practice of farming is largely a matter of trial and error.

While Chernichenko’s produce is organic, she hasn’t been able to afford an official organic certification—she’s still debating as to whether it’s really necessary. “I might just stick with non-certified organic,” she said. “My efforts have been organic. I think if people are cool with that, then the certification that the province does is irrelevant.”

She does not use pesticides or chemicals on her plants—instead, she physically picks the bugs off of them, which usually takes about an hour per day. “On a small scale, these things are manageable,” she said. “You do that every day, and you actually get rid of them.”

Her ultimate goal is to find a way to make small and medium-sized farms work from an economical and sustainable standpoint. “That’s my goal and dream, to see how to teach people and myself a way that it can work,” she said. “I find that you can take away a lot of the abrasive, unnatural methods [used in farming] by sizing down and being efficient and profitable on a small scale.”

Photo by Cristina Sanza

Chernichenko was particularly impressed, upon coming to Concordia, with the various groups engaged in urban agriculture or advocating for food-related issues, such as food production and security. For the average student interested in food sustainability, her advice is simple: “Your money is your voting power, so it’s important to make the right decisions. Ask questions about your food.”

She has recently started a new business venture: cooperative pricing—or Pay What You Can (PWYC). For those who can’t afford to pay the full price of her goods, she’s opted to let them pay as much as they can afford to, and encourages those who can afford the products to subsidize someone else’s costs. The products range from $2.50 to about $13. This year, she harvested beans, peas, pumpkins, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, beets, a wide variety of herbs, 24 kinds of heirloom tomatoes, and much more.

Chernichenko currently sells at three markets: Cobden Farmers Market and Eganville Farmers’ Market—both located in Ontario, and the Concordia Farmers’ Market, which takes place every Wednesday from noon to 6 p.m. in the mezzanine of the Hall Building. The market runs until the end of the semester, and resumes at the start of the winter semester. Visit Facebook to learn more about Classic Eve Gardens.

Categories
Student Life

Making city living responsible living

Graphic by Thom Bell

University of the Streets Café hosted a talk on urban health, environment and social problems

University of the Streets Café held a discussion on the impacts of city living for Montrealers, and invited attendees to share their thoughts, experiences and ideas about how to improve all aspects of city living.

“We tend to forget that we live in the city at the cost of someone else,” said Baijayanta Mukhopadhyay, a guest speaker for the bilingual conversation, which took place at Montreal’s downtown YMCA on Oct. 10. Mukhopadhyay is a family doctor in Northern Ontario, a volunteer physician with Médecins du Monde Montreal and the co-coordinator of the Canadian chapter of the People’s Health.

Mukhopadhyay said that people tend to believe that cities like Montreal are self-sustainable urban organisms.  However, he said most resources come from outside the city, and cities may not actually be the healthiest places to live. “Cities are not the centre of our society,” he said.

For example, he explained that a lot of food travels a long way to get to cities, and as a result, it is often more processed than the food that gets shipped to rural or suburban areas.

Other factors, such as housing and public transit infrastructure in cities, can be damaging to physical health and have major influence on people’s well-being, said Mukhopadhyay.  These factors can result in sickness, such as asthma in kids.

Robyn Maynard, a Montreal-based activist, educator and writer, addressed the social and economic inequalities suffered by communities within Montreal every day. Maynard’s research focuses on gender and race issues, and her fieldwork experience includes street work within the disadvantaged communities of Montreal.  She said the city can be a discriminating place for minorities, and the at-risk population, which includes homeless people, drug addicts and sex workers. She noted that part of the population is often denied security.

She and Mukhopadhyay agreed what people think makes a city healthy may actually make it unhealthy.

Attendees discussed who is responsible for addressing these problems, and brainstormed solutions for making the city a better, healthier and safer place to live.

One of the proposed solutions was for people to attend their neighbourhood and city council meetings. Attendees discussed this solution as a good starting point for getting involved in the conversation of city health and security, and opposing elitist urban planning.

Abby Lippman, the event moderator, discussed violence and its toxic effects on Montreal and other cities. Lippman is an associate researcher at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute and a long-time feminist activist.

“I think about violence as what the system is doing to people. I think the system is being violent by taking money, by taking health away, by putting up lousy housing,” she said.  She suggested that if society and authorities worked on bettering people’s health, then violence control would naturally occur.

The next University of the Streets Café conversation will take place on Oct. 27 at Aux Deux Marie, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aux Deux Maries is located at 4329 St-Denis St. The conversation will explore the topic of rebuilding communities.

Graphic by Thom Bell

Categories
Student Life

Bring your own containers and bags, and go LOCO on groceries

Photo by Sarah Boummedda.

A new grocery store in Villeray offers an environmentally-conscious shopping experience

Somewhere on Jarry street, in a small shop littered with bulk food containers and glass pots, customers are going about their grocery shopping in a peculiar way.

LOCO is not your typical grocery store—here, one of the main priorities is being environmentally-conscious.

LOCO is an innovative, zero-waste grocery store that opened on Aug. 9. The store, located in the Villeray neighbourhood, offers its customers products that are as environmentally friendly as possible. The store’s products are sold in bulk, free of any sort of packaging, and most of them are organic and supplied by local producers.

The concept is simple: customers come in with their own glass containers and tote bags, or buy ones at the store. While the option for buying cloth tote bags is there, most customers bring their own.  After weighing their empty pots, they can fill them with any desired good in the store. At the register, the products are weighed, and the price is calculated per mass unit.  No plastic bags, no unnecessary packaging.

Behind the brand are four women: Andréanne Laurin, Martine Gariépy, Marie-Soleil L’Allier and Sophie Maccario.  The women all studied environmental sciences.  “We learned about monocultures, pesticides and their impact on agriculture. [We realized that] it’s important to be careful with that.”

According to the David Suzuki Foundation, the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, for instance, emits nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that retains heat in the atmosphere about 300 times more than carbon dioxide. Chemical farming also uses up much more energy than organic farming, which relies on natural fertilizers such as compost.

The food’s production isn’t the only part of the process that affects the environment. Food transport also comes into play when considering the environmental impacts of the food industry.  Transport requires gas, which results in more greenhouse gases emissions. The further food travels, the greater amount of greenhouse gases is released in the atmosphere, and the more damageable it is to the environment, according to the David Suzuki Foundation. Therefore, local farming is also a practice to be encouraged.

The new store is tucked away on Jarry street, in the Villeray neighbourhood
Photo by Sarah Boumedda.

“We wanted a place to buy our food that would be eco-friendly,” Laurin explained. “The main thing that [people] buy is food, so we thought it was the best way to improve our lifestyle, as food is the one thing people will have to buy no matter what, on a regular basis.”

LOCO’s products range from a wide variety of cereals, beans, and other dry foods, to fresh fruits and vegetables of the season, to local dairy products, various meat and fish, and baked goods.

However, LOCO offers more than just food. The grocery store’s inventory also includes daily-life essentials, such as cleaning products, soaps, and even toothpaste.  Most of these goods are handmade from natural ingredients.

“Our products are mostly organic, or come from various small producers from Quebec, who don’t use pesticides or GMOs [genetically modified organisms],” said Laurin. “LOCO is a place where you can find all of these products in one place, instead of having to pass by three stores to get your usual groceries.”

The zero-waste, eco-friendly concept of LOCO, with its no-packaging policy, is a brand new concept in Quebec but is a practice that is already popular in Europe. “There’s a similar store in France, called Day by Day,” said Laurin. Day by Day is a French chain of grocery stores offering bulk goods, just like LOCO.  Its first branch opened in 2013.

However, according to Laurin, the zero-waste initiative presumably originates from Bea Johnson, a French-born American grand prize winner of the Green Awards in 2011. Author of the bestseller book, Zero Waste Home, she adopted the zero-waste lifestyle in 2008, and now holds talks and conferences on the topic and writes about her experiences on her blog.  “[Johnson] is really involved in the zero-waste community,” said Laurin. “We know more about the zero-waste [movement] because of her.”

LOCO has been in the works for about a year and a half, said Laurin. “We only opened last month, so that’s why we’re really busy at the moment,” she added, gesturing behind her towards the hustle and bustle of employees and customers around the store.

“It’s been really nice,” said Laurin about the team’s experience since the store’s opening.  “It’s really fun to see customers, talk with them and ask them what they want, too. We try to adjust our products, depending on what people want.”

Laurin assured that everyone is welcome at LOCO, and that the team would gladly talk anyone through the basics of the store. “Maybe one day we could have a small store around Concordia’s campus,” Laurin said with a smile.

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