Teaching people the importance of sustainability can be depressing. When trees are being cut down faster than they can grow, sea creatures are being hunted to extinction and our energy sources can’t keep up with our demand, it can be mentally and emotionally exhausting to even think about the future, let alone teach courses about it.   Dr. Erica Wohldmann, a CSUN professor of psychology and sustainability, said she sometimes faces this dilemma. To relax and renew, she goes backpacking… Read more

CSUN students are being asked to think about ways to improve current technology and to be more thoughtful about their energy use as well as the production of energy. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, petroleum was the primary source of energy consumed in 2009, followed by natural gas, coal, nuclear electric energy and lastly by renewable energy. The transportation sector uses 72 percent of petroleum resources, followed by the industrial sector, which demands 22 percent of petroleum resources…. Read more

Students were encouraged to take a life-long pledge to recycle Monday as part of America Recycles Day. CSUN students pledged to find where materials can be recycled in their communities and to be an example to their communities by recycling batteries, cell phones, electronic waste and recycling in general. The pledge also included contacting elected officials to support local recycling programs and spreading the word to at least five friends that recycling is the easiest thing they can do for… Read more

The Oviatt Library presentation room was filled with drift garbage Wednesday. CSUN students and staff gathered to hear and see the artwork and discussion of artist and Georgia State University Professor, Pam Longobari. Longobari spoke about her recent artworks and project called “Drifters: Plastics, Pollution, Personhood.” The presentation exhibited her artwork through a PowerPoint slideshow creating a relationship between biology and art, which Longobari also has a degree in. The Institute for Sustainability and the Graduate Studies Program sponsored the… Read more

Although the weather was unpredictable, CSUN students and staff did not let it rain in on their parade, or rather Sustainability Day on Wednesday. “The event was wonderful,” said Sarah Johnson, 26, administrative analyst for the Institute for Sustainability and part of the event planning. “We were full and past capacity in most of our sessions. We had to turn away people and had lots of students waiting outside.” The sessions began at 9 a.m. with green transportation exhibits in… Read more

It’s gray outside, but this Wednesday, it is all about being green. The CSUN Institute for Sustainability will host its second annual Sustainability Day. “We are really excited about the event,” said Sarah Johnson, 26, an administrative analyst for the Institute of Sustainability. “We’ve been planning the event for about six months now and working with other universities who have dealt with the topic before, which is transportation.” Campus Sustainability Day is a national movement started by the Society for… Read more

CSUN’s Institute of Sustainability recently gave the Internet a whole lot more information, about 3,600 trees-worth full. Last week, the Institute for Sustainability released online its ongoing project of a tree atlas on campus. “The last tree atlas was done in 1989,” said Helen Cox, associate geography professor. ”It was pre-earthquake and I felt that it needed to be updated.” The digital atlas was first just a measurement project for Cox and her students, she said. But soon it took… Read more

CSUN students and volunteers were in the trees for a good cause. On Sunday, CSUN’s Institute for Sustainability and Food Forward hosted an orange grove–picking event that benefited food pantries in the San Fernando Valley. Marie Boswell, 23, leadership and general projects manager with Food Forward, said 2,350 pounds of produce were picked at the event. “We have about six large picks a year,” Boswell said. “But we have one or two small picking projects a week.” Food Forward is… Read more

CSUN’s Institute for Sustainability and Food Forward partnered to hold “Big Pick #7,” an event where oranges from Orange Grove were collected and donated to local shelters and pantries. Food Forward’s mission statement is to fight urban hunger, stop food waste and build community. The organization is fully run by volunteers and they give away 100 percent of the fruit harvested. One outreach volunteer, Wendy Lockwood, heard about Food Forward through a food organization in Italy, Slow Food, which also… Read more