Tag Archives: Sustainability

Uncategorized

CVU Tries On Reused, Recycled and Free

Ms. Asha Hickok

On Wednesday, January 15, CVU students walked into a transformed library. Tables were skewed across the front of the room with piles of clothes organized by different styles and pieces. 

Throughout the day, groups of students filtered through the Clothing Swap, chatting with friends and shopping for donated, second-hand clothing pieces. 

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CVU’s third annual clothing swap has come and gone. The first two swaps occured last year, one in the fall and the other in the spring. This year, the clothing swap was combined into one event hosted in the library in mid-January, and produced a varied crowd of “shoppers.”

“My favorite aspect is there’s a lot of different people shopping and the normalization of second hand [shopping],” states Robin Lauzon, one of the main organizers of the Clothing Swap. Lauzon explains the roots of the swap and how a small idea was able to grow into a successful and multi-purposed event. Continue reading →

Uncategorized, Volume 8, Issue 2

Environmentalism in the Kitchen: How a Plant-Based Diet Can Reduce Emissions… and be Delicious

Ms. Sarah Clauss, CVC Environmental Correspondent

When they think of emissions, most people think of cars and trucks and things that go. But our diet can have a huge effect on our carbon footprint. Livestock and their byproducts account for 51 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to the World Watch Institute. Essentially, the meat-lovers pizza you order might cost you more carbon than your ride home after.

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What can we do? I discussed environmental food choices with CVU student Ali Drew, who decided to cut all animal products out of her diet after watching a speech by vegan activist Gary Yourofsky. The main points addressed by Yourofsky included the environmental impacts and the ethics of consuming meat and other animal products. (His speech can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5hGQDLprA8&vl=en.) Drew says that it was difficult trying to replace foods, but she realized that it would be easier to find new vegan foods. A diet without animal products also reduces the amount of processed foods consumed, another benefit for environmentalists trying to change their habits. 

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Volume 5, Issue 1

Natural Resources: Leonardo DiCaprio slated to play Dave T. in upcoming Movie

By Mr. Declan Trus

BarnRaiser
Photo courtesy of BarnRaiser.com

As of now, there is no movie in the works, but Dave Trevithick, a science teacher here at CVU, intends to create full sustainability program at school.   This includes growing vegetables for the cafeteria, and even the possibility of raising chickens on school grounds for the cafeteria. One possibility to create sustainability is growing plants such as raspberry bushes as a way to clean storm water draining into the fire pond so it can be used as a fishery.

BarnRaiser
Photo courtesy of BarnRaiser.com

Dave T. states that CVU’s sustainability projects are “something that will affect everybody in the building for the rest of their time at CVU or maybe even their life.” Each project in Dave’s plan is connected to each other. The vegetation planted on the edge of the fire pond is called a riparian buffer, it filters dirt and other debris out of storm water being drained into the pond. This will make the pond cleaner and will allow more fish to live in the pond that students could catch by fly fishing. This water will also be pumped to the gardens where fruits and vegetables will be grown to be served at the school cafeteria.

Continue reading →