Month: November 2016 (Page 1 of 3)

Participants needed for a video piece about climate change!

November 30, 2016 / / 0 Comments

As part of a video piece, the Tufts Observer is looking to conduct 15-minute interviews with students about climate change and environmental injustice in relation to one’s personal definition of home.

film

Interviews will be conducted on Thursday, December 1st through Sunday, December 4th. If you are interested and would like to share how climate change and/or human impact on the environment has damaged your definition of home, please email anastasia.antonova@tufts.edu or complete the sign up form here: https://homeandenvironmentalinjustice.youcanbook.me/

Conservation Project Manager, Greenbelt (Essex, MA)

November 28, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Greenbelt seeks a full time (40 hrs/week) land conservation project manager to support our land conservation program.  The individual will:

  • Work closely with Greenbelt’s Director and Assistant Director of Land Conservation, and Conservation Planner on project research tasks, landowner cultivation and follow up, community outreach, coordinating acquisition due diligence (including title exams, surveys, environmental reports, and appraisals), drafting and submitting state conservation land tax credit applications and the like, grant-writing, and baseline documentation reports
  • Represent Greenbelt at frequent evening and weekend events, meetings and other forums
  • Have extensive interaction with Greenbelt’s Land Stewardship staff and GIS Manager, as well as development and administrative staff.
  • Be the lead organizer of Greenbelt’s annual conservation conference

Required Qualifications: 

  • BA/BS or higher in a relevant field (law, conservation, environmental studies, planning or natural resources, or realtor training)
  • 3-4 years experience in land conservation or related field (volunteer experience considered), real estate/planning/legal experience a plus
  • Strong technological skills (MS Office, GIS required, File Maker Pro desirable)
  • Ability to work as part of a team as well as independently take initiative to accomplish required tasks and achieve objectives
  • Strong communication and interpersonal skills; ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships with a variety of people
  • Excellent organizational, project management and written and verbal communication skills.
  • Knowledge or experience related to documents pertaining to real estate transactions, such as deeds, title reports, purchase contracts, appraisals, surveys, etc.
  • Willingness to represent Greenbelt at events; interact with a wide variety of people; and promote the mission and work of the organization.
  • Possess and maintain a valid MA driver’s license and willingness to use a personal vehicle for work-related travel (with mileage reimbursement).
  • Knowledge or experience related to conservation land management and stewardship, such as: drafting land management plans; producing baseline documentation
  • Ability to read and understand maps and orient oneself and be comfortable traveling on foot in sometimes rough and dense forested conditions and on large rural properties.

Visit their website for more information.

Application Deadline: November 30th 
E-mail resume and cover letter electronically (PDF format) to chris@ecga.org

3 Things the Zero Waste Challenge Taught Me

November 28, 2016 / / 21 Comments

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The Zero Waste Challenge entails collecting everything that I don’t recycle or compost in a clear Ziploc bag that I clip to my backpack for a week. This was an eye opening experience and (literally) helped me see what type of and how much trash I produced. Here are a few takeaways from my experience!

Zero Waste Challenge Ziplock

My Ziploc bag three days into the Zero Waste challenge

1. Not all paper and plastic are recyclable…

Before my 8:30 AM class, I stop by Hotung Café to pick up their sausage and egg breakfast sandwich. The packaging is made out of waxed paper and plastic. At first glance, I thought I would simply separate the plastic and paper, recycle, and go on with my day.

However, waxed paper cannot be recycled because paper is recycled with water, so any type of wax or oil coating would contaminate the batch. (Check out this infographic that illustrates this process by the Recycle Guide!)

Soft plastics and plastic bags cannot be recycled either. I learned about the Scrunch test—if the plastic item can be scrunched easily into a ball or breaks apart easily, it can’t go into your recycling bin. Unfortunately, the breakfast sandwich packaging ended up becoming the first item in my Ziploc bag.

2. I Use So. Many. Paper Towels

Maybe it’s living with friends, maybe it’s being in college, but my house uses up a lot of paper towels. I’ve noticed that I use them for the smallest things—wiping down the table, picking up food waste in the sink, or even drying my hands after doing the dishes.

These paper towels were piling up in my Ziploc quickly, and I realized I need to make a change in my cleaning habits. I first started to use a small cloth towel to wipe my hands after the dishes, and designated another small towel for wiping down the table.

3. Easy to cook? Difficult to recycle!

As college students, we are probably all guilty of buying premade, or easy-to-cook food like mac and cheese, frozen hot pockets, and ramen. I’ve noticed that I couldn’t recycle any of this packaging. During the Zero Waste Challenge, I started to cook a lot of things from scratch.

Instead of buying individually packaged meals, I bought items in bulk. I got glass bottles of sauces and a big package of noodles, both of which will last a long time. As an added bonus, I noticed that this only adds a few more minutes to my cooking!

5 ways to make your Thanksgiving more sustainable

November 21, 2016 / / 16 Comments

5 ways to make thanksgiving more sustainable

We’re all excited for the upcoming holiday, but let’s also be conscious of our environmental impact. According to the USDA, Americans will throw away more that 200 million pounds of edible turkey meat this Thanksgiving holiday. Here are a few ways to prevent the wasteful and tragic aftermath of Thanksgiving.

  1. Eat local and/or organic. Many Thanksgiving foods like squash, potatoes, and apples are seasonal in the U.S. during the fall and can be purchased from a local farm. Local farms reduce the miles that the food has to travel to get to your kitchen, reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Some local farms are certified organic, but you should ask the farm if they have organic practices. You can also purchase organic produce from a grocery store. Organic produce protects farm workers from harmful chemicals and is safer for humans. Most importantly though, local and organic food tastes better!
  2. Don’t waste food! Americans waste 40% of all food produced in the United States according to the NRDC. You could give out leftovers to guests, eat it as breakfast, or even compost and transform food waste to benefit your garden. “Begin with the Bin” has a great resource for composting leftover food.
  3. Use reusable plates, silverware, glasses, and napkins. This is better for the environment, and no one likes cutting turkey with a plastic knife and having gravy soak through paper plates.
  4. Eat less meat. The meat industry is the largest source of methane gas, which is a major contributor to climate change. You don’t have to be a vegetarian, but try having less meat on the plate and filling the rest of it with healthy sides like squash and green beans! You could also consider purchasing a smaller turkey.
  5. Drink tap water. Americans spend $18 billion on bottled water, which creates mountains of plastic that will stay on this earth for a long time. If you are concerned about the water quality, investing in a filter for your tap water is a wiser alternative.

Student Projects Database Intern (Tufts Office of Sustainability, Medford, MA)

November 18, 2016 / / 27 Comments

Position Description:

The online Tufts Sustainability Student Projects Database serves as a repository for student projects at the university that relate to sustainability. The database provides students with the means to view each other’s work and learn from previous projects.

 

The Office of Sustainability is seeking a student to make a number of updates to the web interface and possibly the database. Work must be done on campus in person (cannot be done remotely).

 

The work is expected to take approximately 10-20 hours total and is perfect for someone looking for a short-term project either during spring break, the summer, or academic year. There is a possibility for extension based on the project needs and the student’s performance.

 

Pay: $11/hour

 

Required Skills & Qualifications:

  • Mastery of Ruby on Rails
  • Familiarity with database programming

 

Apply!

Please send a cover letter and resume to tina.woolston@tufts.edu.

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