Gardening in South Central LA

                                            ROGUE GARDENING LOLZ 

City of the Future

                                             BILL NYE IS AWESOME 

Controversial TED talk

                         

We watched this TED talk on Sunday night, and it inspired quite the discussion. Stewart Brand talks about the positive potential of urbanization, nuclear power, genetically modified organisms, and geoengineering - four very controversial topics in the realm of environmentalism and in the discussion on sustainability. His argument leaves quite a bit to be desired, but this guy sure does make the environmentalist rethink many things! 

Meeting Minutes 2/24/13

To Work on/Think about for Next Meeting

1. Write SSU Grant for Earthship Workshop (due Friday)

2. “Living Green at Soka” on Soka Website à project for next year

3. EcoFloor for next year!! Mixed dorm?

4. Advertise for EcoWing on 2nf floor screens and freshman orientation

Ecowing Goals

1. Field trips/lectures 

(Already did Warren Brush Let Nature Be Your Guide & GMO Talk with Farmer)

-Ideas for future trips: Ecology Center, Earthship Workshop)

-What day is good for Wanna for Ecology Center?

2. Documentaries & Juicing & Ted Talks

            -Can be done in Pauling or MPR

            -Once a month

            -Invite others

            -“Urban Roots” is our 1^st film on Sunday, March 3rd

            -“I Am” will be our 2^nd film on Sunday, March 31^st

3. Blogging (part of portal?) + Pearl Articles

            -Each of us will post one blog:

            -Ranya and Leia March, Sarah and Seika April, Yona all the time and May J

4. Individual Projects we’re interested in

 -Can be simple

-share at meetings

5.  Outreach

            - Skill Exchange Party& Snacks from the garden (in April)

            -Earth Day Event?

6. Meetings

-Check in with each other

-Space to share our “individual project”

7. Gardening on Sundays (must come at least one time)

8. EcoWing Logo

UPDATES:

-Things got a little hectic this week, so we weren't able to have our Sunday meeting. But 4 of us did get together to watch a 30 minute documentary on fracking and a controversial Ted Talk. Interesting conversations ensued!

-The SSU grant was turned in, and now we just wait and see if we got it!

-Obviously, we finally have access to the blog. Hooray!
:)

30 Second Tour of Eco Wing

Literally only 30 seconds of your life will be used to watch this video.

This brief tour will answer questions such as Where is Eco Wing? Who is in Eco Wing this semester? and What's going on with that balcony? (And, of course, this only applies to spring 2013, because last semester was different and next semester will be different.)

More thrilling and more informative updates to come. :)

Here Comes the Sun (c) The Beatles

Eco Film Showing at Chapman

Here are some films that were at the Eco Film showing at Chapman on Sunday, October 14th.

Here is the link for the event: http://www.una-oc.org/. Although I didn't get to watch all of the films I think you should definitely look into watching them on your own time and we can even talk with Environmental Department (ED) about showing one or two of them during our monthly eco film screenings. 

1.  Mother: Caring for 7 Billion: http://www.motherthefilm.com/  This is a feature length film that explores the issues of carrying capacity, explosive population growth, increasing consumption and how women are at the heart of the population issue. This is more than just another population explosion film because it combines science with humanity. Unfortunately this film is not online for free so we could possibly approach the library about buying it for $250...
2.  Kilowattours: http://www.kilowattours.org/ This is a short documentary that follows the filmmakers family as they explore "how can I make a difference" which shows him how electricity demand relates to mountain top removal, health issues like asthma and on the larger scale global warming. This is a positive ending film because they come up with solutions and highlight people who are working towards energy conservation. A lot like the film Bag It (also great, we showed it last year in the eco film series;) info http://www.bagitmovie.com/ Unfortunately this film is not online for free so we could possibly approach the library about buying it for $50... I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that people do this pledge and start saving energy so that other places are not destroyed in order for us to get electricity and other energy sources which we use superfluously. 
3. Shadows in the Forest: http://vimeo.com/12298792. I missed watching this film but basically it is about how the Pygmies culture in Cameroon are struggling to preserve their culture as their government refuses to acknowledge their presence and protests over their forest land being seized and  destroyed in order to be replaced with uninhabitable but profitable palm oil plantations.  The link above shows the short film for free online. 
4. The Mono Lake Story: http://www.monolake.org/about/film This is a short film that is really inspiring how people can form coalitions of other interested people and work to save the environment. This is a series of interviews about people who come together to protect and restore the delicate ecosystem around Mono Lake. Since I visit Mono Lake once or twice a year when I go visit my cousins in Lake Tahoe, this film was really powerful and I think that anyone interested in grassroots environmental protection should watch it. We can get it for a small donation $5-10 so I'm thinking of buying it and starting a possible eco-wing environmental/sustainability library. Anyone else like the idea? Have anything to contribute? :) I'll keep you updated.
5. Ocean Expedition, Boat to Belly: http://www.oneworldoneocean.com/video/entry/boat-to-belly-sneak-peek. This is a great  little documentary about one restaurant's decision to switch from over fished Chilean Sea Bass to locally caught Black Cod and how this switch to sustainable seafood has helped the planet and local people. They haven't released this film in any format but the trailer in the link presents some interesting things to think about. 

• I also want to let everyone know that palm oil is also causing similar highly violent and terrible forest destruction in the Sumatran rain forests in Indonesia (where dwindling populations of orangutans are being pushed towards extinction due to habitat loss) and that although this issue seems removed from our decisions, the U.S. food market and beauty market are big demanders of palm oil. Which is why we should chose other options that don't use palm oil. For example, I chose to use an air pop machine to make popcorn and to add organic, local olive oil instead of buying microwave popcorn because the oils in the bag have palm oil. My choice of soap also reflects my efforts to boycott palm oil because Dove's parent company Unilever destroys a lot of rain forest when harvesting their palm oil. Here is a GREAT RESOURCE all about which products have palm oil in them:  http://www.angelfire.com/planet/palmoilproducts/ . For more information on Dove and Palm Oil go to:http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/forests/asia-pacific/dove-palmoil-action/unilever-campaign-info/. For a quick video (less than 1 minute) go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odI7pQFyjso. 

Let me know if you watch any of the films, what you thought or anything else interesting. Hope you enjoyed reading! 

:) Chelsea

Welcome

 Welcome to the SUA EcoWing Blog!

The way this blog is set up is that members can write as often as they want about whatever they want. These posts will all be tagged based on topic. There will also be updates about what we are planning or doing which will be tagged as "Ongoing Projects" and there will also be weekly updates of our meeting minutes which will be tagged as "Minutes." Since we are all busy students we can't tell you when we will update but check back periodically to see what is going on with EcoWing.

Thanks for reading!!!

P.S. Please comment!