As travel decreases and the use of single-use plastics surges due to the coronavirus pandemic, the landscape for sustainability has changed across the country. But UO groups like the Environmental Leaders Academic Residential Community and the Student Sustainability Center are still providing ways to support and educate students about sustainability and justice
Taylor McHolm, the director of the Student Sustainability Center, said part of sustainability includes human equity and economic vitality. “Neither of those categories have improved in any measure, so even though we’ve seen select non-human environments do well, poor communities and communities of color have been tremendously hurt by the pandemic,” McHolm said.
McHolm also pointed out ways in which the pandemic has exacerbated disposability and waste. “Single-use plastics have surged in usage, undoing a lot of the work that folks have done to push towards reusables,” he said.
Alexandra Acosta-Torres, a member of the Environmental Leaders Academic Residential Community, said it has been difficult to be sustainable while at home. “My family doesn’t care much for recycling or composting,” Acosta-Torres said. “What I have done is set a large cardboard box next to our trash can where my family can toss their recyclables and I personally get rid of them.”
Acosta-Torres, who is an earth science major, has also been collecting compost and dropping it off at a local farm. “They have set awesome contactless drop offs amid COVID-19,” she said. “I live in Los Angeles and thought it would be impossible to find a farm within 5 miles of me, but I found one.”
Isaac Wasserman, another member of the Environmental Leaders ARC, acknowledged that the current situation is an opportunity for people to adopt more sustainable lifestyles such as growing their own produce. “By doing this, you will help cut down on transportation CO2 emissions and pollutants that come from typical agricultural production,” Wasserman said.
As a member of the UO Food Security Task Force, senior Momo Wilms-Crowe said she has noticed an upsurge in people home gardening as they limit their trips to grocery stores amid the pandemic. “I am personally a really big fan of growing my own food,” she said. “I think growing your own food is a lot easier than people assume.”
Wilms-Crowe, who is also majoring in political science, said that even if people don’t have a lot of space to garden, they can grow a tomato plant or peas. “Growing your own food tastes better, you are not having to buy it and it is organic, so that’s a great way to be cheaper and sustainable,” she said.
Eating sustainably doesn’t have to be expensive. “I think for me, as a low-income student who relies on scholarship, I am aware of budgeting and I am not going to spend too much money on food,” Wilms-Crowe said. “But that doesn’t mean I sacrifice eating sustainably and eating healthy.”
Wilms-Crowe said now is a great moment for people to get creative with cooking and reducing food waste. She collects vegetable scraps and makes her own vegetable stock that she stores in her freezer for later use. “It saves you money from buying stocks and you are saving those scraps that otherwise would be thrown away.”
While many students are self-isolating, the Environmental Leaders ARC has been promoting a 30 Day Eco-Challenge for students to practice sustainability during this time. “The challenge allowed us to work together to create something completely creative and dear to our hearts,” Payton Lagomarsino said.
Some of the challenges include ideas for upcycling t-shirts to make reusable bags or homemade cleaning solutions.
McHolm said that he hopes the current crisis will push people to reevaluate what is effective in terms of sustainability. “The most important things you can do for sustainability are: vote for people that support your vision of a sustainable word and have the capacity to make it happen,” he said. “Work to ensure the equality of all people and communities, eat a little bit less meat, waste less food and be thoughtful about your choices.”
