Appalachian state has a thriving community of people and organizations involved in sustainably, including outside our own office! Here we have compiled information and resources on local sustainable shopping opportunities, as well as a series of profiles on Mountaineers doing awesome work in sustainability!
Sam Cheatham is the Business Director of Team Sunergy and the leader of its Business Team. Sam is a senior at Appalachian State planning to graduate this Spring. He is majoring in Marketing with a concentration in Professional Selling. Sam joined the team in the Fall 2020 semester and was instrumental in reorganizing and staffing the team after the COVID-19 pandemic had forced the cancellation of that summer's American Solar Challenge and many former team members had graduated. Sam coordinated recruitment efforts to grow the team, aided in preparations and planning for the race, helped to secure funding for the race, organized safety and radio trainings for the race team members, and assisted with countless other tasks. Sam joined the rest of team Sunergy for the 2021 American Solar Challenge, first in Topeka, Kansas, then travelling across the country towards Santa Fe, New Mexico. During the almost 3-week event, Sam's leadership and cheerful demeanor were vital to keeping the team excited and motivated during what can be a difficult and exhausting, if rewarding event. Sam and the rest of Team Sunergy achieved Appalachian State's first ever victory in a solar race in the 2021 American Solar Challenge, racing with a team made up almost exclusively of students who had never participated in any event like this before. Sam and his contributions to the team were instrumental to this victory, and I was lucky to be able to ask him some questions about his time on the team and what his position entails.
How did you end up as the Business Director on Team Sunergy? I was asked to apply for the position of Business Director in fall 2020 when the Business Team had few members and it posed a chance for me to do something completely new and have a leadership opportunity. The people I met while applying in Dief [Dief Alexander], Lee [Lee Ball], Chris [Chris Tolbert], and the other team members made me know it would be a great experience.
Describe your job position As Business Director I am the leader of the Business team which is one of our three sub teams. We run social media, plan for events and races, fundraise, and recruit for the team. I lead team meetings and spearhead these activities. At the race, I coordinated the cooking and camping along with the other members of the business team and was designated as the one to keep track of the folder of important documents. But that led to a broken toe.
Favorite part of your job? The best part of being on Team Sunergy is the racing. The American Solar Challenge and Formula Sun Grand Prix last summer was a great experience for everyone on our team. I also have amazing memories from working with the other people on Team Sunergy.
What are some future goals for Team Sunergy? Where do you hope to go from here? I would hope that the team will be able to race for many years into the future. In the short term it would be great to be able to repeat the success that we had last summer in having a safe and fun race and placing first in the American Solar Challenge. In the long term it would be a great thing to see our team contribute to more solar powered vehicles being on the road. If you’re a student looking to get involved at App, I couldn’t give a stronger recommendation to Team Sunergy. It’s made an incredible impact on me.
A note from Sam I would love to use this platform to thank everyone who has helped me to have this opportunity. I’m a changed and better person having worked with Lee, Dief, Jim, Alice, Laura, Chris, Brad, Brian, Derek, Ray, Sean, Danna, Griffin, Kyla, Nate, Aaron, Jacob, Dillon, Vedant, Allie, SJ, Ryan, Matthias, Jessica, Patrick, Reid, Austin, Jameson, Stephany, Matt, Sam, Nicole, Hunter, Jason, Troy, Sherri, and everyone that I didn’t even know was helping.
Jessica Navarro Luviano (she/her) Team Sunergy member She is a Sustainable Technology major and minors in philosophy and Building Science and a senior graduating this May 2022! She didn’t know about the Solar Vehicle Team before she came to App State, but was always interested in Sustainable Technology. She came to school thinking she couldn’t join the group until she saw them at another event for clubs. She always loved the fact that this was a student run club, full of people trying to learn more about sustainable technology. She is a mechanical director for the group and focuses on the composite, she also was a driver in the race this past summer. She took the time to describe the race and the challenges her and her team faced. The team participated in the Formula Sun Grand Prix in Topeka, Kansas, this race was a qualifier for the second part, the American Solar Challenge road event. The first part of the race was to test the car, driving a minimum number of laps to qualify for the second road event. The team qualified and next had to drive the car to New Mexico from the starting point in Missouri to complete the American Solar Challenge road event. The event was done over a span of three days and each day the car had to drive a certain distance, make it to a checkpoint within 6 hours and stay there for a period of time, and stage a stop at the end of the day. Jessica mentioned how stressful it was to get things done fast enough and to do it before another team got ahead. Jessica was a driver as well and she mentioned the hardest part of it was the wind pushing the car. Although it was stressful work, her favorite part was the team aspect and how everyone was constantly working together to problem solve. App State’s Sunergy team actually won the Abe Poot Teamwork award for their excellent teamwork skills! I asked Jessica what she felt her biggest accomplishment was while working with this team and she mentioned her work on the dashboard of the car. She said it took the team over two years to figure out the best model, they learned a method from an alumni and through many trials and errors, they did it! She felt it really expressed how hard work pays off. In contrast, I also asked what the hardest part of her journey has been and that was time. She told me that predicting how long something would take was extremely difficult because things go wrong and it may take longer than expected. Jessica is a hard working individual who hopes to take her knowledge on electric vehicles and composite work to another level in her career. She is a team player and hopes to bring her experiences to another team! If you want to get involved in Team Sunergy, Jessica says to do it! Do not be afraid to make yourself part of the team! You don’t need to know anything to be a part of the team as long as you are dedicated to learning more and working with a team!
Sophia Kirn Sustainability Ambassador Hello, my name is Sophia Kirn! I am a sustainability ambassador and had the opportunity to be the Student Summit Coordinator for the 2021 Appalachian Energy Summit. For a little background on The Appalachian Energy Summit, it started in 2012 and has a history of bringing together world leaders in the energy and sustainability sectors. While it is usually held in person on campus, this year’s Summit was virtual and had three days of speakers, breakout sessions, and discussion panels, with the final day being sessions specifically geared towards high school and college students in sustainability! This year, we were able to broaden the scope of the Student Summit from just energy-related topics, so we had students come in to lead sessions and discussions about all kinds of sustainable topics like social justice, sustainability in schools, leadership, and zero waste. As coordinator for the Student Summit, I had the opportunity to talk with students and professionals in the sustainability field, and my favorite part was getting to hear all of the different ways they are advocating for a more sustainable future! In my opinion, one of the biggest successes of the conference was all of the peer-to-peer engagement during the sessions! It was awesome getting to hear all of the different perspectives on how to implement sustainability in every aspect of life! Another highlight of the Summit was the Career Panel and the Career and Academic Networking Session. We had a panel of sustainability professionals involved in education, construction, transportation, and the energy sector answer questions from students and share career advice about seeking a job in the sustainability field. I had an amazing time helping plan and attend the Energy Summit and I can't wait to see how it grows in the coming years!
Sincerely, Sophia Kirn
Brandon Stanley Renewable Energy Ambassador Hi everyone. My name is Brandon Stanley and I am this semester's Renewable Energy Ambassador here at Appalachian State. I am a second-semester junior in the Sustainability Technology program. Last semester was my first at Appalachian State as I transferred in with an Associate of Science degree from CPCC. I have around seven years of experience in the renewable energy and energy efficiency fields. My favorite project was a 20kw ground mount in Matthews, NC. It was the first project I was directly responsible for from the initial sale to the commissioning of the system. Sustainability has always been a huge part of my life so Appalachian State was clearly the best place choice having a long record of strong sustainability initiatives. Other than class, I work part-time at a local biodynamic sustainable farm growing food for communities throughout the high country.
I have been giving a lot of thought about ways the office of sustainability here at Appalachian can reach out to students and the local community in ways that are meaningful. We can make educational videos on relatable topics, set up information tables on campus, design energy efficiency lists, tour local solar-powered farms, and host socially distanced seminars. The more I sat and thought about it I realized that I am but a single human being. So I want to open the floor to the students and hear what you all have to say about what matters to you in regards to renewable energy... You are on campus every day and have a lot invested in being the newest stewards of the planet.
If you have had thoughts, ideas, or curiosity about any sustainability-based topic send me an email to [email protected] with a brief description of what you would like to learn more about or an issue you would like to be brought to the spotlight. I hope you all finish the semester well.
Best regards,
Brandon
Avia Kalfa(she,her,hers) Major: Nature-based Therapies Studies (IDS) Minor: Sustainable Business
I have always loved kombucha, but I never planned on doing a business out of it, and it happened more or less by mistake! I moved to Guatemala to help my grandparents run their eco-hostel/resort, called "Sante" (@santeatitlan), which they planned to open in January 2021. Due to COVID-19, they postponed the opening and decided to spend another year focusing on gardening and sustainability at the resort. Meanwhile, a friend of ours who had a small kombucha operation chose to move to Canada, so, not having a project at the time, I offered to take over his business. He sold me all of his equipment for cheap and taught me all he knew about kombucha in 3 sessions. I set up the equipment in a little kitchen space that we built in our greenhouse and asked a friend who owns a hotel/restaurant to sell my first bottles. Within three weeks, I had sold out, and I realized that this would be a lucrative business, so I continued!
How did I come up with the name Buena Bruja? Well, the first time I brewed a huge pot of tea, I stirred it with a long stick, closed my eyes, and imagined sending all my positive energy into the batch. I immediately thought, "I am like a witch brewing a potion". Then I connected the words brew and bruja (the Spanish word for "witch" and pronounced brew-ha) and loved the idea! The term Bruja is a slightly controversial word with the Guatemalan catholic community that lives here. However, it is mostly considered edgy and fun in the younger generation of the Latin culture. However, to deter any negative stigma correlated to Bruja, I added Buena in front of it. Now it means Good Witch and perfectly matches the positivity and goodness I want to spread with my business. The ingredients are about 90% local to Guatemala, and about 65% of those ingredients are local to my town. For example, pineapples, ginger, and hibiscus flower that I use to make my flavors are all local to my town. Some ingredients are even grown at my home, like lemongrass and rosemary. I currently sell in about 10 locations, including health food stores, cafes, restaurants, and hotels, including Sante. I also sell the kombucha at an artisan market once a month.
To follow a more sustainable business, I buy my glass bottles from a local store in Guatemala and collect them from my vendors. Reusing the bottled after adequately sanitizing them saves me a lot of money, materials, and emission. In doing this business, I can pursue both my passions: creating art and creating food/drinks. It is a dream come true! With my art skills, I made labels and learned about digital art, and created a mural outside of the business. I also love being recognized as the local "bruja" and having conversations with people about my product. My goal for 2021 is to open my kombucha brewery. It will be a non-alcoholic kombucha bar/ brewery with appetizers and snacks made 100% from ingredients from the greenhouse and surrounding gardens.
Gaia Lawing(She/her/hers) Major: Studio Art Focus in Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design Crow Moon -Jewelry shop Etsy/Instagram: @crowmoonshop https://crowmoonshop.com/
I started making crystal jewelry about 3 years ago. I taught myself wire wrapping, copper electroforming, polymer clay, soft soldering, and this eventually led to changing my major to Metalsmithing! I took a natural dye class Fall 2019 and fell in love with the process and eventually started block printing during quarantine. My first business name was the Sage and Lavender Shop and after about a year the name didn't really suit the business anymore. I can't remember how I came up with Crow Moon but I love it! Crows like to collect little shiny objects and so do I. For jewelry I mostly used copper electroforming which is a process involving growing copper on the pieces through an electrified chemical bath. Right now I am taking a small break from making jewelry while I work on my collection for my Senior Show but I will be only making cast metal pieces from now on using the lost wax casting technique. I still have a ton of jewelry on my Etsy, though. In terms of my bandanas they are dyed using a fiber reactive dye, which is an eco friendly dye. Since the bandana fabric is so thin it's hard to use natural dye but I still plan on releasing smaller collections of naturally dyed bags or clothes in the future. Block printing is a super fun technique involving carving designs into linoleum and rolling ink onto the blocks. One of my favorite things about having a small business is running into people I don't know wearing a pair of earrings or a necklace I made forever ago. It's so fun to remember making that exact piece of jewelry and see it being loved by another person. Making things with my hands is also super important to me and while owning a small business can be frustrating at times it's one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. Once I graduate I plan on dedicating a lot of time to expanding what I make and exploring new avenues of creating and selling. I've definitely had to take a small step back from that to focus on finishing school and I can't wait to get back to it.
If you would have told me I would have started a woodworking business a year ago, I probably would have laughed at you. I was recovering from major hip surgery to correct congenital hip dysplasia and was at a crossroads because I could no longer live out my active lifestyle that I had taken part in for the last 20 years of my life. Searching for something creative to fill my time that was now in abundance, I got into a making live edge wood tables. From there, my passion for wood working exploded and I made a lot of different things. However, when I came across relief printing, I fell in love with it.
My relief printing starts with finding the wood. All of the pieces that I work with have been found scattered across North Carolina, fallen from storms, disease, or to build someone’s home. Once I find a piece that speaks to me, the wood goes through an elaborate process of drying, sanding, and burning. From there, I roll ink onto the wood and print it onto the paper. I think this my absolute favorite part of this process because you never know what sort of unique patterns and textures the wood is going to leave. Once the print dries, you can even feel the wood rings and grain raised up on the paper. You can check out my TikTok to see behind the scenes of my work.
I launched Woodinary Designs back in November (2020), and it has been a wild roller coaster ride since! It is really scary putting your creations out there for the world to see, but I have learned so much in these past few months and wouldn’t have it any other way. I hope to continue to grow with Woodinary Designs, collecting different types of trees far beyond just North Carolina and making new things with them. Trees exhale for us so that we can inhale from them. We would be nonexistent without them and it is so cool to be just a tiny part of helping tell their story and sharing their timeless beauty.
Staff/Faculty
Rebecca Walton (she/her/hers) Sustainability Outreach Director at the Office of Sustainability I graduated from App in 2015 with a major in Sustainable Development. After graduation, I started working as the Sustainability Coordinator at Warren Wilson College in Asheville. That's where I found my passion for working with students in higher education! I supervised a small team of about 3-5 students who focused on sustainable food and local food tracking. In 2018, I got this job at App and it has been a dream come true. I now work with over 20 students and get to do, talk about, and experience every aspect of sustainability every day.
In my job as the Sustainability Outreach Coordinator, I am responsible for supervising and guiding our team of Sustainability Ambassadors. We do dozens of outreach events per semester and have reached thousands in the App State community through our work. The main goal of this team is to engage those who are already interested in sustainability, while also getting the attention of those who had never heard of sustainability before coming to App. This group of students has to know about the big picture of sustainability at App, while at the same time knowing all of the details about the parts that make up the whole. This includes zero waste (composting, recycling), renewable energy and climate action, our food pantry and free store, campus gardens, and the list goes on and on and on. I also supervise the EcoReps program and guide our students who lead the EcoReps throughout the year. The EcoReps program has been an awesome way for us to help educate students that live in the residence halls about how to become more sustainable where they live. I also do a lot of other things that don't necessarily fall into one big bucket. For example, I represent our office at New Employee Orientation, New Student Orientation during the summer and during the academic year, give tours, do various presentations and trainings, assist with the food pantry and the free store, and organize our volunteer efforts and recruitment. Oh yeah, and on top of that I get to be a mom to a sweet little girl named Faith. Never a dull moment around here!
I have a lot of "favorite parts" of my job but one thing that I absolutely LOVE doing is bragging on our students when I get asked to provide a job or grad school reference. The students that work with our office are special in so many ways and I love sharing that with whoever wants to listen! The semesters are so busy that it's really nice to have the opportunity to focus on one student's strengths and accomplishments and get to share that.
Carla Ramsdell (she/her/hers) Carla Ramsdell is a passionate person when it comes to cooking. As a mechanical engineer and faculty member in the physics and astronomy department. She researches and teaches the physics of cooking. She taught about energy and thought including food was a great way to do so. She wanted to promote the idea of using cooking as a way to learn physics and empower students to help mitigate climate change. Along with that, cooking provides mental and emotional benefits and she wishes to demonstrate that.
Carla approached The Office of Sustainability about providing a virtual zoom-based cooking series to help students learn how to cook inexpensive, healthy, sustainable choices. Together with other colleagues across the campus, they created Cooking with Purpose, a free cooking class that encourages students to learn more about cooking sustainably and allows students to come together and build community. This team hopes their practice and knowledge will give students a fun way to learn together.
The recipes chosen for this series are simple but delicious. Ingredients and supplies are provided from the Office of Sustainability; trying to make most recipes from food students can get from the Food Hub or food pantries. The recipes will encourage a plant-based diet; to demonstrate how we can lower the carbon footprint of our food system.
This virtual cooking class idea was one of the amazing things to come out of COVID-19. Carla teaches a summer physics course - The Physics of Food and Cooking. It is typically offered as an in-person class, but due to circumstances, the class had to be offered online. It was a difficult start, trying to learn how to teach a cooking class over zoom, but it was a cool way for people to come together from their own kitchens at a time that connections like this were hard to come by
This semester, Cooking with Purpose is up and running with the first group of 20 students. Carla mentioned that her favorite part of the Cooking with Purpose class was when she would come into the class for the first meeting and saw everyone ready to learn and work together. She appreciates the fact they took time out of their day to come in and cook new recipes. On the other hand though, she did mention the most difficult part of the class is coordination of ingredients. This series is modeled after Hello Fresh and allows students to be able to come in and grab supplies/ingredients. That involves someone finding simple recipes and inexpensive ingredients. Carla explained how Ashley Rankin, the Graduate Assistant for The Office of Sustainability together with Jen Maxwell and Laura Johnston from the Office of Sustainability have been a huge help in this process. Ashley is incredibly organized but she will not be around forever.
So what does the future hold for Cooking with Purpose? Well, according to Carla, this team wants to continue the classes and hopefully find new people to help them out with the background operations. They hope to someday share this idea with different campuses in the UNC system. They hope the class will grow and people will adopt the idea, along with finding ways to make it financially sustainable. One idea the team mentioned was offering the class to community members and alumni who could pay a small fee to aid in operations.
Together with Amanda Hege in the Nutrition and Health Sciences department and Sherry Nikbakht, Carla is studying food insecurity on college campuses and hopes to increase the data on this topic with this virtual cooking series. They want to teach Appalachian students new knowledge on cooking and hope they will retain that information to alleviate food insecurity now and in the future.. Cooking with Purpose is an excellent way to get involved on App State’s campus. This class is allowing students to gain new knowledge on how to cook delicious meals sustainably. I asked Carla to give the readers some advice when it comes to getting involved in cooking. She explained that students should just dive in. Do not be afraid to learn more and don’t be afraid to fail, it comes with the cooking territory. You will quickly gain confidence and get better. One of the best tricks for new chefs is to learn how to make a couple good sauces! Sauces add an extra zing to a dish and you can experiment with different recipes. Open your eyes to the things you know nothing about!"
Carol Coulter(she/her) Professor and community member Carol Coulter is a dedicated human being who wants to bring her happiness to others. She and her husband collectively run Heritage Homestead Goat and Dairy. Carol is also on the Board of Directors for FARM Café as the treasurer and she is a professor at Appalachian State. She is a very busy person and I am glad she took the time to talk to me! The farm takes up most of her time, she is either feeding the animals, milking the animals, changing their water, preparing cheese or caramel orders, packing cheese, bringing deliveries to Boone restaurants and Food hub, packing for the farmers market, going to the wineries in Ronda and Elkin, actively going to the markets, and if she has the chance she can take a nap on Sundays. Busy every day, even in the winter when it is slow. It is a team effort though, her husband is the cheese maker and assists her with the markets. The creation of Heritage Homestead Goat and Dairy was the product of her husband being big into gardening. The land they bought started as a homestead and the area hadn’t been worked on in years and the weeds and invasive species had taken over the farm. Carol grew up in New York City and wanted nothing to do with gardening, but that was until they bought goats. The goats were used to eat the weeds and then babies came out of it. She started to grow a connection for her goats and began to see potential behind having them. It progressed into milk, then cheese, and ice cream. The couple started to give their friends some goods from the goats and brought them to potlucks. She wanted to start a business, so after some convincing, her husband built her a dairy. It was a learning process and they scrambled to learn how to make cheese on a bigger scale, edible cheese at first then learned more tactics to make it better. The name of the homestead was already decided but if they were to choose again it would have been “Accidental Dairy.” I asked her what the best and worst parts were about the homestead and it did not surprise me to hear that the goats were her favorite part of the job. She is a morning person and loves beginning her day with the goats. On the contrary though, it is a lot of hard work with long days and weekends. What does the future hold for Heritage Homestead Goat and Dairy? Well, Carol wishes to have someone take over and hire interns or people who want to learn more about local food production. She wants to increase local demand for food from farms in the area that have the capability to expand! She discussed the idea of placing satellite locations around town and even in the areas more out of the way for people to pick up food without even interacting with others. Carol is the treasurer for FARM Café. She helps with the financial reports for the board. She mentioned the Farm Full Circle Program. This program involves taking vegetables that are not restaurant or grocery store worthy and turning them into casseroles and soups or fruit and veggie pops for kids at local schools! Carol is a passionate human who wants to bring more attention to local food production. She also wants to let people know that volunteering is a great way to get involved and learn more about local food. Interacting with the staff and others who want to achieve the same as you! Also, if you volunteer at FARM Cafe, then you get a free lunch!!
Max Alff (he/his/him) Compost Operations Coordinator at Appalachian State University Education: M.H.S. Horticultural Science, NC State University, 2023 B.S. Horticultural Science, NC State University, 2016 A.A.S Ornamentals & Landscape Technology, NC State University, 2014
Max Alff began working for Appalachian State University in 2018 as a grounds crew member and in March of 2019, began working as the compost coordinator within the Landscape Services department in Facilities Operations. Growing up, Max Alff’s parents always had a compost pile for the garden, and Max has always had compost piles in his backyard. Now, he continues to hold onto this tradition at his job, but on a larger scale. “These are the same basic processes, but at an economic scale. There is a lot more you can do with the compost.” App State’s compost facility has been in place for ten years now and was on track, from July of 2019 to June of 2020, to have the best year ever in regard to the amount of tonnage of compost created at almost 200 tons of compost that year. Once the compost is ready, it can be used in the on-campus gardens, new turf installations on campus for landscaping purposes, and also at the Sustainable Development farm in Fleetwood. “Working in a developed area, the soil structure and soil health is terrible. Adding compost increases the organic matter content in the soil, holds onto nutrients and makes the soil healthier.” Composting at an economic scale requires careful attention to detail and innovative technology which speeds along the process of decomposition. Underneath the compost piles at the facility, a PVC pipe with drilled holes forces air up from a blower in the ground that aerates the compost pile. Without oxygen, the compost will begin to rot and produce methane, which is what happens in a landfill. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with a 100-year global warming potential 25 times that of CO2, which is why aeration is such a crucial part of the composting process. It takes about 3 or 4 weeks to make finished compost with aeration. Through the App State composting facility’s permit with the Department of Environmental Quality, the facility operators are required to make sure the pile maintains a certain temperature. Once the compost bin is full, it must be at a temperature above 130 degrees for three days followed by eleven days at a temperature above 104 degrees with an average of 115 degrees. Normally, in small backyard compost operations, to reach these temperatures one must keep the compost turned by hand. With the forced aeration system, operators don't have to turn it. Once the compost is full, Max’s job is to take the temperature of the pile every day. Filling up the compost bin is more challenging these days with the university under limited operations. The compost facility is running at about ⅓ to ½ of its capacity pre-covid. Normally, Max would pick up compost from campus three days a week. Now, he goes to campus two days a week for pick up. Roess Dining Hall used to be the university's biggest supply of food waste. Now, much less is being produced from the cafeteria because of the switch to more takeout and the use of non-compostable materials like Styrofoam and plastic. “Covid is throwing everything off. Areas on campus that are the main producers of waste are all the food service areas: the cafeteria, the student union, Trivett Hall.” Up until the pandemic hit, App State was using compostable containers and utensils which were produced in China. When Covid-19 caused the country to lock down, production slowed, and compostable materials became too expensive for the university to afford. Due to budgetary constraints, App State was forced to switch to non-compostable materials. Max says this transition will only be temporary, and the university has the intention of going back to compostable materials as soon as they can. In previous years, compost bins were placed outside of the residence halls for students to compost outside of their dorms. However, this year several of the compost sites outside of the dorms were taken away due to contamination. Compost bins can become contaminated when non-compostable material such as plastic recycling or landfill items are thrown into the compost bins. The compostable material has to be thrown out with the rest of the trash in the contaminated bin and sent to the landfill, which is a waste of good organic material that can be converted into soil. The composting facility isn’t equipped to do any kind of sorting, which can be time-consuming and strenuous to do on a large scale. “It came to the point where I couldn’t pick up any compost from the dorms on my normal pick-up route. It has always been a challenge composting in the public-facing sites, especially the dorms. So, we are working with the Office of Sustainability to come up with some solutions to that issue with better education and signage.” Max’s goal for the future is to increase the awareness of composting on campus by educating people about how to compost correctly. When students are educated on what to compost and what not to, Max’s job is made a lot easier. It is easy to forget that when we “throw away” trash, it doesn’t actually go “away.” People like Max get all of our “trash” and turn it into material that can be used once again returned to the earth's soil as nutrients, enriching the ground we walk on at App State’s campus. According to App State’s 2013 Waste Audit, the university has the potential to divert 29.3% of its waste to compost. In 2013, only 6% of campus waste was composted (7).
App State’s composting facility is a type 3 facility, which means it can take up to 275 tons of food waste a year. Max estimates that, until the pandemic hit, the facility was at about half of that. This shows that there is still a lot of room to grow as far as how much the facility can process. The Office of Sustainability is working with the Eco-Reps of each residence hall to educate residents on what composting is and how to compost properly. There is a lot of thought that goes into educating the public and determining how to strategically label and place the compost bins around campus. Compost bins can’t be placed near a trash can or recycling bin because when those bins get full, people will just throw their trash or recycling into the compost. At the same time, the compost bins can’t be placed too far away from the trash or recycling because they won’t be accessible for everyone. “Working in a job like this is a little more eye-opening in terms of what is practical versus sustainable. It would be great if we could collect every single bit of compostable material from campus, but when it comes to practicality it's just not feasible. Right now, we are focusing on what we know will be clean” Max believes that there is both an art and a science that goes into composting. There must be a ratio of high carbon and high nitrogen so the material breaks down to a carbon/nitrogen ratio of 15:1 or 20:1, but the compost pile might start with a carbon/nitrogen ratio at anywhere from 40:1 or 50:1. At the start of the composting process, you can differentiate between the various food scraps, leaves, wood chips, greasy pizza boxes, etc., but by the end of the process, you have no idea what the original constituent parts were. The art of turning waste into a rich, life-giving, microbial universe of soil cannot be achieved without the meticulous scientific practice and study of the assemblages.
Laura E. England(she/her/hers) Senior Lecturer, Department of Sustainable Development Education:
M.S. Ecology, University of Georgia, 2003
Graduate Certificate in Conservation Ecology & Sustainable Development, University of Georgia, 2003
B.S. Environmental Science & Ecology, North Carolina State University, 1998
B.S. Multidisciplinary Studies: Art & Values in a Technological Society, North Carolina State University, 1998
https://emblemsoftheanthropocene.weebly.com/ Blues are my favorite colors, but when I think of my childhood, I see a world of green. I grew up surrounded by woods full of living beings. My family included many animals beyond the human ones—dogs, cats, horses, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, and occasionally injured wildlife—and the environment was a focus of conversation and action in my home. Falling in love with nature was unavoidable, and that led to curiosity, to an academic focus, and to a career, first in the nonprofit world and then as an educator.
These days, not a day goes by that I don’t think (and feel) about the multiple, entangled social-ecological crises of our time, especially climate change and the collapse of the biosphere. All of my work, teaching, and outreach, focus on these crises. And when I’m at home, the joy that my two young children inspire in me is shadowed by my fears about the world that they’re inheriting. It’s heavy and impossible to face alone—impossible in terms of making a difference and also in terms of the associated emotional and psychological toll. So I don’t face it alone—I actively seek and create opportunities for shared responses.
One of these is the Climate Stories Collaborative, which I founded in 2017. We’re a learning community for faculty and students across the university that expands and deepens the climate conversation. We create spaces for thinking, feeling, and expressing what climate change means for communities of life around the world. More than >5000 students, faculty, staff, and community members have participated in our programs, including our annual showcase of student climate stories projects, workshops, speaker series, and more. While I don’t have a way to measure it, I believe we contribute to the groundswell of climate concern that supports engagement in climate action.
Writing is another practice that has helped me to process and continue to face the enormous challenges of a planet in peril. Five years ago, I started a writing project with my students called Emblems of the Anthropocene. Each semester, we write and share (aloud and online) our reflections on the biodiversity crisis. Each narrative illuminates key truths about the biodiversity crisis through the story of a particular species. I ask my students to pour their minds, their hearts, and their own voices into their writing and I aim for the same. I strongly believe that we must ditch the conventional compartmentalized approach to this work; we must bring our full selves so that we can learn from one another and work more collaboratively to realize a just and livable future.
My favorite part of my job is witnessing the brilliance, creativity, and commitment of students, both in my department through the classes I teach and through the annual Climate Stories Showcase, which during the pandemic we’ve continued as a digital exhibition through Instagram. I am grateful for the many opportunities I have on a regular basis to learn from and with our students at Appalachian.
During my time at Appalachian State I had the amazing opportunity to be a Sustainability Ambassador - I learned a lot about recycling, composting, and general campus operations. I also learned the value of serving your campus and local community, which is a major pillar in sustainability. I spent many Saturdays working the App State football games educating tailgaters and I spent many hours at those football games picking up soggy trash and sorting it into the correct bins - I loved it all!
After I graduated in 2019 I served a short AmeriCorps term through the Student Conservation Association doing trail maintenance in the Catskill Forest Preserve in New York, for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. Now, I am serving an 11-month AmeriCorps term through AmeriCorps Project Conserve, which serves many environmental nonprofits in Western North Carolina. Right now, I am serving my term at Conserving Carolina, which is a land trust based in Hendersonville, NC. Conserving Carolina protects nearly 46,000 acres of land in Henderson, Polk, Transylvania, and Rutherford counties. As a Habitat Restoration Associate I restore habitats in a way that best serves ecological needs and functions. I remove nonnative invasive species, fight kudzu, plant trees, monitor properties, lead volunteer groups, and so much more. I love serving my community, and AmeriCorps has given me a full-time job and the experience to do just that. Working outside everyday is hard work, but I love knowing that what I do everyday is making a difference, even if I won’t see it for years to come. AmeriCorps Project Conserve has many different opportunities in the environmental sector in Western North Carolina and applications will be open later this spring, so check it out if you are interested! Feel free to reach out to me at the email above if you are interested and have any questions about the program.
Donald Addu (he/him/his) Major - Ecology/Environmental Biology Minor - Political Science Concentration - Sustainable Development Program Director with Citizen Climate Lobby Webpage: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/ Instagram/Twitter: @citizensclimate
One of the cool things about my current position is it did not exist when I graduated from App in 2007. After graduation, I worked some retail and restaurant jobs before a brief stint in Armenia with the Peace Corps, where I taught environmental science. When I returned, the recession was in full swing. I was fortunate to get a job in pharmaceutical manufacturing at Rocky Mount. After my six-month contract ended, I took a full-time position with a pharmacogenomics company in Morrisville. Still, I knew pharma was not what I wanted to do for my career. I started thinking about getting involved in the climate change movement. I saw climate change as the most critical issue because it exacerbates all other problems we face as a society. Soon after, I started volunteering with North Carolina Green Power. With NC Green Power, I did tabling events on the weekends and presentations to different groups in the evenings, advocating for increased renewable energy across NC.
By 2011, it had become clear to me that NC could not solve this problem without congressional action. I reached out to a few different organizations, and Amy Bennett from the Citizens Climate Lobby got back to me the next day. We spoke on the phone, and Amy explained CCL's Carbon Fee and Dividend approach. I was already familiar with the idea of carbon pricing from my classes at App, but I was always skeptical because the cost would fall disproportionately on those that could least afford the price increase. However, with the Carbon Cashback model, we return all of the revenue to every American evenly, turning it into a progressive instead of regressive tax. The idea that sold me was the focus on bipartisanship and the idea that in order to solve climate change, we need to approach everyone as either an ally or an ally that doesn't know it yet. I told Amy, "I'm in, how do I get involved?" and she said there is not a chapter in NC; how about your start one? I said "sure!" and hung up the phone, and then it hit me. I have no idea how to do that.
After a year of sitting by myself in my living room, month after month, I finally figured out how to build a chapter and gain volunteers from across the Triangle. From there, I grew the organization across North Carolina and then across the Southeast until I left biotech behind in 2017 to come on full time with the Citizens Climate Lobby.
Now in 2021, as the Program Director, I get to work on a little bit of everything across the organization. This week I helped execute the virtual plenary session for our Appalachia, Northeast, Tornado and Third Coast regional conferences. I spoke with one of our Knightdale volunteers to figure out the next steps in getting the town to pass a resolution supporting our preferred legislation, called the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. I spoke with our Nevada State Coordinator to discuss how to make it easier for volunteers to log the calls they make to their members of Congress. I pulled together various resources to help the NC Department of Environmental Quality better understand the local impacts of climate change. In conjunction with CCL's Vice President of Programs, we discussed how to best focus our volunteers' efforts to encourage Republican Senators to co-sponsor the legislation, including our strategy with Senator Thom Tillis. And on Friday night, I led a Race and Climate Conversations workshop with our Diversity and Inclusion Director to help our volunteers better understand how to reach out to people of color and how to recognize white supremacy and white privilege both in our organization and throughout society.
My favorite part of my job is the people. I have the privilege of working with the best staff and volunteers in the world. The best thing about working for a non-profit is everyone I work with wants to be there, from our Executive Director to the volunteer who just joined yesterday. The most memorable accomplishment to date was when the idea of a Carbon Fee and Dividend came to fruition in the form of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. The act was first introduced at the end of 2017 with both Republican and Democratic co-sponsors. In the last Congress we achieved 86 co-sponsors, the most of any bipartisan carbon pricing bill in the history of the US Congress, including sponsorship by NC's own Rep. Alma Adams (NC-12) and Rep. David Price (NC-04).
Watching President Biden sign the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act into law would be the capstone to over ten years worth of my work. I am hopeful I get to see that happen soon. While this will be the best first step, addressing climate change will be a multigenerational effort. My next goal will be whatever moves us toward a healthy, sustainable world.
Emily Sutton(she/her/hers) Haw Riverkeeper www.hawriver.org Facebook/Instagram @hawriverassembly Major: Sustainable Development focus in Agroecology but took about the same amount of classes in the environmental science focus area. Before I graduated from App State in May of 2014, I was part of a student-run organization called Sustainable Development Student Alliance (SDSA). Another small group of us started another student-run group called Sustainable Environmental Educators Club (SEEC). We partnered with the library and other community groups to hold events for young kids and families to educate them on sustainability and environmental issues. Having these experiences as an undergraduate really helped me to see what I was interested in doing professionally after graduation, and how important it was to not to just have an idea, but to commit on doing the work and following all the way through.
I have always been drawn to water, so when I moved to Piedmont after graduation, I immediately found the nearest river to explore, which led me to the Haw River Assembly. I first applied there for an educator position. After a few follow-up interviews, I didn’t get the job. I was crushed however, the executive director reached out to me to offer me a new part-time position organizing volunteers for a River Monitoring program. I took that job and ended up loving it! The executive director, who was also the Riverkeeper at the time, saw my interest in the advocacy and policy side of the job and asked me to take on the role of Riverkeeper.
This job is different every day. It is challenging. It is exhausting. It is not always a 9-5 Monday- Friday job. But it is always fulfilling and it helps to have such a network of passionate people to work with. On days that I’m doing the monitoring, I’m loading up my sampling gear (bottles, coolers, syringes, sampling poles, digital meters, waders, etc) at 7 am and getting on the road. The places where we typically monitor are not always in the easiest places to access, or the most serene. I’m monitoring for water pollution, so that means I’m crawling through culverts or hacking through briars, or sliding down steep eroded banks to access a stream as close as I can to a potential source of pollution without trespassing. We do this year-round, so sometimes I’m drenched in sweat, and sometimes I’m using a crowbar to break through the ice. Other days, I’m behind a computer, organizing statewide coalitions or doing project management or meeting with legal teams when we are in litigation with polluters, or doing typical non-profit administration work. Some evenings, I’m holding public meetings with impacted communities or giving comments at statewide public hearings or local commissioner’s meetings. On weekends, I might be leading a group of paddlers down a stretch of the Haw or through Jordan Lake or leading clean-ups along a stream bank or replanting a buffer. My work is very self-directed so the job is what you make it!
My favorite part of this job is being out in my watershed. Even when I am hacking through briars in the middle of the summer, I love getting to see the most remote parts of creeks that get forgotten and overlooked. I also love getting other people out into the water. Through our outreach programs, we get a lot of people into canoes or kayaks that have never been able to have that experience before. It’s so rewarding to walk away from that experience with another group of people who you know will fight to protect this river.