Vol. 10, Issue 3

b backdrop magazine

SPRING 2017

Fresh

from the farmers market Pg. 18

PERSONAL HEALTH

for both you and the Earth Pg. 28

TH E GREEN ISSUE

STUDENTS SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS Pg. 24

Letter from the Editor

Kaitlyn Pacheco Editor-in-Chief backdropmag@gmail.com

Ten years ago, Ashley Luther and her team of Ohio University students set out to create a glossy magazine that would “chronicle their iconic college years” and give them the opportunity to write about the subjects they wanted to read about. In Luther’s words, “We created a monster.” Backdrop magazine was known as “the Cosmopolitan magazine of the journalism school” with departments such as “xxxs & ohhhs,” “sh!t show” and “ruthless rant and rage,” and the staff was unapologetic about its coverage of campus and local issues. Although we’ve changed a bit over the past decade — we print fewer profanities and have a few awards on our office wall — we’re proud Backdrop is the same weird and wonderful publication it was 10 years ago.

We’re celebrating our 10-year anniversary by sticking to our roots. The city of Athens is known throughout Ohio for its farm-friendly identity and sustainable spirit, and new initiatives are created each year to lessen Athens’ impact on the environment.

In this “green” issue, we explore how students, community members and local businesses live and work in harmony with the city’s eco-friendly lifestyle.

Freshman Julie Ciotola created farm-fresh recipes made with ingredients from the 45-year-old Athens Farmers Market (Pg. 18). Publisher and Associate Editor Adam McConville investigated the history of fracking in Athens County and how local activist movements have influenced the long-winded debate about drilling in the Wayne National Forest (Pg. 20). On the cover, senior Cheyenne Buckingham pens her final love letter to Athens after covering community and environmental initiatives for Backdrop for the past four years. On Pg. 24, read her story about how mechanical engineering students are collaborating with Green Edge Gardens in Amesville, Ohio, to develop more efficient ways to tackle everyday tasks.

Until next time,

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backdrop | Spring 2017

SPRING 2017 » VOLUME 10 ISSUE 3

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backdrop magazine

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF KAITLYN PACHECO MANAGING EDITOR ALEXANDRA GREENBERG ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR EMMA JENKINS ASSOCIATE EDITOR ADAM MCCONVILLE COPY CHIEF ALEXANDRA GREENBERG ASSISTANT COPY CHIEF ELIZABETH HARPER COPY EDITORS GABBY HOLLOWELL, SARAH NEWGARDE, DARIAN RANDOLPH WRITERS CHEYENNE BUCKINGHAM, MARIE CHAILOSKY, JULIE CIOTOLA, MICHAELA FATH, BAILEY FINK, ABBY HARDER, MICHELLE JACOBSON, HALEY RISCHAR, LILLI SHER, LANDER ZOOK WEB EDITOR MADISON EBLEN

PUBLISHER ADAM MCCONVILLE CREATIVE DIRECTOR NATASHA RINGNALDA ART DIRECTOR MEREDITH KERN DESIGNERS EMILY CARUSO, KAITLIN HENEGHAN, MADDIE KNOTSMAN, JESSICA KOYNOCK DIRECTOR OF MEMBER RELATIONS BRIANA EKANEM MARKETING DIRECTOR GABBY HOLLOWELL MARKETING & AD DESIGNER MOLLY PETRE PHOTO EDITOR AMANDA DAMELIO ONLINE PHOTO EDITOR MADDIE SCHROEDER ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR MAX CATALANO PHOTOGRAPHERS CHRISTIAN GOODE & SARAH WILLIAMS

Want to advertise Interested in in Backdrop? working with us?

Send an email to Stop by one of our weekly backdropadvertising@gmail.com meetings at 8 p.m. to get started. Tuesdays in Scripps 116.

SEE THE PHOTO STORY

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backdrop | Spring 2017

Follow us on Twitter @BackdropMag

CONTENTS FEATURES WHAT THE FRACK

The fight to limit fracking and injection wells in southeast Ohio continues despite setbacks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

DESIGNING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Mechanical engineering students develop products that improve the day-to-day operations of community members and local businesses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Q&A

PHOTO STORY

The presidents of Eco Reps and Divest Ohio discuss how the two organizations promote sustainability-related efforts on campus. . . .. . . 6

The members of the Currents community in Glouster, Ohio, work together to sustain their co-op network. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

NEW CLUBS ON THE BRICKS

THE DROP LIVING AS ONE

Students living in Ohio Ecohouse form environmentally conscious habits. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

THE ROAD TO EFFICIENCY

A zero-interest loan program offers Athens community members an opportunity to purchase electric and hybrid vehicles.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

CALENDAR ON THE BRICKS

Mark your calendars for the best events Athens has to offer this spring .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

ENTERTAINMENT A GREEN SCREEN

Energy-efficient heating and cooling systems are coming to several new South Green dorms. .. . . 12

The fourth-annual spring documentary series at the Athena Cinema screens films that inform community members about the state of the environment. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

INFOGRAPHIC

SPORTS

CLEANING UP "DIRTY SOUTH"

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR

Check out the current and future results of global temperature increase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Cover photo by Sarah Williams.

ROOTED IN COMMUNITY

FOOD

SERVING THEIR RESPONSIBILITY

Crumbs Bakery, 9 Tables and The Farmacy buy and serve food with an eco-friendly conscience. ..16

RECIPE

FROM FARMERS MARKET TO TABLE

Try these breakfast and dinner recipes made with local ingredients from the Athens Farmers Market. .. . . 18

SEX & HEALTH

REPRODUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

Condoms, menstrual products and most sex toys can’t be recycled, but they can be used and disposed of in environmentally friendly ways. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

SPRING 2017 » VOLUME 10 ISSUE 3

MAKING GAME DAY SUSTAINABLE

Ohio University community members make an effort to lessen the impact sports have on its players, spectators and their shared environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

VOICES

OLD THREAD, NEW STITCHES

Thrift shopping and customizing clothes gives one Backdropper a sense of style and empowerment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

EXHIBIT A A showcase of work by student photographers.. . 44 PHOTO HUNT Spot the five differences between these photos

of a wintery scene at the Athens Hocking Recycling Center.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

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Q&A

NEW CLUBS

Student leaders of Divest Ohio and Eco Reps share how the two sustainability-related clubs sprouted on campus and their goals for the future.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF DIVEST OHIO? For Divest Ohio, our goal is to divest from all fossil fuel companies, starting with the companies mining and burning coal. Our goal [was] to stop the fracking that is happening in Wayne National Forest, and to do that, we have been gathering petitions as well as just raising awareness through posting ourselves up around campus, getting student signatures and informing the public about what is going on.

EDDIE WOLF DIVEST OHIO PRESIDENT FRESHMAN

WHY DO YOU THINK STUDENTS AT OHIO UNIVERSITY SHOULD GET INVOLVED WITH SUSTAINABILITY-RELATED ORGANIZATIONS? It’s a privilege as an American to be able to speak out as an individual and personally fight for what you believe in. I feel that it’s really important that people here in Athens, as well as anywhere, really understand that that’s an important part of [being an American]. As an American, or just as an individual, you have this ability to really make a difference, so why not?

WHAT ARE THE ORGANIZATION’S PLANS FOR THE FUTURE? We definitely just want to build up our club and get more people involved, because right now we have about [10] people. Most are just people in the area who want to help and end our cause, but we would love more student involvement.

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backdrop | Spring 2017

on the

BRICKS

BY MICHAELA FATH I PHOTOS BY AMANDA DAMELIO WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF ECO REPS?

WHY SHOULD OHIO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS GET INVOLVED WITH SUSTAINABILITYRELATED ORGANIZATIONS?

PAUL REED ECO REPS CO-FOUNDER SENIOR

WHAT ARE THE ORGANIZATION’S PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?

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7

THE DROP

LIVING AS

NE

Ohio Ecohouse residents learn how to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle in a hands-on way.

BY LILLI SHER PHOTO BY MADDIE SCHROEDER

B

efore hiking more than a mile to class each morning, junior Kelly Fernandez deposits the waste from her breakfast into the compost bin that sits on her front porch.

Later, Fernandez will roll the bin to the vegetable garden along the side of her house and use the compost as fertilizer. The garden, covered with layers of straw and tarps to protect the plants from harsh weather conditions, currently grows garlic and other plants that can thrive in winter weather.

Although that may seem like an

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backdrop | Spring 2017

unfathomable routine to many Ohio University students, it is common for Fernandez and the other residents of Ohio Ecohouse, located behind The Ridges at 8133 Dairy Lane Road.

Ohio Ecohouse was created by Ohio’s Office of Sustainability to teach college students about sustainable living in a hands-on way. The residents of the house earn one credit hour for living there and taking part in weekly class sessions.

Residents pay the university about $450 per month to live in Ohio Ecohouse.

“It’s an opportunity to learn how to live sustainably ... and see how you can

combine your own interests and live a sustainable life, but specifically for your college years,” Fernandez says.

Although living in Ohio Ecohouse doesn’t drastically change her day-today routine, there are certain things Fernandez must do differently because she lives there.

“You do have to be mindful of the fact that it’s a chemical-free house, so you would take some extra time making your cleaning products,” she says. “You don’t have to, but you can make your own beauty products and figure out better ways to cook things.”

A bulletin board in the kitchen of Ohio Ecohouse displays a variety of recipes for homemade cleaning products, beauty products and dinners made with locally grown ingredients, as well as guides for how to live efficiently.

“For example, you can flush your toilet with a flusher, but we get water from a rain bucket and use that to flush, so a chore is getting the water,” Fernandez says.

The rain collects in a bucket beneath one of Ohio Ecohouse’s two solar panels. Once collected, the water can be quickly thrown into the toilet bowl to trick it into flushing without using additional toilet bowl water.

Ohio Ecohouse residents try to find innovative and eco-friendly ways to go about their lives rather than being mandated to do specific tasks, Fernandez says. They achieve that goal through weekly meetings with Annie Laurie Cadmus, Ohio Ecohouse adviser and director of Sustainability.

“The whole Ecohouse project is to show the campus and community that living sustainably looks like normal living,” Cadmus says.

The class syllabus changes by semester depending on the residents’ interests, Cadmus says. They have covered topics such as water conservation, where natural resources come from and food consumption.

Due to the cold weather, they will likely talk about energy conservation in the winter.

“Because the topic is so giant, we are able to make every year look a little different,” Cadmus says. “Last semester, we spent a lot of time on food; it was a particular interest of the residents.”

During spring semester, Ohio Ecohouse residents teach the students on the sustainable living floor in Luchs Hall about a topic of their choice, Cadmus says.

“We augment [the] program by giving them lessons and combining with sustainable living floor,” Cadmus says. “They led a workshop on living sustainably in an apartment. It’s important in the second semester

when they’re more comfortable with what they’ve learned.”

During their weekly meetings, Ohio Ecohouse residents learn how to make environmentally conscious decisions, such as creating their own natural cleaning products, using the plants in their garden to make medicinal salves and preparing their garden for winter.

The residents also learn how to use the natural resources and appliances in Ohio Ecohouse to better aid the environment.

For example, the shower in the house is equipped with a button that stops water flow but maintains the temperature, so water can be saved when one is shaving or using conditioner, Fernandez says. The water is partially heated by a solar panel located in the side yard of the house.

Whatever can’t be heated by the solar panel is done by a water heater.

Residents may also opt to hang their clothes to dry, use the wood-burning furnace and dry dishes by hand to be more environmentally friendly.

Fernandez says she could never go back to living the way she did before living in Ohio Ecohouse.

“Every house should be an Ecohouse,” she says. “It’s not too much out of anyone’s way to live [like that], coexisting with the Earth.”

Living in Ohio Ecohouse is incredibly different from the conventional college experience. As Fernandez says, “It doesn’t feel like college at all.”

“It really has incorporated the environment into my life on a level I never thought possible,” Fernandez says. “I don’t walk out with headphones anymore; I walk to listen. It definitely has changed my social life a lot. It’s a really good sanctuary before shooting out into the world. It doesn’t exactly isolate you, but it puts your social life in a different spectrum.”

Although she has chosen not to live in Ohio Ecohouse next year, Fernandez is thankful for the time she spent living there.

“It’s a special place for sure,” she says.

“I’ve learned that if you pay attention in nature and just take some more quiet time, it really affects your life.” b

NATURAL CLEANING ALTERNATIVES

ALL-PURPOSE SPRAY: 1/4 cup lemon juice 2 tablespoons white vinegar 10 drops tea tree essential oil 5 drops sweet orange essential oil 2 cups hot water Mix ingredients well. Use a funnel to place in a spray bottle.

Spray onto surfaces and wipe clean with a soft fabric towel.

FLOOR CLEANER: 1/2 cup white vinegar 1/4 cup baking soda 5-10 drops essential oil(s) of choice 1-2 gallons hot water Mix ingredients well. Stir until dissolved. Mop or scrub floors as usual.

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THE DROP

THE ROAD TO

Efficiency

UpGrade Athens promotes electric and hybrid vehicles through a zero-percent loan program and other community initiatives.

BY LANDER ZOOK | PHOTO PROVIDED BY SARAH KAPLAN

A

thens County is in the middle of an upgrade.

A new loan program for electric and hybrid vehicles is steering the community toward sustainability, creating a community of electric vehicle owners and a chance to win millions of dollars.

UpGrade Athens, a project of the environmental resource group UpGrade Ohio, collaborated with the Ohio

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backdrop | Spring 2017

University Credit Union (OUCU) and an anonymous donor to introduce a zerointerest loan for the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles. As of Jan. 1, 44 individuals enrolled in the Electric Vehicle (EV) Loan Program.

The EV Loan Program allows those living or working in Athens County to buy an electric or hybrid vehicle with an interestfree loan through June, or until the funding for the loans runs out. The list of approved

vehicles for the loan is somewhat small, but some of the most popular hybrid and electric vehicles are included, such as the Toyota Prius and Nissan Leaf.

“There was a lot of people interested in an cheap way to get a hybrid or electric vehicle,” UpGrade Athens’ Information and Outreach Director Mathew Roberts says. “There was a donor in the community that really believed this and led the way.”

The loan program is just one of the

initiatives UpGrade Athens introduced in pursuit of the Georgetown University Energy Prize, a nationwide competition to promote environmentally efficient initiatives. Athens County is a semi-finalist in the competition; if it were to win, the county could receive $5 million to help spread environmentally friendly practices and innovations. The winner of the will be announced during the Finalist Selection Stage between January and June.

The impact and motivation behind the zero-interest loan initiative lies in the high price tag of electric vehicles.

Kelly Blue Book prices the 2016 Nissan Leaf, a popular electric car, at the manufacturer's suggested retail price of just under $30,000. Although electric and hybrid cars have a higher initial price tag, they provide economic, as well as environmental, incentives. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates electric vehicle owners spend $1.22 to drive about the same distance a gasoline-fueled car could drive on 1 gallon of gasoline. Due to the ever-fluctuating price of gas, electric vehicles offer more consistent fuel costs.

The city of Athens and Ohio University have helped to promote electric vehicles by installing charging stations in various locations across the area. In one location,

underneath wide solar panels in the parking lot of the Athens Recreational Center on East State Street, several charging ports are available for electric and hybrid vehicle owners. That charging location was built in 2010 through a partnership between the city of Athens, Solarvision LLC and Dovetail Solar of Athens County. Ohio University has also made an effort to accommodate electric vehicles by equipping the parking lot in front of Morton Hall with several charging stations.

The OUCU contributed to the EV Loan Program by providing the support and administration of the loans. The credit union does not receive any government assistance, instead relying on funds from the anonymous donor to bring down the interest rate.

“It’s been raising the awareness of electrical vehicles,” Eva Bloom, OUCU’s membership development specialist, says. “So, it’s helping people that were on the fence about buying a hybrid and gave them an incentive to make the choice.”

In addition to the loan, UpGrade Athens helped to foster a club of electric and hybrid car owners called the EV Cruisers.

Several of the group members purchased vehicles through the zero-interest loan, and the group finds immense pride in the

good its vehicles do for the environment.

The group meets every sixth week and finds a connection in environmentally positive transportation.

“A lot of people around town ask us about our car, too, … [and it] is always exciting to talk about the benefits of a plug-in EV,” Jessica Minor-Baetens, a member of the EV Cruisers, says.

The zero-interest loan initiative is the OUCU’s biggest sustainability project to date, but it’s not the last. The credit union unveiled a solar panel program on Dec. 1 for Athens County residents. The solar panel lending program is adaptable to an individual’s financial need and solar panel project.

“For smaller projects, we have unsecured loans with a discounted rate of 6.99 percent and based on credit,” Bloom says. “And we have a home equity line of credit or loan as they come in larger amounts, but unfortunately come with closing costs, but we are offering $100 off closing costs.”

Above all else, the collaboration between a local community group and a university-affiliated nonprofit institution has paved the way for environmental change. The future of Athens County seems bright and even greener than the rolling hills surrounding it. b

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THE DROP

South Green will become a bit greener in the upcoming years with the construction of new residence halls that meet current LEED standards.

Recycle paper, plastic, cardboard and cans as often as possible.

CLEANING UP

I

n the heart of Appalachia, Ohio University is constantly seeking new ways to preserve the natural beauty that surrounds the 213-yearold campus. One way the university is working to build a more sustainable future is through the construction of new, environmentally friendly residence halls, particularly on South Green.

The Office of Sustainability recognized that older residence halls on campus lack the necessary means to run on minimal energy. To compensate, Ohio made plans to demolish the O’Blenness,

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backdrop | Spring Fall 2016 2017

BY ABBY HARDER INFOGRAPHIC BY JESSICA KOYNOCK

Martzolff and Fenzel residence halls as part of the Ohio University Comprehensive Master Plan. Although the buildings are part of Ohio’s rich history, the new buildings will provide new opportunities for students and will leave a greener pawprint.

The three new residence halls are scheduled to be built between 2019 and 2020. Sam Crowl, the Sustainability Project coordinator for Ohio’s Office of Sustainability, described several features that will be available to future residents such as smart heating and

cooling systems. Instead of changing the settings of individual windowunits throughout the year to adjust to temperature changes, students will be able to call facilities management and ask them to adjust the vents to a more stable and cozy temperature.

Claire Naisby, Ohio's building systems integration manager, says residence halls such as Luchs, Sowle, Carr and Tananka previously participated in efforts to conserve energy.

“From September to November we did the Better Buildings Challenge,

which is an energy saving competition,” Naisby says. “… There was about a 5 to 6 Adjust the temperature in your room instead of using fans. Open percent reduction over there from student engagement, which is really cool to see.” the window if it gets too hot.

All new or renovated campus buildings that cost more than $2 million are required to be built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, and the three new residence halls are no Turn the lights off when you exception. Crowl says to follow those leave the room. standards, the new additions will be more energy-efficient, save 20 percent in water in relation to a building of comparable size and attempt to recycle 80 to 90 percent of the materials on site.

Ohio has already been recognized for its efforts in maintaining a sustainable campus. AEP Ohio, an electric utility and subsidiary of American Electric Power (AEP), acknowledged Ohio last summer for its use of economical and energy efficient equipment, such as pumps and Conserve water in the chillers in Ellis Hall. Naisby mentioned sinks and showers. that along with other achievements the university has under its belt.

“Still getting some money back in the mail from [the AEP] is why we were recognized,” Naisby says. “I would also note our 50 percent from renewables that were purchased for electricity usage. That’s a big leap in our time frame according to our Sustainability Plan that we weren’t planning on reaching until about 2025.

We’re at 50 percent, and it’s 2017.”

The three new additions to South Green will be constructed according to LEED standards. She says the LEED standards, a rating system used to assess the environmental performance of a building, is common among other universities.

“I do support the university doing it and where we are currently because it’s a way we can make sure we’re getting what we want,

“

I think there's a real art between blending facility sustainability questions with this idea of sustainability.

CLAIRE NAISBY OHIO UNIVERSITY BUILDING SYSTEMS INTEGRATION MANAGER

energy efficiency-wise,” Naisby says.

Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones agrees with Naisby about the university’s efforts to improve campus sustainability.

“I love that our campus and community are committed to sustainability,” HallJones says. “I think it is one of the hallmarks of our community, and we should use it more in the recruitment of students who also want to be part of that mission.”

Although construction on the residence halls has not started yet, students can still do their part to help the environment from their current dorms. Crowl says the most impactful thing students can do to help the planet is very simple: be mindful of their behavior. He says residents can turn the lights off when they leave the room, adjust the temperature in their rooms instead of using fans, open windows when it gets too hot, conserve water in the sinks and showers and recycle as much as possible.

“One cool one I like is instead of having a space heater, if you’re sitting at your desk and you’re cold, get a floor mat and put your feet on top of a heating pad,” Naisby says. “[Or not] drying your clothes versus putting them on a clothes hanger.”

Residence halls are not the only way to make a difference. The Office of Sustainability is always open to students’ feedback on how to make the campus more environmentally friendly. Naisby spends a lot of time speaking with students' and developing solutions to their requests.

“I think there’s a real art between blending facility sustainability questions with the idea of sustainability,” she says. “I try really hard when students reach out to me to try to educate them because I know when I saw it as a student and what I felt like when I got to the other side. … I do want to help; I really do care about it.” b

Green your commute: Bike or walk instead of driving.

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INFOGRAPHIC

Change is in the Air Data shows an ongoing increase in local and global temperature.

A.

BY MARIE CHAILOSKY ILLUSTRATIONS BY EMILY CARUSO

HUMAN-ENHANCED GREENHOUSE EFFECT

C. B.

B. Some energy is absorbed and heats the Earth and some reflects back into space. Naturally, about 30 percent of that energy passes back through the atmosphere, but increased levels of greenhouse gases caused by human activities traps the energy in the troposphere.

C. The trapped energy warms the Earth's surface and the troposphere, causing them to warm above normal temperature. Then, the stratosphere cools to compensate for increased temperatures.

STR ATOSPHERE TROPOSPHERE

A. Solar radiation reaches the Earth's atmosphere.

Sources: Weather Underground, Australian Department of the Environment and Energy.

1.5 F INCREASE

IN GLOBAL AND MIDWEST ANNUAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURES FROM 1895-2012

EFFECTS ON THE MIDWEST

Sources: U.S. Global Change Research Program

THE ECOSYSTEM

HEALTH RISKS

There are many threats to native species in the Midwest, including temperature change, increased invasive species and land-use change. The diversity of the Earth’s natural ecosystem is at risk, and forests are the most endangered. The good news is Midwestern forests are less likely to experience that transition as there is a lesser chance of forest fires, high moisture availability and greater nitrogen deposition, which acts as a fertilizer.

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backdrop | Spring 2017

During the past six decades, the amount of heat waves in the Midwest has increased. During a heat wave, there is a 4 percent higher chance of death than in non-heat wave periods. In the Midwest, more than 20 million people have experienced air quality that doesn’t meet national ambient air quality standards.

That increased pollen and pollution, in addition to heat waves, is harmful to human health.

WHAT’S TO COME MIDWEST ANALYSIS

Temperatures in the Midwest until the middle of the century (2046-2065) are projected to increase by 3.8 F if humans substantially reduce emissions, but it can increase by as much as a 4.9 F if they don’t. By the end of the century (2081-2100), it’s projected that the temperature could increase 5.6 F if emissions are reduced and 8.5 F if they aren’t.

GLOBAL ANALYSIS

Even if all human emissions stopped, in the next few decades, the temperature could still increase by 0.5 F. Similar to the projections in the Midwest, there are different projections as to what the increase in the middle and end of the century would be based on humans reducing emissions. If emissions are reduced, the global temperature could increase by a little less than 4 F by mid-century. However, that number could almost double and be close to 8 F if the same amount of gasses are still emitted.

CO2 EMISSIONS WERE 250 PARTS PER MILLION (PPM) IN 1800

CO2 CO2

CO2 EMISSIONS WERE 400 PPM IN 1800

GLOBAL EFFECTS THE ECOSYSTEM

Since the 1980s, the frost-free season has been gradually increasing in length. From 1991-2011, the frost-free season was 10 days longer than it had been during 1901-1960. A longer frost-free season translates to a longer growing season, which increases forest productivity, which, in turn, increases CO2 uptake. The frost-free season is projected to increase more.

Increases of a month or greater are expected.

HEALTH RISKS

The key element of climate change that negatively affects human health is frequent, intense and longer-lasting heat waves, which increase the chance of droughts and wildfires. By the year 2050, 1,000-4,300 premature deaths are projected to occur due to combined ozone and particle health effects. The prevalence of asthma has increased from 7.3 percent in 2001 to 8.4 percent in 2010.

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FOOD

SERVING THEIR

BY MICHELLE JACOBSON PHOTOS BY MAX CATALANO

RESPONSIBILITY Athens business owners incorporate local ingredients, solar power and reusable kitchenware in an effort to invest in the community.

F

or many business owners in the Athens area, working in the food industry offers an opportunity to make an impact on the community with every dish they serve.

Local chefs are increasingly buying food products with a sustainable conscience, and businesses such as Crumbs Bakery, 9 Tables and The Farmacy play key roles in the effort to drive the community toward an environmentally sound future.

BAKING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

A cookie is not always just a cookie.

When the ingredients that make up the sweet treat include locally sourced products such as eggs, flour and sugar, a new level of quality is established. That's the type of product Jeremy Bowman, one of the owners of Crumbs Bakery, takes pride in providing to customers.

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backdrop | Spring 2017

At Crumbs Bakery, located at 94 Columbus Road, workers use their craftsmanship to create a wide range of baked goods made with healthy and wholesome ingredients. The business makes 50 different products, including whole-grain breads, dry pasta, granola cereals, cookies and other pastries, which are sold to various vendors throughout Ohio.

“We want to make a healthy product, and customers appreciate that," Bowman says. "People who are buying our products want to see a healthy world.”

In 1986, the bakery established a new business model that includes building and maintaining partnerships with other local companies. Now, Crumbs Bakery has relationships with other businesses including Restaurant Salaam, The Farmacy and Donkey Coffee. It also connects with the Albany Cafe and Bexley Natural Market

Co-op in the Columbus area, as well as Phoenix Earth Co-op in Toledo, Ohio.

“There is a higher level of satisfaction when you are able to work in collaboration,” Bowman says. “I can see the value in being able to support your actual neighbor.”

The owners of Crumbs Bakery also put thought and effort into how they store their wholesome products. The bakery provides its newer items with longer shelf lives, such as flatbreads and whole-grain crackers, to grocery stores. A longer shelf life means the company offers the buyer a longer time to sell the item and reduces the amount of wasted products.

According to Bowman, another part of the bakery’s sustainability efforts focuses on empowerment. As a company open to employee input, the bakery takes workers’ attitudes and feedback into account

and employees have an equal effect on the stride for change. By encouraging collaboration between the bakery’s workers and partners, the businesses establish a level of respect for one another.

"It’s a way to set the bar and the standard higher," Bowman says. "A quality product sets yourself apart from others."

COMMITMENT TO THE COMMUNITY

Along the rooftop of 9 Tables lies an addition that’s making a greener impact on the community. Bill Justice, chef and owner of the fine dining restaurant, installed solar panels last year to generate power in a more sustainable way. 9 Tables was the first business in Eclipse Company Town to invest in solar power.

“We go out of our way to support locals," Justice says. "As a part of our mission, we do everything we can to be a good community member."

Since January 2015, 9 Tables has generated almost 2,000 kilowatts of power through the solar panels. Its partnership with Third Sun Solar has resulted in the restaurant saving 33 percent on electric over the past year. The solar panels only generate the necessary amount of electricity to run the 9 Tables, and the unused power is sent back to the electric company.

The restaurant’s commitment to sustainability is also reflected into the food products made and served at 9 Tables. Justice says 100 percent of the funds allocated for ingredients and food products are spent locally. As a community member, Justice believes he has a responsibility to help other local businesses. All of the products Justice uses, including cleaning supplies, produce and other food products, come from local companies. Each season, when new vendors become available, Justice does what he can to develop a partnership so the two businesses can thrive off one another. Some of the local companies Justice partners with include the Athens Farmers Market, Athens OWN and Seaman’s Cardinal Super Market.

“I like to follow the Robin Hood theory and do our part to make sure that money stays here and is going to those who need it,” Justice says. “That’s how we have always done business and is how we will continue to grow.”

is to conduct business today without negatively affecting the environment tomorrow. Tidd incorporates sustainability efforts into almost every aspect of his natural foods store. From using paper made from sugar cane to utilizing compostable silverware and reusable bags to selling locally grown products, The Farmacy’s business model invests in the community.

At The Farmacy, customers can purchase all-natural and organic foods that are locally sourced. Tidd created a biodynamic networking system for his supply sources, and he works with local vendors across Ohio to follow the cycle of available, seasonal produce. Tidd says that cycle is important because individuals need to be aware of which foods are most readily available during the different seasons so they can ingest more nutrients and waste less food.

“Anything from salsa to soap, you name it, and we have it out there and it’s locally sourced,” Tidd says. “That’s again, the whole biodynamic thing. It’s a self-supporting network, and that’s fundamentally what it’s all about.”

As a supplier of organic products,

“

Tidd stands by the notion that the benefit of organic products is being able to put life back into food. In contrast to using fertilizers on produce, which causes oil and petroleum to run off into streams, organic farming is about growing produce at the right time and in the right place.

“I personally feel like organic could possibly save the future of farming,” Tidd says, “which is the ultimate, sustainable thing to do, which is to keep that going, keep that soil enriched, keep things going organically.”

In order to continue sustainability efforts, Tidd says it’s all about creating a dialogue within the local food community. If individuals want to do their part for the environment, it’s as simple as using reusable bags. By supporting local businesses, community members invest money back into the area and are helping to make Athens a more sustainable place to shop, eat, and live.

“We are all in this boat together, and we really have to look out for each other,” Tidd says. “Like a catch phrase from back in the ’90s, the key is to think globally, but act locally.” b

I personally feel like organic could possibly save the future of farming.”

KEVIN TIDD OWNER OF THE FARMACY

BUILDING A NETWORK FOR CHANGE

For Kevin Tidd, owner of The Farmacy, the premise of sustainability efforts

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RECIPE

FARMERS MARKET

TO TABLE

Check out Backdrop’s farm-fresh recipes before making a shopping list for your trip to the Athens Farmers Market.

BY JULIE CIOTOLA | PHOTOS BY NATASHA RINGNALDA

BREAKFAST:

Power Toast This toast is a sweet and filling way to start the morning. Plus, the bananas are heart-healthy and provide a significant serving of fiber.

Ingredients: 2 slices honey whole-wheat oatmeal bread, Dale’s Creations raspberry fruit butter, 1 banana, Casa Nueva granola Directions: Toast the slices of bread as desired.

Next, spread the fruit butter on each piece.

Then, thinly slice the banana. Place banana slices on top and sprinkle toast with granola.

S

upporting local businesses is a simple and effective way to sustain Athens’ economy.

The Athens Farmers Market provides residents with the opportunity to sample a variety of produce, meat and baked goods and meet the faces behind their favorite local products.

The market is open Saturdays yearround and at least one additional weekday, depending on the season.

The vast selection allows customers to get creative and combine ingredients to form original dishes.

DINNER:

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes These potatoes are warm, packed with flavor and perfect for a cozy evening away from the cold.

Ingredients: 2 Arnold Farms sweet potatoes, 1 cup Cherry Orchard red grapes, 2 ounces Integration Acres goat cheese, 1 tablespoon Sarah’s Sweets/ Tucker Farms honey, 1/2 teaspoon high heat oil, 1 pinch cinnamon, Salt and ground black pepper Directions: Preheat oven to 350 F. Poke holes in each sweet potato, then individually wrap in aluminum foil.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until potato is tender. When finished, unwrap and slice open. Let them sit and cool.

Increase oven temperature to 450 F. Place grapes on ungreased baking sheet and drizzle with oil, salt and pepper. Cook for 20 minutes, or until they begin to burst. Remove and set aside.

Scoop out sweet potato f lesh into a bowl. Mix in 1 ounce of goat cheese, honey and a touch of cinnamon. Stir, adding additional honey, salt and pepper to taste. Then, scoop filling back into potato skin. Top with grapes, remaining goat cheese and honey. Place back in the oven for a few minutes to warm up, then serve.

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FEATURE

WHAT THE

FRACK

20

Athens-based environmental groups push back against fracking and injection wells in southeast Ohio. backdrop | Spring 2017

BY ADAM MCCONVILLE ILLUSTRATIONS BY EMILY CARUSO

O

n Dec. 13, the auction began.

Nineteen parcels of land in Wayne National Forest were leased to the highest bidder for development of oil and natural gas wells. From an initial starting price of $2 per acre, some bids climbed to over $5,800 per acre. By the sale’s end, six drilling companies won the rights to extract resources from the leased lands. In total, the companies spent $1.7 million, with the top bidder spending more than $900,000 for 11 parcels.

For Heather Cantino, a member of the Athens County Fracking Action Network (ACFAN), the day was ordinary.

She had been sending studies about fracking — once 24 emails in one night — to Kathleen Atkinson, the Eastern Region regional forester, in the hope that she would pull the parcels.

“By then, we had done all we could,” Cantino says. “It's like Election Day, you know; you've done all you can.”

SHAKING THINGS UP

The auction marked the end of a sixyear effort for activists in Athens County, who since 2011, have resisted attempts by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to lease land in Ohio’s only national forest for hydraulic fracturing.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a method of oil and natural gas extraction.

Drillers inject fluid into a well at very high pressure, which causes the surrounding rock to crack and allows oil and natural gas to escape into the well.

Cantino has been through several waves of environmental issues in Athens County.

In spring 2011, she learned about fracking through her involvement with the Buckeye Forest Council and her own research on the effects of fracking, injection wells and pipelines. She and other activists worked to educate private landowners about the effects of leasing their land for fracking.

In November 2011, the BLM decided to auction off 3,000 acres of Wayne National Forest land in Athens, Gallia and Perry counties. The auction was set to take place in December 2012.

“We learned about a threat to the Wayne with potential leasing — there were parcels

actually in the Athens district of the Wayne that were slated for auction,” Cantino says.

“And in the process of organizing in our community to get them to stop, ACFAN was born.”

Protests poured in from all sides. The Athens City Council, the Athens County Commissioners and Ohio University President Roderick McDavis, on behalf of Ohio University, all wrote letters to the BLM to express concern over potential unknown effects from fracking.

Almost a full year before the auction in November 2011, the Forest Service requested that the BLM pull the parcels from the auction. Anne Carey, who was the Wayne National Forest supervisor at the time, announced that the Forest Service would review the Forest Plan to make sure it thoroughly covered the new technology.

“Conditions have changed since the 2006 Forest Plan was developed,” Carey says in a 2011 press release that discussed the review of the Forest Plan. “The technology used in the Utica & Marcellus Shale formations need to be studied to see if potential effects to the surface are significantly different than those identified in the Forest Plan.”

BACK ON THE AUCTION BLOCK

In 2015, the BLM announced it was considering the lands for auction once again; it had reviewed the Forest Plan and found it sufficient. The public got a chance to express their opinions and learn more about the auction during three meetings held in Marietta, Athens and Ironton counties. The Athens County meeting was held in November 2015.

Between the end of April and the end of May 2016, the BLM opened its draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and unsigned Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for public comment. Both documents assess the potential environmental consequences of leasing the area. A public review period followed this process to identify additional issues or introduce new information for consideration.

The Final EA and signed FONSI accompanied the announcement of the auction on Oct. 14. initiating another 30-day

FRACKING IN WAYNE NATIONAL FOREST The Wayne National Forest covers more than a quarter million acres of Appalachia. The forest is divided into three areas near Nelsonville, Marietta and Ironton.

CLEVELAND

COLUMBUS

ATHENS CINCINNATI

WAYNE NATIONAL FOREST

FRACKING RISKS DRINKING WATER

EARTHQUAKES CO

2

AIR EMISSIONS Sources: Plain Dealer, USDA

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21

HOW HYDRAULIC FRACTURING WORKS Hydraulic fracturing, also know as fracking, is the production of fractures in rock formations in the earth using pressurised fluid, typically done to extract natural gases.

Aquifer

HORIZONTAL DRILLING

1.

2.

Well is drilled horizontally for 914-1,524 meters

Production casing is inserted into well, then coated with cement

3.

Cemented well casing protects aquifer

Remaining wastewater is brought to the surface and put in plasticlined pit

“Kick-off� point Once shale layer is reached, well is drilled horizontally at an arc Approximately 2,400 meters from surface

4.

Mixture of water, sand and chemicals is pumped into the well at 15,000 liters per minute

Charges are sent through perforating gun, then blast holes into shale

5.

Fluid creates small cracks in the shale that free gas and allow it to leak to the surface

Gas Fractures

Illustration not to scale Sources: National Geographic, Chesapeake Energy, EIA, USGS

22

backdrop | Spring 2017

protest period. The BLM allowed citizens to protest the inclusion of specific parcels at the auction. A Change.org petition against the auction reached 92,000 signatures by the Nov. 14 cutoff for public comments, and as of Jan. 25, the petition has surpassed 100,000 signatures. Although the BLM rejected all protests, it pulled 16 of the original 33 parcels due to questions of land ownership and existing mineral rights.

The four companies that bought the majority of leasing rights in the forest have headquarters out of state: Eclipse Resources, Flat Rock Development, PetroGas Co. and Gulfport Energy Corporation.

Whether additional lands will be auctioned in the Athens and Ironton forest districts is uncertain. The BLM website reports the BLM received formal expressions of interest for lands in the other two sections of Wayne National Forest. According to a webpage for the Athens Unit, last updated in January 2016, the BLM is considering leasing approximately 3,150 acres, some of which will be in Athens County.

The page projects that an initial Environmental Assessment will take place during the 2017 fiscal year, but a spokeswoman for the BLM says the process has been delayed and no longer has an official schedule.

THE RIGHT TO LEGISLATE

to put the matter into the hands of the Athens citizens.

In 2013, the ABORC attempted to introduce a ballot measure that would ban fracking within a 20-mile radius of the city of Athens. The Athens County Board of Elections (BoE) ultimately removed the measure because it exceeded the city’s jurisdiction.

The ABORC followed up in 2014 with another initiative banning fracking only within the city limits. That measure successfully passed with 78 percent of voters voting for the measure.

“

Bringing the issue back to Athens would present its own challenges.

In the time between the failed listing in 2011 and the 2016 auction, a group known as the Athens Bill of Rights Committee (ABORC) pushed for anti-fracking efforts at both the city and county levels.

Dick McGinn, a former associate professor of linguistics at Ohio, founded the group in 2012. Its mission is to push back against fracking and injection wells from a legislative perspective, engaging in “municipal civil disobedience.”

“We may pass an ordinance that goes against state law, for example,” McGinn says. “Well, we'll just go ahead and do that anyway. That's our strategy.”

McGinn worked overseas in southeast Asia, where he saw firsthand what he refers to as “exploitation of the environment” by governments and large companies. In Athens, fracking struck him as a similar issue and he became involved in local anti-fracking efforts.

Upon facing reluctance from the Athens City Council to pass legislation banning fracking within the city limits in 2011 and 2012, McGinn formed the ABORC

You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow, you know. We’re in the fight.”

Dick McGinn Founder of Athens County Bill of Rights Committee (ACBORC)

The following year, the ABORC changed its name to reflect its new, broader mission.

The new Athens County Bill of Rights Committee (ACBORC) wanted to establish a charter, a document similar to a constitution for local government, in Athens County. It collaborated with the Ohio Community Rights Network, which works toward similar charter legislation in counties throughout Ohio.

The charter would enact home-rule, which would allow the county broader power to effectively ban injection wells by targeting the water used in the fracking. According to the charter, corporations and government could not “deposit, store, treat, inject, dispose of, transport or process” any water or chemical mixture related to fracking.

Although the ACBORC collected enough signatures to have its initiative on the November 2015 ballot, the Athens County BoE denied the measure. That led to a

lengthy court battle that wound its way up to the Ohio Supreme Court, which culminated in the measure not being put on the ballot. Even after revisions, the charter proposed in 2016 was also knocked down by the BoE and the secretary of state.

Given that the BoE, the secretary of state and the Ohio Supreme Court all cited different reasons in their denials of the charter, McGinn believes the government is willing to say anything to prevent the charter from going on the ballot.

“They can say that the charter's invalid because it does not include a recipe for lasagna. I mean, they could say that,” he says.

“That would stop it! And we'd have to appeal it in court. And of course, they're right; it doesn't! But the question is who would ever want to have that in a charter?”

RAISING THE CALL

Despite the setbacks with the charter initiative, McGinn and the ACBORC are taking time to regroup and decide their next move.

“You never know what's going to happen tomorrow, you know. We're in the fight,” he says. “So, let's say we're running a 10mile marathon here and we're at the sixth mile. … We're still in the race.”

He hopes the election of President Donald Trump will bring people to his cause, as calls and petitions to the White House may no longer be an effective strategy.

“It's way too early to call success or failure, because right now, you’ve got a new president,” he says. “You know that changes a lot of people's thinking about the importance of local action, rather than trying to beg the government do something.”

Cantino and ACFAN plan to follow a similar strategy based on continuing education about fracking’s effects and mobilizing the resentment growing on social media.

“I think the Wayne, the FONSI really woke up a lot of the people through social media about the threat, and I think we will build on that growing awareness,” she says. “... [And] I think there's a lot of activism that will build, that is building, based on people coming together at Standing Rock.”

And ACFAN is gearing up for a new charge, as well. On Jan. 13, the BLM announced a new auction, Scheduled for March 23, for an additional 21 plots of land in the Marietta district of Wayne National Forest, launching a new 30-day protest period for the approximately 1,186 acres of land. Seven days later, ACFAN raised a new call to action, ready and willing to take up the fight again. b

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23

FEATURE

TO MAKE A

24

backdrop | Spring Fall 2016 2017

Mechanical engineering students collaborate with the farmers at Green Edge Gardens to develop more efficient ways to perform daily tasks.

I

BY CHEYENNE BUCKINGHAM | PHOTOS BY SARAH WILLIAMS

t’s 8 a.m. at Green Edge Gardens in Amesville, Ohio, and a cloud of fog lingers just above the top of 10 greenhouses.

The sound of farmer Kip Rondy’s boots sinking into the damp, gravel-laden Earth complements the gentle pitter patter of raindrops hitting the tops of the greenhouses. He approaches a slightly smaller greenhouse full of miniature — yet stunningly vibrant — green plants. With his slick ponytail bunched at the nape of his neck, Rondy opens the door, picks up his scissors and begins to cut each row of greens by hand.

Such a meticulous task requires three to four hours of continuous work, but he and his coworkers harvest each individual microgreen with scissors until there are none left in the trays. The farmers at Green Edge Gardens need a device that chops the greens faster and in a safer manner so they can expedite the distribution of their product to local stores and businesses in both Athens and Columbus, Ohio.

At the beginning of fall semester, Rondy met with students in the Ohio University Russ College of Engineering and Technology and asked them to make a tool that would cut the microgreens for him so he wouldn’t have to cut each bunch by hand. For the past decade, Ohio seniors in the mechanical engineering capstone design course have been constructing a variety of machines and tools that assist farmers, local business owners and community members with disabilities.

Greg Kremer, professor of the capstone design course, teaches the yearlong, four-credit-hour

class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Kremer emphasizes that the final project is more than just the last checkpoint before graduation. The capstone class is referred to as “Designing to Make a Difference” for good reason.

“It pulls together, in a way, everything that they’ve been learning and also serves [as] a bridge or transition from being a student to being an engineer,” Kremer says.

Each group consists of five seniors who band together to work on a project. Kremer says the students begin the course by meeting with about 20 potential customers during the first week of fall semester. Customers pitch their ideas during a panel-like event, and the students identify which projects they wish to work on. Once the teams are assigned projects, they start a sequence of conversations with their customers, drawing and redrawing sketches of their ideas and testing those solutions through copious rounds of trial and error.

Kremer has been teaching the capstone course since 1999, but 2007 marked the inception of the “Designing to Make a Difference” community engagement theme. Collectively, the seniors create 10 to 15 projects per year. In the 2016-17 academic year, there are 14 projects being developed for local businesses, farmers and people with physical disabilities, but next year Kremer speculates there will be even more because of the influx of students coming through.

“We have an opportunity to test and give feedback to the teams in a real-world setting, whether or not what they think in their head is actually going to be

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25

transitioned into a working product and into a real [thing],” Kremer says.

Group No. 5 in this year’s capstone course consists of Mitchel Gearhart, Connor Kirchens, Shawn Ogaz, Amy Anderson and Nathan Jenkins, and together, they have been creating a tool for Green Edge Gardens that will cut the microgreens from the soil in a growing tray at a much more efficient pace.

Microgreens are edible, immature greens that are harvested within less than a month after germination. They are harvested when they reach a height of 2 inches tall, and they are chock-full of nutrients.

The team chose Rondy’s project to help the 67-year-old farmer and his employees harvest and package the microgreens for sale. The solution will also make the process easier on the farmers’ bodies.

“As time goes on, it’s creating ergonomic issues,” Ogaz says. “So, our goal is to create a prototype, a tool, a process [and] do what we can as engineers to modify his process that will help him and ease the ergonomic pressure on his body.”

Ogaz says Rondy’s biggest issue is the amount of stress the harvesting process puts on the body, especially the wear and tear caused by cutting each tray by hand. To put that into perspective, Rondy cultivates between 150 and 300 trays worth of microgreens per harvest, which happens twice a week.

Fortunately, that is not the first project the engineering school has designed to reduce the amount of physical labor needed to maintain the gardens. The college’s first project with Green Edge Gardens, in the 2011-12 academic year, dealt with creating a device that would enable Rondy to cover and uncover the plants in his greenhouses. The goal was to make the process doable by one person, rather than having to gather several workers to help throw the cover over the metal stakes above each plant.

The work that team executed was further tweaked by Rondy and the farm workers, which resulted in the system that is still used in the gardens today. In the 2013-14 academic year, team Raising the Bar took on a related challenge of improving the means of temperature control within the greenhouse.

“One of the goals was to have a side of

26

backdrop | Spring 2017

How the Harvesting Tool Works ILLUSTRATION BY NATASHA RINGNALDA

GREENS ARE CORRALLED

BY THE METAL RODS. THE RODS PROVIDE STRUCTURE FOR THE BLADE TO CUT THE GREENS

1

THE DEVICE IS PULLED TOGETHER FROM BOTH SIDES

BLADE 2

THE BLADE IS INSERTED BETWEEN THE ROWS OF METAL RODS

the greenhouse that would raise and lower with the touch of a button,” Kremer says. “Rather than individually rolling up each panel, it would be much quicker.”

Raising the Bar installed a temperature regulation system in one of Rondy’s greenhouses. Now, one side of the greenhouse can be raised from the bottom and, ultimately, regulate the inside temperature so the plants don’t freeze during the winter. The motor-operated version ended up being too expensive for Rondy to maintain, but luckily, the engineering team made him a handle that he can crank to lower and raise the bottom half of the wall of the greenhouse.

The ability to assess how well one year’s project functions to find ways to improve upon it with a fresh set of minds is one of the beauties of the partnership. The work is truly never done, and the mechanical engineering students are dedicated to helping customers in the community get the best products possible. Kremer says the engineers are a vital asset to farmers, such as the ones at Green Edge Gardens, simply because they are able to apply their technical and analytical skills to the fields.

“What’s really important is the sense of community that Dr. Kremer’s been developing, and it’s this relationship that’s so often not there between the community and the university,” Rondy says.

Green Edge Gardens also holds a number of workshops and training sessions for local farmers, which means the products made by the students will be shared with other farmers in the community.

“It won’t go up on a shelf,” Kremer says.

“It’s not just for a grade, it will be put to practice somewhere.”

Successful products made by Kremer’s students also have the potential to be patented, commercialized and sold in a larger market. That could serve as a gateway for the seniors to start their own businesses and, potentially, manufacture many more of a given product.

Team member Kirchens says when Group No. 5 started working on the microgreens project, it devoted the entire fall semester to testing out a few potential design concepts. During spring semester, the team is pursuing a new idea that is based on some of those initial designs.

The team decided the final product will not be any bigger than a 2-by-1 rectangle, and it will be mobile so it can be placed inside each tray and chop the greens accordingly in one motion, essentially an arm extension. The fixture will be made of stainless steel due to food safety regulations, and the bottom edge of the cutting plane will be between 3/8 and 3/4 inches above the top plane of soil. The team is also in the process of finding a way for the device to still require some manual operation from Rondy and his staff.

“Another goal of ours is to keep it manual, so he can keep having people working with the greens and be directly involved, because he thinks that’s important for people and it matters to him, so we’re really incorporating that in our idea,” Kirchens says.

Team member Jenkins is confident the project will meet Rondy’s needs.

When they first met with Rondy, he had a list of requirements the prospective design had to meet, including how many trays to cut per hour, how much force is required for the user input and the amount of effort needed to clean and repair the device. The team is currently finding ways to reduce the upkeep of the design, and ultimately, keep the cost low for Rondy to manufacture additional units.

Rondy's opinion and revisions are al-

ways taken into careful consideration.

By May, he will have the finished product and, as a result, will be able to retire a considerable amount from the upkeep the microgreens require.

“The biggest challenge is trying to pick the right size and scope of project that a student can be successful with,” Kremer says. “It should be challenging, but it shouldn’t be something that is infeasible or going to be difficult in terms of resources.”

Team member Anderson chose to dedicate her senior year to the project because she thought it would be one of the simpler ones to make, and she thought Rondy was a good guy. Kirchens says the project is only made out of five pieces, but the concept of the device is hard to grasp and it’s testing the team in ways the team members have not encountered in any of their prior engineering projects.

“This has been interesting from an engineering standpoint because as engineers, we tend to quantify everything.

Usually, we can validate it with numbers, physics and information,” Ogaz says.

“This particular issue has been more trial and error; we can apply a little bit of analytical mathematics to it but not a lot. … Quantifying the actual project or validating it using our engineering techniques that we’ve learned throughout school has been a challenge.”

Overall, the team members have been eager to take on the challenge and give back to the community through their work.

“We’ve obviously been here for a while, so we’d like to help out a local business,” team member Gearhart says. “That’s a big part of Athens, and if we could find a good way to give back, we figured it’d be a good senior design project for us.”

Rondy is looking forward to having future teams help him at Green Edge Gardens, and it means a lot to him to know the energy-saving devices are coming from Ohio students.

“If you can get this industry, this little section, a little more secure, a little more profitable, that has a ripple effect in the community,” Rondy says. “We can hire more people; we can pay them more money. I think that’s the real thing, because we’re actually building the Athens community through these programs.” b

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27

Reproduce, REUSE, RECYCLE

BY ALEXANDRA GREENBERG | PHOTOS BY AMANDA DAMELIO

From properly disposing of condoms to choosing reusable menstrual products, people can take care of both themselves and the environment.

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backdrop | Spring 2017

C

ondoms, menstrual products, sex toys and other personal care goods generally have two possible life paths. The products are purchased, used and eventually disposed of. But it’s how they’re disposed of that determines which path they take.

It’s impossible not to see the signs. They take up almost every convenient wall space in residence hall bathrooms. “Do not flush condoms or menstrual products down the toilet. Dispose of them in the trash.” Some may take heed of the warning and dispose of the waste properly. Others may not, and that’s where the cycle gets complicated.

1

2

1. CONDOMS $4.95 / Pack of 3 thisisl.com

2. MENSTRUAL SEA SPONGE

$21.50 / Set of 5

poseidonsponge.com

3. CLOTH PAD

4

3

$12.49

gladrags.com

4. DIVA CUP

$39.99

CVS

*PRICES DO NOT INCLUDE TAX OR SHIPPING COSTS

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CALENDAR THE PROCESS

If a used condom is tied off, wrapped up in tissue and put in the trash, it will eventually be picked up by waste management. Then, it is sorted and sent to a local landfill. But Kate Blyth, student coordinator for Zero Waste at Ohio University, says small pieces of plastic and foil, including tampon applicators and condom wrappers, could be left behind because the facility processes so much waste.

“They’re very, very small, and those kind of things tend to fall through the cracks, literally, the cracks of a recycling system,” Blyth says.

That may delay the process, but it continues once the non-recyclable waste reaches the landfill. Landfills regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency are required to be built away from “faults, wetlands, floodplains or other restricted areas” and have a composite liner on the bottom and sides to prevent waste from contaminating groundwater and soil.

“Any water that is exposed from our trash immediately runs down into tanks, so none of the actual trash water is entered into the environment at all,” Athens-Hocking Reclamation Center employee Ethan Nye says. “And then any runoff water we do have from ground water is constantly tested.”

The waste is covered by soil, and the landfill is eventually closed off and won’t cause much harm to the environment. But if someone decides to flush a condom instead, its life path is drastically altered.

If the waste doesn’t make it into the main sewage line, Associate Director of Health Promotion Terry Koons says it could endanger those in the area.

“If it comes back up [the toilet], you could expose people, especially in a residence hall, to biohazardous materials,” he says.

Even if something is supposedly flushable, Voinovich School Environmental Specialist Nicole Kirchner says it may not decompose at a rate that’s fast enough to

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backdrop | Spring 2017

avoid clogging up a system once it reaches the main sewage line.

“Tampons and other personal items that are flushable, including for children, can end up clogging different filters in water treatment plants,” she says. “So, they actually become quite a nuisance.”

If the waste makes it through the pipes and filters in the water treatment plant, Loraine McCosker, a research associate in the Voinovich School and Environmental Studies outreach coordinator, says the waste could continue on and affect the world.

“It will go into the water system, and it goes to the sewage treatment plant and can eventually end up in rivers and the ocean,” she says. “So right now, there’s a huge issue with plastics in the ocean.”

The Ocean Conservancy, an organization that removes waste from oceans, collected 632,412 condoms and 599,355 tampons and tampon applicators from ocean waters during International Coastal Cleanups from 1985 to 2010, according to its 2011 report. Used condoms and tampons contain bacteria and other contaminants that are hazardous to the health of both humans and animals.

Pads and tampons aren’t necessarily great for one’s health while they’re in use, either.

According to Lunette, a company that makes menstrual cups, tampon fibers can be left behind after removal, and pads can cause bacteria growth and yeast infections.

But what if there was a third path for hazardous personal care waste? What if condoms, wrappers and menstrual products were recyclable and those products were readily available to consumers? Some companies, individuals and researchers are trying to figure out how to do that.

CONDOMS

Male and female condoms aren’t recyclable; they can’t be used again and shouldn’t be placed in a recycling bin.

Some, such as condoms made of lambskin, are biodegradable and will break down quickly over time. More common condom materials such as latex and polyurethane are not as quick to decompose in a landfill, especially if they were used

with certain lubricants and spermicides.

Although Koons says thinking about protecting the environment is important, choosing not to use protection to be more environmentally conscious isn’t a good health choice.

“I [or the Latex League] would never tell somebody, ‘Don’t use a latex condom to prevent hurting the Earth’ when you might put yourself at risk for sexually transmitted infections or HIV,” he says.

The Latex League, a student group supervised by Koons that educates students about safe sex, provides free female condoms; latex and nonlatex condoms, dental dams and latex gloves are provided at cost.

Koons says the group has considered offering more environmentally friendly options, but it feels the best way to promote safer sex to college students is to provide protection at a low cost.

Condoms and menstrual product wrappers have the potential to be recyclable and better for the environment, but those environmentally friendly options aren’t as cheap or accessible to students as those offered by the Latex League.

L., a San Francisco-based company that provides personal products, prints instructions in vegetable ink on the recycled paper packaging to make it easier to recycle. Its condoms are also vegan and made without harsh chemicals, making them an eco-friendly — and pricier — choice. A pack of three is sold for $4.95 and a pack of six is $7.95, which doesn’t include shipping costs.

MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS

Although menstrual products such as tampons and pads can’t be recycled, there are other available options that don’t result in 7 billion plastic tampon applicators ending up in landfills each year, as they do now, according to Thinx, a company that creates no-leak period underwear. McCosker says women can use small cloths and rinse them out each day, but she admits “not everyone wants to walk around with a cloth between their legs” and recommends the Diva Cup, menstrual sponges or cloth pads, such as Glad Rags.

A Diva Cup collects menstrual fluid and is emptied a few times throughout the

because of the stigma of having to handle one’s own menstrual blood.

“Menstruation has a long history of being hushed, of not being discussed, and sustainable products require maintenance that forces one to think about menstruation, and, quite simply, to touch it,” she says.

day. Both it and menstrual sponges can be reused for a few years and are available online and in certain stores, such as CVS, Walgreens and Target, but they In terms of sex toys, it would seem alaren’t as easily found on Ohio’s campus most obvious that those can’t — or maybe as tampons and pads. shouldn’t — be recycled, but a company Both CVS stores in Athens occa- in the U.K. found a way to do it. sionally carry Diva Cups, but they’re Lovehoney, through its Rabbit Amstocked in very low quantities com- nesty program, accepts domestically pared to the number of pads and tam- shipped vibrators and removes the pons found on the shelves. Other al- circuit boards and batteries. Those are ternative products, including Thinx’s sent to a smelting company and turned period underwear and reusable tam- into sheet steel, which could “become pon applicators (coming in March), anything from a kettle to a reinforced are available online, but groups such steel joint to a cruise ship,” according as The Period Project are working to to Lovehoney’s website. Unrecyclable make those products more accessible rubber and plastic parts are sent to a to students. power station to become fuel for generThe Period Project, an organization on ating electricity. campus that aims to donate feminine No U.S. rival — or environmental ally care products to those in need, is taking — exists yet, but Koons says something strides to increase students’ knowledge of such as that could be a possibility at Ohio. and proximity to alternative menstrual But for now, he and the Latex League products. Lydia Ramlo became the Pe- teach students about the importance of riod Project’s sustainability chair in 2016 taking care of sex toys they already own and hopes to provide alternative options through sex toy parties and the Safe and to students and others who can’t afford Sexy Social the group hosts. expensive menstrual products.

“In our program, we always make sure “The first step is to get this awareness go- we tell people how to clean sex toys ing around, provide information about safely so they can use it again. It’s not how to insert, clean it and everything,” like you’d just use it once and get rid of she says. “... I’m hoping maybe in the fol- it,” Koons says. “So, it’s something you lowing years, we can start donating prod- could keep for a long time.” ucts and hopefully donating to students Kirchner says people have the option and the LGBT center and everything. So, to make choices that are better for the it’s a step-by-step process.” planet, from making currently owned Often, alternative options to traditional products last longer to properly disposmenstrual products have to be purchased ing of ones that can no longer be used. online, which requires that students can "Individuals can make a huge differafford to pay a higher price — plus ship- ence,” Kirchner says. “So, whether you ping costs — up front. But Geneva Murray, choose to recycle or compost or buy or director of the Women’s Center, says some use things that are recyclable or can be may be hesitant to use cups and sponges repurposed, it makes a difference.” b

SEX TOYS

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31

PHOTOSTORY

Rooted in

Community

BY AMANDA DAMELIO

C

urrents, a community based in Glouster, Ohio, was formed in the late 1970s as an outgrowth of a regional food co-op network. The community lifestyle is unique compared to that of the average Ohioan. With a total population of 16 people, the members of the Currents community work together in forms of non-violent social activism to spread the message of

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backdrop | Spring Fall 2016 2017

“Earth Justice,” and the need to commit to a sustainable lifestyle.

The land is owned by all of the members of the community, and all decisions are made as a collective group. They are currently working on growing more food, developing a more conscious relationship with their land and exploring the potential of renewable energy and homebased economic enterprises.

“Living sustainably means living within one’s means and setting up one’s surroundings in a way that one is self-reliant enough to be able to endure economic, social and climatic shifts,” community member Laura Hazelbaker says. “I do feel that we need to evolve our current individualistic ways of being in western society, as our luxurious lifestyles are sucking the life out of the planet.” b

Rebecca Dale, Eddie Kruse, Bob Henninge, Anne Farbman, Marty Zinn and Harry Coffey work together to cover the hoop house for the winter. Because southeast Ohio has rather harsh winter weather, they must work to insulate their plants in any way that they can.

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33

RIGHT

Billie Dyer's skills include sewing, knitting and hand spinning. Dyer’s ultimate goal is to give back to the community by teaching those skills to the local youth. “It all started with zombie apocalypse movies where everyone just had matted, terrible clothing and I thought, ‘Did everyone just forget how to sew?’ ” she says. “If some cataclysm happens and I’m still alive, I want to know that I can take care of myself.”

BELOW

The original home was remodeled into a two-story house. The second floor is used to house temporary guests, and the bottom floor is used as a community center where members gather for monthly meetings and potlucks.

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backdrop | Spring 2017

ABOVE Once a month, members and friends join for a potluck-style meal in the community center. The potlucks are a time to catch up, meet new people and attract potential new members.

LEFT Early on, the group lived collectively in two houses on the property, and the remaining land was untouched. “We were like close-in family,” Zinn says.

Slowly, each of the members began building their own family homes. These archival photos sit on Pete Hill and Zinn’s home refrigerator.

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35

CALENDAR

ON THE

S K C I BR Check out these events happening around Athens this spring.

BY BAILEY FINK

Dwight Icenhower at Stuart’s Opera House | Saturday, February 25 No, it’s not the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. “Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist” Dwight Icenhower, however, will be jailhouse rocking Stuart’s Opera House and invites all old souls to join him. So, if you’re a big fan of The King and “Hound Dog” makes you dance like it’s 1956, then boogie-woogie on over to Nelsonville, Ohio, for this one-night event.

Women’s Basketball vs. Miami | Saturday, February 25 The women’s basketball team will face off against its ultimate rival: Miami University. Last year, the Bobcats beat the RedHawks 77-58, and Miami is out for revenge. The game begins at 2 p.m., so come out to support Ohio or just to hate on Miami. (We won’t judge.)

Rent | Tuesday, March 28 Calling all theater fanatics (and their friends who will undoubtedly be roped into going). It’s the 20th anniversary of the Broadway hit Rent. This rock musical follows seven friends living in New York during the AIDS epidemic of the late 1980s, and you can bob along to classics such as “Seasons of Love” and “Light My Candle.” There is “no day, but today” to get tickets, but seriously, reserve seats before the show sells out.

Lit Fest | Spring Literary Festival | April 5-7 Five esteemed authors will be on campus for the Spring Literary Festival. The three-day festival, sponsored by Ohio’s creative writing program and Alden Library, will host authors Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, Mary Cappello, Gerald Early, Tom Sleigh and Colm Tóibín. They will be lecturing and reading various pieces of work that will be available to purchase throughout the program. This event has to be good; it has “lit” in the name.

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backdrop | Spring 2017

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37

ENTERTAINMENT

Green A

SCREEN

The Athena Cinema shows free documentaries to promote awareness and conversations about environmental issues.

“

BY HALEY RISCHAR | PHOTOS BY AMANDA DAMELIO

A

s the theater lights dim and the screen illuminates, the Athena Cinema’s Sustainability Series begins to unfold. For the past four years, the biannual series hosted by Athens’ beloved local theater has inspired viewers to consider solutions to environmental issues and challenges.

Twice a year, the Athena screens six films focused on the broad topic of environmental issues, known as the Sustainability Series. The spring series runs from Feb. 27 to April 19, with a screening at 7 p.m. every other Friday. Each film is only shown for one night with free admission.

“The ultimate goal of the series is to fulfill our wider mission here at the Athena, which is to educate, entertain and engage,” Athena Cinema Director Alexandra Kamody says. “We want people to see a movie and engage on a different level than just a passive viewing experience.”

The Sustainability Series began in 2013 and stemmed from a University College project called the Common Experience Project on Sustainability. Environmental Studies Outreach Coordinator Loraine McCosker and University Librarian Lorraine Wochna choose the films shown each semester. The duo researches popular films from different environmental film festivals and collects information about newer releases from regional and national distributors. Then, the university purchases

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backdrop | Spring 2017

the films and allows the theater to show newly released content in the Sustainability Series.

McCosker also attended the 2015 American Conservation Film Festival for ideas about possible documentaries to show in the series.

McCosker and Wochna discuss their ideas with Kamody to create a wellcomposed lineup of films.

“There are so many great films out there right now; it’s amazing,” McCosker says.

“I mean, we could show films all day long, and we wouldn’t run out of them.”

McCosker says she chooses movies that are interesting, gender-balanced and show issues that occur globally.

“There is a sort of formula,” McCosker says. “We like to show films that are engaging, not too long and that are also just beautifully filmed.”

There is a panel discussion following each movie screening. The panel consists of a faculty member, a student and a community member who review the topics examined in the film. “[The panel discussions] really bring an educational aspect to the screenings,” Kamody says. “It gives people a chance to decompress afterward and talk about ideas and ways to work on solutions.”

McCosker looks for people who have environmental knowledge when choosing panel members. She will also

The ultimate goal of the series is to fulfill our wider mission here at the Athena, which is to educate, entertain and engage.”

Alexandra Kamody Athena Cinema Director

refer to professors with an interest in the film’s topic for recommendations of students to include on the panels.

The series also invites several guest speakers to accompany the screenings.

During the fall series, filmmaker Laura Kissel appeared alongside her film “Cotton Road,” which is a documentary that follows the global supply chain of cotton from South Carolina farms to Chinese factories.

Attendance at the Sustainability Series continues to grow, and brings in larger crowds every semester. Attendance rates have ranged from 400 to 700 total guests for each series, and many screenings hit the theater’s capacity of 200 seats.

“I think [free attendance] helps a lot,” Kamody says. “Professors can send students for extra credit, and some community members come to keep aware on environmental issues and see cool new documentaries for free.”

Kamody says some events garner more attention than others, and she notes that food-related topics often bring the highest turnouts.

“Athens is kind of a foodie town,” Kamody says. “There’s a lot of interest in locally sourced food.”

Fracking-related documentaries have also brought large audiences to the Athena in past series due to local interest in the topic. McCosker says she wants the series to engage students in discussions about globally relevant topics.

“The goal is to educate students about the environment and to provide resources for them,” she says. “[We want] to expand the understanding about sustainability and environmental issues, … challenges and solutions.”

Megan Popke, a senior and Athena employee, says the program sheds light on topics that need to be brought to the forefront of local discussion.

“It’s just a really cool program we do to get people coming into the theater and experiencing the history of the theater itself,” Popke says, “then also being able to learn about topics that aren’t really talked about.”

For Wochna, the most exciting aspect of the series is when students learn something new from the one of the documentaries shown in the series.

“It is all worth it if just one student will say, ‘I never knew any of this. … I had no idea’ ” she says. b

SPRING FILM

Sustainability Series The spring series screens documentaries every other Friday at 7 p.m. Each film is only shown for one night with free admission.

Sonic Sea February 22 Pangolin February 22 Monarchs: The Milkweed Mission February 22 The Hand That Feeds March 15 Landfill Harmonic March 29 Catching the Sun April 12 The Messenger April 19

39

SPORTS

MAKING GAME DAY

Sustainable

I

t’s game day. Fans prepare themselves with hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and a few cases of their favorite beer. Meanwhile, their team is suiting up, blaring music and preparing to leave it all on the field.

Fans might bring jackets to stay warm and athletes might wear ankle braces to protect themselves from injury, but do the spectators or the competitors stop to consider the quality of the air they breathe during the game? Or what kinds of chemicals were used to clean the bleachers in the stadium? According to Michael Pfahl, they should.

“While people typically do not at-

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backdrop | Spring 2017

tend sporting events for a science lesson, sport has shown itself to be an important platform to discuss, to embody and to reflect societal issues,” Pfahl, associate professor in Ohio University’s Department of Sports Administration, says. “Our relationship with the natural environment is shown clearly in the sports we play and watch.”

For more than five years, Pfahl has been studying the impact sports have on players, spectators and their shared environment. He currently works with a group of fellow researchers from around the world who study how strategic planning of environmental strategy and

BY BRIANA EKANEM PHOTOS BY JILLY BURNS

implementation of tactics to achieve environmental goals impact the fans and their behavior, both at the sporting events and in their personal lives.

“It was a simple matter for me to see the power and impact sport of all types has on people and to make the link with environmental issues,” Pfahl says.

According to the nonprofit organization Green Sports Alliance, nearly 400 sports teams and venues from 15 different sports leagues and 14 countries are making an effort to promote healthy and sustainable communities where they practice and play. Those efforts include advocating for energy and water

efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable food, responsible procurement and socially responsible practices.

“At the intercollegiate level, we see a wide variety of actions being taken,” Pfahl says. “… We see recycling efforts leading the implementation efforts, which can be seen here at Ohio with its strong recycling program for the university itself and its athletics events.”

In 2015, Ohio was one of the national winners of the GameDay Recycling Challenge, a waste reduction and recycling competition held every fall between 99 colleges and universities. Ohio won the diversion rate category with a diversion rate of nearly 96 percent, a measurement of recycling and organics recovery as a percentage of total trash. Ohio Athletics, The Marching 110, Ohio football fans, The Appalachia Ohio Zero Waste Initiative, local Boy Scouts and student volunteers made the national recognition possible.

“Ohio was able to successfully divert more waste than other institutions by significantly increasing the number and type of bins at the football tailgates and game,” Kate Blyth, a student Zero Waste coordinator with the Ohio Zero Waste Initiative at the Vonovich School, says. “This

included adding compost to nearly all the ‘Zero Waste Stations’ that had previously only had recycling and landfill bins.”

Blyth, a former student of Pfahl’s and a senior studying environmental geography, was involved in the planning and preparation of the 2015 GameDay Recycling Challenge. Blyth has worked with departments and event planners to improve waste management for other Ohio University events. Collaborating with Campus Recycling and the Office of Sustainability, the Zero Waste Initiative is a campus-wide project that aims to expand sustainability at the university, including Ohio Athletics.

“Further integrating the infrastructure necessary to successfully divert waste, including compost and recycling receptacles, along with implementing the labor necessary to service and maintain them successfully, will be key as we work to move the Ohio Athletic facilities to zero waste venues,” Blyth says.

Ohio is not alone in its sustainable efforts. According to a 2013 survey from the Green Sports Alliance, at least 216 collegiate sport departments have installed recycling infrastructures throughout their sports facilities. Efforts include building bike racks to pro-

mote bicycle commuting, upgrading to energy-efficient lighting, using environmentally friendly cleaning products and conducting energy audits of their sports facilities in search of more energy-efficient opportunities.

Just an hour or so up the road, Ohio State University is home to one of the most successful stadium recycling and composting programs in the country. The Buckeyes successfully implemented the “zero waste” program, a campus initiative to engage the university community in greening efforts at Ohio Stadium. OSU produced its highest diversion rate of 98.2 percent during its game against Illinois on Nov. 3, 2012, and had a season diversion rate of 87.2 percent that year The Green Sports Alliance’s study on OSU's zero-waste program cited multiple successful initiatives such as focusing on partnerships, fostering communication among stakeholders, building projects over time and maximizing resources, all of which are important steps that can be taken to make Ohio’s athletic programs and facilities more environmentally friendly.

“There are many groups on campus who would benefit from engaging with these efforts, so increasing our communications and involvement with these groups is necessary,” Blyth says.

“As our program grows and demand increases, we continually look for opportunities to expand our services with student engagement.”

Ohio Athletics has undergone several sustainability efforts throughout the years, including the switch to a mixed recycling system throughout the city and the campus. That switch, which allows plastic, paper, cardboard, aluminum and glass to all be thrown into the same recycling bin, is believed to have improved overall institutional recycling rates by more than 10 percent, Blyth says. Although the program has made improvements, there are plans to continue implementing new sustainable efforts.

“Experience, education and understanding of environmental issues leads to options for action, which leads, hopefully, to well-thought-out planning for short and long-term sustainable sustainability,” Pfahl says. “… At the end of the day, though, the environment is an issue without a finish line.” b

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41

VOICES

OLD THRE AD,

NEW STITCHES One Backdrop staffer creates her own sense of style by shopping at secondhand stores and altering her clothes.

BY EMMA JENKINS | PHOTOS BY CHRISTIAN GOODE

F

ast fashion is all the hype.

But there’s a way around it.

When I was young, my mom shopped at thrift stores for my clothes and would sometimes make things for special occasions. To refresh my memory on all of that, I called her to ask a few questions about an outfit I remember wearing to my fourth-grade school play. I had one solo part and a trio with my friends Josie and Kelly.

I remember Josie and Kelly bought matching dresses at some retail store.

They were black and white with sparkles.

I didn’t have that kind of money to fork over for a one-night outfit, so instead, my mom took me to Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store and we picked out a shiny, gold fabric. She sewed it together to make a beautiful floor-length dress and a matching scarf. I’m not sure what I thought of it then or if I argued with my mom about not being able to buy the same dress as my friends, but looking

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backdrop | Spring 2017

back, that picture is a perfect representation of who I am today.

My mom says she shopped secondhand for my brother and me simply because it was cheaper. That included shopping at yard sales, thrift stores, etc. Sometimes she would take me with her, and I would play in the toy section while she picked out clothes for me. She says I was too young to know where we were shopping, but there was a time when I refused to step foot into a thrift store with her.

I assume I was in my too-good-for-everything junior high phase, embarrassed at the idea of shopping at a secondhand store. Now, I think that’s ridiculous, but I understand why I felt that way at the time. In middle school, there was a huge emphasis on wearing name-brand clothing and having an abundance of money to spend on material things. It felt necessary to have those things to fit in.

I think my mindset began to change when I attended YMCA Camp Ernst,

a summer resident camp in Burlington, Kentucky. At camp, it seemed as though everyone wore clothes that were considered unusual. I remember my counselors wearing bright purple, metallic shorts and oversized shirts with random patterns, and they would absolutely own it. They were confident in those clothes, which made me feel like I could be, too.

When I became a counselor, that attire became common for me. During our free time, the other counselors and I would drive to the nearby Goodwill to find outfits for the weekly camp parties. It’s a tradition for counselors of each age unit to dress according to the week’s theme, some of which were ’80s workout, denim, Christmas and monochromatic.

Dressing up for the parties allowed me to see the roles in reverse. I became the counselor I used to look up to. I wore khaki overalls, Hawaiian shirts and denim dresses, and I didn’t giving a second thought to how I looked. I was the one

telling my campers that I bought those items at a thrift store, and I was able to see their reactions of both shock and enjoyment. Typical responses were, “That’s so cool!” or they would ask if I could find something for them to wear. It was a great feeling to see the same kids return the following summer with thrift store items they picked out for the week. Secondhand clothes and thrift store outfits became the trend at Camp Ernst.

Over time, buying secondhand clothes became part of my regular routine. I started going thrifting by myself, looking up and down every aisle for any item that caught my attention, and I began wearing those clothes outside of camp, too. After getting into the habit, I took it a step further and began to buy things from the thrift store as projects for myself. I would buy something simply because I liked the pattern or because I thought it would look better on me if it were altered. So I began to cut, tie and shape my own items.

College was a great atmosphere for me to explore that hobby even more. Although I have a part-time job, I rarely have enough money to splurge on expensive clothing. One of my favorite pieces is a light wash denim skirt that I bought from Uptown Costumes on Court Street. It was originally ankle-length, but it fit my waist perfectly, so I spent an afternoon cutting it down to a length and design that I liked. It cost me $6, but the same skirt online probably would have been at least $60.

I still shop at thrift stores when I’m in need of a new article of clothing or searching for another creative project.

Goodwill and New-to-You are two of my favorite thrift stores in Athens. They have racks and racks of clothes, and you can find some really eccentric pieces mixed in. It’s also fun to look at the shelves of houseware. I’ve found printed vases, cups, sculptures, framed artwork and many other things. It just makes sense to me. Why blow a large amount of money on something that I could find for a fraction of the price?

And it’s not just about the money.

Shopping at thrift stores and crafting my own clothing allows me to develop an independent sense of style, cultivate my creativity and, ultimately, strengthen my overall self-confidence. b

“

Shopping at thrift stores and crafting my own clothing allows me to develop an independent sense of style, cultivate my creativity and, ultimately, strengthen my overall self-confidence.”

EMMA JENKINS

EXHIBIT A

Exhibit A. Passion Works Studio is a volunteerbased organization that provides a creative space for disabled artists.

PHOTOS BY MAX CATALANO

RIGHT

Passion Works Studio showcases its passion flowers, the official flower of Athens. Each flower is handpainted by local Athens artists and made of recycled aluminum and newspaper printing plates.

ABOVE

An artist puts the finishing touches on his painting.

LEFT

A volunteer works on his guitar.

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backdrop | Spring 2017

PHOTO HUNT

PHOTO HUNT Spot the five differences between these photos of a wintery scene at the Athens Hocking Recycling Center.

PHOTO BY AMANDA DAMELIO

ORIGINAL

1 2 3 4 5 www.backdropmagazine.com

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NATURAL FOODS! HOURS Mon-Sat 9:00am-6:00pm Sun Noon-5pm DELI HOURS: M-SAT Breakfast 9:00-10:30AM Lunch:11:00-3:00PM

VISIT 28 West Stimson Ave. Athens, OH 45701 CALL: (740) 593-7007

38 South Court St. 740-594-4475 www.brenens.com

Stop in for Delicious Varieties in coffees and Espresso Drinks Paired with a made-fromscratch baked goods Or Visit our Deli for all Your Lunch Needs.

Sandwiches, Soups, Salads and more!

Check out our NEW meal plan option!

“An Athens Tradition For Over 20 Years!”

FOLLOW US!

CELEBRATING 21 YEARS IN ATHENS, OHIO

46

68 N. Court Street Athens, OH 45701 • (740) 593 - 5155 importhouses.com

f

How can the Alumni Association

help you NOW? THE OHIO UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION helps students make the most of their college experience and stay connected with OHIO after they graduate.

BB T O

BobcaThon is a dance marathon on campus to raise awareness and funds for seriously ill children and their families staying at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio.

BobcaThon culminates in a 12 hour Dance Marathon in February.

You can sign up to be a dancer or volunteer today! www.bobcathon.com

STUDENT ALUMNI BOARD (SAB) SAB is a professional organization that strives to connect students to the University and Bobcat alumni through exciting programs and initiatives. SAB has passionate, creative, and hardworking undergraduates who make a difference on campus. Look out for Homecoming Events including the Yell Like Hell Pep Rally. More information can be found at www.ohiosab.com

QUESTIONS? Contact Katrina Heilmeier at heilmeik@ohio.edu or 740.597.1216

OHIO

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

POWER HOUR 8-9PM EVERYDAY $2 CRAFT PINTS

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@jackieosbrewery backdrop | Spring 2017