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LETTER EDITOR from the
Jumping across tidepools, gently touching the jelly-like tentacles of sea anemones, studying the small fish that darted nervously through the pool of glassy water — this is how my childhood was spent. Being the product of a marine biologist and a scuba training executive I was taught at a young age to respect the natural world that surrounds us, so for me sustainability is inherent. Moving to college I realized that it is not commonplace to compost, or even recycle, which became apparent to me when my roomates kept putting trash in the recycling bin I provided for the apartment. That first year was when I realized that raising awareness for sustainability really is needed, as things I thought of as normal were completely foreign to my peers. I appreciate and recognize all that CSUN is doing to be a eco-conscious campus, but there is still so much more that can be done. My first major story at The Sundial was “Beyond the Bin,” which looked at where CSUN’s recycling ends up, allowing me to see firsthand how what some may think of as “saving the planet” is really just driven by capitalist gains. After walking the streets of Pacoima and smelling the toxic fumes wafting from auto body shops to take photos for an article in this week’s print, I realized that sustainability is so much more than just an environmental issue; it’s also a social issue affecting communities who cannot afford to defend themselves from the health issues associated with this injustice. Continuing to learn more through courses at CSUN, watching the political endeavours of fellow activists and listening to scientists’ predictions of reversing climate change creep ever closer to today’s date, I started to lose hope. How can an issue that will majorly and negatively impact society, the environment, the economy, public health, you name it, be not just ignored but demoralized by the leaders of our country? It’s infuriating. But what I realized is that these people will not always be in power, as my generation and the ones after me will eventually replace them and their policies.
SUNDIAL STAFF Editor-in-Chief
Managing Visual Editor Joshua Pacheco photo@csun.edu News Editor Gillian Moran-Perez city@csun.edu Assistant News Editor Kimberly Silverio-Bautista city@csun.edu Chief Copy Editor Ivey Mellem copydesk@sundial.csun.edu Copy Editors Munina Lam Sarah Shabbar copydesk@sundial.csun.edu A&E Editor Ivan Salinas ane@csun.edu Assistant A&E Editors Kayla Fernandez Deja Magee Moss ane@csun.edu Opinion Editor Raychel Stewart opinion@csun.edu Sports Editor Bryanna Winner sports_sundial@csun.edu Assistant Sports Editor Andres Soto sports_sundial@csun.edu Photo Editor Logan Bik photo@csun.edu Social Media Manager Natalie Fina sundialsocialmedia@sundial.csun.edu Graphic Designers Ewan McNeil Elaine Sanders Illustrator Joelena Despard
We are the ones that will strike the change and turn the tide. Do not lose hope, for there is always good out there no matter how hard it is to see. Keep fighting, my friends, in whatever way you can. This issue starts with our cover story about an artist and environmentalist who is using his creative focus to create solutions to help the environmental crisis (pages 8-9). We take a look into how menstrual products affect the environment and what we can do to change that (page 4), and highlight five important people in the sustainability community on campus (pages 10-11). We have an interview with Pacoima Beautiful, an organization that fights against environmental racism in the north Valley community (page 14) and a CSUN professor teaches us how to make fashion more sustainable (page 6). Thank you,
Madison Parsley editor@csun.edu
Audio Editor Pejvauk Shahamat sundialpodcast@gmail.com Video Editors Andrea Esparza Elaine Sanders Assistant Video Editor Brendan Reed-Crabb Web Developer Rugved Saurabh Darwhekar online@csun.edu Sales Representatives Pathik Patel Kelly Salvador Olivia Vakayil Estefano Vasquez Arlene Yeghiayan
Elaine Sanders Graphic Designer and Video Editor
Sales Support HaoWen Hsueh
CONTENTS
“Three Documentaries on the Environment” Page 7 “Pacoima Beautiful” Page 14 “Revisiting the CSUN Bus Fleet” Page 15
Kayla Fernandez
Gillian Moran-Perez
Benjamin Verheiden
Check out these documentaries about climate change available on Netflix and Hulu.
How a community fights against environmental racism in their neighborhoods.
A bus fleet proposal to meet CSUN’s sustainability goals.
Distribution Lead Brendan Reed-Crabb Distribution Nicole Benda Emilio Bravo Publisher Arvli Ward arvli.ward@csun.edu General Manager Jody Holcomb jody.doyle@csun.edu Business Manager Sandra Tan sandra.tan@csun.edu
Published weekly by the Department of Journalism at California State University, Northridge Manzanita Hall 140 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge, CA 91330-8258 News - 818-677-2915 | Advertising - 818-677-2998
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Regenerating Environmental Beauty by Ivan Salinas
Cover portrait of Miles Lewis by Logan Bik
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Because of high production costs, members of the CSUN community are permitted one copy per issue. Where available, additional copies may be purchased with prior approval for 50 cents each by contacting The Sundial business office. Newspaper theft is a crime. Those who violate the single copy rule may be subject to civil and criminal prosecution and/or subject to university discipline.
CITY@CSUN.EDU
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT at a glance
By Gillian Moran-Perez
TOP SUSTAINABLE BRANDS
CSUN STATISTICS CSUN tied in 4th place nationally in the area of Water Conservation
& Placed 5th as an Overall Performer as a Master’s Institution for the LEED Platinum Sustainability Center, the first in the CSU System
256.19
TREES SAVED
121,785.87
PLASTIC POLLUTION
135.45
1) An estimated five trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year. 400 million tons of plastics are produced globally every year.
GALLONS OF GASOLINE SAVED
RESIDENTS/HOMES POWERED
213.01
2) Globally only 9% of plastic ever produced has been recycled, whilst 79% can now be found in landfills, dumps or the environment and 12% has been incinerated.
VEHICLES REMOVED FROM THE ROAD
ENERGY CONSUMPTION 2015 vs. 2018
3) In 2015, almost 50% of the plastic waste generated globally was single-use packaging.
200 200
4) If continued at the same rate, the plastic industry will account for 20% of the world’s total oil consumption by 2050.
150 150
181
119.35
100 100
TRANSPORTATION TO CSUN 1.2
CO2 EMISSIONS: STUDENTS
CO2 EMISSIONS 2015 vs. 2018
1.0
50000 50000
0.8
40000 40000
0.6
30000 30000
0.4
20000 20000
0.2
10000 10000
0.0
2015
2010
50 50
2015
2018
The overall carbon footprint increased from 44,519 tonnes in 2015 to 46,199 tonnes in 2018 due to the growth of the student body by
00
2018
00
46199
44519
2015
17%
2018
CO2 EMISSIONS 2015
50000 50000
Students, faculty and staff commute weekly an average of
4.7 miles 2010
2.5 2.0
2010
2015
2018
2010
2015 2.0
1.5
1.5
1.0
1.0
0.5
0.5
0.0
2010
SUNDIAL
2015
40000 40000
2015
2018
2010
TOTAL CO2 EMISSIONS: STUDENTS, 2.5 STAFF & FACULTY
CO2 EMISSIONS: FACULTY
2018
0.0
OCTOBER 9 - 15, 2019
46199
44519
2015
2018
30000 30000
2010
2015
2018
2010
20
2015
2018
20000 20000 10000 10000
2010
2015
2018
00
2015
2018
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A BLOODY GOOD TIME: Discussing Menstrual Sustainability
Scientists found feminine hygiene products are the largest contributor to global warming, but we can change that. By Rayleen Silva / Illustration by Joelena Despard An assessment done by the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm found that the largest contributor to global warming is the plastic used in tampons and pads, but CSUN is seeking a solution. The bloody flyer, which is suggestive of a menstruating vagina, took weeks to be approved. The CSUN Institute for Sustainability and the Women’s Research and Resource Center are working together to start an initiative to end the stigma surrounding menstruation. Their bloody flyer, which intended to publicize the initiative, was deemed a bad marketing strategy. “We in the U.S. have no problem with gore and blood and films that are just dripping and oozing with disgusting things all over the place, and then we go and pay money to get scared by everything for the whole month of October,” said Shira Brown, director of the WRRC. “The second we attach blood to women all of a sudden, we’re disgusted by it. We don’t want to talk about it. We’re embarrassed.” Brown and the CSUN Institute for Sustainability want to end the stigma surrounding menstruation, so people can openly discuss all sides of it — like the environmental impact. Part of the initiative is an event in the Univer-
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sity Student Union Grand Salon on Nov. 5, where the WRRC and the Institute for Sustainability will be handing out free menstrual cups, showing a documentary and having a discussion panel. “We’re trying to promote reducing the stigma around menstruation as well as the opportunities for reusable menstrual products,” said Sarah Johnson, CSUN Sustainability Program Analyst. According to WebMD, menstrual cups have a lower risk of bacterial infection than tampons. Johnson also feels that menstrual cups are the healthier alternative because they have fewer chemicals, and Brown states that some menstrual cups can last between 10-12 years. According to Bustle, an estimated 45 billion period-related products are thrown in the garbage every year. Many of these plastic packaged products, like pads and tampons, can take centuries to break down, according to a blog post from Harvard Business School Digital Initiative. The blog post also believes the taboo surrounding menstruation has stunted the growth of new menstrual products. “None of this ‘Aunt Flow came to visit me this month.’ Use the language,” said Brown. “Just have an open, honest and stigma-free conversation.” As part of the initiative, the WRRC and Institute for Sustainability have been working with an art class that will be doing art installations around
campus to raise awareness for the effort. Leading up to the event, they will also be doing a social media campaign and have tabling opportunities where students can learn about what’s to come. On the day of the event, they will be showing the documentary “Period. End of Sentence.” by The Pad Project. Afterwards, there will be a six person panel discussion, including someone from The Pad Project, discussing the different sides of menstruation. Students will be asked to take a quiz that will help people find their best menstrual cup match, and which of the two sizes handed out at the event is their best option. However, Brown says the food and toilet pantry she runs will still have pads and tampons because she recognizes some may not want to try menstrual cups yet. “We want to just make everything available and make sure everyone has all the information so they can make an informed decision,” Brown said.
CITY@CSUN.EDU
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5
HOW TO BE A
sustainable FASHIONISTA
CSUN Family and Consumer Science Professor Tracie Tung is on a mission, like the rest of the Fashion Design faculty and students, to make fashion more sustainable for the environment and having fun while doing it.
By Deja Magee / Illustration by Joelena Despard CSUN family and consumer science professor Tracie Tung is on a mission, like the rest of the fashion design faculty and students, to make fashion more sustainable for the environment and having fun while doing it. In today’s age of being environmentally conscious and acting as in-depth environmental consumers, many are doing their best to combat the global destruction that climate change has caused. One big contributor to the climate change crisis has been fashion; in this case, it would be the category of “fast fashion.” Fast fashion is one of the leading factors in pollution, with clothing stores constantly releasing new products. According to earth.com, “The fast fashion trend produces the same amount of carbon emissions every two minutes as would be produced by a car driving around the world six times. Everything from sourcing materials to producing collections to selling to washing and throwing away clothes produces emissions and impacts the environment.” Brands like Forever21 and Fashion Nova are leading to pollution with fast fashion. Sustainability is a huge issue at CSUN in the family and consumer science
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major. This department houses the fashion majors and anything adjacent to the subject, and is set up in Sequoia Hall. Professor Tracie Tung is one of the many professors in the department that cares deeply about the carbon footprint that we all leave when we buy clothes from the plethora of fast fashion stores that we walk into daily. Last semester Tung had a workshop that emphasized the necessity of being mindful when it came to how we shop. The workshop was titled “Make Compassion Your Fashion” and, as the flyer said, “There’s a new generation of clothing and accessory designers and manufacturers who are stitching sustainability into everything they do.” “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines sustainability as ‘the ability to maintain or improve standards of living without damaging or depleting natural resources for present and future generations.’ The fashion industry exhibits a complicated value chain. From fiber production, fabrication, finishing, retailing, to consumers. It is the second most polluting industry after oil,” Tung said to explain how she got into the forward-thinking community of sustainable fashion. “The more I learned about the fashion industry, the more I realized the dark side of the industry. The development of many sectors in the fashion industry has been depleting not only our planet but also people. Thus, as an educator, it is important for me to bring the awareness to consumers and students who will be the future leaders of the industry.” When discussing tips for being fashionably sustainable, Tung breaks it down into eight simple steps: 1. Reduce consumption and buy fewer and higher quality items (purchase classic styles). 2. Consider buying the item if you’ll wear it more or less than 30 times. 3. Break the cycle: Slow fashion movement — slow down your fashion cycle. 4. Spread your money: Support companies
who are working in different ways for a more sustainable and transparent fashion industry. 5. Detox your wardrobe: Choose natural and biodegradable materials (i.e. cotton, hemp, wool, silk, flax). 6. Care for your clothes (i.e. following the care instructions, washing jeans less frequently, etc.). 7. Repairing and/or altering clothes (i.e. upcycling). 8. Sharing fashions (i.e. clothes swap, clothes rental). Professor Tung also explains the difference between the fast fashion manufacturing process versus other’s processes: “(The) apparel manufacturing process consists of several stages from market research/trend analysis, design development, style selection, marketing apparel line, preproduction, sourcing, apparel production, quality assurance, to distribution/retailing. In the past, the product development calendar is about four to 12 months. However, fast fashion retailers have shortened the production cycle to four to 12 weeks.” Just from that reduction from months to weeks shows that fast fashion is extremely detrimental to the environment due to the harsh time crunch they put on their production process. Lastly, Professor Tung spoke on the social equity in terms of how to maintain a sustainable lifestyle overall. “Fast fashion retailers accelerate the fashion cycle as new fashions are introduced on a weekly basis,” she said. “Clothes become much more affordable and accessible. Currently, we are facing not only problems emerging in the manufacturing process, but also issues related to the consumers, such as over-consumption and textile waste. 13 million tons of garments are tossed every year. It’s equivalent to 200 T-shirts per person in the U.S.; 85% of garment and textile waste goes to landfills ... To maintain a sustainable lifestyle, product developers should design products with their death in mind (how we can repair, reuse, and recycle the products). Also, we need to encourage people to take actions and to become sustainable consumers.”
CITY@CSUN.EDU
Food Choices (2016) Available on Hulu
Cowspiracy (2014) Available on Netflix
Filmmakers Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn embark on a journey reflecting on what we eat and how it affects our ecosystem. What you can learn from this film is that animal agriculture is the biggest factor in deforestation and water consumption and contamination. What we eat is the reason why greenhouse gas emissions are increasing. According to “Cowspiracy,” though we might not realize it, the clock is counting down on the time we have left to save the planet, and our eating habits need to change soon.
“Food Choices” is a documentary from Michal Siewierski that analyzes the foods that determine our health and the overall wellbeing of our planet. The film discusses the most suitable diet for humans and debunks clichés and myths about living a plant-based life. Overall it helps you stay educated on how to make substantial food choices and how to incorporate them into your everyday life.
Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)
Available on Amazon Prime Director Michael Moore tackles the political side of global warming in this documentary. Focusing on the Trump administration, he puts a lot of blame on the president’s actions, but it also slams the American government for letting big businesses and corporations take over with free reign. The citizens of America have very little control when it comes to businesses burning fossil fuels, and Moore argues that we are losing American ideals, and it’s time to gain back human decency.
3 DOCUMENTARIES ON THE ENVIRONMENT TO WATCH ONLINE
By Kayla Fernandez In any form of media, you are bound to come across the troubling topic that is climate change. For decades humans have drastically impacted the environment by overpopulation and continuously burning fossil fuels and deforestation. As ice caps melt and temperatures continue to rise, it’s crucial to educate yourself on how to help the planet for it is important to provide a healthy future for the generations to come. Here are three documentaries that are beneficial to help improve the catastrophic decisions humans have made in the past.
See more on the Sundial website.
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SUNDIAL
OCTOBER 9 - 15, 2019
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Miles Lewis’ easel where he is working on sketches of the human form.
Lewis created this comic-book style pamphlet in support of Loraine Lundquist’s campaign running for LA City Council District 12. It was mailed to around 50,000 homes.
Lewis poses in front of his easel inside his studio, Valley Art Workshop, which is located in Woodland Hills.
On the back cover of the mailer, Lewis also included more members of District 12 and Lundquist supporters as superheroes, “for having the courage to create a better world.”
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Lewis’ work is dominated by strong outlines influenced mainly by expressionism and Art Noveau.
CITY@CSUN.EDU
REGENERATING ENVIRONMENTAL BEAUTY
Meet Miles Lewis, art educator and environmentalist in the San Fernando Valley. by Ivan Salinas / Photos by Logan Bik Artists have long been involved in progressive movements throughout history for the sake of a better world, believing in a cause that could surpass the legacy of their own artwork. Miles Lewis has turned his creative focus not only to the fine arts, but also to contributing solutions to the worsening environmental conflicts over the past decades. Lewis has been involved with the San Fernando Valley community, taking the role as an art educator and environmentalist in a city that must reform its systems that are detrimental to the region. It is up to the city’s inhabitants to regenerate its beauty. Angelenos breathe the worst polluted air in the country, with most people learning to live with it, treating the pollution as the norm. Lewis, however, has taken a stand and has been a growing voice advocating for a cleaner urban environment. “This is the first time we have been forced (by physical circumstances) to be a liberated equal society in order to survive,” he said, during a brief speech at the Global Climate Strike to a crowd gathered in front of CSUN’s Sierra Hall. No one is an exception to the negative health effects produced by greenhouse gas emissions and other toxins that have forced people from all over the world to take action. Lewis’ advocacy grew stronger after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in printmaking from CSUN. He recalled that many of his professors were concerned with environmental issues, but back then he was not as involved. His work has been exhibited at the Annenberg Space for Photography and he has had numerous murals displayed all over
SUNDIAL
OCTOBER 9 - 15, 2019
the city. Over time, his involvement as an activist has drastically changed as he now brings a different perspective to the much-politicized debate in favor or against environmental reform. “Now it has a left or right connotation and it didn’t used to be that way,” he explained, sitting at Valley Art Workshop situated in Woodland Hills where he hosts weekly classes as a space for local artists to better and practice their skills. “Framing (environmental reform) as a matter of personal or collective liberty is something that is very much lost in the argument,” he said. “Often it is framed as a matter of equality but being liberated from air pollution is a pretty meaningful objective rather than being bound to whatever companies want to throw in the air or water, I think that makes it a liberty argument.” Lewis also mentioned that much of the political discourse on the environment is focused on sustainability, despite it not being an effective way to move people to action. “It’s not just about stopping doing things, because the effects of the systems in place have to be reversed,” he explained. “Agriculture has a lot to play on that. What we need to focus on is regeneration and once we’ve achieved that, preserving it. Sustainability is not an aspirational idea. Maintenance is not an aspiration. Regeneration is.” Thinking of environmental freedom restoration and conservation through an artistic lens could make it more palatable for large groups of people to better understand. This method has been helpful especially during his presentations for students in college and high school class-
rooms. He’s been a guest lecturer for physics and sustainability professor Loraine Lundquist’s class, talking about the issue of waste. “All of the environmental issues we have are nature design flaws,” he said. “We waste about 50% of our food that is never used. If the problem you’re solving is feeding people then it’s probably due to a design flaw.” Recently, Lundquist ran for LA City Council District 12. In an effort to raise awareness for her campaign, Lewis worked with her team to create a comic book-styled pamphlet depicting her as a superhero fighting against “Mr. Suit and the Forces of the Status Quo.” “I like the comic book art form,” Lewis said, “for explanation purposes comic books are more effective than mere visuals. This felt like a good use of art skills for communicating something that I’d like to see happen.” Mailed to 50,000 homes, the comic book project has allowed Lewis to bridge the gap between his art and political activism. However, both activities don’t always intersect for various reasons. One reason is that visuals alone may not be as effective. Lewis explained that “the greater value of my interacting with the community has been to encourage action in the community and it has to do with good education. It has to do with talking about an issue for 30 minutes and I can’t always do that with art.” Visuals with an artistic scope depend on individuals’ interpretations and because interpretations could vary, it is not as effective to use it politically all the time. On the other hand, ridiculing an issue or an individual may achieve nothing.
“If you do a resistance march, say they have a big puppet of Trump, which is completely unnecessary, it does all these things that distance people from each other and concentrates hate rather than encouraging reform,” Lewis said. “It turns real, serious situations into caricatures and I don’t think that’s what we need. They contain some truth but what do you do with it?” As a result, Lewis has extended his connections to the local community beyond the university campus through organizing events like the Paper Earth Fair hosted by Valley Green, San Fernando Valley’s environmental action hub. He has also helped coordinate the latest Reseda Rising event, along with 11:11 A Creative Collective, to ensure that as little plastic was used as possible. These organizations have the goal to create an academy that bridges both science and the arts for the local community, which Lewis hopes will happen in the 21st century. He also hopes to see a change in the way humans use their resources to accommodate their lifestyle. “A lot of consumerism has to do with the arts. It has a lot to do with advertising. It’s an idea that the life you want is one that includes a product,” Lewis said. “Once you include a clear sense of how resources are used and how they can be used, then it radically changes. It’s not about cutting out but making it a lot more artful. Doing more with less, making things beautiful by reducing them. If we build life around the quality of experience rather than the multiplication of ownership, it shows us how good a life can be with such a small environmental impact.”
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FACES OF
ENVIRONMENTALISM by Alexia Mersola, Jed Bookout, Luis Vazquez, Jordan Nathan and Erick Lopes Photos by Tim Strong, Jed Bookout and courtesy of Austin Eriksson
Ronaldo Valiente
Sustainability and recycling manager at the CSUN Sustainability Center Valiente’s job is managing all of the recycling on campus, but his true passion is educating students about the environment. He ensures that the Sustainability Center serves as a resource where people can come in and ask questions about waste management. For Valiente, the Sustainability Center is a place students can learn about the values of sustainability, including waste disposal and recycling. “The Sustainability Center is a tool to communicate our values about the world. It’s a way for us to learn about our sustainability practices and to encourage others to do the same,” he said. It also provides information about recycling,
taking care of the environment and trains students in sustainability management through its student positions. At its core, the Sustainability Center is an educational hub. “I want to help students develop skills related to the environment,” said Valiente. He graduated from CSUN with a Bachelor of Science in business administration in 2007. His interest in the Sustainability Center came after talking with a friend in 2004. That conversation inspired him to knock on the Sustainability Center’s door and apply for a job. Since then, his life’s work has been about educating people on how to live more sustainably.
Photo by Tim Strong
Austin Eriksson Director of energy and sustainability at CSUN When Austin Eriksson focuses on CSUN campus environmental issues from his office in University Hall, he thinks of his daughter and the world that she could be growing up in. Eriksson has been involved in sustainability practices ever since he was in college and after having his first child 10 months ago, has become more focused on providing his family with a greener future. Eriksson is currently the director of energy and sustainability and works with his team to implement the CSUN Climate Action Plan, the CSUN Sustainability Plan and the Zero Waste Plan on campus. These strategies are part of an overall plan to make the campus more green. After five years, his practices have helped cement CSUN as a leader in sustainability among the nation’s colleges. Eriksson currently manages about 50 projects on campus geared toward higher sustainability. Projects range from the implementation of organics, landfill and recycling bins to the addition of more drought-tolerant plants and trees across CSUN.
Coleen Barsley, the manager of energy and utilities at CSUN, said that Eriksson has taken the reigns on a lot of the campus programs and has worked with different departments across campus to push for sustainability. “These programs are important to our mission of environmental sustainability and we work on dining, education, energy and buildings, environmental quality, organics, purchasing and consumption, transportation, waste management, water, and the administration of CSUN,” Eriksson said. Growing up, Eriksson often worked with his father to renovate homes and traveled quite often to Mammoth Lake in Northern California on vacation. Eriksson stated that he felt that the issue of climate change has really had an impact on the environment and that no one would be able to enjoy places like Mammoth, including his daughter, if nothing was going to be done to save them. After receiving his degree in environmental science and resource management at CSU Channel Islands, Eriksson worked as a sustainability analyst at CSUCI before coming to CSUN in 2014.
Photo courtesy of Austin Eriksson
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CITY@CSUN.EDU
Michelle Allen
President of Warriors of Change, a club that advocates for a cleaner campus Michelle Allen believes a paradigm shift is necessary in order to save our planet’s deteriorating environment. Allen is the president of CSUN’s Warriors of Change, a student group that advocates for environmental and sustainable changes on campus. Warriors of Change works to gain student support in order to introduce to state legislators a bill that requires all CSUs to become zero waste campuses by 2025. “We want to present resolutions voted on by the student body to administration, to make it clear that this is an issue that students care about,” Allen said. “Students want a paradigm change where sustainability is addressed and resolutions are met.” Allen says that water, air and land should all be for the people. “We all breathe the same air, drink the same water but it’s when we put a price tag on them and make them commodities, that’s where environmental injustice happens,” she said. Allen believes everyone can do their part to address
sustainability and environmental issues. “We want to change the norm by removing the use of single use plastics,” she said. “Our goal is to change how people think in terms of the environment. We want it to become a habit to bring reusable water flasks. By changing our habits we can change our narrative.” Allen’s interest in the environment began in high school when she took an AP environment class, where she learned about the impact of climate change and gained an understanding of how fragile the earth’s ecosystem really is. She began to advocate for ecofriendly resolutions in college and decided to pursue her degree in environmental and occupational health. “There is not one person not being affected by this,” Allen said. “Everything that we throw away, you will eventually digest. It will decompose, will eventually biodegrade, go into our water system, it goes into the food that grows on the ground, everything is affected. It all comes back, there is no escaping it.”
Photo by Tim Strong
Clayton Scott
Education and outreach coordinator for Associated Students Sustainability at CSUN There is televised evidence of Clayton Scott’s passion for renewable energy. When he interned for the Department of Energy in 2017, he attended a budget hearing in which Secretary of Energy Rick Perry was grilled for cutting energy efficiency and renewable energy funding. The hearing aired on C-SPAN and Scott’s enthusiasm for the environment is there for the world to see. “You can even see the disgust in my face as Perry was talking at one point,” said Scott. “Because literally two days before, he had denied that humans are the main cause of climate change.” He brings the same enthusiasm to his job as the education and outreach coordinator for Associated Students Sustainability at CSUN. His job is to help manage new sustainability projects on campus, such as the Sustainable Office Program, in which discarded office supplies are donated to staff and faculty that might need them. All sustainability efforts on campus are facilitated by Scott and his team, for whom the work is more than just a paycheck. “Sustainability doesn’t end for me when I leave work,”
Scott said. “Throughout my life, I try to live as plastic free and zero waste as possible, taking the time to go to bulk dispensing shops to get anything like cooking oil, spices and dry food in my own containers.” His interest in sustainability is rooted, oddly enough, in his love for sharks. As a child, Scott liked the idea of sharks as the “cool apex predator,” but realized sharks are misunderstood due to unfair media representation. “People kill way more sharks than sharks kill people,” Scott said. Scott was a member of a sustainability club at Washington University in St. Louis. After graduation, he returned to California where he became the education and outreach manager for AS Sustainability. After learning about the practice of shark finning (the act of removing fins from a shark and discarding the rest of its body) from the “Planet Earth” documentary series, he began a lifelong commitment to sustainability. He plans to stay in California, which he believes is a leader in global sustainability, and eventually work for a local government sustainability program to make a difference in his hometown of Los Angeles.
Photo by Jed Bookout
Loraine Lundquist
Faculty associate for the Institute of Sustainability at CSUN Loraine Lundquist is a faculty associate for the Institute of Sustainability at CSUN and contributes significant services in the form of limited instruction in the form of research for the institute and the university. She has devoted her time to doing research on big issues like how much waste was being sent to the landfill versus how much was actually being recycled at CSUN. She didn’t start out studying sustainability. In fact, she has a Ph.D. in physics from UC Berkley and was an astrophysicist for years, studying the sun and the stars. Once she had kids, Lundquist said, she started to pay more attention to how she could lower her carbon footprint. “Something about having kids made me dive into the research more,” she said. “I never really understood how urgent the situation was before I had kids.” She got involved in environmental initiatives outside of CSUN, where she advocated for better environmental policy at the state and federal level. Lundquist believes that it’s important to teach children about sustainability.
“A lot of the environmental problems are so urgent and so threatening, and the most common reaction my students have is, ‘Why didn’t anyone tell us this?’” she said. “They wished they had learned earlier on about the impact the environment would have on their life.” As a mother, she said it’s sometimes difficult to know what to tell a child about climate change. “It is hard to know what is best for a child to take on, because it is so scary,” she said, “but kids are so good at saying, ‘Let’s fix it now,’ and wanting to solve the problem now.” Lundquist believes that kids need to be taught earlier because it’s hard to teach adults new habits that could help the world be more sustainable. If kids are taught when they are young, they won’t have trouble later on with things such as which recycling goes in which bin, she said. “There is a lot of opportunity to live our lives a little differently and be more aware of our impact,” Lundquist said. “Kids love to make those kinds of changes, they love to take care of the earth. Its educational and it’s fun for them.”
Photo by Tim Strong
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Photographed by Elaine Sanders at the CSUN climate strike on Friday, Sept. 20.
GLOBAL CLIMATE STRIKE FROM LA TO ITALY PROTESTERS FIGHT FOR A GREENER WORLD Photograph by Thania Garcia, John Hernandez, Joshua Pacheco and Elaine Sanders
Photographed by Joshua Pacheco at the Los Angeles climate strike on Friday, Sept. 20.
Photographed by Joshua Pacheco at the Los Angeles climate strike on Friday, Sept. 20.
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Photographed by Thania Garcia at the Bologna, Italy climate strike on Friday, Sept. 29.
CITY@CSUN.EDU
Photographed by Joshua Pacheco at the Los Angeles climate strike on Friday, Sept. 20.
Photographed by John Hernandez at the Los Angeles climate strike on Friday, September 20, 2019.
Photographed by Joshua Pacheco at the Los Angeles climate strike on Friday, Sept. 20.
Photographed by John Hernandez at the Los Angeles climate strike on Friday, Sept. 20.
Photographed by John Hernandez at the Los Angeles climate strike on Friday, Sept. 20.
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Photographed by Joshua Pacheco at the Los Angeles climate strike on Friday, Sept. 20.
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@lilybreezeart’s mural in Pacoima features flowers and plants.
Mission Auto Electric in Pacoima is one of many auto repair shops in the community.
@monsro.la ‘s mural along Van Nuys Boulevard has a young girl wearing a gas mask to represent the bad air quality.
Ponce’s Auto Repair is on the same street as the murals, Van Nuys Boulevard.
PACOIMA BEAUTIFUL: THE VOICE FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE How a community fights against environmental racism in their neighborhoods. By Gillian Moran-Perez / Photography by Elaine Sanders On the corner of Telfair Avenue and Van Nuys Boulevard an auto body and other auto repair shops line the streets, filling the air with the sickly fumes of paint. A couple of yards away, a little girl munches on her taco while her family sits under a tent in front of a taco stand, talking to the vendors. The city of Pacoima has a population of over 81,000 with an 85% majority of Latinx and a relatively low median household income in LA County, according to the Los Angeles Times. Pacoima has one of the highest rates of pollution and contamination in the soil due to the clumps of industrial facilities, garbage dumps, a small commercial airport, a railroad line and the surrounding freeways that enclose the city. In an article for KCET, former planning director of Pacoima Beautiful Max Podemski shared a zoning map that showed how Pacoima, compared to the rest of the San Fernando Valley, was planned to have a larger share of industrial facilities surrounding neighborhoods. Pacoima Beautiful is a grassroots environmental organization that fights against environmental injustice in Pacoima. Felipe Escobar, organizing director, calls the city planning back in the day environmental racism. “We know this was done on purpose and the planners did not include community input,” said Escobar. According to CalEnviroScreen, an online tool that tracks pollution-burdened communities, the percentage of pollution burden in Pacoima is at 82%, where diesel, cleanup sites and hazardous waste are the highest pollutants. According to data from ThinkLA, 1 in 16 children and 1 in 7 adults who live in the north-east part of the Valley have asthma. Escobar said the residents feel the effects of climate change firsthand during summer,
Williams Auto Mart is a used car dealership in Pacoima contributing to the conjested roads.
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The close proximity of U.S. Highway 118 to Telfair Avenue Elementary School in Pacomia contributes to high asthma rates in the area.
because “not everyone has air conditioning or a park to escape to.” He says they are trying to turn all those wrongs into rights by relying on their grassroots model to let the community provide input and solutions. “If not, the same mistakes will happen again,” Escobar said. But, he says, the hard part is the language barrier, because many residents only speak Spanish. One of the challenges they face is that not all members of the community have time to engage because of work. “They have to pay rent and other things,” he said. Taehyun Kim, a journalism professor at CSUN, collaborates with Pacoima Beautiful for his senior project class where student journalists report on environmental injustice. He sends his students to talk to residents and members of Pacoima
@frankie_pd’s mural hangs in Pacoima. This piece shows how pollution from the streets goes into the water effecting wildlife.
Beautiful. “What I want our future journalists to know before they graduate is the experiential learning opportunity where students can actually go to the polluted locations and talk to the people there and talk to the people who are trying to bring solutions,” said Kim. Kim noticed that many of the problems were not being seen or told outside of the community because of the language barrier. “It’s like they are in a bubble,” he said. Currently, the organization is participating in a digital campaign with the Los Angeles Coalition for Clean Air to remove the gas plant in Pacoima. The gas plant has been there for over 50 years and has been the largest contributor to releasing toxic emissions in the Sun Valley area. On Pacoima Beautiful’s Instagram page,
Jose’s Complete Auto Repair is one of the many repair shops in the Pacoima area.
students from their youth program tell their stories of what it’s like living next to the schools that are located near industrial facilities, freeways and other sources of pollution. Andres Rivera, communications director, said that their goal is to have the community meet with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and talk about the possibilities of a new space after removing the giant gas plant. “In order to call attention to that goal of the Green New Deal LA, it has to start in the communities who are most impacted by toxic sites,” said Rivera. Van Nuys Boulevard is home to many murals that paint an image of the community, such as a revolutionary Mona Lisa with a sombrero and a blade. Pacoima Beautiful has beautified their community through their Museo al Aire Libre, lining up panels on the street and hanging up paintings inside bus shelters where their artwork advocates for the environment. But the biggest transformation has come from the community members, says Escobar. He’s seen people use their voice to talk to city officials and engage in democracy. “If we don’t that’s how democracy dies. People of color experience racism everyday in our communities, in America. People are still struggling to live healthy lives,” Escobar said. He says it is up to college-educated folks to use their privilege and improve their communities. Kim feels the same way with his students. He says it’s the role of watchdog journalism to tell the story of those communities. “We can talk about Green New Deal, global warming, recycling, but we should not forget there are low income communities who are on the receiving end of this disproportionate amount of environmental pollution right here, right now,” he said.
@yupnico’s piece in pacoima is a work which shows the relationship between people, nature and the need for clean water.
CITY@CSUN.EDU
REVISITING THE CSUN BUS FLEET A bus fleet proposal to meet CSUN’s sustainability goals.
Commuters get on the 744 bus towards Pacoima at the CSUN Transit Center on Oct. 8.
by Benjamin Verheiden / Photo courtesy of Raychel Stewart While I have written several articles on this since the spring 2017 semester, I have since found a far more urgent problem with the current tram and Metrolink buses that goes way deeper than a contracted service. This problem comes from two hard limits set by the vehicle manufacturer that cannot be exceeded in the form of the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) and Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR). The GVWR is the maximum set weight the vehicle can safely carry, and the GAWR is the same thing only for each axle. If one or both of these weight ratings are exceeded, it means the vehicle is overloaded, severely reducing the lifespan and safety of the vehicle, and voids the warranties. From further research, these cutaway van-based shuttle buses used for the tram are overloaded by default once a full load of seated and standing passengers are factored in, be it high and low floor, and regardless of fuel or power source. The cutaway truck
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buses used for the Metrolink shuttles fare no better. When these buses get packed like cans of sardines as they do, the rear of the bus sags, and the rear suspension does not absorb bumps but instead sends them straight into the cabin. Both are major signs that they are running overloaded. What makes this problem even worse is that the Federal Transit Administration’s mandatory Altoona Bus Test has had practically every type of cutaway bus get overloaded with standing passengers in the test, and some got overloaded even with just seated passengers. This means that we need a vehicle with a much higher GVWR and GAWR to have a safe shuttle bus that is not overloaded by default. What is needed for these services is a fleet of purpose built, low floor transit buses so these services can truly be capable of doing what they are assigned for. With Trump’s recent revoking of California’s Clean Air Act waiver, we need to have an
all-electric fleet for the CSUN buses with charging installed at each end of the routes. Also, we need all-electric campus vehicles to be sure we are reducing emissions under this new climate. The biggest benefits from going all electric, besides the emissions elimination, also include significantly quieter vehicles, no need for fuel tank infrastructure and refueling, much fewer parts in the drivetrain and less expensive bus depots, considering emissions inside buildings can rise to dangerous levels fast without leaving the door open. With significantly lower operating costs, long term, no emissions, quieter vehicles and fitting completely into CSUN’s sustainability, we can meet the goals of California’s recent mandate for all electric transit bus fleets. These extra initial costs to get all electric vehicles, a new bus depot built, charging infrastructure and reinforcing the tram route to handle the extra weight of proper transit will be well-rewarded in the end.
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HOW TO BE SUSTAINABLE How can CSUN students help fight against climate change? Hello CSUN students! My name is Dev Vrat and I teach sustainability at CSUN. I asked my sustainability students what CSUN students can do to live more sustainably. This is what they told me!
FIRST THINGS FIRST: Get educated!
Don’t have kids. Each additional person on this planet further reduces what we have left of the biosphere. We already are overpopulated. Instead, adopt babies and children who are waiting for you!
What we are doing to the earth?
Volunteer your time and energy for organizations that work for sustainability (e.g. Tree People)
Learn about overpopulation of our planet — watch it grow in real time!
Donate to organizations who work to save environmental resources (e.g. World Wildlife Fund)
Understand your ecological footprint. How many earths are you using?
Conserve energy so we don’t need to build expensive new power plants
Find out how to eat healthy food
Avoid jet travel. Take the train or public transportation whenever you can
Learn about energy. What’s the difference between fossil fuels and green energy? See how to get involved with the CSUN Sustainability Center. Visit the website and sign up for a tour! Consider taking sustainability classes at CSUN and pick up a sustainability minor Learn about the Green New Deal
ADVOCATE FOR SUSTAINABILITY: Now that you know what’s going on, make some noise!
Avoid cruise ships. They emit tons of carbon gases and pollute the ocean Use less. Spending money is not the way to happiness. Avoid the throwaway lifestyle by buying quality clothes and furnishings, or shop at thrift stores Recycle — we all know what this means. Try not to throw away anything or as little as possible Use less gasoline and other coal, oil and gas fuels Walk! Bike! Ride a scooter! Use the smallest transportation system possible Get an electric or hybrid (electric/gas) vehicle Grow your own food or buy from local farmers markets and responsibly grown organic food to avoid food miles traveled Eat meals made from “whole” foods (fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts, grain)
Talk to your family and roommates about how you all can live more sustainably
Reduce your consumption of meat, especially beef
Write editorials like this one and send them to newspapers
Reduce your energy use at home by utilizing solar panels, more insulation, LED lights, etc.
Register to vote and support candidates who will advocate for sustainability and the Green New Deal. Contribute to their campaigns and/or volunteer to assist them in getting elected
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Take personal action to live more sustainably
Spend your money at socially responsible businesses and banking institutions Support local businesses. Try to buy things that are made locally
OPINION@CSUN.EDU