The Hofstra
HEMPSTEAD, NY VOL. 79
Issue 22
Chronicle
THURSDAY April 10, 2014
KEEPING THE HOFSTRA COMMUNITY INFORMED SINCE 1935
Bits and Bytes’ sustainability measured By Shannon Alomar STAFF WRITER
Photo by Che Sullivan Dianna Blount, Hofstra alumna, talked to a student and gave out fruit to promote National Public Health Week on Wednesday in the Student Center.
Health week promotes well-being on campus By Lauren del Valle ASSISTANT news editor
National Public Health Week (NPHW) reached Hofstra’s campus via a collaborative effort of the School of Health Sciences and Human Services and Hofstra North Shore–LIJ School of Medicine. Former President Bill Clinton declared the first full week of April
as National Public Health Week in 1995. The American Public Health Association spearheads the nationwide annual initiative in cooperation with policymakers and local sponsors. Dr. Corinne Kyriacou, the director of the Master of Public Health program, orchestrated the second annual initiative to service the community and students in
contingency with the graduatestudent run Society of Public Health Advocates (SOPHA). “My first goal is to have my graduate students act like scholar advocates,” said Kyriacou. “You know, that they bring the research and translate it to the community
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Spring has sprung and so has the Sustainability Studies Club on campus this semester. Conducting their second annual waste audit this week, the club wants to make reasonable estimates of waste production in order to make informed decisions about the school’s waste management system. These include estimates on waste reduction, food donations, composting and other diversion methods. A waste audit is a structured process that provides information pertaining to the amount and types of waste that are produced in certain areas. For the Sustainability Club’s evaluation they chose Bits and Bytes, an eatery on South Campus, to be the home base for their research. Throughout this weeklong collection of data, members of the club request that students and customers separate their waste by type like plastic, aluminum and compostable items. Last year, the first waste audit was conducted by students in the Sustainable Urban and Suburban Development class as one of 15 on-campus research projects they partook in. Jared Garfinkel, senior sustainability studies major and club vice president, explained the findings from last year’s audit on campus. “At our waste audit last year, we found that less than 10 percent of waste was landfill waste, meaning 90 percent or more of our waste is recoverable, compostable or recyclable. In addition, almost 50
percent of our waste was food waste, and fully 50 percent of the waste was plastic by volume,” Garfinkel said. In regards to food waste, Garfinkel said that consumers should be more mindful of their consumption. “There were examples of flagrant waste where burgers had only one or two bites, whole slices of pizza, a whole egg sandwich, where a student thought one might eat more but didn’t. It’s important to write about this and talk about it because students should value food and acknowledge the privilege of food security,” Garfinkel said. Waste reduction is one of the club’s main focuses, and finding out how and why waste is produced is the beginning of finding the solution. Garfinkel stressed the importance of being educated about the effects of consumerism and how the public’s health can be affected by these acts that many people pay no attention to. When asked about the importance of sustainability on campus, Blaine Volpe, a sophomore political science, global studies and geography major, vocalized her opinion on why people should be more receptive to preserving the environment. “I think we as a population have already seen some devastating effects of climate change, especially on the Island. We need to do our part to protect
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