The State News - April 11, 2023

GOING GREEN

CAMPUS

Hidden heroes: An inside look at MSU’s athletics groundskeepers

As their busy season arrives, the crew details challenges that stand before them

CAMPUS

Can a former lobbyist end MSU’s sustainability woes?

After former plans failed, a new director hopes to tackle MSU’s sustainability efforts

CULTURE

Ditch plastic applicators: Switching to sustainable menstrual products

MSU advocates discuss the pros and cons of switching to eco-friendly period products

TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023

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COVER: Illustration by Maddie Monroe

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The skies darken above Lansing during the Crosstown Showdown at Jackson Field on April 4, 2023. The Lansing Lugnuts won 12-3 in seven innings of play. Photo by Henry Szymecko

Hidden heroes: Meet the crew behind MSU’s athletic fields

By Sam Sklar ssklar@statenews.com

Tucked under the confines of the western bleachers of Spartan Stadium hides a room the size of a master bedroom. A bank of green lockers with name plates line the left hand wall. A large square table centers the room and is surrounded by green roller chairs.

Head athletic turf manager at Michigan State University Andy Flynn describes the room as “chaotic” on game days as other event staff rendezvous at the grounds crew office. Flynn doesn’t have his own private office with a fancy desk and a giant window. Instead, he’s tucked up against the wall adjacent to the doorway.

But on a day like today, it’s extremely quiet. East Lansing had just been dumped with rain overnight into the morning. Without any MSU teams hosting a home game for the weekend, Flynn and his staff of four full-time employees get to leave early for the weekend. The team oversees all the turfgrass surfaces on campus, but Spartan Stadium’s central location puts their office in the underbelly of the stadium.

The last month, though, has been busy, with numerous teams transitioning to the outdoors. The same goes for sharpening up the field at Spartan Stadium ahead of the Spartan Football Kickoff on April 15. Flynn said it’s all about prepping and waiting for Mother Nature to run her course.

“Mother Nature is the ultimate variable,” Flynn said.

Flynn is originally from Buchanan, a town of just under 5,000 people in the southwest corner of Michigan. He attended Central Michigan University, but wasn’t sure what he wanted to study at first. Flynn eventually found a book that highlighted different careers that exist in

sports and realized turfgrass management was a possibility.

Then he remembered his childhood. Flynn’s parents didn’t even have to ask him to mow the lawn. He loved doing it so much, he would go out on his own and tend to the lawn.

“I’d go buy some fertilizer with my parents’ money and fertilize the lawn and try to make it look nicer than the neighbors,” Flynn said.

To pursue his newfound goal, he transferred to MSU and worked at the Forest Akers Golf Course before being hired at the university fulltime upon graduating.

From a broad scope, Flynn’s tasks depend on the season and the day-to-day schedule. He oversees all of the turfgrass at the varsity athletic fields, with he and his coworkers bouncing around campus from field to field.

“That’s one of the parts I love about my job, is that I have flexibility to be able to just jump in and do things if we need help,” Flynn said. “If we need someone to sit on a mower, if we need someone to dig a hole or whatever, I can jump in and do it.”

And it’s not just the care done on Spartan Stadium. The baseball and softball teams start playing home games in March, plus the men’s and women’s soccer teams like to practice outside when the weather allows. Perhaps the football team wants to hold an outdoor spring practice on occasion.

That means all of the outdoor facilities need to be in tip-top shape for the smoothest and, most importantly, safest game or practice possible.

“It’s kind of like every field too, all at the same time, because everyone’s always going,” Flynn said.

On a yearly basis, there’s no telling how much work will be able to be done on Spartan Stadium

before MSU’s spring game. Flynn said it depends on when the growing season begins.

There’s a chance the field is yellow, or some sort of yellow-green shade when MSU takes the field. What is certain, Flynn said, is that the field will have a fresh coat of paint, just like what is seen on a typical fall Saturday.

“Ideally, that grass is green for the spring game, but we might not get there,” Flynn said.

Moisture is one of the biggest factors that’s monitored by the groundskeepers. Spartan Stadium is equipped with eight sensors buried in the field that allows Flynn to measure the exact amount of water in the soil.

From there, they can mathematically determine how much the field needs to be watered, if it all.

“That field plays its best if we can control the moisture,” Flynn said.

During the June recruiting period, the field is painted every single weekend to mimic as much as possible what Spartan Stadium looks like on game day.

Last year that also meant Michigan State head football coach Mel Tucker and the football team bringing luxury vehicles onto the field for photoshoots with recruits. Flynn said these shoots weren’t the best for the grass, but strong

communication and little rain meant there wasn’t any notable damage.

“I’m a team player and I want to make sure that they can do their jobs and whatever that may be,” Flynn said. “I want to make sure recruits are coming in and we need to park some cars down here, then let’s do it.”

Nuances like that all tie back to the necessity of planning. Veterans like Flynn and fellow groundskeeper Jared Knoodle have seen just about it all, but having answers to problems is, at times, the root of the job.

“A lot of times we say, ‘Have a plan for a plan,’ which seems ridiculous, but that’s one of the approaches that we have to have,” Flynn said.

Groundskeeping is one of those professions that tends to only get highlighted when things go wrong; rarely does a T.V. broadcast tout about superb field conditions. However, the Michigan State grounds crew takes pride in what they do and wins for the Spartans on the field are also wins for them too.

“My motto is, I don’t want anybody to know that I’m there,” Knoodle said. “Because if nobody knows that I’m there or doing anything, then everything’s going right.”

The story of the ‘Resilient Oak’: MSU’s oldest tree

the tree has stood there since before campus was established, but he also found evidence of trials the Resilient Oak had been through.

MSU plant recorder Carolyn Miller said there were pieces of metal found sticking out of the trunk, indicating it was one of many trees cut by MSU when it was first established in an effort to make the trees more bushy.

Unfortunately, cutting the trees at their apical meristem, or parts where sprouts form, left the trees vulnerable because rain water could easily seep into the trunk and rot it out. To combat this, MSU placed metal caps on the trees. Many trees didn’t survive, Miller said, but the Resilient Oak made it through.

College of Arts and Letters Dean Chris Long’s office overlooks the tree and he said he was inspired by its perseverance. To reflect this, he created the name “Resilient Oak.”

“That image of the tree that had suffered during a storm so badly and yet still stands and still lives and still grows and, now we see seven years later, still really thrives, is a wonderful metaphor for resilience,” Long said.

Part of the Resilient Oak’s beauty is that it’s older than MSU, Long said. It serves as a powerful reminder that you can withstand some challenges and suffering and still go on and thrive.

as it is withering, yet persistent. The Resilient Oak also represents MSU with its current survival mechanism. Long said the only reason the tree still thrives is because it is interconnected with its surrounding trees by a network of roots.

“When there is a tree in distress in the system, there is a mechanism by which some nutrients are provided from other trees to support the tree in distress,” Long said. “There’s an important metaphor there, around our network of relationships and community that we have here at MSU.”

By Ellie Young eyoung@statenews.com

What is now a severed trunk on the northeast corner of the Michigan State University Museum was once a giant, flourishing white oak tree — a “quercus alba” to be exact.

The Resilient Oak Tree, thought to be the oldest tree on campus, has lived an estimated 375 to 400 years. Although it has taken a series of losses in its lifetime, it is still standing and thriving today.

Following a terrible thunderstorm one July evening

in 2016, now-retired professor of plant biology and curator of the W.J. Beal Botanical Garden Frank Telewski discovered the giant remains of what had been blown off of the Resilient Oak’s trunk. He sanded down a sample to count its rings. Not only did he discover that

In a more traumatic event, the Resilient Oak weathered a storm in 2016 after taking heavy damage.

“It loses its leaves every fall, it pushes out new leaves every spring and summer and it’s still going,” Miller said. “It really is pretty remarkable to see.”

“It grew up with MSU, and it also suffered as MSU has suffered, and yet it still persists,” Long said.

Generally, learning is a process that requires failure and the ability to be resilient through that and find ways to grow. Long said the Resilient Oak’s shedding each fall is a vital piece of its symbolism —

Long said it is critically important to protect the old trees on campus because each one has a story to tell and their history is a vital part of campus.

“They are some of the most precious beings on our campus,” Long said. “Not only do they provide us with oxygen to breathe … but they also stand as a symbol of the enduring power of the campus and the enduring importance of education.”

Groundskeepers at the end of their shift, in their locker room under Spartan Stadium on March 31, 2023. Photo by Henry Szymecko

The oldest tree on MSU’s campus on a sunny spring day on April 6, 2023. The tree, a white oak that survived a damaging 2016 storm, is estimated to be around 375 to 500 years old. Photo by Jack Armstrong

MSU lost momentum in addressing energy issues - can a former lobbyist fix that?

By Alex Walters awalters@statenews.com

Following a 15-month vacancy, Michigan State University appointed a new Director of Campus Sustainability on April 5.

The choice? Harvey “Chip” Amoe III, who most recently served as Head of Sustainability at Henry Ford Health System following almost two decades as a medical industry lobbyist.

Amoe began his role on April 10. He’s stepping in following a period of shifting, and in some ways, declining, action on sustainability at MSU. He’s also joining the university at an opportune moment for a “government relations” professional, with new federal legislation funding and subsidizing billions of dollars in conservation and clean energy generation projects.

“I think we can really focus on (those opportunities),” Amoe said. “We have great members of Congress and senators here that will be able to help. The state has gotten a lot of money and it needs to be allocated.”

MSU’s Office of Government Relations handles state appropriations and oversees some grant applications. Amoe said he “knows they’re a great team” and looks forward to working closely with them.

The pre-Amoe era of sustainability at MSU began in 2010, when a group of faculty, administrators and students came together to create the Energy Transition Plan, or ETP — a broad document which laid out yearly goals and prospective projects for the use of renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions. In 2012, MSU’s board approved the ETP, cementing it as the official sustainability plan.

COAL TRANSITION

The largest early accomplishment of the ETP and its stewards remains the end of coal power at MSU.

In 2016, the Simon Power Plant — the primary source of campus energy — transitioned from coal to natural gas. That action required a relatively small investment of $3 million, and amounted to a 43% reduction of overall carbon dioxide emissions from campus, according to university documents.

SOLAR POWER

While coal made strides in reducing emissions, investments in solar power that followed began introducing renewable energy to the campus grid. In 2017, MSU installed its first solar carports, which were placed above commuter parking lots surrounding campus.

In the first year, the arrays would help MSU reach 12.3% renewable energy, just shy of the ETP’s yearly goal, according to university documents.

Solar can be applicable to the MSU grid, as the summer months when solar is most effective are when MSU demands the most power. Infrastructure, Planning and Facilities spokesperson Fred Woodhams said the solar array can produce up to 25% of the campus’ energy on “clear July days.”

But since the first arrays were built, the percentage of renewable energy running through the MSU grid has declined.

After the construction of multiple large buildings that require a lot of energy, without equally expanding renewable energy generation, all renewables make up just 5% of the campus energy today, Woodhams said. There was a major solar expansion planned, but it was never completed.

The university had a signed contract with a vendor to build a 110-acre solar farm in south campus with construction set to begin in 2021, according to MSU spokesperson Emily Guerrant. However, the contractor evoked an emergency clause during the pandemic to raise the price, which led MSU to back out of the deal.

Guerrant said in an email that MSU is currently “exploring other options to bring the university closer to its” sustainability goals.

Former MSU administrator Wolfgang Bauer initially negotiated the deal and said he questions the cancellation. He said he ran into executives from the contractor after the pandemic and was told the new price. He said that price was still lower than the estimated savings from the array.

“So we’re not making as much money as we previously thought,” Bauer said. “It’s still good for the environment and it’s still good for our pocketbooks, so I was puzzled. Why was it not done?”

Guerrant could not confirm that the new price was less than the projected savings.

ANAEROBIC DIGESTER

Another early advancement in clean energy was the anaerobic digester, a device which converts the gas emissions made by decomposing food waste and animal excretion into usable energy.

While its overall generation is much lower than the solar carports or T.B. Simon Power Plant, it outperformed estimates and is set to pay back its $5 million initial investment ahead of the projected schedule, according to university documents.

OTHER POTENTIAL OPTIONS

During the ETP’s reign, MSU also commissioned studies of the viability of potential wind and geothermal power systems.

The 2011 wind power study found that

wind-speed in the farm areas south of MSU’s campus could support turbines, but that other options like solar “may be a better option,” according to a presentation of the findings.

Bauer added that administrators were also concerned with the aesthetics of wind turbines. Specifically, Bauer said, former MSU president Lou Anna K. Simon would often say: “as long as I’m president there will not be wind turbines on this campus.”

In 2019, the administration commissioned a study of potential geothermal energy — whereby tunnels dug deep into the earth use the planet’s warmth to heat water for energy use above-ground — which concluded that the high upfront cost and “technical risks” associated with the proposed system would outweigh the potential savings.

Geothermal projects have been made feasible on college campuses, though the most successful example employed significant state funding. From 2009 to 2014, Ball State University worked to complete an $83 million conversion to geothermal heating. In the end, the State of Indiana and federal government covered $78 million of the cost, and the system brought Ball State into carbon neutrality, according to an Indiana University study of the project.

Bauer said government funding for geothermal wasn’t seriously pursued during his time in administration, but that it could be more plausible today with the federal funds Amoe voiced interest in.

THE ETP’S END

The ETP didn’t just prescribe goals; it also outlined a process for its own review and upkeep. It asked that a committee of faculty and students reassemble and create a report summarizing the progress made and opportunities for improvement every five years.

The first of those reviews occurred in 2017.

It found that while MSU had slightly fallen short of the goals, major progress had been made — namely the coal transition. By the end of 2022, there was no five-year checkup, because the plan itself and the process for review had been scrapped.

The ETP’s mission has been rolled into MSU’s “strategic plan,” which does not include a similar review process, MSU deputy spokesperson Dan Olsen said.

While the board was responsible for the passage of the ETP, it never voted on ending it. In December 2022, then-board chair Diane Byrum said she wasn’t sure exactly who made the decision to end the ETP.

Bauer questions the choice and specifically the way the restructuring leaves out the “crucial” process of upkeep. He saw the reviews as a way to “keep (the administration’s) feet to the fire” in terms of sustainability.

The ETP’s end coincides with Samuel L. Stanley Jr.’s appointment to MSU president in 2019. Bauer saw Stanley’s start as a turning point in MSU’s commitment to sustainability. Shortly after he started, Stanley restructured the administration and eliminated Bauer’s vice president position, sending him back to the faculty.

Bauer believes a lack of commitment to environmental issues continues to this day.

“I really regret that there hasn’t been a champion for increasing renewable energy on campus or in central administration,” Bauer said.

On whether a new sustainability director could solve the problem, Bauer said that the role would be a “fool’s errand” without the support of the administration.

But Amoe says he’s ready and prepared for pushback. He believes his experience lobbying for causes externally will help him fight for sustainability internally, despite potential opposition.

MSU’s smokestacks on Aug. 18, 2022. State News file photo

A step-by-step guide to MSU Recycling

FOOD WASTE

Step one: Trucks collect food waste. Leftover food from the dining halls is taken to MRF to prepare for composting.

Step two: Workers split the waste into two categories:

40% vegan, unprocessed foods and 60% meat, processed foods. Hewitt said this step is crucial in protecting the composting worms from the crystals that form in processed foods during decomposition. The processed food is shipped to Hammond Farms to be hot composted and the unprocessed food is hot composted on site to kill pathogens that may harm the worms.

Step three: The remaining food waste

By Amalia Medina amedina@statenews.com

MSU students, faculty, staff and visitors produced over 5.4 million pounds of recyclable materials and 1.4 million pounds of organic waste in 2022. But where did it all go after we threw it in the recycling bin?

MSU Recycling Operations Coordinator

Christopher Hewitt gave The State News a tour of the MSU Recycling facility. We broke down the processes that typical recyclables and food waste undergo, step-by-step.

RECYCLABLE MATERIALS

Step one: Labeled bins on campus collect recyclables.

In most campus buildings, recycling is organized into plastic and metal, mixed paper, cardboard and office paper. Hewitt said this step improves efficiency. About 96% of the items sent to MSU Recycling are recycled, considerably higher than most U.S. recycling plants.

MSU Recycling when bins are getting full. This has reduced the number of trips by 1,000 per month.

Hewitt said this innovation saves fuel and road space since the large trucks get two miles per gallon. The trucks take the recyclables to the Material Recovery Facility, or MRF, and dump them there.

Step five: A machine compresses the recycled materials into bales.

Once each cage is full, its contents are emptied onto a conveyor belt and taken to the baler. Workers then operate the machines to create each bale. They make between 12 to 15 bales per day and leave them to sit for a few weeks so remaining liquid can dry. Cardboard bales tend to be approximately 1,500 pounds.

is mixed with shredded paper and placed in a greenhouse to continue composting.

The shredded paper is recycled from campus, though Hewitt said none of it is from confidential documents. This step lasts several months until the food has completely decomposed.

Step four: The decomposed material is fed to worms.

The waste is transferred to another greenhouse with red wigglers and pot worms. These worms spend all of their time eating and reproducing. In fact, the original worm count was in the thousands and it is now estimated to be about 2 million.

The worms then excrete the food, creating a product called “vermicompost” that can be used as a fertilizer.

Hewitt said this step can be difficult because worms are most active in the summer, when MSU produces the least amount of waste. However, if it’s sunny, the greenhouse can get up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter — so the worms are more active.

Step five: Workers collect and sell the

Step two: Trucks pick up items outside of buildings nearly every day. This process was made more efficient during the COVID-19 pandemic, as MSU Recycling developed an app to track when items should be picked up. Custodians use the app to alert

Step three: Items are sorted by hand.

MSU Recycling workers place the sorted items from the trucks into large piles based on material. Workers then use loaders to place items from each pile on a conveyor belt.

Step four: Workers and a robot further sort the items.

The items go up the conveyor belt to a group of workers and a robot who separate the items based on type and drop them into labeled storage cages.

At the end of the conveyor, items that are non-recyclables or too dirty to be recycled are dumped in the trash. MSU Recycling got the robot a year ago and it has improved the process significantly, Hewitt said. Not only does it sort 80 items per minute, but it also allows the job to be safer for workers since they do not have to touch broken glass or unsanitary items. Up to 14,000 objects are sorted per day.

Step six: MSU Recycling sells the bales to manufacturers to be turned into new items.

Bales vary in price based on material. For example, cardboard, which makes up about two-thirds of MSU’s recycled materials, costs about $75 per ton. However, the price of plastic fluctuates constantly since oil is an ingredient in plastic.

Hewitt said the price of a ton of plastic reached up to $2,000 during the COVID-19 pandemic. To sell for the best prices, MSU Recycling uses a broker who finds the most profitable deal.

Since MSU Recycling is mostly self-funded, the profit, along with profit from the MSU Surplus Store, is used to sustain the operation. Last year, they made about $375,000. Ninetyfive percent of the recycling was sent to manufacturers in Michigan, which Hewitt said helps support Michigan businesses and lowers emissions and transportation costs.

vermicompost.

Because the worms travel toward moisture, once they are done eating a section of vermicompost it can be collected and packaged. Some of the vermicompost is used on campus in gardens and the rest is sold to the public for less than half the market price. Altogether, the process takes about six months per batch.

A pile of compost in its earliest stage, located at the MSU Recycling Center on April 3, 2023.

Photo by Jack Patton

A worker stands amongst a mound of cardboard products at the MSU Recycling Center on April 3, 2023. Photo by Jack Patton

A bale of cardboard recyclables comes out of the baler at the MSU recycling center on April 3, 2023. Photo by Jack Patton

A worker at the MSU Recycling Center holds a handful of compost, showing off the worms that are used to create the compost soil on April 3, 2023. Photo by Jack Patton

A sign in the MSU Recycling Center labels collection points for plastic goods, soon to be turned into bales and sold to be processed on April 3, 2023. Photo by Jack Patton

MSU Recycling Center workers operate a baler, which is used to compress recycled goods into singular bales, which will later be sold on April 3, 2023. Photo by Jack Patton

By PJ Pfeiffer and Hannah Holycross ppfeiffer@statenews.com hholycross@statenews.com

Close to 20 billion sanitary napkins, tampons and applicators are dumped into North American landfills every year, according to Harvard University.

A study found that when wrapped in plastic bags, menstrual product waste can take centuries to biodegrade, leaving behind large amounts of waste because women,

MSU students advocate for more sustainable menstrual products

popular disposable products she once used.

“Most tampons are bleachtreated and my body did not like that,” Haden said. “So I went down a rabbit hole, did a ton of research into alternative, eco-friendly, body-safe period products and I found that it works for me — so, I switched.”

Organization for Women, an American feminist organization, the average woman spends about $20 per cycle on menstrual products, adding up to about $18,000 over a lifetime. Menstrual cups and underwear don’t have such costs; they last longer.

challenging the tampon status quo by providing students with cardboard applicators instead of plastic applicators.

only more sustainable, but also more cost-efficient and include fewer health risks for the user. These products include menstrual cups, reusable pads, period underwear, cardboard tampons and tampons without an applicator.

Genetics and molecular genomics junior Zoe Haden said the transition to these products can be intimidating at first, but has changed the way she has dealt with her cycle for the better.

Having used a menstrual cup and period underwear since her

Women are at risk of contracting toxic shock syndrome if a tampon is worn for over eight hours. A menstrual cup can be worn for as long as 12 hours until it needs to be emptied and rinsed.

Haden said due to the slight learning curve that comes with using a menstrual cup, she recommends users practice a few times at home to get comfortable with the product. When it came to menstrual underwear, she said, although it is more expensive than other products, she recommends it to anyone who is getting started out with sustainable menstrual devices.

“I have had the same pair of my period underwear as I did in eighth grade,” Haden said. “They’re not only better for your own body; they’re also better for the environment, you’re saving money.”

Disposable tampons with plastic applicators are a relatively new product, becoming mainstream about 60 years ago.

It began in 1921, when the first pack of Kotex, a disposable menstrual product, was massproduced, making disposable and less sustainable period products the norm. By the 1960s, pad designs began to incorporate plastic as a base and by the 1970s, plastics could

Mission Menstruation originally formed an advocacy program to bring awareness to the disparities women face when dealing with insufficient funds for free menstruation products. They have accomplished one of their goals by providing 13 free dispensers across campus, totaling over 13,500 period products.

Human biology senior Nupur Huria, the lead advocate for Mission Menstruation, said she wants to make sure students recognize the difference in the products and how sustainable products, such as the tampon with a cardboard applicator, can benefit the health of the user.

“If you’re not always properly checking what is going into those materials on the back of the box, there can be toxins,” Huria said. “With reusable

revolutionized accessibility at MSU for students, Huria said, but there is still more work to be done. Her vision for the club is to provide free sustainable products throughout all buildings on campus.

To accomplish this, Huria and Mission Menstruation are looking for help from the Associated Students of MSU’s Office of Sustainability.

ASMSU Director of Sustainability Cody Evans said he wants to partner and work with All Matters, a sustainable period product company, and their “Campus Cup” program, which gives out free, sustainable reusable period products on college campuses — such as menstrual cups and period underwear.

Realizing the impact Mission Menstruation has had on MSU’s campus, Evans said the progress the club has made since 2018 is a step in the right direction. He said a partnership between All Matters and

Illustration by Erica Bui