2109 SPECIAL enviromental EDITION 05.15.20 Iowa City High School - The Little Hawk - www.thelittlehawk.com
the racism and economics behind climate change read about it on page 6
16-17
energy usage at city high: read about the different ways energy is used at school
dear readers,
meet the
2020 2o21 little hawk Thank you for picking 2109, City High’s one and only features magazine! This letter is brought to you by your senior editor, Nina. I hope you and your families are healthy. Every year we do a special edition magazine, and this year we have decided to focus on the climate. This is our last features magazine of the year, and although that is very sad, this wonderful environmental special mag is a great way to end the year. In this special mag there are articles about stress, farming, and many other perspectives on environmental issues. In the modern world, there are a variety of adversities that people face day to day. One of those issues, which is becoming more and more prevalent, is the state of our environment. This special edition will hopefully spread more awareness on the urgency of this issue. These days, as we stay at home and practice social distancing, we have an amazing opportunity to appreciate the nature around us! I hope you enjoy the stories we’ve written, and we hope you are all doing well. It feels very weird to be writing this from home, and not in the journalism room, but one day things will be back to normal and Jesse and Aala will be killing it as features editors. I have absolutely loved writing for this magazine for the past three years. The summer before my sophomore year, Lucy McGehee told me joining journalism would change my life, and she was right. This year has been a rollercoaster, but I’m so thankful for every interview, article, and work night. Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, join journalism! I will miss it dearly, but I know I’m leaving it in good hands.
editorial board
Jesse, You are a fantastic reporter. From the first article we co-wrote together, I could tell you had SKILL. I’m so happy you were paired with me as my reporter buddy two years ago. Now you’re going to be executive editor, and you will be fantastic. Aala, I can’t wait to see what you do next year! You are hard-working and passionate and you will be a fantastic features editor. I know you will bring amazing things to this publication.
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With so much love,
Nina Lavezzo-Stecopoulos
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table of contents 4
the history of climate change: a timeline by ruth meehan
6 10 12
the racism and economics behind climate change by cecile bandera and victoria weckmann
14 16 18 20 22
native land by shoshie hemley farming green by shoshie hemley iowa water quality by julianne berrystolezle and paris fuller energy usage at city high by shoshie hemley climate strikers one year later by jesse hausknecht-brown eco fashion by sophia wagner climate anxeity by julianne berrystolezle and nina lavezzo-stecopoulos the next steps and solutions by emme perencevich
the
history Joseph Fourier, a French mathematician and physicist, proposes the greenhouse effect, stating that the atmosphere around Earth acts like a greenhouse roof.
1820s
1890s The idea of a warmer Earth was accepted and even welcomed.
late
1950s
CO2 readings bring data that help the climate change theory.
of
Concerns for another ice age grow as the global temperature takes a dip. Some scientists think that pollution is blocking the sun and causing the Earth to cool.
1970s
1988 A critical point in climate change history. A sharp increase in global temperature sees the summer of 1988 to be the hottest on record. This is when climate change is first seen in the media.
ART BY JESSE HAUSKNECHT-BROWN 4 The little Hawk - FEATURES
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climate change By Ruth Meehan
The United Nations establishes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
1989
2016
1997 A global agreement to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases is adopted called the Kyoto Protocol.
PHOTO BY JAE DANCER
2015 President Barack Obama signs on to the Paris Climate Agreement, along with 195 other countries.
President Donald Trump pulls out of the Paris Climate Agreement a year later.
2018 Greta Thunberg starts protesting in front of the Swedish Parliament, leading to many school strikes across the world, including in Iowa City
racism & economics behind
climate change
A look into how people of color and low income families are disproportionatly affected by climate change and how global capitalism forces developing countries to pay the price of climate change By Cecile Bandera and Victoria Wekcmann
are those [who] rely on natural resources. For example, a fisherman would be affected by coral he negative effects of cli- and mangrove loss, or a farmer mate change are expected would be subject to greater imto have a greater impact pacts from a flood or drought.” Lower income countries on lower income people, according to a federal report re- have reported having issues conleased in 2018. Additionally, these trolling the problems such as sea specifically in the United States, level rise and land destruction are made up primarily by minori- due to climate change. In sub-saties. The American Psychological haran Africa, the amount of niAssociation reported that 39 per- trogen taken by crops remains cent of African-American and 33 low, causing food shortages. A study by Craine et al. percent of Latinx adolescents live in poverty, while this rate is at 14 in Science Magazine recently percent for White and Asian ad- showed that the nitrogen concentrations in plant tissue which olescents. “There is a broad, major di- is often considered an indicator of versity in poverty and wealth the amount of nitrogen taken up within a country. So even in a by plants or their amount of nitrogen decreased low income naglobally between tion, there’ll be 1980 and 2017 alplaces that are though globally very wealthy expanded the and places that availability of niare poor. Except trogen. Accordthose that are ing to the study poor in developthe decrease in ment settings will nitrogen signify be much poorer that there exthan those that ists less nitrogen are poor [in the available for the United States],” plants than there Eric Tate, an aswas in the past. professor sistant professor African counof geographical tries such as Botswana, which and sustainable sciences at the University of Iowa, said. “With is currently suffering from cliclimate change, the people that mate change related problems, are going to be affected the most are dealing with low agricultural
T
“With climate change, the people that are going to be affected the most are those that rely on natural resources.” eric tate
production and food scarcity. ly impacting her country. However they are still trying to “The coral in the sea is bleachmake a change to better the en- ing out and then dying [because] vironment. of the change in temperature of “Botswana’s government is de- the ocean. It’s getting too hot veloping a climate for them to surpolicy and stratvive,” Pilet said. egy and reducing “It is so hot that greenhouse emisa mountainous sions 15 percent by chemical dump 2030,” a Botswana catches on fire. Representative at On the island United Nations there are more General Debate of cars than there 2019 said. “But the are people and country will fail to there is so much succeed in its cli- mahmadamin mahmadaminov traffic. There tajikistan representative mate efforts withare about two out partnership cars per person assistance, capacity‑building, which adds to the polluted air technology transfers and financial that we breathe.” support.” The inhabitants of Cayman Countries such as Tajikistan Island also suffer from a constant have experienced a great reduc- rise in sea level of the island. Action in their glaciers, which are cording to The Cayman News essential to all of Central Asia. Service, in the 20th-century sea “Unprecedented climate im- levels were elevated by 15 cenpacts are disproportionately bur- timeters, but they are currently dening developing countries,” elevating twice as much, the rate Mahmadamin Mahmadaminov, being 3.6 millimeters per year. the Tajikistan Representative at “In Cayman everything is sea United Nations General Debate, level; we don’t have any hills or said. “Moreover, the phenom- anything,” Pilet said. “Sometimes enon’s negative effect on the when the water comes in [the sea quantity and quality of freshwa- level] gets really high, and one ter resources in these nations is time [the water] was all [over] becoming ever more apparent.” the road .” Ruby Pilet Sr. who lives in In order to help decrease cliCayman Island, a developing mate change, the government of country, has seen the effects of Cayman utilizes its broadcasting climate change which is negative- resources to keep its constituents
“Unprecedented climate impacts are disproportionately burdening developing countries.”
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aware and educated of the environmental problem occurring in their country. “The government works with the planning department to make sure that there is no unauthorized destruction of mangroves and there is protection from natural [disaster] like hurricanes,” Pilet said. “When there is an invasive species, the government tries to keep people aware and organizes people to round it up.” Pilet attended the World Affairs Seminar Camp at Carroll University in Wisconsin, and utilized her passion regarding climate to create an awareness project on climate change by creating an Instagram page that would educate the general public on issues concerning climate change. “In doing the project I felt like I was bettering the possibility of the longevity of my island. I also felt as if I was helping decrease global warming,” Pilet said. “Our generation are the ones who either make climate change better or make it worse. The fact that I was able to educate the people was rewarding.” Through all of the problems that developing nations and people have faced, the greatest reason for the disparity between who is affected by climate change, especially in the United States, falls under a history of oppression. “Systemic racism is part of it, the kind of system that could perpetuate oppression. Communities that are predominantly of color tend to be segregated into areas that are more likely to receive things like extreme flooding,” Clarity Guerra, a videographer based at the University of Iowa, said. “These roots have a very complex, intertwined history with racism and the systems in place that perpetuate oppression.” Guerra provides a specific example, Hurricane Katrina, which occurred in New Orleans and predominantly affected African American families and low income families. “There are a couple of
reasons [for that] and intergen- disparity of those affected by clierational poverty is part of it,” mate change in the United States Guerra said. “It’s harder for black to the founding of the country. families to accumulate wealth, “Our political-economic sysfor example because of the ways tem, for hundreds of years, has the United been a concenStates gives trated power, out loans and patriarchal, who is eligible white, and class for loans, racist based. [The policymaking United States] and redlining was founded contribute to on the use of this. Being a free labor, so more vulnerawe have this ble community long history of cayman island residant when somean economic thing like a system that’s flood occurs [and] so there was a exploiting people,” Tate said. huge environmental disaster that “Unraveling that is not going to disproportionately affected black be easy. People nowadays expect families over white.” that opportunities are open and Tate agrees things will be fine. But things with this astake a long time sessment, to change and and tracthey cones the tinue
“Our generation are the ones who either make climate change better or make it worse.” ruby pilet
to be what is reproducing these inequities.” Besides slavery, Tate traces the ideas that have caused a climate change disparity to ideas that Americans have had about immigrants for years. “Today we’re willing to put people in cages because we think that they’re less than their burden. This idea at its core goes back to Ellis Island,” Tate said. “In each wave of immigration, you heard the exact same arguments that you hear today. ‘They will take our jobs, cost us money, bring disease, bring crime, they’re dangerous, they’re not like us.’ We recycle the same arguments because people are scared to change.” Despite government and political systems, people still have power over climate change through the free market. “People have so much market power, for example; palm oil. It’s a fruit that’s grown [on] trees originally from West Africa, but when you squeeze it, [it] has all this oil inside. People found it is really great for a ton of things, cooking oil, baked goods, toothpaste, shampoo, chances are you buy palm oil products,” Tate said. “A lot of it is grown in Indonesia, where they burn down forests that are home to really large amounts of biodiversity and put all this carbon into the air, to put in palm oil plantations and make the products that get shipped to the United States.” Tate uses the example of palm oil to show how consumers in the United States affect climate change and the rest of the world. “It’s our decisions that are fueling changes in other parts of the planet, helping to decimate the rainforest in India, Indonesia, and Malaysia,” Tate said. However, according to Tate, consumerism is not the biggest fuel for climate change, rather it is governmental policy. ART BY REESE HILL
“Consumer choices are driving things like palm oil plantations, but the big impacts are not the consumer decisions. It’s public policy around transportation, agriculture, and land use, and these aren’t decisions that individuals
ism, however, because of the disparities that minorities have faced with climate change, she also feels that communities of color should have special attention directed at them. “It would be much higher im-
the number of people effected by natural disasters doubled from 2015 to 2016 are making for the most part,” Tate said. Voting serves as a way to allow individuals to influence the public policy that they see and make it more climate friendly. “Everybody should vote. Policies aren’t just going to come out of thin air. Sometimes it’s hard to understand elections and they get framed around healthcare and taxes, but the people that get in there making policies, they’re deciding where tax dollars go,” Tate said. “Voting is the most important influence at the local level and these elections are won by hundreds of votes sometimes. So, your vote actually does matter.” Guerra also sees the importance in voting as a form of activ-
pact for the government to make changes then for individuals to make decisions, but at the same time, having an outreach and grassroot activism that includes and focuses on communities of color and how they can have a big impact on climate justice with how they vote, [is important],” Guerra said. “In terms of outreach to communities of color in general, when it comes to political campaigning, people have to make sure that certain communities aren’t written off.” Recently, President Donald Trump’s administration has begun to dismantle the efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate racial disparities in climate change.
According to an article written by reporters at the The Atlantic and Huffington Post, Trump’s administration fired scientists with expertise on environmental justice knowledge and reduced funding to environmental justice programs. In an interview with The Inside Climate News former associate administrator Mustafa Ali said that it took a great amount of efforts to create a trusting relationship with communities of color by building programs which are now being demolished by the Trump administration. Ali believes that the reduction of funding to the EPA by Trump’s administration is for safeguarding industrial companies which embrace Trumps campaign and discrimination as well as demonstrating to communiteis of color that their lives are not of value. Guerra believes that one of the ways to combat the racial and income disparities because of climate change disparity which faces minorities and the poor is with education and awareness. “I think that having a really good curric- u l u m surrounding environmental
science and climate science in our schools [would help],” Guerra said. “And making sure everyone takes those classes is a good way to reach all populations and help shift the understanding of this major issue.” Although Ali resigned from his position at the EPA, he continues his efforts of educating communities of color about environmental issues by being vice president of a not for profit program Hip Hop Caucus. The program assists the youth in activism on issues such as the environment through hip hop. In the interview with The Inside Climate News Ali also said that he plans to highlight that environmental justice needs to continue to occur and that there are opportunities to achieve that, and that issue needs to be addressed or the health of society will be affected. Additionally, with the goal of i n -
ABOVE: A beach on Cayman Island. PHOTO BY RUBY PILET
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creasing knowledge concerning climate change, the Iowa City Community School District has added AP Environmental Science taught by Mary Lestina that will commence in the 2020-2021 school year. The class came about through surveys of parents and students as well as demands made by the climate strikers who indicated that they would like to see more environmental issues addressed within the sciences. “I think that it comes down to how much exposure you have with environmental topics,” Lestina said. “[Therefore] the more aware you are, the more you are able to take appropriate action that you need.” Lestina hopes that this class will allow students to understand
the science behind environmen- food and stuff like that, and also and that makes people want to tal issues and have more educa- overall consumption.” buy the cheaper, more earth tion on what possible solutions When it comes to the eco- damaging products.” could be. nomics of climate change and When polled, about 76 per“ We ’ r e specifical- cent of students reported that engoing to be ly people’s vironmentally friendly products focusing a impact on are too expensive and about 44 lot on the the envi- percent said that they avoid buysolutions ronment by ing them for that reason. Howevand what buying sus- er despite her limitations, Fields people can tainable or still works to do what she can to do as inecological- help the environment. dividuals,” ly friendly “I try to recycle as much as I Lestina said. p r o d u c t s , can, reduce my plastic usage, and “It’s really M e g a n part of that is using my reusable easy to sit Fields ‘21 water bottle every day, and my back and feels limited parents buy most of the stuff in say, ‘the by her in- my household so I’ve tried to government come. convince them to be better about should do “[I feel what they buy,” Fields said. “I videographer this, and we limited be- feel like I definitely could be doshould just cause] my ing more but every little thing reduce our fossil fuels and have family isn’t necessarily poor, but counts.” that be our focus.’ But I want to we definitely are not rich. We Despite all of the available give the power to the students to just can’t afford to buy the best solutions, people are still conthink of small actions or things [eco friendly] products,” Fields cerned about climate change. A that they could do to make more said. new study from National Geoof an impact.” Despite the smaller solutions that people can learn to do, adopting a more sustainable lifestyle can be difficult to do if people are struggling economically. “When you’re struggling economically and you get home and think about how to get the kids fed and pay the bills and you Fields believes that she is not graphic showed that 72 percent of have other stresses in life, it’s hard the only one who faces this prob- Americans view climate change to have to think about being sus- lem, and if sustainable products as a personally important probtainable,” Tate said. were more affordable then they lem. Despite possibly wanting to would be “I’m going do things that are better for the more widely to be honest, environment, Guerra thinks that used. In fact, climate change lower-income families are already a survey takscares the hell better for the environment be- en among out of me. Peocause of their consumer habits. City High ple don’t take “If you compare an upper mid- s t u d e n t s it as seriously dle-class family with an electric s h o w e d as they should car and solar panels and a poorer that about and as a mifamily, the rich family might be 77 percent nor I feel like I polluting more, even if they’re of students can’t do much making these kinds of green de- feel limited to change cisions. [The wealthy family has] in helping that,” Fields purchasing power that provides the environsaid. “I do care access to green technologies, but ment due to about helping they consume more in general,” the amount the environcity high junior Guerra said. “Even though they of money at ment, because have some of these symbols of their disposal. obviously everyone lives here and green choices, they might not “So many people would buy we want to live here for a long have a smaller carbon footprint. better products if they were more time, so I really don’t appreciate So there’s the flexibility to make affordable,” Fields said. “I think the idea of the world ending on green choices and buy organic that they are way too expensive us.”
“In terms of outreach to communities of color in general, when it comes to political campaigning, people have to make sure that certain communities aren’t written off.” Clarity guerra
3 IN 4 PEOPLE LIVING IN POVERTY RELY ON AGRICULTURE OR NATURAL RESOURCES TO SURVIVE “I’m going to be honest, climate change scares the hell out of me. People don’t take it as seriously as they should and...I feel like I can’t do much to change that.” megan fields
Native land Concern for the climate and enviroment is rapidly growing, however for many Native Americans, this is an issue they’ve been facing for years
By Shoshie Hemley
O
ne of the most known aspects of Native American culture is the connection with the land and nature. However, Native Americans across Iowa, and the rest of the nation, are having to deal with the destruction of their land and the environment. “We consider nature to be a part of us. We’re a part of nature. We’re not two different things, we’re the same thing. We need each other and nature needs us as much as we need nature. We have that relationship,” Dawson Davenport, an artist and writer who is part of the Meskwaki nation, said. “We have a kind of two way relationship where people refer to nature as our relative, and vice versa.” Davenport has been using his voice to advocate for indigenous issues, one of those issues specifically being climate change. In October of 2019, Davenport shared the stage with climate activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Greta Thunberg, and gave a speech about climate justice for indigenous peoples. “It was a really cool experi-
ence to be included in that and to going to be very severe, the winbe with such a worldwide figure ters there get very cold, and that talking about the same things,” has not changed because that’s Davenport said. “The reason why not how climate change works,” I really wanted to be a part of it Littlemoon said. “[The] brutal was because of her stance and po- summers affect people [who] sition on indigenous communi- don’t have air conditioning and ties and how we have been talking they die of heatstroke, and it’s about these things for a long just getting progressively worse.” time. To be there and to share In Davenport’s community the moment near Tama, with her, it Iowa, floodwas really ing, caused cool to be by climate included, to change, has be up there been an isrepresenting sue. native peo“ We ’ r e ple here in dealing with Member of the Meskwaki nation Iowa.” things that One of are happenthe main issues facing Native ing around us, for example, floodAmericans are water shortag- ing. We get a lot more flooding es. Demetrious Littlemoon ‘20, here in our community,” Davenan Oglala Lakota Sioux, a tribe port said. “It’s getting a little bit based in South Dakota, explains worse every time it floods, it gets that climate change only worsens higher and higher up to people’s lack of access to water. homes. Whereas before, really, it “Water supply is a huge issue never really got that bad.” in South Dakota, because the resDavenport has also noticed ervation is in the Badlands, so it’s other effects such as later plantjust a desert, full of mountains ing and harvesting for his comand gravel, which is not a great munity. place to be affected by climate “[Climate change] definitely change [because] droughts are has an effect on native commu-
“We consider nature to be a part of us. We’re a part of nature. Dawson Davenport
nities in several different ways,” Davenport said. “I think for indigenous communities we’re trying to figure out how we’re going to adapt to these changes that we’re seeing. A lot of what we do, we operate on nature’s time.” Native voices have been increasingly amplified in the conversations surrounding climate change with protests such as Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. “In my work I’ve been included in a lot of conversations which never happened before,” Davenport said. “You start hearing that for example, the presidential candidates, like Bernie Sanders, came to my community and that native indigenous people will be at the forefront of the conversation now, that we will be considered when the government is going to make decisions about climate change and how to deal with it. It’s really cool that people who could potentially become the president are saying these things.” However, many Native climate activists weren’t always being heard. “We never [were included in the conversation of climate
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change] before. We have our indigenous Native activists who have been raising awareness for a long time, John Trudell, Winona Laduke who’ve been pretty much talking about climate change their whole career, their whole lives,” Davenport said. “They’ve never really been taken seriously until recently, because of things like Standing Rock and the pipeline issues.” Even though there have been native voices included in the conversation, it often comes from necessity due to the fact that many indigenous communities are disproportionately feeling the effects of climate change. “Inherently Native Americans are more tied to the land they live on because it’s the only thing that we have connecting our groups together, the one thing we all have in common is that we have reservations. I think climate change is distilled down to its most
basic form, a degradation of know, worse farming years the land, which is not some- and whatnot.” thing Native Americans are Many Native Americans [okay] with,” Littlemoon rely heavily on their land. said. “The corporatism is Therefore, the degradation really bad, and a lot of na- of such land is harmful totives live in very poor con- wards their communities. ditions where they can’t use “One of the biggest factechnology to minimize the tors into how poor our tribe impacts of climate change. ends up being is how much I think land the Native governAmerim e n t cans are g a v e going t h e m to face originala lot ly, and of the w h a t s a m e kind of troubles land it is city high senior ever yand the one else Oglawill be la were they’re going to get hit by it, given a lot of very worthless a lot more like people you land, and they weren’t given know Sub Saharan Africa terribly much of it,” Littlewhere the systems really moon said. “It was at the aren’t there to protect them very beginning, not even all from what’s going to hap- of South Dakota. It’s only pen as compared to some- shrunk since then. The priwhere like Iowa City where mary source of income for we’re just going to have, you the tribe is just selling land
“The primary source of income for the tribe is just selling land parcels over time.”
Demetrious LITTLEMOON
parcels over time. So it’s an ever shrinking amount of land, which means the income potential they have is only getting lower.” However, Davenport still believes that it is important to remain hopeful and optimistic. “Young people are starting to wake up and that’s where I believe the strength comes from. There’s so many young people in this country now that have that power to take over and to create these changes so that we do live on a healthy and liveable planet,” Davenport said. “It’s time to start thinking about the future generations. We need to take care of this planet, our Earth, the natural world. Because we need to leave this world better than we got it. Our children deserve a chance at life and there’s only one way to do that and that’s to restore that balance and restore what we’ve already taken.”
ART BY SHOSHIE HEMLEY
farming green The relationship between Iowa farmers and the land they cultivate has become strained as some farmers both contribute to enviromental degradation as well as feel the effects of climate change
By Shoshie Hemley
I
owa is a state known for farming,; leading the nation in corn, soybean, pork, and egg production, according to the U.S Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. In 2012, there were 30,622,731 acres of farmland in Iowa according to the Iowa Data Center. However, according to the National Environmental Protection Agency, agriculture is responsible for nine percent of national carbon emissions. “First of all, farmers are regular human beings, good human beings that are stuck kind of in a bad place. There’s been legislation that has encouraged that bad behavior,” Liz Maas, an assistant environmental science professor at Kirkwood Community College, said. “We don’t incentivize the right types of behaviors, or we don’t incentivize the right types of behaviors enough.” According to Maas, there are many environmental concerns related to farming. Water quality, soil degradation, and carbon emissions are just a few. “The system is just kind of rigged against [farmers]. And so it’s hard for them to use [fewer] chemicals or for them to make different decisions about the acreage that they have and how it could maybe be protected with buffer strips,” Maas said. Many farmers are forced to farm the way they do because of economic restraints. The Triple Bottom Line is a framework that says you need to analyze
issues not only from an eco- triple bottom line is huge for sonomic perspective but from an cial justice issues as well,” Maas environmental and social lens as said. well. Many environmental issues According to a University in Iowa become more complex of Iowa researcher, Chris Jones, when you look at the issues from Iowa leads the nation in fecal proall three lenses. duction. This is attributed to Io“If you think of a Venn dia- wa’s large population of livestock. gram of those Although three pieces, Iowa is a state [environonly 3.2 “First of all, farmers are ofmillion mental, sopeocial, economple, due to regular human beings, ic], sort of the 110 miloverlapping, lion chicken, good human beings that that sweet pigs, cattle, are stuck kind of in a bad and turkey, spot that we cite, we enwe produce place.” vironmental waste equivscientists call alent to 168 it sustainmillion peoability,” Maas ple. This Environmental Scientist said. “I don’t waste has an like the term impact on sustainability because sustain- Iowa’s water quality, which has ability is just sort of like getting high levels of nitrates and often a ‘C.’ It’s kind of just doing barely requires “do not drink” orders. enough to get by so that we can The quality is worsened by peskeep, keep going sustain right ticides and fertilizers used for and we need to at least get a ‘C.’” the state’s crops. According to There are many economic National Geographic, Iowa is the factors, such as monopolies on second-largest nitrate contribuseeds, like Monsanto, that make tor to the gulf in the Mississippi it difficult for Iowa farmers to River Basin. become more sustainable. Al“I make my own personal though there are some govern- food choices and I advocate for ment incentives such as the Wet- personal choices because of my lands Reserve Program and the concern for water quality,” Maas, Conservation Reserve Program, who tries to lessen her meat conthey are optional. sumption, said. “If [there isn’t a balance beSailesh Rao is the founder tween social, economic, and en- and executive director of Climate vironmental], then somebody’s Healers, a non-profit dedicated going to get hurt so that kind of to healing the earth’s climate. brings you to that next piece of His research shows that shutting your social justice issues, [the] down the animal agricultural in-
Liz Maas
dustry should be a priority when it comes to environmental issues. “I’m especially thrilled with non-profit entities like Sadhana Forest who are creating perennial, edible food forests comprising fruit and nut trees, vegetable and berry shrubs, herbs and root vegetables that can be foraged year around,” Rao said. “Sadhana Forest is a completely vegan organization [that] uses composting toilets and other well thought out waste recycling processes to implement sustainability.” Rao believes a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle is ideal for the climate and the planet. “Animal agriculture uses 37 percent of the land area of the planet just to graze animals and this grazing land currently stores just two percent of the land carbon. If the carbon storage on this grazing land were increased from two percent to 20 percent, we can literally reverse climate change,” Rao said. However, farmers aren’t only contributing to climate change and environmental degradation. Farmers across Iowa are also feeling the effects of climate change. Katie Hagan’s family owns a farm in Wellman, Iowa. Hagan has been seeing an increase of flooding which has affected her family’s planting, especially last year’s flooding in the spring and summer of 2019. “[Last season] we weren’t able to plant our corn when we were supposed to. We had to plant it really late which means we weren’t able to harvest it until it was snowing already. And usu-
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ally, we’re able to harvest it way before that,” Hagan said. The floods of both 2011 and 2019 in Iowa were considered “500-year floods”. “A 500-year flood event just means that you’re supposed to have one every 500 years. Statistically speaking, now we shouldn’t have any more for another at least 1000 years. But I don’t think that that’s probably going to be the case,” Maas said. Hagan has also seen other effects of harsher and more unpredictable weather patterns caused by climate change. “I would say it’s been getting really cold, a lot earlier. We don’t really have a fall which is our main harvest season which means it’s harder for us to harvest especially when it’s snowing outside,” Hagan said. Nathan Bradford’s ‘22 family owns a hobby farm, meaning his family doesn’t farm for a living. His family has also felt the effects of climate change. “There have been really brutal winters that can be especially hard on the animals. We have lost animals before due to the severe cold, as well as we’ve had some that have done the exact opposite where even though we keep the water maintained, they just can’t get enough, and they end up dying from thirst [during drought],” Bradford said. Not only are farmers feeling the effects of climate change, but some farmers are also trying to fight it. Some farmers try to utilize different energy sources, such as wind and solar.
Small and local farms try to reduce carbon emissions by running operations on a smaller scale as well as having less of a need for widespread transport. Organic farms are trying to be more environmentally mindful when farming by reducing the pesticides and chemicals in the waterways. “The effect [of chemicals and GMOs] on the ecosystems is definitely evident, there’s enough research there to prove that this is affecting it, but the real hard part is the farmers are in a hard place as even if they don’t want to be using these GMOs and these
Maas believes it will take a systematic change for farmers to have less of a contribution to climate change. “With new leadership, we may have some new opportunities and look into the mission [to replace] older ideas about how things are supposed to operate and coming in with new ideas of how we could do this. It is always challenging, change is always hard,” Maas said. “There’s a lot of people that are in leadership that still don’t accept climate science and still there are things that are changing, and even while we
said, it’s not fair for the one small farmer to stop using [pesticides] to get his yield so far down that he can’t compete anywhere near with the other frontrunners, even though they are dumping these things into our ecosystem.” Hagan agrees that it takes governmental action to help protect the environment. “We could definitely start [acting against climate change] by having a president who thinks climate change is a real thing,” Hagan said. Bradford wants people to know that climate change isn’t
pesticides, the economic part of it is if they don’t use them, their yields may go down because their ground isn’t naturally [ready] to handle that,” Bradford said. “They could be faced with a couple of really hard economic years if they tried to go into a nonGMO, non-pesticide state.”
continue to have more extreme weather events.” Bradford also believes there needs to be a systemic change in order to revolutionize how Iowans farm. “There would just have to be a pretty universal push toward [organic],” Bradford said. “Like I
just affecting farmers. “Even if you live in the city, climate change itself does affect people directly,” Bradford said. “While we can’t stop what we’ve already done we can, we can stop it from harming anymore.”
The
Depths
The link between water quality, agriculture, and climate change as well as how openly it is discussed By Julianne BerryStoelzle and Paris Fuller
S
ilvia Secchi often takes walks along the Iowa River with her dog Chiquita. She enjoys the fresh air, and watching the eagles, but also keeps a careful eye out for algae blooms and the water level. She worries about the contamination in the river, if the pH is too high for the fish to survive, or if algae blooms are releasing harmful bacteria into the water. Secchi is an associate professor in the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences and Public Policy Center at the University of Iowa, and it is her job to have these worries. A 2018 report from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources shows that 54 percent of the 767 bodies of water tested were “impaired for a variety of reasons such as indicator bacteria, turbidity (soil in the water), pH, and algae.” This contamination is largely due to Iowa’s agricultural industry. According to the United Nations, agriculture is the biggest source of pollution in surface
of Water Pollution
and groundwater. make as much progress to address “We’re seeing more and more pollution coming from agriculintense agriculture [in Iowa]. ture,” Secchi said. We’re seeing more nutrients in High levels of nutrients in the the water, and we’re seeing more water can alter the pH levels, killalgae,” Secchi said. ing off the fish population, as well In 2019, Iowa farmers pro- as enabling algae blooms to form. duced about 2.58 billion bushels “To be honest, I really don’t of corn, 502 million bushels of know if anything is being done. soybeans, and 3.12 million tons I mean, I’m not saying that nothof hay, according to the United ing is I just I’m not made aware States Department of Agricul- of it, necessarily,” Emma Nugent ture. Large amounts of nutrient ‘21 said. runoff from Nugent those crops realizes this were takunawareness en down may be a to the Gulf problem. of Mexico, “I mean where they the lack of have accuawareness mulated with can make it nutrients worse befrom othcause then Professor er locations it’s no one’s throughout the US, creating doing anything. You’re not worsummer dead zones. rying about it, but that doesn’t “While we have made a lot of mean like the problem itself isn’t progress in taking care of pollu- getting worse,” Nugent said. tion that comes from industrial Both Secchi and Nugent agree sources, humans, and human that the pollution in Iowa’s wawaste, we have not been able to terways should be discussed
“We Need to be comprehensive In How we see Water-related Issues and think more about water Quality.” Silvia Secchi
more than it currently is. “The first step is to admit that the problem is there,” Secchi said. “I think the most important aspect of my work actually is to make sure that we’re all aware that there is a problem because if you don’t think that there is a problem, you don’t think that we need to solve it.” According to Secchi, this winter had an abnormally high amount of nutrients in Iowa’s waterways, which is worrisome because generally, the great flow of nutrients happens in the spring. The nutrients in the water enable algae blooms to grow. “The problems with algae blooms is not just that they mess up the water,” Secchi said. “They affect fish populations, and they can generate bacteria that are poisonous to humans and pets. So then the water really becomes a hazard.” Through her work, Secchi has noticed that changing weather patterns related to climate change intensify the issue of pollution. The warmer weather along with the excess nutrients creates the
ABOVE: Photos from the Iowa River Trail bridge and spill way PHOTOS BY NATALIE GREEN 14 The little Hawk - FEATURES
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SCAN HERE TO WATCH BROWN AND NUGENT’S VIDEO
ABOVE: Photo of algae blooming during February near the Iowa River Trail Bridge in Coralville PHOTOS BY NATALIE GREEN
ideal environment for algae growth while rising sea levels increase the potential damage of a flood. “Climate change exacerbates a lot of the problems we’re seeing,” Secchi said. “In more ways than one, climate change is increasing the need and the urgency to address this water-related issue in the state of Iowa. It’s becoming a public health issue, a public health emergency.” Alex Marsh ‘20 would like the pollution of the Iowa River to be taught more in her classes. “I definitely do not think this problem is discussed enough. I think it’s a bigger issue than most people realize,” Marsh said. “It is important for us to be educated on how we can decrease the contamination because it goes right through where we live.” Despite not liking how little
the water pollution is discussed won honorable mention in the around her, Marsh does not feel CSPAN StudentsCam Doculike it is being concealed. mentary Contest. “The contamination of the “I learn a lot. It really just Iowa River is something that brings a new perspective, because I hardly ever hear about, but I a lot of times the agriculture infeel like when it is talked about, dustry is seen as the perpetrator people of all the are open evils of about it,” climate Marsh change, said. b u t I n they’re their Enalso being glish class affected this year, by climate Nugent change,” and FranNugent Professor cessca said. Brown ‘21 N u worked together to create a vid- gent would like to see a greater eo about the effects of climate government focus on the causes change on the agricultural indus- and prevention of water pollutry and water quality. Their vid- tion. Secchi believes that this is eo, titled When It Rains it Pours, possible through the election of
“We Need to be comprehensive In How we see Water-related Issues and think more about water Quality.” Silvia Secchi
government officials dedicated to clean water. “When we’re talking about water quality or flood management issues in Iowa, we have a lot more power to affect change. We can elect people that improve the situation at the state level,” Secchi said. “It’s important that the next generation of voters are aware of what’s going on and how the candidates plan to address these issues.” With new policies, Secchi believes that Iowa has the ability to improve water quality throughout the US. “We need to change the way we manage water. We need to be more comprehensive in how we see water-related issues and think more about water quality,” Secchi said. “Iowa has a lot of potential to both cause and fix problems when it comes to water.”
energy usage at city high R By Shoshie Hemley
ecently, a pair from the Americorps visited City High in order to review their emissions and do an energy audit, which the school has not yet received. According to the ICCSD’s Climate Action plan of 2019, the ICCSD’s greenhouse gas emissions are split up by buildings and facilities, solid waste, the bus fleet, gasoline vehicles, and water usage. All these sectors contribute to the school’s carbon emissions. “I think this is where I need to probably be better about thinking about what the cutting edge looks like, what should we be doing, and that’s where it comes back to [the audit],” City High Principal John Bacon said. “I’m really looking forward to their findings and recommendations. I’m not an expert in environmental issues and I hope that they can make some recommendations and we can try to put some of those things in place.” According to the 2018 Baseline Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory, the main contributors to ICCSD carbon emissions are buildings and facilities, which is almost 90 percent of emissions. This means energy usage throughout the building, such as lights, heating, and other forms of electricity. This sector emitted 14,884 metric tons of carbon in 2018. However, the second-largest carbon emitter within the
district is the bus fleet, respon- when they’re not using it.” sible for eight percent of district Alex Marsh ‘20, a student in emissions in 2018. These are the Greenpeace at City High, agrees district’s largest areas of concern with Stark. for bringing down their carbon “When you drive down the emissions. However, energy use street at night, all the [City High] and transportation are not the lights are on. I’ve always wononly environmental footprints dered why the heck they do that, City High has. there doesn’t seem to be a point “I know it sounds simple, but to that. I feel like that’s a really turning off lights and unplugging easy fix that would make a really things and powering down on big change,” Marsh said. weekends can really save a lot of While not included as one money of the and really sectors “I know it sounds simple, but turning in the minimize energy Baseline off lights and unplugging things consumption. GreenWell, the house and powering down on weekends main purG a s pose [of can really save a lot of money and Emisthe ensions Inergy au- really minimize energy consumption. ventor y, dit] is to school decrease lunchenergy es also environmental scientist usage in make an the buildimpact ings, since the Climate Action on the environment. One of the Plan that was done for the school contributors to carbon emissions district kind of highlighted ener- in the lunchroom is meat. gy use in the buildings as one of Sailesh Rao is the founder the big factors contributing to gas and executive director of Climate emissions in this school district,” Healers, a non-profit dedicated Lisa Stark, one of the Americorps to healing the earth’s climate. He workers said. “Our big goal [is] has done recent research focusing minimizing that and then, for me, on how to engineer a safe shut and for my colleague, is we real- down of the two main engines ly want to instill good practices of planetary destruction: animal [in] students and let them know agriculture and the fossil fuels that they can do things in their industry. His research shows that everyday lives, simple things, like the priority should first be shutunplugging your phone charger ting down animal agriculture.
lisa stark
“There is nothing more important than getting people to go vegan and for farmers to transition from animal farming to plant-based farms,” Rao said. According to Rao, animal agriculture impacts the climate in two ways. The first is through the direct emissions of greenhouse gases such as for the production and transportation of animal agricultural products and methane released from animals such as cows. The second is through the indirect emissions of greenhouse gases for the land used for animal agriculture. “The widespread adoption of veganism is a necessary condition for the transformation of human societies to a sustainable, nonviolent civilization in harmony with a thriving planet Earth,” Rao said. Daphne Knoop ‘20 has been vegetarian her whole life, because of this, she mainly packs her lunch from home. “I think the [school lunch] options were okay in elementary school, but I definitely know that there would be some days when I wouldn’t have a choice to eat at school, and so I’d have to pack my own lunch,” Knoop said. Knoop believes while there are vegetarian options at school, there aren’t enough to have variety within one’s diet. “Being a vegetarian [and eating school lunch] is possible, but it’s quite difficult. I think you have to be eating the same thing
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every single day really to make that work. I think when you make a commitment to go to a plant-based diet, you’re also really making a commitment to pack your own lunch,” Knoop said. This is an issue that Stark has been working on. She is looking at preparing plant-based meals that taste good and training the staff to do so. “[Plant-based food]’s definitely a priority of ours, and we have been researching ways to help the district implement more plantbased meals,” Stark said. Another environmental concern in the lunchroom is food waste, however, it is something the district tries to cut down on. “The Nutrition Department uses strategies to minimize production waste. With batch-cooking methods, kitchen teams adjust production based on student selection throughout meal service at secondary schools,” Alison Demory, the district nutritional services director, said. “Historic data from cycle menus provide for accurate forecasting to prevent waste at elementary schools. When possible, extra food is re-purposed in the school meal program for fiscal responsibility.” However, the district is not allowed to donate any food that has already been on the serving line per food regulations. Any appropriate leftovers that haven’t been on the serving line are donated to Table to Table, as the district does try to minimize their waste. “We’d much rather feed our students than the landfill,” Demory said. One solution some schools have started or are planning on starting is composting. This is another initiative Stark is looking at and piloting at one school in North Liberty. However, there are certain obstacles when facing a large scale composting initiative, for example, a large amount
of waste would require worms to decompose among other issues. “There’s a lot of behind the scenes work happening with the
hauler,” Stark said. “The people come up and come and pick up the recycling and the compost.” All of this needs to be okayed with the hauler due to their operation’s capabilities and size when it comes to picking up the waste from all the district’s schools. Because of these obstacles, composting may not be feasible within the ICCSD. “It’d be really great to have the support from the facilities operations right now at this point, but, for composting at City High, we don’t have the backing of the support from them,” Stark said. “We don’t have the okay for Johnson County Refuse to pick up composting. So then everything kind of falls back on, ‘Okay, well, how if someone’s going to collect food waste, how is it going to be managed?’ It’s a challenge. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be done either.” Plastic waste is another issue that Stark, along with her colleague Adrianna, is trying to combat within the district lunchrooms. “[It would be] great to get this single-use plastic out of the cafeteria on leave and transition back to actual silverware,” Stark said. “The problem with that, that I’m hearing from facilities opera-
tions, is the washing of it as well that people throw it away and so then they have to buy more and from a cost perspective, it costs
be called to the carpet.” She is also working to add more plants to the campus. “I would really like to see school gardens have more participation and a lot more of student involvement, especially because I feel like it’s a really good way to get out of the classroom and outdoors and learn about their environment and nature,” Stark said. Although there are environmental concerns at City High, there are already steps being taken to answer students’ environmental needs. “We got AP Environmental Science INFOGRAPHIC BY SHOSHIE HEMLEY off the ground and I think that’s really good. too much money to replace all I was really driven to make that the silverware that gets thrown happen when I met with students away.” last year. And that was one of a The district also tries to min- few ideas that we brainstormed. imize its plastic use, however. That really was an example of a Because elementary schools don’t student voice, taking action in have their own kitchens, there is the school,” Bacon said. more packaging used at those loOver 80 students have encations. rolled in AP Environmental “In the high schools, we always Science, according to Bacon. encourage students to use trays Stark agrees with Bacon that the rather than paper plates. This has student voice is necessary and improved in the new [location, she is pushing for more student Liberty High School,] and [the] involvement with her initiaremodeled [location, West High tive. School] and I’m hopeful it will “[Students] can help by exalso improve at City after renova- pressing interest and getting intion,” Demory said. volved and spreading the word Bacon also agrees that plastic and talking about these things in in the lunchroom is an issue at their peer groups or in their classCity, especially the plastic milk es, and really looking at how they bottles. change things in their daily lives,” “I think the biggest weakness Stark said. that we have always driven me Marsh hopes that she can help crazy is the throwing away of educate her peers in order to those plastic milk bottles in the make City High more environlunchroom,” Bacon said. “I’ve mentally friendly. been here 10 years, and it seems “I think advocating and getlike every other year we have a ting people more educated is motivated group of students that honestly a lot more valuable wants to do something [about it] than we think. I think there are and they get it going and then it little things that they can do to stops. I’m sure we all have some help. Just being more aware of responsibility as to why that con- what you’re doing every day and tinues to fall apart, but ultimate- how you can change it, the little ly I think that’s one where the things,” Marsh said. school district probably should
The evolution of the Iowa City climate strikes
By Jesse Hausknecht-Brown
S
Climate Strikers
itting in class, Alex Howle ‘23, Massimo Biggers ‘23, and Ian Martinez ’23 carefully watched the clock, waiting for the time to come. Walking out of South East Junior High for the first time was scary. Teachers and students’ heads turned as the then-eighth graders stood outdoors, signs in hand, and protested for action to be taken on climate change. Howle was nervous going into it because he didn’t know how the teachers would respond but felt sure that the strikers were making the right choice. person, we were always there.” “At the very first climate strike, everyone Organizing the strikes, which usually took was really nervous because we didn’t know place at the Iowa City Community School how it would go, we didn’t know if kids were District’s office, has been relatively simple for going to come outside, we didn’t know if peo- the climate strikers. ple would just come out to skip school or if “There haven’t really been any stressful the teachers would come outside,” Howle climate strikes at all,” Biggers said. “It’s just said. “And honestly, there was a lot of support kind of like, we get together, we speak, and from the teachers. I mean, there was some we have fun.” negativity [from] teachers. It was mostly They decided to start striking after Greta good.” Thunburg, a Swedish environmental activist, When the climate strikes were just starting started a movement called “Fridays for Fuup, support could be hard to come by. ture.” Starting in August 2018, Thunberg sat “Well, [my family] used to not think it was outside of the Swedish parliament instead a waste of time,” Marof going to school to tinez said. “But now call for political action that I’ve gotten attento be taken to comtion from other people, bat climate change. they started to pick it On October 4, 2019, up more like, ‘Oh yeah, Thunberg joined the this is a good thing; you Iowa City Climate shovuld keep doing Strikers in a strike that this.’” had over 3,000 people Biggers’ favorite part attend. of the experience was After finding out the strikes themselves, that Thunberg was especially when he was coming to an Iowa striking alone. City climate strike, city high freshman “There was a day Howle excitedly told where I was striking at his mom. Martinez the school board, and I didn’t immediately was just alone for four hours,” Biggers said. tell his parents and told a couple of his friends “[It was] just quiet, very quiet. I was reading who had been supportive of the climate a book for four hours. I had two signs right strikes from the beginning. next to me. I [was] just sitting there. I think “[The atmosphere of the strike] was surreit really showed that we were persistent, that al. I couldn’t have imagined [it],” Howle said. we weren’t stopping at all. Even if it was one “I think it was six months into the climate
One Year Later
“And honestly, there was a lot of support from the teachers. I mean, there was some negativity [from] teachers. It was mostly good.” Alex Howe
strikes and I just couldn’t believe that she was there because she was the inspiration for it. I couldn’t see myself there six months ago and then I was there.” After the Iowa City climate strikers were noticed by Thunberg, Martinez felt like his voice was being heard loudly after months of striking. “I finally felt listened to by other people in the community, after someone that’s known as a striker, I’m not gonna call her a celebrity but kind of a celebrity, who’s out there, more people start to listen to you since you got noticed by that certain person,” Martinez said. Roughly one year after the climate strikes started, the climate strikers are calling for Iowa City and the University of Iowa to achieve 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. They also want the university to stop burning coal at its coal plant. Looking into the future, Biggers, Howle, and Martinez all want to see changes in the Iowa City and City High community. “I’d like to see more people take it seriously and stop joking about the climate because it’s a serious issue,” Howle said. “If we don’t handle it, there won’t be a future for humans or anything. In the future, I’d like to see our carbon emissions reduced to zero, even if I’m not alive for it, and all clean energy.” The climate strikers would like to see more people join in on the Friday strikes to advocate for statewide political action to be taken. t“We’re trying to take on the governor now and we just need people to join,” Biggers said. “More people would be awesome.”
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E
very year, $400 billion worth of clothing fills landfills, where it can sit for more than one-hundred and fifty years. Is there a a option to wasteful so-called fast fashion? Mary Cate Pugh ‘23, Faith Odhiambo ‘22, and Caleigh Stanier ‘21 discuss why they shop second hand while showcasing their thrift-fashion finds through a Little Hawk video posted below.
PHOTOS BY SOPHIA WAGNER
Second hand fashion is a way of limiting waste for stylists and envirommentalists.
By Sophia Wagner
Fast Fashion
Climate stress IN Students
Teens deal with many different sources of stress in their lives, including a sometimes unexpected one: climate anxiety
By Julianne Berry-Stoelzle and Nina Lavezzo-Stecopoulos
[climate anxiety] stops me from being motivated to do things,” Wilson said. Climate change is a very stressor Avery Wilson ‘20, living ful issue for Justine Reschly-Krawith anxiety is a struggle, but sowski ‘20. She buys clothes secover time, she has developed ond hand, recycles everything ways to cope. However, when she can, and uses shampoo and it comes to climate change, she conditioner without chemicals. can’t talk herself down. “I don’t want everything to “Climate anxiety is hard to die,” Reschly-Krasowski said. “I stop. Because for lots of things I know [climate change] will affect feel anxious about, I can talk my- all of us. I don’t know exactly self down what it’s and realgoing to ize that do but I they’re know it’s irrational going to thoughts. be pretty But for disastrous climate, if we don’t it’s not irdo somecity high senior rational. t h i n g It’s a real [and] at thing that’s happening,” Wilson the moment, we’re not really dosaid. ing anything.” The American Psychological This lack of progress makes Association lists the acute and it hard for Reschly-Krasowski to chronic consequences of climate stay positive about the future. change as trauma, post-traumat- She feels like CEOs of big comic stress disorder, compounded panies have to take action against stress, strains on social relation- climate change in order to see a ships, depression, anxiety, sui- change. cide, substance abuse, aggression “I try to do things to be enand violence, loss of personally vironmentally conscious, but I important places, loss of autono- know most people don’t,” Remy and control, loss of personal schly-Krasowski said. “Someand occupational identity, feel- times I’m like ‘What does it matings of helplessness, fear, fatalism, ter if I recycle this like one bottle solastalgia, and eco-anxiety. by taking it home and instead of “Well, [climate change] feeds throwing it away here?’ But I do into things that my anxiety al- it anyway and hope that maybe it ready tells me: that it’s pointless makes at least a little bit of a difto work hard and be successful ference.” and get to a place you want to be Wilson also makes efforts to in. Because by the time we get to help the environment, similarly that place, there’s not going to to Reschly-Krasowski. For Wilbe a world for us to live in. So, son, her efforts are more than
F
“I try to do things environmentally conscious, but i know most people don’t.” Justine Reschly-krasowski
preventative actions, they ease numerous other impacts on the some of her anxiety about climate health of mankind. change. “The evidence has been “I think for me, coping mech- around for a long, long time, and anisms are my own personal it just seems like people aren’t dochoices because I can’t control ing anything about it. The people what other people do,” Wilson that want to do things about it are said. “But I can make choices that not being listened to,” Humston I can minimize my carbon foot- said. “We’re ignoring evidence. print, even if I can’t change it for We’re ignoring science.” everybody.” Yardley Whaylen ‘20, a memNoah Weaver ‘20 feels like his ber of the Iowa City Climate actions are having some impact, Strikers, feels as though her electbut agrees that more people need ed officials don’t have the right to take initiative in order to com- priorities. bat climate change. “I think a lot of older politi“I feel like I can do stuff but it cians who benefit from the coal just gets to a point where other industry are using their personal people have to take that initiative benefits over the world’s bentoo because they have the con- efits,” Whaylen said. “[I feel] tacts,” Weaver said. pissed because, are you kidding Jill Humston is a science me? You know, like, stop putteacher at City High, who has ting yourself before us. I think it’s had multiple students talk to her greedy.” outside of class because of their For Wilson, climate change is worries about climate change. her number one issue in the 2020 “It’s really disheartening for election. students who see the problem, “I feel like for every candidate, have been hearing the problem every politician, their number since they one priorwere litity needs tle, and to be the still feeling climate like nothbecause ing’s hapyou can pening,” change Humston t h e said. healthcare A c system cording and othCity High Senior to a press er things, release but that’s from the American Psychologi- not going to matter in 20 years if cal Association, climate change there’s no earth to live on,” Wilnot only affects the environment son. but will also result in a rise of carWhile the lack of forwards diovascular failure, mental health progress on climate change can impacts, asthma, cholera, and seem overwhelming, young cli-
“It may seem like what we are doing now may Not affect us right now, but it can definitely affect us later.” Noah Weaver
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mate activists, such as Greta Thunberg, continue to argue for change. “At least some of the media is turning their attention towards young people about the environment saying we need to listen to the young people like Greta Thunberg, and other climate activists that are around the world who are pretty young,” Reschly-Krasowski said. “That’s what gives me hope. I just hope it can reach more people.” While Reschly-Krasowski appreciates the work of the climate strikers, she i s doubtful that people with power to have a great impact, such as CEOs of big companies, will listen to them. “A lot of [adults] just say, ‘Oh no, they’re too young to know anything,’” Reschly-Krasowski said. “Just because they’re young doesn’t mean they’re not right. I think for something so important, we need people no matter what their ages to be speaking out.” In the fall of 2019, over 4 million people participated in a global climate strike. “Listen to the young generations, listen to the kids,” Whaylen said. “Because we actually know what we’re doing. And we know what we’re saying. And we’re listening to science. Listen to us. Listen to the future of the country.” Humston believes that young climate advocates are making a difference. “It gives [young people] power, because it can feel very powerless to be a student who’s not voting yet, and not seeing the adults who should be making changes doing it fast enough,” Humston said. “It’s very powerful to see [Greta] and other students doing the same things.” Another difference between the generations that Humpsten has noticed is a contrast
in expectations of what improvement looks like. “I think maybe as an adult, we understand that change takes time,” Humston said. “As an adult, you understand the process of change, whereas young people see the need f o r
to be a lot worse before past policies and changes improved conditions. Adults have experienced this change, and therefore may have more belief in the system. “If you look back at pictures, you can see pollution everywhere. You can see how bad rivers and streams looked. And that was something that we grew up with. And we saw it happening and we saw it changing,” Humston said. But although progress has occurred in the past, according to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, one in five Americans are very worried about climate change and a majority of Americans feel helpless about the issue. Weaver and Reschly-Krasowski both noticed that a lot of their stress about climate change is triggered from news articles about the severity of climate change. “Seeing articles about big companies still refusing to switch to green energy, or they produce this much emissions per year, or we have five years to save everything, that really stresses me out,” Reschly-Krasowski said. While climate change may not seem to have an immediate impact, people are becoming more aware of climate change and stressing more about it. “It may seem like what we’re doing now may not affect us right now, but it can definitely something affect us later,” Weaver said. “I want ART BY JOCELYN HARTE to do something in the future. I don’t want to happen and want it to happen it to be taken away because other people right now, because it should happen right are not doing what they should.” now. It’s just the wheels of change don’t move fast enough.” Humston described how pollution used
SolUtions By Emme Perencevich
Ways to reduce your carbon footprint, along with some recommendations of what to do when it comes to clothing, shopping, food, and transportation
• Use reusable bags, as opposed to plastic bags, cut down on routine plastic waste.
• Buy from companies that are environmentally responsible: TOMS, Patagonia, and Lush are some examples.
• Avoid buying products with excess packaging, this keeps non-biodegradable plastics from filling up landfills.
• Politely turn down single-use products (i.e.
Shopping
straws, toothpicks, excess napkins, etc.). • Recycle all packaging possible, consign lightly worn clothes and other.
• Eat less red meat. Beef production has several en-
vironmental consequences: ruminant animals, and their manure, produce greenhouse gas methane. The farmland they’re raised on often has to be cleared out, leading to mass deforestation. Beef is also the most resource-intensive meat. • Buy locally-sourced, or organic, produce and products from stores like the Iowa City farmer’s market or the New Pioneer Co-op. • Reduce food waste by creating meal plans or grocery lists, and being mindful of how much you’re buying. Composting is a good way to lessen food waste and create a natural fertilizer for home gardens.
Food
22 The little Hawk - FEATURES
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• Don’t buy fast fashion. Fast fashion pollutes both
Clothing
the air and water; factories release tons of CO2 each year and it takes almost 3,000 liters of water to make a single cotton shirt. With some brands putting out over 50 lines in one year, the amount of waste is high. • Buy consigned clothes to keep them out of landfills. • Air, or line, drying clothes conserves the more than a ton of CO2 released by your dryer each year. • Buy detergents from companies like Seventh Generation, or other eco-friendly cleaning product companies.
• Taking public transportation, ridesharing, or car-
pooling reduces the personal carbon footprints of every additional person per vehicle. It also reduces air and noise pollution and can lower carbon emissions. • Electric or hybrid cars have significantly better gas mileage and reduced fuel consumption. • Biking or walking as transportation reduces carbon emissions. They are also eco-friendly forms of exercise and ways to spend more time outdoors. • Opt for low carbon appliances or activities: using an electric mower instead of a gasoline powered one; kyacking instead of tubing or mototboating.
Cars
zero waste Victoria Weckmann vlogs about going zero waste for a week.
By Victoria Weckmann
24 - LH FEATURE MAGAZINE - Iowa City High School - thelittlehawk.com
A
mid the COVID-19 outbreak and all of the social distancing happening in the community, I decided to try going zero waste for a day while I am quarantined in my house. When I think about quarantine, I think of endless opportunities to eat all of the snacks and junk food lying around my house. The idea of zero waste is to completely stop producing trash that is sent to the landfill, and anything that is used should be reusable, recyclable, or compostable. With just my luck, all of my junk food comes in single use plastics that have to be thrown away! So instead of lounging around, I spent my day exploring some zero waste activities and documented them all in a vlog!
FEATURES 05.15.20