Every Tuesday, Miami University’s EcoReps organization, a group dedicated to implementing sustainable practices on campus, shares stories about environmental justice in what it calls “Newsday Tuesday.”
As college students, backyards are usually the least of our worries, especially since many of us either live in apartments or dorms. I know that I for one have been careless about leaving empty cups and such out in my backyard every so often. I didn’t think about how hazardous everyday outdoor items can be to wildlife, though, until I saw a local buck with a bright red hammock wrapped around his head pass through my yard. This incident made me start thinking about how I could make my yard more animal friendly, so here are several tips to make your yard an inviting place for local wildlife:
I have slowly been transitioning from a vegetarian diet to a vegan one throughout the past few months. At first I followed all of the how-to guides and starter diets, but that ultimately resulted in expensive purchases of vegan alternatives. Maintaining enough vitamins in a vegan diet and having to find the funds for store-bought alternatives has been hard, but giving up Caprese sandwiches at Fridge and Pantry or the mac bites at Mac n Joe’s has proven to be the biggest difficulty. However, I have been able to pick up tips on how to sustain a well-balanced, vitamin-filled vegan diet while staying within a budget. I have also found great vegan options for pick-up and delivery in Oxford.
As a lifelong runner and cross country enthusiast, I've always felt most at home on well-worn dirt trails, sidestepping roots and keeping an eye out for stray rocks. The feeling is one that I can trace back to my early childhood, running through the woods at home and feeling like I was part of a world that was entirely mine. I quit cold-turkey last summer, nervous about the stressful transition into college and preoccupied with classes and making friends during the pandemic. Although running has been a constant in my life for the last decade, I was too busy to miss it until this semester.
Eating locally is a hot topic in the food sustainability realm, but do you know why eating locally is actually beneficial? For one, locally grown foods don’t have to travel as far to arrive in your fridge or on your plate, meaning that it reduces greenhouse gas emissions. This also means that your food will be fresher, healthier, and of course, have a much better taste since it spends less time in transit. Eating locally also supports sustainability because it produces far less waste than corporately manufactured food, as less food and packaging is wasted in distribution, storage, and merchandising. Not only is local food good for the environment, but it also benefits the local economy by supporting local farmers and other producers. There are so many benefits, and luckily, eating locally here in Oxford is a breeze!
As everyone’s favorite orange environmental advocate once said, “I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.” -Dr. Suess. It’s no secret that one of the actions most oftenassociated with environmental sustainability is the act of planting a tree. In fact, many businesses even hold tree-planting campaigns as a sign of their sustainability prowess. For example, the well-known clothing brand tentree plants ten trees for every purchase, and to date has planted over 50 million trees. Why exactly is planting trees such a valued action in the eco-community, and what implications could this have on future climate solutions? Today we will explore these questions with a crash course on carbon sequestration.
Winter storm Uri has swept across the country affecting people and states from coast to coast. In Ohio, the biggest inconvenience was a delay with clearing the roads. But oddly enough, this storm also hit Texas, which typically experiences an arid climate with very mild winters. Texas normally averages 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter months; with the storm, Texans experienced snow for the first time in many years. Because of this unlikely circumstance, Texas was completely unprepared for what was to come.
As of last Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, the United States has rejoined the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Here’s what that is and what it means for the environment.
Hello everyone! I want to start off by briefly introducing myself to those of you who may not have read any of my GreenHawks Media content before. My name is Sammy Harris and I am a Junior at Miami University pursuing a co-major in finance and entrepreneurship. In fact, it was the creativity and leadership course I took last spring for entrepreneurship that brought me here. Through a lot of introspection activities and practice, I unraveled who I am at my core, learning to pursue involvement in things that I genuinely am passionate about; food and creative writing are VERY prevalent passions of mine, so it made a lot of sense for me to become a Food Beat Writer for GreenHawks Media, and I have not looked back since! In the last couple of years, I have also become really passionate about mental health, so I shifted my column last semester to ‘MIND FOOD’ and began writing about all things food and mental health, separate and yet extremely interrelated at the same time.
On Thursday, Feb. 11 and Friday, Feb. 12th, Miami University welcomed Dr. Jonathan Overpeck, the Dean of the University of Michigan school for the Environment and Sustainability, to speak virtually to students, staff and alumni. Overpeck was this year’s speaker for the annual Dr. Gene and Carol Willeke Frontiers in Environmental Science Distinguished Lecture put on by Miami’s Institute for the Environment and Sustainability.
Youtube has millions of videos on sustainability, so it can be hard to narrow down which ones are worth subscribing to. Here is a list of some popular eco-friendly YouTubers who make videos on everything from shopping tips to low-waste travel. Many of them have blogs and Instagram accounts in addition to YouTube channels, so if videos aren’t your thing, make sure to check those out instead!
If you’re like over 50 percent of Americans 18 and older, a cup of coffee is part of your daily ritual. Whether you turn to coffee for a delicious morning pick-me-up, or use it to power through late night study sessions, you may find yourself wondering about the little ways you can enjoy a more eco-conscious espresso. If so, you’ve come to the right place!
The turn of the year typically means new resolutions, new goals, and new experiences. Instead of looking inward, though, it may be worth it to look outward and adopt a goal that positively affects the world around us.
All sorts of numbers frame and convey our triumphs in life, but my time as Editor in Chief of GreenHawks Media can best be encapsulated by just one: 139.
Hello everyone!! It is so bittersweet that I am writing my final ~mind food~ piece for the semester. As I reflect on the last three months, I am incredibly thankful for the creative outlets that I have maintained despite the circumstances: writing bi-weekly for GreenHawks Media has been a prominent one of mine, which is a ~quarantine sanity~ activity for me in it itself!
Una Hrnjak-Hadziahmetovic is a Miami alum with an impressive resume - having held corporate sustainability positions for two Fortune 500 companies, an extensive history of volunteer work and many honors and recognitions for her achievements. Having just transferred to her new position with Starbucks mere weeks before we spoke, I am certainly lucky that Una was able to fit me into her busy schedule and honored to have gotten to speak with such an inspiring woman.
Over the past few months, the Associated Student Government (ASG), the Infrastructure and Sustainability (I&S) committee and the Student Sustainability Council (SSC) worked on a variety of issues, with administrators and on behalf of the student body, to promote sustainability at Miami University. This semester gave them an opportunity to promote sustainability despite the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plastic is a synthetic or a semi-synthetic organic compound created from petrochemicals, chemicals produced from petroleum or natural gas, that can be molded into various shapes and products. Recently there has been some push back on the use of plastics, more specifically single-use plastics. The term “single-use plastics” refers to products that are made to be tossed out after one use like food packaging, straws, bottles, bags and more. The issue with these types of products is the negative impact they can have on the environment and wildlife.
Amid the political and social turmoil of the last decade , it is of little surprise that a movement centering around nature and off-the-grid living has emerged. About 81 percent of Americans own a smartphone, and teens spend more than seven hours a day on their phones. Corporate messages have seeped into our culture – and therefore our personal identity – by creating a burnout culture that contributes to declining mental health and our overall quality of life.
Copenhangen, Denmark has long been my dream city to visit, live in, and experience. This will not come as a surprise to my closest friends; in fact, it may be met with an eye roll because I talk about the subject so frequently. But who could blame me? How could I not be fascinated by a country that consistently tops the list as one of the happiest and most sustainable in the world?