Happy end of the school year, Cobbers! Most of the articles I have written this year have tried to tackle the question of what good action towards becoming a sustainable society means. At the end of this year I can confidently say that after writing countless articles about it, I’m not completely sure. What does…
Organization coming to campus is a ‘Band-Aid’ to a more complex issue Many of you probably know that the organization Feed My Starving Children is coming to campus Saturday. Though there is obviously a great need for feeding children who may not have food, I am conflicted about the nature of the idea of feeding…
Reduce, reuse, recycle. You’ve read or said this many times before in your life, but it’s important to note the order of these three actions. Often times the first action item people think of is recycling as a way to improve sustainability and probably rightfully so. The recycling system is one of the most visual,…
Individual action counts for something too As you probably know, February is Black History Month. For me, this means learning from the past, but also addressing what is happening in the present in regard to race. In some ways, we haven’t gotten very far in addressing racial issues in the United States since the civil…
Jan. 11 marked the birthday of one of my environmental heroes, Aldo Leopold. I’d be lying if I didn’t mention that one reason I’m obsessed with him is because he was born in Iowa and I’m from Iowa, but there’s also much more to him. Beyond being from a great state, he is known best…
Consider your gifts’ environmental effects It’s beginning to feel a lot like the holiday season: Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas concerts are in full swing, decorations are up, the hot cocoa is brewing, there is snow on the ground and break is right around the corner. Maybe you have even started to write your Christmas…
The recent news reports about race and college campuses, especially at the University of Missouri, have been absolutely unreal to read. I never thought I would read about people making swastikas out of human feces or hanging nooses around trees in 2015. It would be even more unreal for something like that to happen on…
A huge event called the Conference of the Parties Climate Summit is happening in Paris from Nov. 30 to Dec.11. It’s going to include over 50 countries, environmental leaders, businesses and other key players to try to come up with a global agreement to address climate change. The conference has two main objectives: 1. Present…
Ahh … If you’re like me, the changing of the leaves and the crisp air makes you incredibly happy to be alive. Yes, it’s fall and I bet you might be all about one of those pumpkin spice lattes, going to a pumpkin patch to buy some pumpkins or snuggling up to watch a scary…
Do you like McDonald’s french fries? Do you like the Offutt School of Business? Do you like Minnesota farmers? I hope you answered yes to at least one of those questions. Though the scope of those three things seems pretty broad, there is a significant correlation between them that should be noticed. So, if you…