Mindful Eating and Other Sustainability Week Highlights
We caught up with the Sustainability Office intern, Samantha Schwamberger ’23 whose job is to coordinate the eco-reps that work for the sustainability office and who spearheaded sustainability week!
The event is, “to bring awareness to sustainable changes people can make in their own lives and show them what is available to them on campus regarding sustainability,” she says. It was produced by Samantha, her eco-reps, and the assistant director for the sustainability office, Kelly Harer.
We checked out the Mindful Eating event, this event featured a make-your-own salad, BYOB ~bring your own bowl~ at Loy Farm! The event started with harvesting our ingredients, chopping them up, and eating the product. A detailed farm tour given by eco-rep, Juliana Wilson, was also a highlight and participants learned about everything that is currently growing at Loy, and even some projects that students are planting on their own.
One student’s fruitful harvest carried in a sweater. Photo by Camille Duplechain.
The coolest plant we saw was in the Chinese Five Star which is a special kind of pepper that changes five different colors from purple to red as it grows! It was such an amazing opportunity to pick our food and learn about where our food comes from. During the event, we picked lots of peppers ranging from sweet to spicy, along with beautiful multi-colored tomatoes, fresh eggplant, beautiful red radishes, and delicious sweet potatoes!
Chinese Five Star peppers bloom, nearly ready for harvest. Photo by Camille Duplechain.
Julian says, “We have become so disconnected from our food and it creates a buffer carbon footprint.” Just the knowledge of where your food actually comes from is a step in the right direction.
The highlight of the week was the keynote speaker Danielle Purifoy, who is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at UNC-Chapel Hill. According to her website, her current research traces roots of contemporary environmental conditions in the U.S. South, specifically in black towns dating back to the post-Bellum era. She has also written about the legal dimensions of environmental justice and equity in food systems. At Elon, she spoke about the long fight for environmental justice in NC.
Photo by Camille Duplechain.
Why Eat Mindfully?
Elon Sustainability explains it best. Graphics curtesy of Juliana Wilson.
Want to get involved?
Samantha is an environmental and anthropology double major but stresses the fact that all majors are involved in the office and can make a difference in our community. If you are interested in getting involved in the Sustainability Office Samantha shares that, “we are hunting more eco reps for next semester! The applications come out in November on our Instagram @elonsustainability.” Eco reps have responsibilities like planning events and doing classroom presentations.