{"id":13312,"date":"2020-04-22T12:37:34","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T16:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=13312"},"modified":"2022-03-21T16:18:12","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T20:18:12","slug":"earth-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/earth-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth Day Connects Students, Environmental Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Environmentalism and environmental justice, involving the deepening and healing of our relationship with the land while acknowledging injustices within our current systems and trying to envision and embody alternatives, are important for students such as Orly Rubinfeld \u201920. Rubinfeld sees Earth Day, celebrated every April 22, as a day to reflect more deeply on why our reconnection to the land is so important and why we work for change.<\/p>\n

\"Orly
Housemates Orly Rubinfeld (top left), Aiden Voss and Maya Gurfinkel; and Yasamin Shaker (bottom left) and Madeline Ward display some of the plants they’re growing in Kalamazoo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cEarth Day is an opportunity to re-center on our values,\u201d said Rubinfeld, an independent interdisciplinary major in Environmental Studies<\/a>. \u201cBut we have to remember we have only one Earth and we\u2019ve been pretty unkind to it. If we only pay attention one day a year, we won\u2019t solve our environmental problems. And not just planetary problems but how climate change and other environmental injustices are disproportionately impacting Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, though, is adding a few challenges to K\u2019s environmental efforts. For example, one way that students engage with food justice is through K\u2019s gardens, including the hoop house<\/a>. A hoop house, a little like a green house, is a year-round environment for growing vegetables, flowers and other cold-sensitive plants. With distance learning keeping students away from the campus hoop house, students are finding ways to bring that experience home.<\/p>\n

\"Megan
Megan VanDyke \u201922 assembled a cold-frame hoop house at her home in Seattle. The temporary structure stands just a few feet high, yet provides a similar environment to the hoop house at K.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nora
Nora Blanchard \u201922, is tending to plants at her home this spring in Traverse City.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s where Rubinfeld and several students like her come in. She is one of eight housemates living in Kalamazoo\u2019s Vine neighborhood this spring, sheltering in place together through Michigan\u2019s \u201cStay Home, Stay Safe\u201d order and continuing the work they began at the hoop house, a facility raised in fall 2018 through the Just Food Collective. The student organization, an effort of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement, wants to increase student awareness about the challenges and inequities within the food system. This is done while targeting nutritional inequities, climate change and other environmental injustices.<\/p>\n

\"Megan
A plant begins to sprout at Megan VanDyke’s home in Seattle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFood insecurity has always been a problem,\u201d Rubinfeld said. \u201cBut in this unique moment, well-resourced people are paying attention at unprecedented levels so I think that\u2019s something we should try to take advantage of as we search for systems that allow people to have more sovereignty over their food systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubinfeld and her friends, who all lived together in an environmental justice Living Learning House on campus their sophomore year, have taken on the responsibility of bringing home the lessons they learned at the hoop house to pots and planters on their porch and in their home.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal was to do something small where we are in our urban space,\u201d Rubinfeld said.<\/p>\n

And the Vine neighborhood roommates aren\u2019t the only students planting this spring. Nora Blanchard \u201922, is tending to plants at her home in Traverse City. Plus, Megan VanDyke \u201922 assembled a cold-frame hoop house at her home in Seattle. The temporary structure stands just a few feet high, yet provides a similar environment to the hoop house on campus.<\/p>\n

Efforts like these might seem small, but they represent how the spirit of Earth Day, a time to demonstrate support for environmental protection and environmental justice, endures for the K community.<\/p>\n

“I can\u2019t imagine a large-scale effort until I’ve seen it on a small scale,\u201d Rubinfeld said. \u201cHow can we expect large change until we see small changes? If my seven housemates and I can do this, imagine what could happen if everyone in our neighborhood could do that. We could be in a very different type of place. I think if everyone had access to the means to grow own own food, we would be much closer to individuals having sovereignty over what they put in their bodies and having access to just, local, and sustainable food for humans and the land.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Environmentalism and environmental justice, involving the deepening and healing of our relationship with the land while acknowledging injustices within our current systems and trying to envision and embody alternatives, are important for students such as Orly Rubinfeld \u201920. Rubinfeld sees Earth Day, celebrated every April 22, as a day to reflect more deeply on why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":13338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231],"tags":[176,113],"post_formats":[],"class_list":["post-13312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students","tag-environmental-studies","tag-sustainability"],"yoast_head":"\r\nEarth Day Connects Students, Environmental Justice - News and Events<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Orly Rubinfeld \u201920 sees Earth Day as a day to reflect more deeply on why our reconnection to the land is so important and why we work for change.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/earth-day\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Earth Day Connects Students, Environmental Justice - 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Rubinfeld sees Earth Day, celebrated every April 22, as a day to reflect more deeply on why our reconnection to the land is so important and why we work for change.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13332\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13332\" style=\"width: 416px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13332\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/04\/Orly-Rubinfeld-Earth-Day-story-page.jpg\" alt=\"Orly Rubinfeld Earth Day story page\" width=\"416\" height=\"312\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13332\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Housemates Orly Rubinfeld (top left), Aiden Voss and Maya Gurfinkel; and Yasamin Shaker (bottom left) and Madeline Ward display some of the plants they’re growing in Kalamazoo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cEarth Day is an opportunity to re-center on our values,\u201d said Rubinfeld, an independent interdisciplinary major in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/programs\/environmental-studies\/\">Environmental Studies<\/a>. \u201cBut we have to remember we have only one Earth and we\u2019ve been pretty unkind to it. If we only pay attention one day a year, we won\u2019t solve our environmental problems. And not just planetary problems but how climate change and other environmental injustices are disproportionately impacting Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This year, though, is adding a few challenges to K\u2019s environmental efforts. For example, one way that students engage with food justice is through K\u2019s gardens, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/gardens.kzoo.edu\/hoop-house\/\">hoop house<\/a>. A hoop house, a little like a green house, is a year-round environment for growing vegetables, flowers and other cold-sensitive plants. With distance learning keeping students away from the campus hoop house, students are finding ways to bring that experience home.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13326\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13326\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13326\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/04\/Megan-Earth-Day-Cold-Frame-Hoop-House-1-300x348.jpg\" alt=\"Megan Earth Day Cold Frame Hoop House\" width=\"300\" height=\"348\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13326\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Megan VanDyke \u201922 assembled a cold-frame hoop house at her home in Seattle. The temporary structure stands just a few feet high, yet provides a similar environment to the hoop house at K.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13330\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13330\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13330\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/04\/Nora-Earth-Day-plants-1-300x407.jpg\" alt=\"Nora Earth Day plants\" width=\"300\" height=\"407\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13330\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nora Blanchard \u201922, is tending to plants at her home this spring in Traverse City.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That\u2019s where Rubinfeld and several students like her come in. She is one of eight housemates living in Kalamazoo\u2019s Vine neighborhood this spring, sheltering in place together through Michigan\u2019s \u201cStay Home, Stay Safe\u201d order and continuing the work they began at the hoop house, a facility raised in fall 2018 through the Just Food Collective. The student organization, an effort of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement, wants to increase student awareness about the challenges and inequities within the food system. This is done while targeting nutritional inequities, climate change and other environmental injustices.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13336\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13336\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-13336 size-medium\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/04\/Megan-Earth-Day-Plant-story-page-300x400.jpg\" alt=\"Megan VanDyke plant\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13336\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A plant begins to sprout at Megan VanDyke’s home in Seattle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cFood insecurity has always been a problem,\u201d Rubinfeld said. \u201cBut in this unique moment, well-resourced people are paying attention at unprecedented levels so I think that\u2019s something we should try to take advantage of as we search for systems that allow people to have more sovereignty over their food systems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rubinfeld and her friends, who all lived together in an environmental justice Living Learning House on campus their sophomore year, have taken on the responsibility of bringing home the lessons they learned at the hoop house to pots and planters on their porch and in their home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur goal was to do something small where we are in our urban space,\u201d Rubinfeld said.<\/p>\n<p>And the Vine neighborhood roommates aren\u2019t the only students planting this spring. Nora Blanchard \u201922, is tending to plants at her home in Traverse City. Plus, Megan VanDyke \u201922 assembled a cold-frame hoop house at her home in Seattle. The temporary structure stands just a few feet high, yet provides a similar environment to the hoop house on campus.<\/p>\n<p>Efforts like these might seem small, but they represent how the spirit of Earth Day, a time to demonstrate support for environmental protection and environmental justice, endures for the K community.<\/p>\n<p>“I can\u2019t imagine a large-scale effort until I’ve seen it on a small scale,\u201d Rubinfeld said. \u201cHow can we expect large change until we see small changes? If my seven housemates and I can do this, imagine what could happen if everyone in our neighborhood could do that. We could be in a very different type of place. I think if everyone had access to the means to grow own own food, we would be much closer to individuals having sovereignty over what they put in their bodies and having access to just, local, and sustainable food for humans and the land.\u201d<\/p>\n","comment_info":"No Comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13312"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13339,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13312\/revisions\/13339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13312"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=13312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}