Emma Hanlin

How is your diet currently impacting deforestation? What can you do to decrease your negative impact and increase your positive impact? 

I already buy fair-trade, rainforest-certified coffee, but honestly I should probably just stop drinking coffee altogether. I also need to reevaluate which parts of my diet/lifestyle still contain palm oil - e.g. start making my own laundry soap and find a new solution for toothpaste. However, since I buy my shampoo in a refillable aluminum bottle from Plaine Products now (which does not use palm oil), use bar soap, and generally don't eat processed food anymore, I think I have also cut out a lot of products that use palm oil - so that's a nice bonus! Finally, I want to start purchasing more ethical chocolate for holidays, and educate those around me who are interested.

As an ESL educator, I could help girls overcome health barriers to being able to attend school by helping my students and their families connect with community health resources, especially since my students will be English learners. I can advocate for educational health resources and information to be available in whatever language my students' families speak and help improve accessibility. I can also advocate for organic, local food systems that will improve societal health overall.

I love the potential that renewable energy has for allowing all countries to improve their quality of life without dependence on industries or technologies that hurt people and the environment (e.g. fossil fuels). It seems like it could be a powerful tool for decolonization as well, as countries are able to produce their own power and take more control over their economies and governance.

The biggest way I could advocate for efficient, eco-friendly transportation systems would be to start using public transit more often. I often don't even consider public transportation as an option when I'm going somewhere because it seems too difficult to figure out or like it would take too long. However, without demand, those aspects of public transportation won't improve. Some important aspects to consider would be 1) how new transportation systems affect established communities (e.g. splitting up neighborhoods), 2) who gets a say in how the transportation system works (e.g. making sure all stakeholders and minority groups in an area are represented fairly), 3) how accessible the transportation system is to all people (e.g. economic classes or differing abilities), and 4) stigma around public transit. One of my professors is a role model to me regarding public transportation - he takes the bus to work every day and tries to educate the students at our school about how easy it is to get around using Metro Transit in the Twin Cities. 

Another thing that would be beneficial would be more acceptance of carpooling in America. A coworker and I live less than a mile from each other but each drive about 20 to work every day, but I would feel uncomfortable asking her to carpool because it might freak her out or seem unprofessional. Since the country is basically built around the automobile, carpooling is going to be super important to reducing transportation emissions before we modify our infrastructure.

I did some research about retrofitting in the Twin Cities and found out that Xcel Energy gives significant discounts on LED light bulbs, which use 70% less energy than incandescent and last 15 times longer. This is such a simple switch I can't believe I haven't done it yet. The Xcel Energy website even has a "Bulb Finder" to help you locate the store with the light bulb deals closest to you. I'm headed to Menards tomorrow to pick some up since most of the light bulbs in my house have burnt out and all the roommates have been procrastinating buying more!

Rather than wasting $1,500 a year on uneaten food (or what I guess would be $375 for me as an individual), I would much rather spend the extra money to buy healthy, organic food that invests in my local food system and farmers. I would also be able to invest in high-quality, long-lasting items for my home and closet that were made by fairly-treated workers. It's a shame that extra money is often required to get out of destructive food and consumption systems! 

What does your vision of a sustainable community look like? What would need to be changed in order for such vision to become reality? 

It is hard for me to completely envision a sustainable community, because I believe that sustainability should be as local as possible - so sustainability can look different in every community. However, there are a few traits of a sustainable community that I think can apply across the board  - 1) people helping each other and sharing what they have, creating a strong bond between people and using fewer resources; 2) a deep knowledge of the land a community is on and stake in its welfare, 3) flexibility and patience in trying new solutions, 4) cooperation with the seasons and nature's patterns, and 5) people who stay in their communities and pass down knowledge of the land to the generations after them. Reading Wendell Berry has really influenced my opinion on these things.  

To relate this to the methane digesters video, my first thought was - why would we burn a greenhouse gas to create fuel when we have much cleaner ways to get energy? However, when I thought more about the "local sustainability" principle, I realized that energy systems like these would help create energy independence away from big fossil fuel companies, particularly in rural or developing communities who might not have immediate access to wind or solar energy. I need to be better at thinking about how sustainability solutions could help a wide variety of people in different situations. 

To create sustainable communities like these, it's hard to say what exactly needs to be changed, but I can think of a few things: 1) localizing food systems and supporting farmers, 2) restorative ecological work, and 3) people getting out into the land surrounding them and getting to know each other. Americans in particular tend to pride ourselves on being "independent," but what we really are is dependent on huge corporations and unable to function without their products.