Building a Sustainable and Resilient Environment

RU Schaumburg senior bio major Sylwia Kmiec blogs about her work in SUST 350 Service & Sustainability this semester.

Sustainability Studies @ Roosevelt University

by Sylwia Kmiec for SUST 350

Part of creating a sustainable and resilient environment is to improve and protect the quality of this place we call home, through the elimination of all the harm humans cause. This idea is explored in an interesting experiment conducted by a woman named Jane Poynter. This experiment involved the containment of a number of individuals in biospheres, where only nature was present as a resource to sustain life. These humans were essentially forced to interact with the natural resources within the biosphere enclosure in order to survive.

In her presentation on biospheres, Poynter suggests that we are all part of the same biosphere in which everyone has a designated role to play on earth. Each human being is like a piece of a puzzle. Our job as inhabitants of the earth is to discover what that role is and carry out our duties accordingly.

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Volunteering as a Bridge to a Lost World

What are students in SUST 350 Service & Sustainability doing this fall? Check out this blog essay by Chrissy Rado to find out; and stay tuned for more throughout the F19 semester!

Sustainability Studies @ Roosevelt University

By Christine Rado for SUST 350

When I was a kid, we didn’t volunteer. We weren’t necessarily “poor,” per se, but we weren’t exactly middle class either. We did struggle, as did many families ran by a single mother. Therefore, volunteering to help the community was not put on our priority list, and I grew up none the wiser. As I became an adult, however, I realized there are people out there who really struggled. More so than we did, such as with poverty, class and racial issues. You’d think these issues would get better as we humans evolved, but this past decade has really shined a spotlight for me on some serious issues that need healing.

Changing my major here at Roosevelt University to Sustainability Studies in 2017 and the education I have received thus far has made these issues that much more clear. We need fewer people blaming…

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Calling All Gardeners! Plots Available at the Schaumburg Campus Community Garden

Sustainability Studies @ Roosevelt University

RUrbanPioneers Community Garden at Roosevelt’s Schaumburg Campus, Summer 2013 (M. Radeck)

Make every day Earth Day by growing your own flowers, fruits and vegetables right on campus at the Schaumburg Campus Community Garden. The garden is open to all members of the RU community (registration is required).

The university will provide an irrigation system, mulch and weed blocking fabric, and basic gardening tools. Bring your own seeds and plants, and let Mother Nature do the rest!

For more information and to sign up for a plot, please contact Robert Seiser in the College of Arts and Sciences: rseiser@roosevelt.edu or x8758.

Earth Month Events @RooseveltU

This April is #RUEarthMonth2019, and there are lots of ways to go green at Roosevelt as part of our campus sustainability efforts — from recycling and composting promotional events to fun urban ag field trips to our annual sustainability symposium. We’ll add to and…

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A Petition to Fight Environmental Classism on Chicago’s Southeast Side

Research and writing on the Schaumburg’s Sustainable Future website and blog has prioritized environmental justice and waste issues for the last several years. Please read this petition from our neighbors on Chicago’s Southeast Side, who are hoping to prevent the relocation of another industrial polluter to their neighborhood.

Sustainability Studies @ Roosevelt University

By Jake Hanahan, SUST Student Associate

Recently, the Southeast Environmental Task Force started a petition to stop the relocation of a major polluter to Chicago’s Southeast Side in a blatant case of environmental classism. The polluter in question, open-air scrap metal facility General Iron, had announced plans to move there from their original location in Chicago’s wealthy Lincoln Park neighborhood due to Lincoln Park’s riverfront revitalization project.

Now, the residents of the Southeast Side — a low-income, minority neighborhood that has already been burdened with the effects of dangerous levels of industrial pollution for decades — are fighting back. They hope that this petition will keep another polluting facility from moving into their neighborhood, as well as send a message to the city’s wealthy neighborhoods like Lincoln Park that their days of offloading their dirty industries to low income and minority neighborhoods like the Southeast Side are over. The petition…

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Farm to School: Bria Jerome Reports on Her Internship at Seven Generations Ahead

Sustainability Studies @ Roosevelt University

By Bria Jerome

Located in the suburb of Oak Park, Seven Generations Ahead works quietly and consistently to implement environmental goals throughout Cook County and the state of Illinois. SGA workers and interns divide their work into several different categories, one of which is Farm to School. Through the tireless work of the very small staff and the excitement of community members, SGA has made and will make huge strides toward increasing environmental awareness and education.

Farm to School

The Farm to School program run by SGA seeks to bring students closer to the food they eat everyday. Whether this be in a physical sense of promotion of local vendors to school cafeterias, a metaphorical sense of implementing organic produce education, or a spiritual sense of promoting community gardens on school grounds; Farm to School is a great way to show kids a taste of healthy and sustainable living.

My…

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Congratulations to Our December 2018 Graduates!

Sustainability Studies @ Roosevelt University

Last Friday, 14 December 2018, Roosevelt University hosted its commencement ceremonies in the historic Auditorium Theatre at its downtown Chicago Campus. The Department of Sociology, Sustainability, and Community Development warmly congratulates all of our graduates who earned BAs in Sociology and Sustainability Studies as well as MAs in Sociology. Our department was brilliantly represented by Samantha (BA’ 18) and Katia Martinez (BA ’18), twin sisters and sociology majors who were selected to give the student commencement address — the first time in Roosevelt’s history that the event featured two student speakers. (You can listen to their speech in the video below.)

Samantha and Katia weren’t the only dynamic duo graduating, though. Also crossing the stage together were Michelle Giles (BA ’18 Sustainability Studies) and her husband Corey Giles (BA ’18 International Studies), who both graduated with honors in their respective programs — a rare and joyous example of spouses celebrating…

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Schaumburg Park District Job Fair on Dec. 28th

Sustainability Studies @ Roosevelt University

Are you into fun? Looking for a part-time job where you can make a difference? Attend the Schaumburg Park District Job Fair from 1-8 p.m., Friday, Dec. 28th. Learn about immediate part-time job opportunities and summer 2019 positions. Reserve your spot here. All interviewees will be entered in a drawing for prizes.

Schaumburg Park District
235 E. Beech Drive
Schaumburg, Illinois 60193
847/985-2115
http://www.parkfun.com

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