It's a Cutie!

For this blog assignment, I was allowed to choose any single or multi-ingredient product that I eat regularly to write a basic report on, and, if you can’t already guess, I decided to write my blog on Cuties. Cuties, or California Mandarins, are advertised as, “Nature’s perfect fruit”, and due to their E-Z peel and seedless-ness, I can’t argue.

The company that farms Cuties, known as Sun Pacific, began in Exeter California, but today they transport over 35 million boxes of fresh fruit from their farm land in San Joaquin Valley, so yes, Cuties come from our one and only, California (http://www.sunpacific.com/history.html). Cuties are farmed through the selective breeding cross between clementine’s and mandarin oranges. This means that a plant is taken that exhibits desirable traits, and its cross bred (pollinated) with other desired traits, thereby explaining the E-Z peel, seedless, and sweet taste of cuties.

Sun Pacific is a major farming corporation that started with 72 acres, and currently has over 20,000 acres today, needless to mention, their plan isn’t to limit their acres of land. With that stated, it seems apparent that as Sun Pacific grows economically, so will their land, and in turn, local small farmers will be harmed. Unfortunately for local farmers, Sun Pacific doesn’t just farm their famous “Cuties”; they also have tomatoes, grapes, kiwis, and other vegetation. Besides economic impacts, there does appear to be some environmental concerns during the process of selling Cuties. For starters, Cuties are shipped nationwide, so obvious environmental transportation issues arise, and secondly, they appear to be wrapped in some type of plastic mesh and labeling (of which, I cannot pinpoint the material).

Now, it’s time for the health effects:

Note: Some of the following information has been extracted from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Antioxidants

Some antioxidant compounds are found only in citrus fruit like Cuties. Some of these plant-based chemicals that can prevent DNA damage by “…inhibiting the activity of free radicals” (http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/cuties-good-you-3221.html). Recent research indicated that people with a high intake of citrus-rich fruit were 50 percent less likely to develop mouth, stomach or throat cancer and 20 percent less likely to suffer from a stroke.

Dietary Fiber

Cuties are an especially good source of soluble fiber. This specific fiber may help prevent diabetes and high cholesterol. A diet that regularly incorporates high amounts of dietary fiber may also, “…lessen your risk of stroke, cardiovascular disease, obesity, hypertension, ulcers, and also hemorrhoids” (http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/cuties-good-you-3221.html).

Vitamins

Cuties have a dense number of vitamins, but they are especially high in folate and vitamin C. High folate intake may help prevent depression, heart disease and age-related macular degeneration. Pregnant women who consume a lot of folate may decrease their infant's risk of being born with defects. The consumption of vitamin C can decrease the risk of osteoarthritis, cancer, and heart disease.

Cuties also contain a high concentration of potassium. Potassium plays a vital role in maintaining cardiac, smooth and skeletal muscle contraction. People who include plenty of high-potassium foods like Cuties “…in their diet may be less likely to suffer from kidney stones, osteoporosis and stroke” (http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/cuties-good-you-3221.html). Cuties are also a good source of minerals like copper, iron, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. Together, these nutrients contribute to the synthesis of red blood cells and bone and support immune and nervous system health. 

The Frontier Project

For this week, we went on a field trip to the Frontier Project, which is an innovative, resourceful, and sustainable building located in Rancho Cucamonga. During this field trip, I learned about various modern technologies (some actually quite old!) that have sustainable benefits- not to mention they’re applicable to homes and offices! Some of these technologies consist of:

1)   Decomposed granite walkways- which reduces runoff into the storm water system, allowing for the reuse of water.

2)   Bamboo flooring- Allows more resource to be available with less environmental impact.

3)   Low-water use and native plants- many plants were native, and required less water consumption.

4)   Insulated concrete form walls- maintains indoor temperature.

5)   Slanted glass windows- maximized sunlight, but reduces direct sunlight contact.

Aforementioned Slanted Windows

6)   Swamp cooler system- No use of traditional air conditioning system.

7)   Weather station- Communicates with nearby water systems, shutting them off if they are not needed (Saves water!)

Not only does the Frontier Project protect their mission statement by demonstrating that, “…sustainable building design can be economic, efficient, and inviting, by educating” those who are interested in building with energy, water, and site conservation, but they also promote environmental learning (www.frontierproject.org). They do so with a proactive approach that allows the public to use their design and resource library (free of cost!). This library contains an uncountable number of logs and books that supports the Frontier Project, and its staff, in their mission to create a more ecofriendly environment. So what are you waiting for?

Really..... How Sustainable Is Our Campus?

For this blog assignment, I was told to consider and explain how I would assess how “green”, or sustainable, our campus is. In the process of assessing how sustainable Riverside City College is, I would specifically focus on the following factors:

1)   How much waste is created throughout the school monthly –specifically in the restrooms and cafeteria.

2)   How much grass and trees does the campus have, and how much water is given to them.

3)   How much energy is used throughout the campus.

4)   How active is the recycling program, if there is one.

5)   How frequent and available is public transportation.

6)   How do supplies and food get to the school, and are the characteristics of those supplies environmentally friendly.

7)   Is all the space on campus effectively used.

8)   Does the school operate via the web and electronics, or paper.

9)   Is there any type of solar energy used.

Considering these factors, other schools have already assessed their sustainability. After conducting some research, I discovered that Dickinson College had already heavily considered these assessments, and they even earned an overall “A” on their sustainability report card. http://www.greenreportcard.org/report-card-2011/schools/dickinson-college

     Which you can read more about after clicking the link above!

   In fact, Dickinson College got an “A” on every section of the sustainability test, meaning they were proactive in administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement. I found the most notable aspect of the colleges involvement in going “green” to be how involved everyone was with the program, meaning shareholders, students, and employees.

For the last part of this assignment, we were told to choose one of the factors we listed above, and devise a detailed assessment plan for it. For this portion of the assignment, I decided to pick Riverside City Colleges’ water use for grass and plants. To begin this assessment, I would most likely speak with a member of Riverside City Colleges Green Initiatives. More specifically, I would speak with Ray Maghroori, who is a part of the Green Committee’s district team, and who is also a provost and vice chancellor of educational services http://websites.rcc.edu/greeninitiatives/. After speaking with him, I would try to set up a meeting with the rest of the Green Initiatives members, from both the district team, and the Riverside City College team. During this meeting I would try to persuade them that the amount of water used is wasteful, and if observations were done to determine how much water is wasted on plants, it would be environmental beneficial for the school. After that, I would discuss with them various methods we could take to measure the water supply, and alternatives to water usage. We could contact an administrator, and research how much water is put out through our water systems each day for watering. We would then calculate these measurements for one month, to discover how much water is used on plants and grass per month, which obviously, there would be no labor. If the water output is unknown for every month, research on RCC’s watering system can be done to discover how much water the sprinklers put out per minute, then, after some math, we can roughly calculate the amount of water used. I could also get help accomplishing this through contacting Ralph Perez, the Director of Facilities Maintenance and Operations.

After discovering how much water is used (which wouldn’t require much permission to do), we could observe just how much water is actually needed to water and sustain the plants, trees, and grass that we have on campus.

Beyond The Assessment-

Eventually, we could even work towards making some areas of the campus having more less-maintenance features, such as cactus, or even rocks. Though this may not sound appealing at first, after water cutbacks occur, it may catch on!

Obviously, this is not an easy task, but it can be done with the volunteer work of various clubs and organizations at RCC. It is most definitely achievable!