life’s not a paragraph

molly and i (as new england school of art and design green team members!) went to the earth day event at the law school last week. she made some boards about sustainability in our classes/programs and about the new building’s LEED certification. we joined a bunch of other suffolk groups as they showed off their most sustainable practices. sodexo provided us with a delicious (and completely vegetarian!) meal, complete with compostable plates and utensils. we then listened to three speakers, which were all super cool.

state representative matthew beaton in involved in the construction world, so he talked to us about sustainable building. he built the first passive house in massachusetts. if you don’t know what passive houses are (i didn’t before this event) you should really check them out. they’re german, and they have these amazing alterations on the typical house that make is so much more energy efficient and save the owner a ton of money (in the long run– initially it’s more expensive. but that’s typically how new technology goes). i could tell he was really passionate about it because the passive house that he built was his own! i think it took him two years or something along those lines, but the results were incredible.

the next speaker was terri goldberg, a representative of NEWMOA (northeast waste management officials’ association). she had a lot to say, and unfortunately did not have enough time to give her whole presentation, but her main passion was chemicals and preventing chemical pollution and poisoning in the environment. she told us about all the amazing laws they had passed to help protect the environment and us from harmful chemicals that are released into the air/water/ground from industrial plants.

lastly, suffolk’s own patricia hogan, who is a professor in the physics department, gave a speech about consumerism. her perspective on how we need to switch from a consumerist lifestyle and mentality in order to live more sustainably in the future (when we have 9 billion people on the planet in 2050) was really refreshing. some of the facts she gave us were terrifying, but i totally agreed with every point she made. i couldn’t stay for the discussion afterwards because i had class, but it was so cool to hear someone else give a talk about something that i am passionate about. there weren’t a ton of people at the event, but there were just enough to make me feel a little less alone in my own quest towards living a sustainable lifestyle. it’s nice to know i am not alone. 🙂