Practicum Essay
The Bronx River is believed to be originated from the Pleistocene Period, and developed as a pre-glacial stream. The River was then industrialized in the 1600s with mills for the manufacturing of paper, flour, pottery, tapestries, barrels and snuff, all reliant on hydropower from the river. Later in the 1800s, the construction of the New York Central Railroad made the Bronx River area an “industrial corridor” resulting in its high level of pollution, erosion, and contaminants. Thankfully, efforts were made to restore the Bronx River as early as 1888, with the establishment of the Bronx Park, a 662 acre buffer against urbanization and development. The Bronx’s environmental health still declined into the 1900s (bronxriver.org). Now the Bronx River Restoration and the Bronx River Alliance are working to restore the Bronx to its previous environmental and ecological health.
Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus has had a close relationship with the Bronx River, which now runs to the east of Fordham, since its establishment as St. John’s College. The college campus used to be a farm, quarries, hiking areas, and swimming holes. A branch of the Bronx River called “Mill Brook” used to be where Metro North Railroad is located on the far west of campus. The campus also used to have a pond with a diversity of wildlife. Now the Bronx River is to the east of Fordham. The Mill Brook was diverted into a city storm drain system, however the original stream bed and ravine is still visible as the MetroNorth tracks (Renewing Fordham’s Environmental History Legacy.Fordham.edu).
Today, Fordham is diligent in trying to reduce its impact on the environment to continue the traditions and relationship with the Bronx River. Fordham tries to recycle as much as possible and strives to find ways to reduce waste and promote the purchase of renewable and reusable products. All new buildings are designed to meet the U.S Green Building Councils LEED Silver rating. Fordham also has portion of electrically powered vehicles in their fleet and has met with the City of New York’s program to reduce carbon by 30% by 2017. The University endeavors to “advance understanding of environmental change through its curriculum and academic programs” (Sustainability legacy.fordham.edu). Fordham is in coordination with the Bronx Zoo, the New York Botanical Gardens, the City of New York, and other sustainability efforts like the Bronx River Alliance.
In 2011, Fordham was graded on its sustainability. Overall, it received a C+ rating by Greenreportcard.org however the categories Endowment Transparency and Shareholder Engagement received “F”s automatically because the University did not make that information available. Some notable categories in which Fordham excelled were Climate Change and Energy, because Fordham has successfully achieved a 23 percent reduction in emissions since 2005, and Green Building because of the LEED Silver standards (greenreportcard.org). Furthermore, Fordham University has several student-run environmental clubs and organizations, including Students for Environmental Awareness and Justice (SEAJ), St. Rose’s Garden, Students for Fair Trade, and Student Culinary Council’s Sustainability Committee.
For the practicum, I joined the Sustainability Committee of the Student Culinary Council (SCC) here at Fordham. This club meets Thursday evenings for about an hour a week plus additional event hours, and its main purpose is to make the Marketplace and the retail locations on campus more sustainable. There has been an ongoing issue between Sodexo, Fordham’s dining services provider, and the students because there are not many sustainable options on campus. Sustainability committee works with Sodexo management to try to push sustainability initiatives into fruition.
Mainly, sustainability works on the Choose to Reuse campaign which allows students to buy inexpensive reusable food containers and coffee mugs that can be used in the Marketplace instead of paper and plastic take away containers. Right now, we are trying to push for this to be an option at all retail locations, especially since there is an excessive amount of waste in food containers. The Grille uses a large quantity of plastic salad containers and plastic cups that if not recycled, will sit in a landfill. We are also trying to introduce biodegradable or containers made from recycled materials, however the monetary cost of these items are proving to be more expensive than the plastic, so Sodexo is reluctant to want to switch.
In the past Sustainability Committee has accomplished tray-free dining which reduces food waste, and energy and water to clean, SmartStock® Cutlery Dispensers in retail locations, which is hygienic and reduces cutlery usage up to 25% because a traditional case of individually wrapped cutlery wastes 1 lb. of clear plastic wrap, pressuring Sodexo to buy ingredients locally, buying ingredients in bulk bags rather than plastic bottles or bulky packaging.
Finally, Sustainability Committee organizes the Waste Less Campaign which encourages people to take smaller portions of food to reduce food waste. We are also in the early stages of trying to establish a compost area and food donation system for unused food at the end of the day.
I believe the environmental ethic theory that reflects the meaning of my practicum is Bryan G. Norton’s Weak Anthropocentrism. Still an anthropocentric view with humans having the most intrinsic value, it also considers the designation of nonhuman objects as the center of fundamental values. Norton combines scientific theory in conjunction with an environmental ethic that considers humans living in harmony with nature. Norton describes the conflict humans have between felt and considered preferences. A felt preference is “any desire or need of a human individual that can at least temporarily be sated by some specifiable experience” (Norton 183). A considered preference is “any desire that a human individual would express after careful deliberation, including a judgment that the desire or need is consistent with a rationally adopted worldview” (Norton 183). Norton urges people to act on considered preferences rather than felt preferences. Such policies that can develop when acting on considered preferences can be preventing pollution, management of nuclear waste, and population control. Norton embraces a weak anthropocentric viewpoint that also is obligated continuing sustainable development, or the duty to preserve resources to future generations.
Although Norton has an interesting base of ethical theory, Paul Hawken in A Declaration of Sustainability, describes his Sustainability Ethics, his view on building on Norton’s anthropocentric view by proposing policy and a shift in views to a more sustainable future. Hawken mainly focuses on the business perspective and advocates for “new codes of conduct for corporate life that integrates the social, ethical, and environmental principles” (Hawken 432). The problem is not with the management but it is with the fundamental design. According to Hawken, in order to establish a sustainable society, “we need to describe a system of commerce and production in which each and every act is inherently sustainable and restorative” and that “there must be an integration of economic, biologic, and human systems in order to create a sustainable and interdependent method of commerce that supports our existence” (Hawken 433).
Hawken then proposed strategies for sustainability that include taking back the social charter between business and consumer, adjusting the price of things to reflect the cost to the environment, replace the tax system with “green fees,” allow resources companies to be utilities, change linear systems to cyclic ones, transform the “making of things” to be more sustainable, vote with money by refusing to purchase from companies that act or respond inappropriately, resotre the “guardian,” shift from electronic literacy to biological literacy, take inventory of the world to know its extent of biodiversity, take care of human health since the “greatest amount of human suffering and mortality is caused by environmental problems that are not being addressed by environmental organizations or companies; movement towards sustainability must address the clear and present dangers that people face worldwide, dangers ironically increase population levels because of their perceived threat,” and respect the human spirit” (Hawken 433-438).
Fordham hospitality service and Sodexo in particular try to embrace much of the sustainability practices that Norton and Hawken propose. Hawken in his rules would encourage everyone to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Fordham could do more with the redesigning of the business. However Sodexo is a business and is in the business of making a profit. They do what they can to be sustainable to the future of Fordham and the community. Sodexo and other environmentally conscious companies are pragmatic, like the views of Norton, in being sustainable.
Bibliography
Hawken, Paul. “A Declaration of Sustainability.” Utne Reader, September/October 1993. 54-61.
“Fordham University College Sustainability Report Card 2011.” Fordham University. Sustainable Endowments Institute. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://www.greenreportcard.org/report-card-2011/schools/fordham-university.html>.
“Natural and Social History.” Bronx River Alliance. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://bronxriver.org/?pg=content&p=abouttheriver&m1=9>.
Norton, Bryan G. “Environmental Ethics and Weak Anthropocentrism.” Environmental Ethics, Vol 6, No. 2 (Summer 1984), 131-136, 138-148.
“Sustainability.” Sustainability. Ed. Deborah O’Grady. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://legacy.fordham.edu/campus_resources/campus_facilities/facilities_managemen/sustainability/index.asp>.
“Internships: Bronx River Alliance, NY Botanical Garden, Wildlife Conservation Society (Bronx Zoo).” Internships: Bronx River Alliance, NY Botanical Garden, Wildlife Conservation Society (Bronx Zoo). Ed. John Van Buren. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://legacy.fordham.edu/academics/programs_at_fordham_/environmental_studie/internships_bronx_ri_75801.asp>.
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