James Snyder

Recently, I have been trying to be more conscious of my carbon footprint when shopping. For years, I had simply made purchases just to suit my convenience - if it's in front of me and it's what I want, then why not get it? However, my experiences over the past year and what I have learned through this class has taught me that there are ways to cut down the environmental impact of my purchases. One of my main focuses right now is to become more frugal. I am not typically a big spender however I do realize that my purchases stack up and as a growing adult I should be more aware of all the concert tickets I buy and the beers I pay for when I go to a football game, and so on. I typically do not purchase many new clothes throughout except when they are on sale, but what I am trying to do more of lately is thrift and repurpose old clothes. Not only does buying these clothes save me money, but it also helps the environment by preventing new pieces from having to be produced in factories and fields that often exploit land and their workers. It helps that my friends are into thrifting, too, and next weekend I am planning to go to the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet to find some more bargain items. Inspired by Dr. Fallows, I have also been trying to limit my spending on Amazon because of how much waste their boxes and factories produce. Instead, I have been going to Ralphs and Target and other consignment stores to find the things I need (which is also a great excuse for exercise). Moreover, I have been cooking more (reducing the amount I spend on food) and using more eco-friendly ingredients when I cook. Being aware of the impact of that my purchases might have on the environment in the back of mind has helped me immensely, but I am still figuring out more ways to stay frugal and help the environment going forward. Suggestions appreciated!

I have had my iPhone for a little over two years now, but it feels like I have to charge it every couple of hours before it runs out of battery. This has got me thinking about how we acquire the lithium that we need to make the batteries within our phones as other devices. Lithium is an ore buried deep in the earth that is acquired either through traditional mines or by pumping underground water deposits to the surface where the liquid can be evaporated and the lithium excavated. This process however consumes millions of gallons of water and requires moving large amounts of soil and rocks, in turn displacing organisms and the ecosystems that they comprise. While this does not appear to be a major crisis at the moment, the shift to more electric vehicles in the future may exacerbate the problem since these vehicles will require lithium to be powered. Now, this is not to say that EVs are bad and we should be cautious about it - I believe that continuing to use fossil fuels has and will be much more harmful than shifting to lithium batteries - however, we should not ignore the implications of this. This shift may result in more mines being opened on formerly unused land, which could displace not only animals living there but also humans who occupy the land. Recently, plans have been underway for a new lithium mine in northern Nevada to supply electric vehicles; at the same time, local Native American tribes and environmental groups have been protesting against the construction of this mine for it may consume billions of gallons of water and contaminate drinking water (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/business/lithium-mining-race.html). Accordingly, shifting away from fossil fuels should still be encouraged, however, we need to stay conscious of how Big Lithium can still harm people and organisms that get caught in its way.

One of my goals this year is to try to use public transportation more often. Growing up, this was no problem: I am from New York, and traveling via subway or bus is virtually engrained into the densely-populated city's culture. Out here, however, is somewhat of a different story. Neighborhoods are very spaced out from one another and practically everyone owns a car. While public buses and rails exist, not too many people seem to take advantage of them. After spending the last three years relying on carpools or Ubers to get around Los Angeles, I have decided to try to make more use of public transportation resources that are available. This has meant instead of taking a $25 Uber home from work in the valley, I walk down to the bus stop and spend $2.50 on my TAP card to ride back to Westwood. Doing this has not really been too much of a burden besides the lost time that comes with infrequently arriving buses, but it feels good to find most frugal alternatives to commuting. I will admit that it is really unfortunate that there is only one bus that travels from Westwood to the valley in the morning that leaves the stop at 7:00 AM and only one bus that goes back at ~5:45 PM. It would make things so much easier if there were more buses, but I am also hoping that this is not a sign of the city viewing these buses as redundant and trying to eliminate certain lines. Regardless, with the vast amount of bus and train lines that exist in LA, plus the expanding metro lines that are coming to Westwood and other parts in anticipation of the 2028 Olympics, I feel like more people need to take advantage of these transportation systems to reduce their carbon footprint. If we took 50 people who all drive themselves to work everyday and had them take the metro, which is electric, carbon emissions would drop drastically and there would be significantly less pollution. This is something people should consider more next time they complain about smog clouding up the sky.

Three years ago, right around this time in the academic year, I decided to cut out red meat from my diet. At the time I was living on the Hill and from time to time my RA would share opportunities and programs going on around campus. One of these was a challenge by one of the sustainability groups within Residential Life to take a pledge to eliminate something from your diet or eat more consciously for a month to be entered into a contest. Living on the hill and having so many options for meatless diets, I decided to give it a try. Plus one of the prizes was a Bruin Plate cookbook, so I thought it'd be something worth it. The first couple weeks without any meat were not too much of a challenge, as the quarter had just begun and I still had free time sit in the dining halls and pick out what I wanted. However, once I reached the last couple weeks in January, it became harder and harder to find vegetarian options while I went about doing extracurriculars throughout the day. Sometimes, I would go to a club meeting and find that the only things to eat had beef or pork or chicken in them. When I reached the end of the month, I was happy, and thought maybe I would go back to eating meat. However, during that time I did a bit of research and found out the massive effects that beef, lamb, and pork consumption were having on the environment by the amount of carbon they produced. Still, it was hard for me to give up chicken considering how universal it is and how good it tastes, so from that point forward I decided to eat only chicken, fish, and alternative options if available. To this day, I am still keeping that pledge.

As I have gotten more familiar with my food options here in LA and my cooking abilities have improved, I am now considering starting a completely meat-free diet because of this class. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to wean off of chicken, eating it maybe two or three times per week and finding protein in beans, nuts, falafel, tofu, Beyond meat, and other options. Plus, some of the friends that I live with are completely vegetarian, and seeing them on that diet is enough encouragement to switch going forward.

Hi y'all. Looking forward to this class! Anybody have any recommendations for sustainable places to eat in Westwood or just in general?