The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Trashion show

  • HSU’s 4th Annual Zero Waste Conference Recap

    HSU’s 4th Annual Zero Waste Conference Recap

    Waste Reduction & Resource Awareness Program hosts environmental event and educates community

    The Humboldt State Zero Waste Conference, hosted by the campus’ Waste Reduction Resource Awareness Program, taught students and community members how to reduce the amount of waste they produce in their daily lives. The week ended in a city proclamation that Nov. 15 would forever be Zero Waste Day.

    “WRAPP is all about serving students and providing students resources to make lifestyle changes,” Program Manager Amanda McDonald said. “It’s a slow and gradual process where it’s not like you can get rid of every plastic thing in your house at once, but you have to be committed to doing this over time.”

    A week of influential guest speakers, engaging activities and exciting happenings kept students active and engaged in reducing waste. These included a moving speech by Tedd Ward, the authority on Del Norte solid waste, Tinkertime on the quad and the extravagant Green Campus Trashion Show.

    The clothing industry is so detrimental. Fast fashion, in my opinion, is one of the worst industries for the environment. It not only deteriorates sense of commitment, but it also withholds your own sense of style. It’s good to upcycle clothes for a new purpose instead of sending them straight to the landfill.

    The Zero Waste Conference began with a banquet which set the tone for the rest of the week. A keynote speech by Alec Cooley shared the story about the origins of the Humboldt Campus Recycling Program, following closely by the Trashion Show.

    Eight students built magnificent costumes out of household waste. There was a Rob-box, sword wielding cardboard centurion, and the CD bikini-rocking Julian Palmisano. They each strut their stuff across the stage to show off what they made.

    “I think my grandma would be proud,” Palmisano said. “I did it for fun. It’s kind of a joke, really, and it’s a way to bring attention to the unprecedented degree of waste that is in this world.”

    In pursuit of constructive solutions, the following day was Tinker Time. WRRAP, CCAT and Green Campus showed students how to reduce their waste by upcycling recyclable items. Upcycling is the “reuse” part of the reduce, reuse, recycle phrase.

    During Tinker Time, WRRAP showed students how to upcycle their clothes into mason jar coozies and grocery bags. The Campus Center for Appropriate Technologies upcycled wood waste and oyster shells into wind chimes. At the coozie table, WRAPP Compost Site Intern Krissi Fiebig taught students how to cut up old clothes and sew them together for a more beneficial use.

    “The clothing industry is so detrimental,” Fiebig said. “Fast fashion, in my opinion, is one of the worst industries for the environment. It not only deteriorates sense of commitment, but it also withholds your own sense of style. It’s good to upcycle clothes for a new purpose instead of sending them straight to the landfill.”

    In 1964 the first plastic bag was made, and it was the beginning of this. One half of all of all plastic produced has been produced in the last thirteen years. Recycling is ineffective… It was not our decision which led to this. It was fractional distillation and oil refining.

    Finally, Ted Ward’s speech was a somber reminder of the modern state of the world. He said he felt as though he had failed as a waste manager. He reminisced about the day the first plastic bag was created and commented on how we ought to rename our modern era the “Plastocene,” cynically addressing the volume of plastic waste we produce.

    “We should coin this era the Plastocene instead of the Holocene because that is our legacy,” Ward said. “In 1964 the first plastic bag was made, and it was the beginning of this. One half of all of all plastic produced has been produced in the last thirteen years. Recycling is ineffective… It was not our decision which led to this. It was fractional distillation and oil refining.”

    The Zero Waste Conference finished up with Humboldt officially declaring Nov. 15 Zero Waste Day. The official proclamation reflects Humboldt County, the City of Arcata and our local community’s progress towards zero waste.

    “Now be it resolved that the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors joins Humboldt cities and business groups to recognize November 15, 2019 as Zero Waste Day,” the proclamation said. “A day each year we acknowledge the County’s waste reduction progress and urge residents to recommit efforts toward Zero Waste.”

  • Capitalism is cancer

    Capitalism is cancer

    Earth Week kicks off with a Trashion show and David Cobb as keynote speaker

    A fashion show highlighting wardrobes made of trash, awards given for sustainability and a speech given by Cooperation Humboldt board member David Cobb kicked off Humboldt State’s Earth Week.

    The “Earth Week Every Week” committee is a coalition of Associated Students programs and student clubs that organized the event to educate, create community and foster dialogue on issues of social and environmental justice, human and non-human rights and healthy lifestyles.

    The “Trashion” show that started off the event was organized by Green Campus Team Lead Morgan Kipf.

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    Trashion Show contestant on the stage striking a pose. | Photo by T.William Wallin

    “Our main goal is to spread awareness of sustainability and encourage behavioral change on campus,” Kipf said. “We also want to help save energy and water on campus.”

    The Trashion show is a fashion show competition that promotes fashion creativity, waste reduction and sustainability. There were students adorned in old sheets crocheted by their grandma, recycled posters and beer cans acting as crowns. Beads held together warped and scratched CDs worn as crop tops walked the runway of the stage as techno music blared in the background.

    Kipf said the third annual Trashion show was by far the biggest it’s been and gives her hope to include community members in the future.

    “This is something I’ve always been a lead in,” Kipf said. “It started off as fun and silly and hopefully it keeps on growing.”

    Trashion Show contestant on the stage striking a pose with a crown made of beer cans. | Photo by T.William Wallin

    It’s organizations like Green Campus that Associated Students Environmental Sustainability Officer Isabel Sanchez said helps to create Earth Week. Sanchez is the head of the Earth Week Every Week Committee and said their role in A.S. is to make sure Earth Week happens and there is a committee in charge of it.

    “I helped create this event and 20 other ones,” Sanchez said. “It’s difficult but so many people in A.S. and other organizations help out. Students are there for the event and stand by me.”

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    David Cobb, board member of Cooperation Humboldt, was the keynote speaker during the first day of events for Earth Week on April 21. | Photo by T.WIlliam Wallin

    Sanchez invited David Cobb as the keynote speaker because “he’s radical, and to build resilience you have to be radical.” Cobb is an attorney who ran for U.S. president under the Green Party, is a member of the North Coast People’s Alliance, co-founder of Move to Amend and member of Cooperation Humboldt. Sanchez participated in Cooperation Humboldt workshops in the past and met Cobb through them.

    “He is an energetic community member,” Sanchez said. “The workshops are way interesting. They make you physically move and speak with one another in a nonverbal way and are very community oriented.”

    Cobb’s energy never waned as he spoke to a cheering crowd of students and faculty on his reasons for an ecological and economical crisis. Cobb said the capitalist system in the U.S. is racist and sexist and needs to be deconstructed.

    “If we’re serious about making Earth Day real we have to understand how we are living is destroying Mother Earth,” Cobb said. “We are in a crisis, an ecological crisis. It isn’t coming, it’s here and it’s getting worse.”

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    Miles Kinman, environmental studies junior, on the runway stage during Green Campus’ third annual Trashion Show. | Photo by T.WIlliam Wallin

    Cobb went on to say the ecological crisis is fundamentally tied to the economic crisis. He said if capitalism is unlimited growth in a finite world then “capitalism is cancer” because cancer is the only thing in existence that has unlimited growth in our finite world. Cobb also said this is the first time he could say confidently we have enough resources to feed people and give health care, yet we aren’t doing that.

    “It’s not one percent but .01 percent of psychopaths in charge of the system,” Cobb said. “The fundamental structures in which we are operating in needs to stop.”

    When asked how HSU can contribute to the transition out of capitalism Cobb said by doing more of the good, like sustainability actions coming out of HSU dining services and less destroying, like the recent shut down of KHSU. Cobb then apologized to the students for the state of the world in which they inherited.

    “It may not be your fault, but it’s your problem,” Cobb said.

    Green Campus held their third annual Trashion show in the Kate Buchanan Room at HSU during Earth Week on April 21. | Photo by T.William Wallin

    For more information detailing Earth Week events go to: https://associatedstudents.humboldt.edu/content/2019-schedule