Wildlife Promise » Eriqah Foreman-Williams

Farm to Table: Sustainable Food in Higher Education

Eriqah Foreman-Williams — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:02:53 +0000

On April 5, Campus Ecology’s Georgia Campus Sustainability Network (GCSN) hosted a workshop on sustainable food for the our Spring Topic Specific Workshop series. Thirty-seven participants from colleges and universities across the state came to Georgia Southern University to learn and brainstorm on sustainable dining at their institutions. These attendees included students, faculty and administrators.

The ideology of “sustainable dining” is a fairly new concept on campuses. While students and universities have been focusing on energy efficiency and policy, of course important issues, there has been another looming shift in our country where people are beginning to focus on their food and what their body intakes. We’re not just talking calorie counting, but examining what farmers and food processors put in the things we eat. In the light of this shift, students are demanding their school dining services think about these things as well. Additionally, how far food travels is a considering factor. Reducing the carbon footprint of your campus includes decreasing the distance your food is travelling from “Farm to Table”. Basically, buying local, naturally grown produce and naturally fed meat is important for the sustainability of human health and the health of our planet. And of course, in a still largely agricultural state like Georgia, opportunities for this should not be hard to find.

Friday’s workshop began with a keynote from K. Rashid Nuri, founder of Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture. Truly Living Well is an organization with two community gardens in Metro Atlanta’s urban neighborhoods. However, they do much more than gardening. TLW has a number of programs educating Atlanta and the state community on urban agriculture. Nuri came and gave a very inspirational speech on his background, starting Truly Living Well and his opinions on urban farming. We were reminded of why we were there and why this work is so important.

Jett Hatthaway’s lunch time presentation on Kennesaw State Students for Environmental Sustainability’s new student run farmer’s market

The rest of the workshop included a panel discussion with experts from every step on the path of sustainable food to your plate, a project description from Kennesaw State University’s Students for Environmental Sustainability on their student-run and revenue generating farmer’s market, and presentations from Real Food Challenge and Emory Dining on sharing their practices from the student and administrator sides to promote local, healthy food on campus. The day concluded with a trip to a local meat grower, Hunter Cattle Farm in Brooklet, where the participants were given a tour and volunteered a bit on the farm with some of the routine duties. The tour guides stressed the importance of grass-fed beef and organic feeding of the animals they raise for human health. This sparked conversations on the natural diet of the food we eat and the pesticides and steroids often used in mass production farming.

Campus Ecology’s Southeast Campus Field Coordinator, Eriqah Foreman-Williams, holding two new friends at Hunter Cattle Farm in Brooklet, GA

Overall, this workshop was about giving people examples of best practices from other institutions and shedding light on strategies from different experts so we can build upon this knowledge. Participants, like Julie Shaffer, Projects Manager for Sustainable Emory’s Food Service, commented on how informative and empowering the presentations were. Shaffer said:

“It was very inspiring to see others who are breaking new ground in the ‘good food’ movement. It was such a pleasure to hear stories about the creative work colleges and universities are doing across the state, in the area of sustainable food. Momentum for this movement is growing, and it’s very exciting!”

I believe this was the necessary guidance needed to drive sustainable food initiatives forward on Georgia university campuses. In the next year, my plan is to organize strategic planning meetings with students, administrators, and university dining staff together to brainstorm how to tailor this new venture to their individual campuses.

Initiating Sustainability through the Production of Biodiesel Fuels

Eriqah Foreman-Williams — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:00:16 +0000

In the not too distant future, Piedmont Community College’s (PCC) lawn mowers and yard equipment could be powered by biodiesel fuels produced from cooking oils used in the College’s snack bar. PCC is taking the lead in promoting sustainability and training for “green” jobs in the rural North Carolina region where it is located. A Greenforce Initiative grant helped us pursue this goal by providing funds for training on specialized equipment used in the production of biodiesel fuels.

Efforts began in August 2008, when PCC’s Business Development and Entrepreneurship Center (BDEC) acquired an Appleseed Biodiesel reactor and set up the reactor on the PCC campus with the advice and assistance of a colleague from a nearby community College. Assembled from locally acquired materials, the reactor is used to produce biodiesel fuel from residual cooking oil. The biodiesel fuel can be used for a number of purposes, including fuel for vehicles or even to heat homes (fuel oil).

As lead instructor in PCC’s Biotechnology and Laboratory Technology programs, I became involved in setting up and using the reactor as well as instructing students in both the BDEC Continuing Education and the Curriculum (credit) program on the production and use of biodiesel fuel from recycled and renewable sources. The experience was enhanced greatly by collaborating with colleagues from other colleges in the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) and NCCCS BioNetwork.

BioNetwork supports the NCCCS mission of aligning world class workforce training and education to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and life science industries. BioNetwork trains at all levels of this industry, upgrading the skills of incumbent workers, from entry level to management.

Sharing ideas with others in NCCCS and BioNetwork is a valuable partnership. Through these programs, PCC has been awarded grants to purchase analytical instrumentation to train students for these industries. Two of these pieces of equipment are the Fourier Transform lnfrared Spectrophotometry (FTIR) and Karl Fisher Titrator.

Randy Durren (rear) explains to student Sabrina Cardwell (front) how to set up the FTIR program for testing biodiesel

The FTIR is used to check the purity and composition of organic substances and is an excellent tool for checking the purity of biodiesel produced with PCC’s reactor. Through the technical representative from Shimadzu, the manufacturer of PCC’s FTIR, I was able to secure a procedure to check the purity of biodiesel.

The Karl Fisher Titrator is a very specialized piece of analytical equipment that is important in the production of biodiesel fuels. This instrument is used to test for the presence and amount of water found in a substance.

As a member of the Environmental Sector of the North Carolina Curriculum Improvement Project (CIP), I learned about the Greenforce Initiative. This offering is a collaboration of Jobs for the Future and National Wildlife Federation where funding for the grants is provided by The Bank of America Charitable Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Through the Greenforce Initiative grant, I received funding for training and travel to attend a training session on using the FTIR and the Karl Fisher Titrator for biofuels applications.

As a result, 16 Biotechnology and Laboratory Technology associate degree students at PCC have received training in this technology. PCC also has offered training to the community, including an upcoming training in October 2012 to be offered through PCC’s BDEC to serve local residents. During this session, I will provide additional information on fermentation of bioethanol as a fuel source, along with the biodiesel, to increase the scope of class content. PCC provides these public offerings as an ongoing community service.

Georgette Ambruso, a PCC student who participated in the training, was complimentary of the opportunity to be trained. “As a student in the Laboratory/Biotechnology program at PCC, I was able to take part in some very special training this semester,” she said. “Sally Banks from

Denzel Williams (left), Randy Durren (center) and Bryant Lofton (right) observe the results from using the Karl Fisher Titration to test biodiesel fuel for the presence of water

Metrohm USA, Inc., came to present information on moisture analysis using the Karl Fischer instrument in our lab. We had a very informative slide show presentation followed by a demonstration on the set-up and use of our instrument. We were able to get beneficial hands on training as we took turns determining water percentage in various liquid products. It was a fun and entertaining day for all of us and quite packed with useful information and helpful tips. I am grateful that Mr. Durren was able to arrange this presentation for us.”

PCC plans to increase rural education and training opportunities related to production of biodiesel and ethanol. Now that I have learned to use both the FTIR and Karl Fisher titrator to test biofuels for content and purity, PCC will offer a “confirmation of purity” source with the assistance of the BDEC, the Continuing Education, and the curriculum (credit) instructional programs. We also plan to continue establishing partnerships and collaborations for the promotion and usage of sustainability, “green” technologies and biofuels from renewable sources. This will contribute to the process of creating new employment opportunities in the area.

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As a member of the North Carolina Community College System, Piedmont Community College serves Caswell and Person counties. Its main campus is located in Roxboro, NC, and its branch campus is located in Yanceyville, NC. Randy Durren is the lead instructor in the College’s Biotechnology and Laboratory Technology programs. He was honored to be named the 2011 Biotechnology Instructor of the Year for NCCCS BioNetwork. For more information, visit the College’s website at www.piedmontcc.edu

My First Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference

Eriqah Foreman-Williams — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 18:04:32 +0000

Every year, students from across the Southeast wait with bated breath to find out the details of one of the most anticipated conferences in the region. The Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference (SSREC) is an event organized by the Southern Energy Network (SEN) , an organization geared toward building grassroots campaigns to engage southeastern young people committed to renewable energy. Each year youth come and participate in trainings on valuable organizing skills, hear presentations on examples and best practices from their peers and call on their government, both local and national, to make clean energy a priority. And this year was just as powerful.

Students in Lee Hall at FAMU awaiting the beginning of the opening plenary

My name is Eriqah Foreman-Williams and I am the new Campus Field Coordinator for NWF’s Campus Ecology program. This is my first time attending SSREC, despite my past experience as a student organizer, and I must say it was an extremely rewarding experience. Reagan Richmond, the Executive Director of SEN, invited me and offered me multiple avenues to connect with students in the Southeast. I hosted a workshop on “Fostering Campus and Community Partnerships.” In my presentation, I aimed to inspire environmental campus leaders to reach beyond the gates of their campuses and reach out to community and engage them in sustainability projects and brainstorm strategies to implement projects in the community. I highlighted examples from my experience working in the conservation field for the last four years.

I also tabled at the conference sharing Campus Ecology materials on how students can get plugged into the program. Additionally, I had some students commit to asking their school newspaper’s to write an article about NWF’s new report A Student’s Guide to How Corporate Oil, Gas and Coal Money Influences U.S. Energy Policy. The students were excited to connect this information to the actions they are taking on their campuses and to shed light on this important issue.

For me, the highlight of the weekend was my invitation to give a keynote speech during the Saturday Night Plenary, my first time ever doing something like that. I was asked to speak about my journey and the importance of Historically Black College and University (HBCU) students in the environmental movement—especially because environmental justice is a growing hot topic.

I see my work in the environmental movement as the homage I pay to Dorothy Height and Fannie Lou Hammer and Ella Baker. Especially when I see figures and statistics about the environmental injustices my communities back home face and the black communities in Georgia. It is, as Senator John Lewis said, the new civil rights movement.

Twenty four schools and eight states were represented at this year’s SSREC, which was held at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical

participants making signs for Sunday’s protest

University (FAMU), an HBCU—it was a beautiful experience. The more than 300 attendees finished the conference on Sunday with a march to the Supreme Court of Florida, where a nuclear energy tax law is up for deliberation. The conference participants then marched on to the Florida State Capitol building and filmed a video posing a question to our presidential candidates: “What is the future for clean energy in this country?” This video will be submitted to CNN with the hope that the question will be asked during the next presidential debate. Overall, the weekend was inspirational and reminded me why I do what I do. I am excited about organizing in this region with these amazing student activists. Their enthusiasm is what will change this region and this country.

Students protest the Nuclear tax, currently up for deliberation in Florida’s Supreme Court

Universities as Models for Sustainability: Georgia Campus Sustainability Network’s Annual Conference

Eriqah Foreman-Williams — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 21:14:56 +0000

On Friday, September 14, 2012, 108 members of Georgia higher education institutions (faculty, staff, administrators, and students), as well as interested organizations, came together for the “Universities as Models for Sustainability: Georgia Campus Sustainability Network’s Annual Conference.” The conference was held at Georgia State University in the heart of downtown Atlanta.

Quint Newcomer talks to participants about University of Georgia’s Costa Rica projects

Started in June of 2010, GCSN is a catalyst for sharing best practices amongst Georgia’s leaders in Campus Sustainability. The network consists of a host of people: from students, to faculty, sustainability coordinators to facilities directors, and even some government agencies and outside businesses. Networking amongst these organizations makes for a growing culture of Campus Sustainabilityin the capital city and in the state as a whole.

The Conference was geared towards kicking off GCSN’s new year and new momentum. The session topics included energy usage amongst campus facilities, curriculum, funding and green fees, and student engagement. In each of these sessions, presentations were made by participants with significant success and experience in these areas. They were able to highlight how they went about executing their projects and how others could do the same. Additionally, there was a presentation from executive board members of the student network, Georgia Youth for Environmental Solutions (GA YES!)

Dennis Kreech, Co-Founder of Southface gives the keynote address at this year’s GCSN conference

Among the attendees, there were 53 students and 14 faculty members, and 29 other administrators and staff members.Additionally, we had a host of people from other organizations wanting to work with schools in order to help them attain their campus sustainability goals. Each of the participants has a passion for improving the environmental efforts on their campuses; whether that is through the physical infrastructure of their buildings, curriculum and education, or student organizing. Additionally, there is obvious interest in finding diverse ways to fund these projects such as small “green fees” implanted in the activity fees paid by each student.

Everyone left the conference with new ideas and contacts on how to drive their sustainable agenda on campus such as GA Yes’s invite to students to be part of their action teams promoting sustainable change across GA’s public institutions and resources to do internal campus energy assessments. The steering committee was especially pleased with the great turn-out of students that attended. That has been a struggle of GCSN; to engage students to the point they are not only inspired to change the carbon footprint of their campus, but also impact public campaigns regarding environmental matters state and nationwide.