Author: The Sandspur

Hawaiʻi and Florida have many similarities regarding their environments, which was not something I expected when I first moved here for college, five thousand miles from my tiny island home. I thought that being across the Pacific Ocean and across the North American continent, I would feel as if I were in another world. As time went on, however, I began to draw similarities between my new home and my old home.

Earth is our home. Every day we breathe her air, drink her water, and eat her food. While we should put our planet first every day, there is one day when we can all celebrate Earth together. Earth Day has been celebrated every April 22 since 1970. Following a rise in environmental consciousness in an extremely consumerist society, the modern environmental movement united under Earth Day to fight against various threats to the environment. By 1990, Earth Day went global and emphasized recycling programs. In the past few decades, the movement engaged over one billion people to change their habits and implement policies to combat climate change.

The Rollins Urban Farm is coming back! Sustainability is installing new garden beds and finishing the space behind Elizabeth Hall to create a space that better fits our mission of sustainability, education, and community engagement and the Rollins College’s mission to foster cultural enrichment, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship.

Bacteria are everywhere: the air, inside of your body, the bottom of the ocean, you name it. It should come as no surprise, then, to know they are also in Lake Virginia. On Feb. 10, you may have recalled seeing an email sent by the Rollins Public Information Officer telling us not to swim at Dinky Dock. The sailing, crew, and waterski teams could not practice due to high levels of cyanobacteria present in Lakes Baldwin, Maitland, Osceola, Sue, and Virginia. As of March 5, Dinky Dock Park remains closed to swimming until further notice.

The Rollins Sustainability Program’s Swap N Shop event this semester promotes a circular fashion economy in our campus community. Fast fashion is a socially and ecologically destructive practice that can be difficult to avoid. Cultivating and processing materials, chiefly cotton, often comes with wildly unjust child labor practices and factory work violations that cost the lives of powerless and voiceless workers toiling under inhumane conditions. Discarded textiles, rubber, and leather account for 9% of American municipal waste, translating to a figure of 81 pounds per person annually.