BASSP Capstone: Food in the College Years: Sustainability Edition

written by BASSP senior Naomi S.

Did you know that agriculture is responsible for over 10% of total carbon emissions in the U.S.? Growing food in modern agricultural systems uses pesticides, herbicides, harsh soil tilling, massive quantities of water, and a lot of the food we eat is transported from far away which leads to a lot of fuel use.
Additionally, much of the food readily available to consumers around the globe is highly processed, lacking essential nutrients and full of empty calories that don’t satiate us the way whole food does (Sizer & Whitney, 2000).

As a college student and an emerging adult, it can be really hard to figure out how to feed yourself three times a day, every day. Busy schedules, limited budgets, and cramped living spaces and kitchens make it all too easy to rely on pre-made, processed food. But it doesn’t have to be that way! BASSP senior Naomi Short aims to change this through their capstone project. While environmental sustainability was frequently taken into consideration, this project focused primarily on the social-relational and intrapersonal aspects of food sustainability. Meaning, the goal of this project is to teach students how to create a sustainable relationship with food during college. The college years are the first
experience of self-reliance for many people, and knowledge in cooking, food preparation, nutrition, and food budgeting is not widely taught in high schools. In particular, this project utilized the concept of food sovereignty as defined by the Nyéléni in 2007 (Nyéléni, 2007).

The goal of this project was to create a series of A4 8-page zines and a series of blog posts for the Kodiak Cave (Cascadia’s on-campus food pantry) blog centered around food sustainability. Topics include how to eat during stressful times (such as during college); how to forage and use foraged plants, with a focus
on edible plants grown on the Cascadia/UWB campus; basic nutrition information; food waste prevention tips; and a series of original recipes. The blog posts are written in a format that can easily be converted into a short book for future publication.

The inclusion of handmade (and later photocopied) zines, as opposed to computer generated printed handouts, was intentional. Zines represent one of the most accessible forms of information sharing, and have historically been used by grassroots movements as an alternative to mainstream media. Zines are noted for a handmade, often collage-like aesthetic. A4 8-page zines (the type of zine created
for this project) are made from a single sheet of 8.5” x 11” printer paper. They are folded into a booklet format that makes them sturdier, and therefore more likely to be retained, than a traditional flyer or leaflet. Much of the literature consulted during this project was in the form of zines, both self-published and published through zine distributors.

This project is grounded in the concept of food sovereignty as defined by the Declaration of Nyéléni. Food sovereignty centers the needs of “those who produce, distribute, and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations” (Nyéléni, 2007). As such,
the project also aimed to increase access to fresh, locally grown produce for students at Cascadia College. Although the creation of the Kodiak Cave in Fall 2018 has been successful in providing pantry staples and has helped to alleviate food insecurity on campus, they have often been unable to stock fresh produce.

There are a number of logistical problems with regularly stocking fresh produce, including, limited refrigerated storage space, and inconsistent demand. Fresh produce tends to have a short shelf life so it is not always possible to give out all the produce before it goes bad, leading to waste. Through the creation of a “Sustainability & Art Club”, funding was secured to buy produce from four small, organic farms no more than ten miles away from campus. Produce was given away at Spring Fest on May 21, 2024 along with the zines. The success of the produce giveaway at Spring Fest 2024 provides a blueprint for future “pop-up” produce giveaways, hosted by either Cascadia’s Office of Sustainability or the Kodiak Cave. The “pop-up” model is ideal for fresh produce because the pop-up is highly visible, and students do not need to complete any registration or schedule an appointment. Additionally, I suggest against setting
limits on the amount of produce that students may take, within reason. This decreases the likelihood that produce will go to waste and follows the food sovereignty framework by allowing students to select produce amounts according to their needs.

As the final deliverable for this project, I co-hosted an event with the Outdoor Wellness Leaders (OWLs) and colleague Morgan McShea. The event was a combination of forest bathing and foraging. We walked through campus, visiting several different locations to forage and enjoy edible plants. Under my guidance, we all ate fresh stinging nettles (nobody got stung!) to start off, as a mindfulness exercise. Then we tasted fresh pine needles, catnip, savory, mint, and lemon balm.

Finally, we made our way up to the Food Forest and ended our foraging session by eating some lovage! The feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive, and to my surprise the favorite activity was eating fresh stinging nettles. The Bachelor of Applied Science in Sustainable Practices program hosts students who have completed an associate degree or higher, also helping professionals with
bachelor’s degrees already retrain into the sustainability field! This two year program has a capstone project as part of the program as seen above, and we invite you to look at what Cascadia College can offer you for education in Sustainability! Find out more at http://www.cascadia.edu/bassp

References:

1. Sizer, F. S., & Whitney, E. N. (2000). Nutrition: Concepts and controversies.
Eight Edition (8th ed.). Wadsworth.
2.
Agriculture accounted for an estimated 10.6 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas
emissions in 2021. USDA ERS – Chart Detail. (n.d.).
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-
detail/?chartId=108623
3. Nyéléni. (2007, February 27). Declaration of Nyéléni.
https://nyeleni.org/IMG/pdf/DeclNyeleni-en.pdf

Sustainability is No Secret: Harmoniously Herbaceous

Well, hello again. Glad to have you back! Spring is in the air and a new quarter is in full swing here at Cascadia College. We’re so happy you found some time in your busy academic schedule for some more juicy sustainability secrets! But unlike gossip you might hear around the water cooler; these are secrets we encourage you to share. Tell all your friends and neighbors about all of Cascadia’s not-so-top-secret sustainability tidbits!

The first secret we slipped to you in this blog was about the work the Cascadia/UW Bothell community is doing to help native bees flourish around campus. Keep your eyes open for those prodigious pollinators around campus. This time of year, they’re buzzing around working hard to fill up their”pollen baskets,” or corbicula. So, if you see some flower petals dancing around, it might not be the breeze; it could be one of those incredible little bees, pollinating the native plants around our campus!

And in the previous blog, we let the cat out of the bag on a core sustainability concept is a framework called the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). You might recall, the Triple Bottom Line focuses on People (Social action/Equity) – fairness and opportunity for all humans, Planet (Environment) – pushing our actions to not further harm or damage animals or the natural spaces, and Profit (Economy) – making long term, sustainable actions to maintain our practices. The TBL focuses on a harmonious balance between these three areas AND where they intersect. This is one area in which Cascadia really shines.

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” – Audrey Hepburn

An exciting way that the Cascadia/UW Bothell community has brought Equity and the Environment together is through our edible campus locations! Our efforts to be an “Edible Campus” highlights how our community is working at creating a healthier, more accessible, and sustainable environment for our students.

Why is food a part of sustainability? Access to healthy food is one place where Equity and Environment overlap. We need to protect the environmental conditions needed to sustain food production and ensure those who need food have access to it. Food is one of the main topics that sustainable practices can impact – locally, personally, on campus, and beyond. Food availability might be a challenge on campus, but it’s an important issue for more than just where to find lunch or coffee! There is growing information about food-insecure students and there are support services to help.

Our Cascadia Cornucopia Food Forest features an edible landscape of trees and planter areas. Before spring break in 2015, it was a rarely used expanse of grass. Now it is home to dozens of species of edible plants, shrubs, and trees from around the world. It features food-bearing plants open to the campus community and public to harvest! It serves as an example of the integrated learning opportunities at Cascadia. Students enrolled in various science, social science, and English classes have explored the food forest as part of their education.  The fruit trees are ready for harvest primarily in late summer and early fall, but the food forest shows how urban farming and permaculture can meet to provide food sustainability to the local area!

The campus community is invited to visit The Food Forest to see what’s growing! But keep in mind, to maintain a sustainable food forest, please harvest responsibly.  Take what you can eat but save some for future visitors and pay attention to the “harvest me” signs to ensure that you are getting to taste the fruit at its peak ripeness.

The Campus Farm is also open to students and staff who are interested in learning how to grow their own food. This space is one of the few co-managed spaces on campus, through a strong partnership between Cascadia and UW Bothell. The missionof the Campus Farm is to provide an outdoor learning space designed to engage our campus community in experiential learning and best practices surrounding sustainable land use and food production. Excess food harvested from the farm gets donated to the Kodiak Cave and Husky Pantry, but the farm is actually open to anyone on campus who is brave enough to pick from it. If you are interested in gardening but don’t know how to get started, we are hosting a series of lunches at the farm where you can learn introductory gardening skills during the spring quarter.

Our Herb Walk is at the south end of campus, near the W sign. The community is invited to peruse the herbs growing there starting in the spring and learn about types of herbs.  Herbs are a win-win for humans and pollinators alike.  Our campus pollinators enjoy the lavender, rosemary, chives, and other herbs more than we do.

And we must mention the Apple Orchard located next to the Chase House on the south end of campus which has been here since before the campus was created!

Plant guides are located in each of these spaces, and feature information about each plant, how and when to harvest, as well as recipes for use. The Grounds Department, which has designed and maintained all of these landscapes, encourages the campus community to explore, taste and engage with these areas.

So get out and explore all the sustainable projects and features the Cascadia/UW Bothell Campus and Community has to offer! Like our stormwater management, Rain Gardens, the LEED Platinum Mobius Hall (CC3), Waste Sorting Signs, and more! These were all carefully curated to foster a welcoming, educational, healthy, accessible, and sustainable environment for all visitors. And get the secret out there!

We hope you’ll come out to join us for all the Earth Month 2023 events!

To learn more about Sustainability at Cascadia Follow our sustainability department on social media!

Also be sure to check out the Common Caws Podcast!

Common Caws – Podcast | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Newsletter subscription

Also, visit this page and our outdoor sustainability efforts page regularly to see what our students, faculty and staff are thinking about, talking about, planning, and putting into action.  We hope you’ll join us!

We’d love to hear from you! BASSP advisor: Stephan Classen

Why is Food Part of Sustainability?

co-written by Stephan Classen and Rachel Luther, UWB Sustainability Coordinator

I keep getting this question – when we host food events, when we talk about agriculture, or food systems, food access, and food waste: How is Food part of Sustainability? Isn’t that more social justice focused, or at least – why are the Sustainable Practices Offices focusing on food?

Well, it’s actually not a big jump – as food is one of the main topics that sustainable practices can impact – locally, personally, on campus, and beyond.

Personal Impact

The choices that you make as an individual might not seem like they matter very much, but in reality every choice is like a domino effect. Flicking over one domino or making one small lifestyle change might not make a huge difference, but when you stop to watch how your choices affect all of the interconnected pieces of our lives and others’ it’s like watching the dominoes cascading down the line. Food is incredibly interconnected, not just because it is a social justice issue, an equity issue, a sustainability issue, and more, but also because our food system itself is so incredibly complex. 

Take the hamburger example. You may choose to stop at McDonald’s this very day to buy a $3 hamburger on your way home. This decision to buy a hamburger from McDonald’s may seem flippant, but let’s consider the ripple effect of that decision. A hamburger is made of beef which is one of the most environmentally destructive foods. That single hamburger required as much water as you would use in your shower for 2 months. The problem with beef is that a cow requires a lot of food to get up to the required weight and to do that, they are usually fed grain and corn. Corn is another extremely inefficient crop because it grows slowly and requires a lot of fertilizer and pesticides to keep up the high yields that farmers demand. So not only does it require a lot of land, and a lot of chemicals, and a lot of water to produce a hamburger, it also presents a justice issue. What could you choose instead? 

And yet, as a social issue, many people live in food deserts – a location in a city or town where their only options within a 5 mile radius is a McDonald’s hamburger. How do we create more food options for people who are limited in choices?  We can all agree that more fruit and vegetables are needed for healthy diets over hamburgers, but the system is not that simple for many Americans, much less the rest of the world. Healthy, affordable food options aren’t available for more people that we realize.  

A vegetarian diet uses much less land and resources than a traditional meat-heavy American diet, a vegan diet uses even less. But asking everyone to go vegan or even vegetarian is a lot. Just reducing your meat consumption can make a huge difference! Think about the impacts of one hamburger, if you choose to eat the equivalent of one less hamburger per week, that actually has a large impact. Individual choices have an even larger impact if everyone pitches in just a little bit. If everyone in the world ate closer to three portions of meat about the size of a deck of cards per week, meat consumption would be on a much more sustainable trajectory. So never say that your choices don’t matter!

Campus Food

Food availability might be a challenge on campus, but it’s an important issue for more than just where to find lunch or coffee!  There is growing information about food insecure students, and our Kodiak Cave and Husky Pantry are there to serve and support students – including with goals about nutrition and food access we mentioned above!  

The campus farm is also open to students and staff who are interested in learning how to grow their own food. Excess food harvested from the farm gets donated to the Kodiak Cave and Husky Pantry, but the farm is actually open to anyone on campus who is brave enough to pick from it. If you are interested in gardening but you don’t know how to get started we are hosting a series of lunches at the farm where you can learn introductory gardening skills during spring quarter.

Local Food

Food transportation is a major equity and environmental issue – so it’s everything sustainability covers. Climate impacts of food growing through agriculture, environmental damage from pesticides, carbon emissions from transportation, food waste through loss, rot, and things thrown away, are all various environmental concerns about food.  

Health issues from eating those pesticides, access to nutritious food, and chemical concerns within foods are all equity concerns.  

Where does local food fit in?  It can solve all the above problems – if grown right!  

Many local farms are organic or at least pesticide free. The distance from farm to your table makes a huge impact for both food waste and carbon pollution.  A local farm is also community based – so it helps your neighbors and your own food access in cases of catastrophe!  Buy local where you can, and support regenerative farming!  

We are lucky to live so close to so many amazing farms, Seattle has lots of year-around farmers markets and nearby cities like Woodinville and Carnation are home to farms and farm stands like Oxbow, Carnation, and 21 Acres.

Plus, as people grow their own food in gardens, you rely less on the grocery store – look at egg prices right now, with a supply shortage and Avian Flu killing chickens, egg prices are skyrocketing!  

People connect over food

Food is a social thing too, from cultural elements, sharing, and connecting with others over a meal.  Joy and positivity are always a part of sustainability!  We have to find ways to adapt, build community, and support others in society if we want to build a better world! Food has built and sustains many cultures around the world because it can be a social act of showing someone that you care, learning more about them, and spending quality time together. Many traditional foodways are being lost to the commercialization of food, but learning how to cook for yourself is an essential life skill. PCC Markets offers fun cooking classes and if you are interested in learning more, Eating to Extinction by Dan Saladino is a fascinating story about the traditional foods that are being lost to globalization.

Resources

Want to learn more about food, agriculture, climate change, and beyond?  Tune in for the Ag/food Climate Speaker Series, part of our campus Climate Dialogs!  

Check out the campus Kodiak Cave Blog!

Core Sustainability: Equity, Climate Change, and Food

We’d like, from the sustainability office, to occasionally offer opportunities for learning, building the connections of sustainability, and, in essence, integrate all these things for our campus.

This year has seen a lot of talk on COVID19, social justice issues, and the ever present concerns of climate change. Our campus is no different, and much of our programming and events have tied those together: from our two Climate Dialogs in the fall on Environmental Justice, and with our Earth Week events (the second was focused on Food and Climate), to our amazing Community Reads on various environmental subjects this year – all finding the ways they intersect and interact.

But the core concept and need for our community to learn today is this integration. Environmental damages, and climate change, greatly affect poor communities¹, or communities of color more intensely, and the inhabitants are often more vulnerable or less able to protect themselves (for health and wellness) against toxins or environmental damages². This occurs beyond borders, and has been a growing problem with issues of waste/recycling shipping to historically poor countries, safety and health standards at factories in other countries, and even in our own country, marginalized communities often face less cleaning or regulatory services, higher levels of area pollution, less access to green spaces, and often, less access to healthy food options³.

Food access, and healthy choices matter for families, for the people to have healthy living in our communities, and to fight hunger issues. And climate change will make options, availability, and perhaps, even prices of food worse. We know, in Washington State, we’re in for wetter, colder winters, and dryer hotter summers (see our climate dialog 4 recording), which can mean more wildfires, less easy access to some fruit and vegetables, and more hazardous storms (snow, hail, rain). COVID-19 has shown how we all individually have impact, and collectively, can make change – look how our food systems and access changed during COVID-19 – many have struggled, and there have been organizations stepping up to spread food around our communities to those in need! But there were meat shortages, issues with clean restaurant access and openings, and even grocery outages.

Our campus recently hosted a climate dialog on food effects in the state, and the Community Reads’ event this spring focused on Food Justice, culminating with their Food Justice Panel event last week. Our campus has done great strides in finding ways to provide food access to our community (and the surrounding public) – through the Kodiak Cave Food Resource Center and (for UWB) the Husky Pantry, our campus growing areas (Food Forest, farm, and orchards) which are accessible to all our students when they visit campus! Excess food from the farm (which is open to the public for foraging) all goes to our Husky Pantry and Kodiak Cave. We can’t fix the world’s issues alone, but we can support students in need and our community to do better.

So students, consider getting involved in ways to provide resilience and support for those in need – even with just asking questions and joining the conversation! We are all in this together, so continue to explore how our world is changing with climate – and what that means for our whole society, and all our members thereof. Consider too, looking at our Bachelors program in Sustainable Practices – you can find a career and bachelor’s degree in sustainability, climate or equity work, or environmental activities!

Resources:

Campus blog area on food and outdoor areas: https://cascadiaupdates.wordpress.com/cascadias-cornucopia-and-the-campus-grounds/
Sustainability Blog area: https://cascadiaupdates.wordpress.com/sustainability/
Kodiak Cave Blog: https://kodiakcave.wordpress.com/
Husky Pantry (for UWB): https://www.uwb.edu/studentaffairs/resources/husky-pantry
Hopelink Mobile Market: Food access for those in need, comes to campus twice a month! https://www.facebook.com/HopelinkMobileMarket
Community Reads: (Cascadia/UWB community only) Read with the community and discuss environmental justice! https://guides.lib.uw.edu/bothell/communityreads
EAB’s Climate Justice Student discussion: Kodiak’s for change! (contact EAB@cascadia.edu), see image below!

contact EAB to sign up. There will be multiple discussion topics over time!

References:

1. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2016/10/report-inequalities-exacerbate-climate-impacts-on-poor/
2. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=YSRmAQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT379&dq=pollution+affect+poor+communities&ots=SHr2YMGuJJ&sig=DwkwSK3ooP5VxZwvfAEXt6JU_R8#v=onepage&q=pollution%20affect%20poor%20communities&f=false
3. https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerrilla_gardener_in_south_central_la

In-Season: Red Sun Chinese Hawthorn

written by BASSP student Sebastian Zhao
There are 100-200 species of hawthorn in the world. In the genus Crataegus, hawthorn are in the rose (Rosaceae) family. Hawthorn is native to much of the Northern Hemisphere, notably in temperate climates of Europe, Asia, North Africa, and North America. Due to its widespread locations, it has many common names such as thornapple, common hawthorn, whitethorn, Chinese hawthorn, quickthorn, one-seed hawthorn. The tree is commonly called May-tree, named after the month it first blossoms, being one of the first signs of spring turning to summer.

The species of the tree we have growing and ripening right now on campus is called the Red Sun Chinese Hawthorn.  

Image credit: https://raintreenursery.com/products/red-sun-chinese-haw 
The campus hawthorn tree came from this nursery.

The Red Sun Chinese Hawthorn is common in Northern China. In Chinese, the fruit is called 山楂 shan zha (lit: mountain haw). 

The fruit is large, round, and red when ripe, usually in September. Each fruit contains pits/seeds in the middle that are not to be eaten.

Hawthorn ripe in our food forest. Photo by Stephan Classen

The fruit is eaten fresh, dried as slices in tea, or made into soup and beverages, but more commonly seen used in confectioneries such as “shan zha bing” or “bing tang hu lu”. “Shan zha bing” or “haw flakes” in English, are sweet and tangy compacted flakes, snacks made from a concentrate of this fruit, available year around. “Bing tang hu lu”–“tang hu lu” for convenience–is where the ripe fruit is skewered onto bamboo sticks, coated with a (rock) sugar syrup, then cooled to room temperature to crystallize for an appealing treat that has been a familiar and stable street food snack particularly in the winter months in China for thousands of years. This method can also be applied to other fruit. Tang hu lu is a very popular treat for children and those who are children at heart. Find more history and recipes for tang hu lu here. Dried hawthorn has also been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and as herbal remedy since many centuries ago. The fruit can also be preserved in wine or syrup.

Dried, pitted, sliced hawthorn used in teas, remedies, and traditional medicine
Image credit: https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-qzq8dm5/images/stencil/1280×1280/products/5402/66325/s-l1600_25__71861.1512622863.jpg?c=2

The benefits of the fruit (may) include:

• Loaded with antioxidants
• Anti-inflammatory properties 
• Lower blood pressure
• Decrease blood fats (such as cholesterol and triglycerides) 
• Aid digestion
• Helps prevent hair loss
• Reduce anxiety
• Used to treat heart failure
• Easy to add to your diet

Find the full list and precautions here. 

Bing tang hu lu skewers
Image credit: https://medium.com/@pandacheffy/bingtanghulu-%E5%86%B0%E7%B3%96%E8%91%AB%E8%8A%A6-668abf4a1990

The plant we have on campus is considered a small tree (whereas other species of hawthorn may be categorized as shrubs). It likes full sun exposure, can grow up to 15 feet tall, is hardy to many soil types, and is pest- and disease-resistant.

The Latin Cratagus comes from the Greek kratos meaning hardness, referring to the strength of the wood. 

Haw Flakes candy, photo by Stephan Classen

The tree bears significance in many cultures across the globe. 

Did you know the Mayflower, the ship that brought Pilgrims from Britain to the Americas in 1620, was named after the blossoms of the (English) hawthorn plant? 

Hawthorn flowers (aka Mayflower)
Image credit: https://garden.lovetoknow.com/trees/hawthorn-trees

There are particularly poignant tales and history with the hawthorn plant in Europe. (Check out this page for more information) 

One notable quote from the English poet being: 

“While the ploughman near at hand
Whistles o’er the furrow’d land,
And the milkmaid singeth blithe,
And the mower whets his scythe,
And every shepherd tells his tale
Under the hawthorn in the dale.”

 John Milton

Hawthorn trees
Image credit: https://garden.lovetoknow.com/trees/hawthorn-trees

(Featured/header image credit: https://news.cgtn.com/news/2019-10-06/China-s-Flora-Tour-How-do-Beijingers-eat-hawthorn–Kxms37RRbq/index.html)