Notes from the teach-in

This post was written by John Bennett

February 3, 2008

Members of the local community joined SCAD students, faculty and staff at Trustees Theater Jan. 31 for a day-long examination of strategies for addressing climate change. The lectures concluded with working group discussions devoted to topics including transportation, green building and sustainable agriculture. Following are far-from-comprehensive notes taken during some of the presentations.

Scott Singeisen, chair of the SCAD architecture department, talked about the concept of community stewardship. Individuals can find their roles, he said, by matching their strengths and areas of expertise with the needs of the community.

Sean Brandon, assistant to the Savannah city manager, presented “Crazy people ride the bus and I don’t like my friends enough to carpool.” He quickly countered the first claim in the title of his presentation with the fact that 75 percent of Chatham Area Transit riders are on their way to or from work. Brandon, a committed bicycle commuter, suggested that cars aren’t the problem — single occupant cars are the problem. If, he said, single occupant commutes cold be reduced through carpooling, Savannah’s current transportation infrastructure would be adequate without additional road building and widening.

Scott Boylston, a graphic design professor at SCAD and organizer of the teach-in, talked about product packaging. In the United States, 50 percent of municipal solid waste is packaging, he said. By contrast, in Europe, only 17 percent of municipal waste was comprised of the stuff that surrounds the stuff people buy. He urged participants to fully consider packaging when shopping and demand that manufacturers and retailers offer better options. Jim Morekis interviewed Boylston prior to the event for the Connect Savannah story “Taking global action, locally.”

Clara Fischel of Melaver spoke about the environmental impact of livestock farming, citing statistics similar to those in Rethinking the Meat Guzzler, a story recently published in the New York Times. She reminded participants that on average, produce travels 1300-2000 between farmer and consumer. Buying locally grown food, she said, helps achieve both economic and environmental sustainabilty goals. She mentioned the Starland Farmers Market, Jones Red and White, Davis Produce, Polk Produce and Brighter Day Natural Foods as options for those seeking to “eat local.”

Brian Bessenaire, an architecture student and president of Project Green described how his organization expanded from SCAD’s School of Building Arts to include students from other academic departments at the college. He inventoried the group’s projects including campus recycling, community gardening and event organizing. He said Project Green had achieved “beautiful results” thanks to the work of “a few people with a little bit of devotion.” He told participants, “So much of what we hear is about choice. There’s a very simple choice: What are you going to do?”

Tommy Linstroth offered a presentation based on his recent book. He said the lack of federal action on climate change has stimulated municipal and county governments to take the initiative with efforts that have the advantage of being locally appropriate. By doing so, communities can harness local expertise and act much more rapidly than larger agencies. Linstroth argued that taken in aggregate, individual community efforts can make a real difference in climate change.

Clint Murphy, chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee and policy committee member of the Chatham Urban Transportation Study, talked about his college experience. As a student at Georgia Southern University he organized voter registration drives and backed students who ran successfully for local office. He urged students to register to vote, contact their elected officials and turn out at city council, metropolitan planning organization and county commission meetings when issues that concern them are on the agenda.

SCAD anthropology professor Susan Falls talked about the power of cultural and social movements to change the physical landscape. She showed a photo of a New York City Critical Mass ride in Times Square to illustrate that a social movement can change the landscape — in this case turning normally car-clogged Midtown Manhattan into a giant bikeway — at least temporarily.

After the last presentation, participants split into groups and discussed next steps, then came back together to share ideas, which included:

• Working with SCAD’s food service provider to source food locally.
• Working with operator of SCAD’s bookstore to offer more sustainable and environmentally-friendly art supplies.
• Creating a marketing campaign to dispel incorrect notions about CAT ridership.
• Founding a bicycle library.
• Including sustainability in SCAD’s first year seminar curriculum.
• Researching traditional regional building techniques for guidance in green building.
• Formulating business models that value sustainability, not just the bottom line.

Mary Landers covered the event for the Savannah Morning News. Her story, “Climate change prompts students to change,” is here.

Photos by Verena Paepcke.

Posted in Advocacy, Global Warming