In taking Garbology, she learned that the system didn't work as well as she thought it did. "That is unfair to everybody because we send our trash overseas a lot of times, especially our recyclables."īefore going to college, Farrer used to bring certain types of recycling to her high school, because she knew that not all types could be recycled at home. is four percent of the global population, it accounts for 12% of all trash produced worldwide, according to a 2021 report from the advocacy organization Environment America. She tries her best to live sustainably, but doesn't think we can compost our way out of this. Each day, she thinks about the future of the planet. After spending the first few post-grad months applying for jobs, she now works at the California Academy of Sciences. "Stephanie was giving me the worms, and I was giving them to my friends for their compost bins."įor Farrer, studying environmental science came with a side of deep existential dread. "I was kind of like a worm dealer," says Gabby Farrer, a recent grad and former Teaching Assistant. She's known for cruising around campus on her bike and lending her worms to students she's inspired to start composting. Hughes has taken her students to tour a paper recycling plant, sewage treatment plant and household hazardous waste facility.īy training, Hughes is a chemical and environmental engineer with a particular love for sewage. But Professor Hughes wants students to learn that this is not always the case. "In the rest of the world, this planet operates cyclically: waste from one animal becomes nutrients for another."įor many Americans, throwing something away means that it's gone forever. "I'm not very pleased with that terminology because really, humans are the only ones that have waste streams," Hughes says. Professor Hughes doesn't even like to use the word, "waste." What makes humans different from other species? To environmental engineer and Santa Clara University professor Stephanie Hughes, it's the fact that we produce things that can't be used again in nature. Author Interviews Following Garbage's Long Journey Around The Earth
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |