Holy cats – the semester is almost over. I have to say that overall, this past year has been my favorite at Fontbonne. It’s crazy, but honestly things just keep getting better and better for me here. My college experience so far has been just as wonderful as I ever could have imagined, and I am so thankful for that.

It’s crazy to think about all the factors that influenced my college decision way back when – how lucky I am that it all worked out and that I made the right decision. Next year will be my last here: I’ll be finishing up my undergrad in dietetics, applying for internships (probably in Texas and South Carolina, mostly), taking on my last stand as Environmental Club president, and of course running and laughing and enjoying life with my friends. I’ve met so many great people here at Fontbonne, and although some of them have moved on to other places and lives, I still think of them fondly.

It’s always a transition to move home for the summer, but although I love living here with my friends, I appreciate the relaxation and time to reconnect with myself that it brings.  On the agenda for this summer is running, tanning, baking, volunteering, organizing, crafting, and planning for next year and beyond. It will be nice to have a couple of months to enjoy the beautiful sunshine. See you in the fall!

I don’t have pictures from Fontbonne’s Environmental Fair yet, but to tide you over until I do – here’s some from the Forest Park Earth Day Festival I went to on Sunday!!

STL BikeWorks! Where we bought some of the Environmental Club bikes.

Free sample of eco-friendly, toxin-free, nail polish!

You know you want some alpaca socks.

Love me some upcycled art!

Petting a puppy in the Peace Garden!

Electric car display!

Sorting trash/recycling/compost!

Veggies!

Overview of the Fair tents, on the Muny grounds of Forest Park!

I had a great time at the festival this year, and it’s definitely something to check out if you can! But no worries if you missed it, because Forest Park is always beautiful and you can celebrate Earth Day EVERY DAY.

This Thursday, April 18th, is the 3rd annual Environmental Fair! It will be happening from 11-2, in the meadow (weather permitting) or in the AMC of Medaille Hall! To remind you all how awesome the fair is, I’ll show you some pictures from last year.

Don’t forget you can borrow bikes from Environmental Club!

Raffle prizes! Plenty of that this year.

Organic farms!

Missouri Botanical Gardens Earthways Center!

REfresh!

The HES garden!

SEE HOW AWESOME!?!?! Super, then I’ll see you there.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned Rosemary Grove and its partnership with the Environmental Club. Rosemary Grove, I’ll reiterate, is a store that focuses on Fair Trade items, which ensures that the producers of the items were paid fairly and had good working conditions. I’m pleased to announce that last Thursday we had a benefit shopping night at the Kirkwood location, and it was a success!

We invited anyone from Fontbonne to come, and 10% of the proceeds went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens – one of my favorite places in St. Louis. And there were a lot of cool things to purchase! I’m definitely going back to get some items to raffle off at the Environmental Fair (which is Thursday April 18th, by the way).

Check it out!

As I may have mentioned before – or if I haven’t, I’m about to start – every year the Environmental Club puts on an “Environmental Fair” to help educate the community about various eco-friendly/green businesses and organizations in St. Louis. In the past, we’ve featured organic/local food, the Fontbonne garden, endangered animals, electronic recycling, second-hand clothing, upcycled jewelry, and lots of other cool stuff. I’m working on putting together the fair for this year, and I found a new place that I’m super excited about: Rosemary Grove.

Rosemary Grove is a store/website that focuses on selling only Fair Trade items. What does that mean? Fair Trade is a guarantee that no matter where in the world the item was produced, the workers involved got paid fairly, had good working conditions, and the planet wasn’t harmed by its production – it’s like the antithesis of a sweatshop. I’m so pleased that they will have a table at the fair!

And even better, the Environmental Club is partnering with Rosemary Grove as an “Advocate”. This means that whenever someone shops there and mentions us, we’ll get 10% of the sale, the proceeds of which we’ve decided to donate to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Here’s a link to the website, where you can find our club on their list! http://www.rosemarygrove-online.com/pages/rg-advocates

There is also an in-store shopping event in the works for early April, so stay tuned for that as well!

…Slick new wheel for our bike! They all should be back in action soon!

Well, I’m sure I talk about this subject every year, but it’s worth mentioning again – it’s Recyclemania time!! From February 3rd through March 30th, Fontbonne is in a nation-wide competition with other colleges to see who can pound for pound recycle the most. Our output is weighed each week, and we get to see how we stack up with the other schools as the contest progresses.

Now I won’t lie – Fontbonne’s recycling program is still rather in its infancy, and I would be pretty surprised if we blew anyone out of the water right now. However, we are doing better each year we participate, and the contest is a great excuse to publicize our recycling facilities! (Kind of like what I’m doing right now).

Also, we’ll be having a few activities – I have some neat-o giveaways, surveys for people to take, and there will be a recycling scavenger hunt later in March. FUN FUN FUN!!

Anyway, I strongly encourage you to be extra aware of your trash vs. recycling output these next few weeks, and you can help us make a difference! Because even if we don’t win the competition… any recycling we do is a win for the environment!!

This weekend proved to be yet another filled with wonderful and exciting things!

And when I say that, I mean that it was the weekend that Environmental Club took a trip to Soulard Farmers Market. Soulard is home to one of St. Louis’ largest markets, and the selection is massive. Far from only providing fruits and veggies (which are fabulous, of course), there are also local baked goods, homemade soaps, a pet shop, eateries, and butchers. Although not all of the items sold at Soulard are strictly local, you can always find at least something.

My favorite part of the market is scoping out all the fun and unique items. Handmade pastas! Heirloom gourds! Beignets! All things you can find at Soulard. There was even a special stand that was dedicated exclusively to “St. Louis” items – things like Billy Goat chips and Super Smokers BBQ sauce. And guess what? The guy who owns it went to Fontbonne (and played soccer)! Needless to say, I had to make a purchase.

All in all, I think it was a successful trip and everyone who went enjoyed themselves. And if you didn’t go with us this weekend, you owe it to yourself to check it out!

Hopefully you saw me and my fellow Environmental Clubbers selling “Griffin Go Boxes” last week. But just in case you didn’t, we’ll be back again on the 24th and 26th in DSAC and Ryan Hall!!

Why the increased publicity for Fontbonne’s favorite reusable takeout item? Because starting October 15th, Fontbonne is completely removing styrofoam from its dining facilities! We will have a more sustainable (but still disposable) to-go container available, but there will be an extra surcharge each time you get one. So why not invest $5 now and have a box you can use over and over again? For those unfamiliar with the Griffin Go Box program, here’s how it works:

-Purchase a Go Box/Go Box Card for a one time fee of $5
-Take your Griffin Go Box card to Ryan Dining Hall or DSAC Griffin Grill
-Exchange your Griffin Go Box card for a Griffin Go Box
-Return the used Griffin Go Box to Ryan or Griffin Grill and exchange it for a card or another box
-Repeat!!

It’s so easy! As I said, there will be a special sale going on during lunchtime this week, but Go Boxes are always available for purchase during dining hours at Ryan Hall. Get yours soon!

Now that my blog is back in action, I know that everyone is dying to hear more about what the Environmental Club is up to. Here’s a quick refresher on what we’re all about:

-Promoting reusing and recycling on campus
-Providing more local and organic food choices in the dining halls
-Reducing energy use and increasing efficiency on campus
-Raising people’s awareness of how their actions can affect the world we live in, through programs and activities

More specifically, we do things like:
-Coordinate a bike borrowing program for the Fontbonne community
-TerraCycle and recycle all sorts of crazy things
-Take trips to places like Soulard Market and the Botanical Gardens
-Give stuff away

Speaking of reducing trash…. look for Environmental Club members selling our reusable Griffin Go Boxes during lunch in the dining halls September 17th and 19th! Why the big push? Stay tuned, and I’ll tell you…