Another Study Break...

Okay so after my last post I never got back to studying... sounds like I was ready for another study break! Phew okay, so I watched a Vice video. If you don't know about Vice please, Please, PLEASE check them out. Vice is real journalism. Vice immerses themselves in the stories that they are covering, kind of like Hunter S Thompson but without the drugs. I love Vice because they are not afraid to cover controversial stories, in the fear that they will loose their backers. Vice is not traditional news vice is unfiltered and raw. They are not regurgitating the same bullshit stores that FOX, NBC, and other news networks do, instead they are telling the truth. Have you seen the ridiculous shit that FOX is saying on the air? Apparently Jesus and Santa Claus were white. Oh yeah and Santa Claus is real.... Are you fucking kidding me?!? You are a news network. Tell the fucking news not some bullshit stories to make kids happy. How many kids are even watching FOX news?? Anyways back to the video. Keep reading. Sorry for my cussing. (Politics makes me angry)

Shane Smith (the creator of Vice) went to Liberia and met the warlords there. Oh my god. Do you know what is going on in Liberia? Neither did I. This documentary was very disturbing, but also very informative you need to watch this. It is about an hour long, but how about instead of watching a scripted bullshit show with a laugh track and fake smiles you watch something that is informative to what is happening in the world? I feel that Americans are terrible humans in the fact that they would much rather be entertained than be aware of what their fellow humans are going through in developing countries. That we would much rather turn our backs on the truth because it is displeasing, is terrible. We (developed nations) make up 20% of the world's population, and we consume more than the 80% of the world. People are suffering from the impact of our selfish desires of a comfortable, commercial life. Watch this and stay informed. It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.

Study Break

So, I've started listening to music when I am doing a tedious take home exam for environmental science. YouTube is actually really good for discovering new music. They make a 49 song playlist of any song you are listening to. Best part is that there are no ads. So I came across this song called "Cherry" by Chromatics. Dude. It's so good. Check it out. Later skater.

I'm in Awe

Hey dudes I know it's not tubular tuesday, but I never posted anything, so I thought it would be nice to hit you back with a song. This song is called Hoppipolla. It's by a band called Sigur Ros. They are Icelandic, so they are automatically cool. Just kidding. Don't judge people, because we are fucking terrible at it and are always wrong about the person we judge.

It was weird a bunch of my new college friends got drunk and came up to me separately at different parts of the night, totally hammered, and told me I was a really cool person and I've had an effect on their lives in a positive way. Damn these guys are making me feel like I'm Joe Rogan or something. I'm not trying to show off or anything, because "that shit is for assholes" in the words of Chiddy Bang. Actually recently I have not had the strong confidence that I had earlier in the year, so this was kind of shocking to me. Like wow I am actually a good guy and am not a dick. Sometimes we over analyze ourselves and only focus on our faults rather than our attributes. Kinda like that Dove commercial with the women describing themselves to a sketch artist. We are so good at pointing out the little flaws that we have that we tend not to look at ourselves how we really are: beautiful. I just got done watching a short movie about a serial killer robot, and I was like what now? So I put on Spotify and Hoppipolla came on. It is so beautiful check it out. But I want to keep on talking so I am going to keep going.

I met some really cool guys today when I wondered away from my environmental science class at the Mellow Mushroom. One guy is a photographer named Patrick Cox. You can look him up if you want. I'm too lazy to find a link. But this guy is amazing. He takes stunning colorful pictures, which was so great for me after shooting black and white for so long. He told me that no one wants to buy pictures of flowers, they like people. That really stuck with me because I kind of hate taking pictures of people. It's so hard. This man has it down. But not me haha. I like still life stuff. But I guess I should work on taking pictures of people so I can make money some day. The guy also makes man purses, which is the shit. I need a man purse so bad, you have no idea. I could rant about why, but that would be going too far off point right now.

The other dude I met was Joe. Joe sells vaporizers and Sanuks. Sanuks are super comfy shoes check em out. I got a pair and I flippin love them. ha its funny because they are made from flip flop bottoms, so flippin' is like a pun. Ah.... BACK TO JOE TIM. Okay. So Joe. I talked to Joe about his vaporizers and he asked me if I smoke cigarettes and I said I smoke a different plant. I asked him if his vaporizers could vap "herbs" and he freaked out and thought I was a cop. I think I persuaded him into thinking that I'm not by my vibe. I think it is pretty much the opposite of a cops. We got back to talking about the cigarette part and he told me that he sells vaporizers for the sole reason of helping the health of smokers and to help them eventually quit. He also told me that since I don't smoke he would refuse to sell me nicotine extracts (ie what is vaporized) because getting people addicted to nicotine goes against his values. I was like damnnnnnn you are the most noble person I have met in a long time! The fact that this man is not in the business just for the money and has morals unlike fucking corporations. Man Joe is the man. Joe is the person we should all aspire to be like. Joe is a person who has not assimilated to the old system to make money. Joe is good. We need try to be like Joe. Later skater.

Black Soldier Fly Larvae

Hey wazzzz uppp guys? Sorry its been a while, I have been... lazy. The semester is almost finished, but unlike my friends my exam schedule is not super crazy so its smooth sailing for me. EXCEPT I AM SICK. I totally thought I was immune to everything, because when everyone on my hall gets sick I have managed to stay healthy, but not anymore. Good golly Miss Molly. Oh well, ya gotta work with what you got. Alrighty, so this week's month's task is to come up with a sustainable campus initiative for Furman. My idea is to use black soldier fly larvae to make compost at the Furman Farm.

So a while back, I went to a sustainable agriculture conference in Durham and I learned about black soldier fly larvae to make animal feed from the dried larvae. We don't have any animals at the farm, however, the larvae also decomposes food scraps into compost super fast. These little guys can break down more than a pound of food scraps in a day. They eat so much, so it is good to use black soldier fly larvae if you have a steady stream of food scraps. More preferably from a dining hall or business. I remember this fall, we actually ran out of compost at the farm, so this would be perfect for providing a constant stream of compost. There is a lady that makes compost in 3 days with black soldier flies. Normal compost takes months, even with the addition of efficient microbes. Black soldier flies are more efficient than worms at decomposing food. If I could get a good system going with food scraps from the dining hall, I could branch out to local breweries and acquire spent grain as an input, and be producing a crazy amount of compost. Another perk is that the larvae can be harvested, dried, and mechanically pressed to extract oil. The oil can then be made into biodiesel! Apparently, Furman has a biodiesel lab, but I have yet to come in contact with the person who runs the lab. Compost and biodiesel? How flipping awesome?!

Despite the intimidating name, black soldier flies are not pesky like house flies, actually, the house fly population of an area decreases when black soldier flies are introduced to it. So no worries about annoying buzzing erywhere.

The next step is construction. The men at the conference used 55 gallon drums raised on concrete cinderblocks to grow their black soldier flies. That all sounds dandy, except the bins have to be turned just like regular compost bins. From my experience of having a compost bin, I know how terrible that can be. So, I decided that I should make a contraption that can be turned with little manual energy. I think it will look like this.

The little fin, is to prevent the compost from clumping up and causes a better aerating effect (pardon the purple color I have no idea what happened). Although the men at the conference recommended making the barrel raised at a 10 degree (or percent...I forgot) slope, because the larvae will try to crawl out of the bucket when they are mature. Creating a slope forces the larvae to climb out of the top and you can put a bucket at the end to collect them as they crawl out. So I think I will modify the plan to include sockets (I don't know the proper terminology) that will minimize the friction of the axel on the wood, because one X is going to be higher than the other to achieve the slope. 

I have already bought two used 55 gallon drums from a dude on Craigslist for $20, now I just have to make this thing and start up in the spring (insects don't like the cold). Maybe I'll post some pictures when I get around to that. Later skater.

A Chill Tubular Tuesday

Hey guys and gals. Sorry I'm posting this kinda late. But let's all take a minute to listen to Bon Iver. Bon Iver is so chill if you haven't already dabbled in his soothing tunes. This is his song Skinny Love, I hope you enjoy it.

Sarturday

Hullo! I came up with a clever name for the artsy Saturdays.... Sarturday haha get it? Terrible puns are what I do best. Okay so here is a portrait that I have been working on for my upcoming photography review. I hope you like it. Check out some more of pictures under the "Tubular Photos" section. I never thought that I had any artistic abilities for the majority of my life, but trying something new aka photography showed me that I actually might have some skill. So try and find something that you are good at. And if you're not good, do it anyways if makes you happy. I don't chose the photos that I decide to share based on what I think other people will think of them, but because I like them. So if you decide to paint or build something go entirely off of what will make you happy. There is a woman that I know that is in a different photography class, and her artwork is brilliant. But because there is a lot of black in all of her photos, my teacher is trying to change her and I think that is wrong. It is her style and there are some people like me that find it beautiful. So just do you and flip the world the bird. When it all comes down to it, you should live your life for you, not for everyone else. Later skater.

Please Listen to This

                               

http://podcasts.joerogan.net/podcasts/graham-hancock-2

Where my sustainability people at!? Okay so what you need to do is stop everything you are doing and listen to this episode of the Joe Rogan Experience. REALY DO IT. I know it's around 2-3 hours long, but listen to it when you're working or exercising this man talks about the most interesting things. This episode starts out with psychedelics then  moves onto history and also talks about sustainability. That's right all three of those topics in one glorious podcast. I really urge you to listen to this podcast instead of watching TV for a night because I feel like the topics that are discussed are very interesting and good for thought rather than just aimed at entertaining you through laugh tracks. For those that don't know, Joe Rogan is the former host of Fear Factor, but this man is so well spoken and his ideas are brilliant and insightful. Give him a chance he is the bee's knees.

The Master Plan

Howdy. People usually look at me weird when I say that to them. I wonder if you are looking at your computer with a weird face now. Anyways, I've totally slacked off with the whole sustainability part of my blog and I'm super sorry. I'll buy everyone vegan tofu bars or Birkenstocks to make up for it. So if you didn't already know, I am a student at Furman University, which is way more sustainable than most people would think, and is the main reason that I chose to come to here. All of this "going green" talk started with a past president of the school, Dr. David Shi. This guy is too cool. He set up a comity with the goal of creating a master plan of how to make Furman into a super sustainable campus by 2026. I have read over the multipage plan and am super impressed. 

The impressive thing about the plan is that it is not just all about dropping a whole bunch of green to become green, but focuses on getting student involvement and creating a sustainable mindset. And student involvement doesn't mean encouraging recycling, using canvas bags, or wearing hemp clothing, but welcoming students to take classes in sustainability and participate in projects. One of the things that I learned is that I love doing. I love to work at the Furman Farm, taking care of the plants and maintaining the beautiful garden; I loved planting trees at the Arbor Day celebration. Getting down and dirty has such a satisfying feeling and you get to see how your contribution makes a difference. You also learn more through experience than through reading words. Working with Bruce at the farm has taught me so much about how to harvest, plant, and take care of vegetables. I don't even think I could tell you what the last paper I read for Environmental Science was about... 

I am super happy at the thought that went into developing this plan, and I really hope that we can achieve our goal by 2026. If not, we have made impressive strides that not many other people seem to be making in the world. I was just on a website that was showing that the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is heading towards 400 parts per million. This may not seem like a big deal, but the last time that the Earth had that concentration was 25 million years ago. There was also no glaciers on the Earth at that point. If you look at the amazing graphs that UC San Diego has complied, you can clearly see, over the long period, that humans are completely responsible for the increased concentration of carbon dioxide, because of the amplitude of the increase in the 1950s. It is clear that if we don't make changes in how we live, then we will destroy our Earth for our children and their children. It is great that Furman is being a leader in this movement and hopefully, will serve as a model for other institutions. I'm done. Peace. Happy Thursday. 

TUBULAR TUESDAY

Happy national Tubular Tuesday! I've been grooving to Kid Cudi all day in the darkroom while I was creating beautiful art. Here's one of his cleaner songs but it's still pretty much amazing. I hope your ears will be feelin' fine while you listen to this. Later skater. 

Another Artsy Saturday

What's up?! Having a good Saturday? If not, make it into one! I am going hiking with some of my friends. Hopefully we won't get lost and die *fingers crossed*. This is a picture I took at one of the Mills in Greenville. Have a great Saturday!

Tubular Tuesday!

Happy November 5th!!! There's no holiday today, but that doesn't mean you can't be happy. Listen to this song by Matt & Kim, if you want a little pick-me-up. I like the up beat-ness to this song and is motivating to get stuff done. Spread the cheer for all to hear. 

A Photo Fo Yo

Happy Saturday! As previously said in my last post I Saturdays are picture days woohoo! This is a triple exposure I took of a dorm on Furman's campus. I hope you like it. You can check out more of my pictures here. Some of the quality has been lost in the scanning process, but I will do my best to touch them up with Photoshop. I am going to some of the local Greenville Mills to take some pictures today. Go outside it's nice. Cheers.

Apology

Hello. I am sincerely sorry for not being disciplined and posting weekly. I am going to change that. I pledge to post three times a week. Say what?! Three whole times Tim?! Surely you are not serious. I am serious and don't call me Shirley. I plan to post on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays of every week. Tuesdays will no longer be referred to as Tuesday but rather Tubular Tuesday. I will post a song that I have been jamming out to recently to sooth your tender and lovely ears. Thursdays will be referred to as Thursday until I can come up with a clever title. These days I will post what this whole blog thing is really about. Sustainability. Boom. Yeah I've strayed away from the title of my blog sometimes and I don't want people to think that I am being sneaky and luring them in with the "S" word. Saturdays will be Super Sweet Saturday. I will post what I like to do most in college, photography. So stay tuned and check out my blog. I will leave you with this beautiful tubular tune later skater.

The Last American Man

Eustace Conway came to Furman to give a lecture about his life and sustainability. Eustace Conway is basically the successful version of Into the Wild. Conway told us how at the age of 18 he decided that he was done with society and decided to move to the forest and live in a teepee. He has been able to live his whole life living off the land through hunting and growing his own food. The man is in his 50s and is still living the simple life that he chose way back when. When he told us how he skinned deer to make his clothes, a lot of the people in the audience made horrid faces and totally dismissed his decision to live this way. I was the opposite. I thought that he was being practical and saw his actions as no different than our choice to eat meat and wear leather accessories. Well, I did see one difference, he was actually in touch with where his food and clothing was coming from rather than most people's ignorance. I admit that I am guilty of the same consumer ignorance as millions of others, but I respected Eustace Conway's devotion to being in touch with the land. The next day, I spoke with my environmental science professor about Conway's talk and he shared his disapproval with me. My professor told me that it would be disastrous if everyone followed his example, and deforestation and extinction of wildlife would follow. I came to agree with him and my live-in-a-teepee-and-live-off-the-land drive was demolished. However, I still look up to Conway's connection with the land and I hope that I can change some aspects of my life to become more in touch with nature. In response to this, I am starting the Eco Challenge today. The challenge is a 2 week long process and you change one aspect of your life to live more sustainably.  There are 5 different challenges that come with tips on how to reduce your impact. I am going to partake in the trash reduction challenge and reduce my waste. This is going to be good for me because I have to buy some winter clothes and will give me a reason to go to Goodwill...which I love. The challenge starts today, so check it out! If you miss the start, there is no reason not to try it out on your own 2 week period.

They See Me Rollin'

What's one to do on an overcast and possibly rainy day? Go for a bike ride!!! For those that don't know, the Swamp Rabbit Greenway is a paved, level trail that cuts through the back side of Furman University's campus and runs from Traveler's Rest to downtown Greenville. My task this week was to go on a bike ride on the Swamp Rabbit Greenway. Great! I thought, I've been on the trail multiple times and enjoy the heck out of it. Except one of my bike's tires was flat. Dammit... So I decided to ask my roommate if I could borrow his bike. 

Of course being at Furman, my roommate's father is loaded and bought him a $1,000 + bike that he barely ever uses. Being the stand up guy that he is, my roommate lent me his bike for the day and said "Just take care of it." That line was very shocking to hear coming from him, because he hardly takes any care of the bike himself. For weeks, he had been leaving the poor bike outside uncovered and exposed rain, and was starting to rust from the lack of any it saw. I knew I would be able to show the bike a good time. Equipped with my Camel Bak and both of my cameras (I'm in introduction to photography) I set off for the trail. 

Apparently something did not register with me when I asked to borrow my roommate's bike. The dude is 6'1". I'm 5'8". So when I set off for the trail with high hopes and a smile, I realized that this bike is wayyy to big for me. With 29" inch wheels and a massive body the size of a tank, I was raised further off the ground than my bike and felt like I had no control over the bike. Not to mention, my crotch was being destroyed by the overextended seat post. And of course, fancy bikes require a hex head wrench to adjust the height, so I was screwed (pardon the pun). Luckily, I was able to compensate for my short coming by standing up while I rode, which was good because I was able to ride faster and feel like Kate Winslet in Titanic with the wind blowing my hair back in a sexy way.

Being an overcast day and in possession of two very expensive cameras, I thought it best to limit my time outside and my exposure to rain, and chose to ride to Traveler's Rest rather than downtown Greenville. Traveler's is 3 miles away from Furman while downtown Greenville is 6 miles. Biking for pleasure rather than exercise is so nice. I road slower than I normally do and stopped to look at interesting things, such as the off-site composting piles that the manager of Furman Farm has and took pictures for my photography class. Since my bike has been on the disabled list for about a week, it was very exciting to go at a faster speed than 3 miles per hour for a change.

Once I arrived in the town of Traveler's Rest, I stopped and took some more pictures and got my hair cut in a really cool old-timey barber shop. The guy was really nice and told me I was parting my hair on the wrong side. He also told me that no one has perfect hair except for Jesus. Here's some of the pictures I took from my bike ride. I might try to post some of the pictures I've taken for my photography class on my tubular photos section of my blog. Later skater.

 Setting the bike against a log helped getting on and off.

 

NO HANDS

Mmmm steamy compost

Locavore

Hello! So every Saturday there is a farmers market in the heart of downtown Greenville on Main street. This super chill and well organized farmers market is called the Saturday Market. Packed full of 50 local venders, Main street is lined with tents of local farmers and artisans that sell anything from fresh seafood to soap. Shaded by the trees the line the street, the market has a relaxed and happy vibe as you can enjoy free samples provided by a cooking demo and tubular tunes from a local band. The market is also food stamp friendly, which is flipping sweet in that it offers a healthy option for people under government aid. To top it all off, the market even has a booth for local non profit organizations to share information about the cause that they are working for. The only downside to the market is that it is not pet friendly, so you don't get to see any cute dogs there. Pictures speak louder than words so I'll let you check out the pictures I took while I was there. Bye bye bye.

Sustainability Scavenger Hunt

Howdy! Let me fill you in on some important deets. As part of the fine print of the sustainability/ECOS scholarship, that I am getting, I have weekly assignments to complete and post on here. The first task was to make my blog and post a welcome post. Check. My next assignment, and I guess current, is to go on a scavenger hunt to find a list of sustainability themed objects/places on Furman's campus and take pictures of them. I'm proud to say that I found almost all of the objects/places. Some of them I was familiar with, and others I had to ask around, and when those people didn't know they had to ask other people and it was a mess, but I persevered. I had known earlier that Furman made a pledge to become carbon neutral by 2026 (that's only 13 years away!) but this hunt showed me all different sorts of green initiatives that Furman has already taken. There are 4 LEED certified buildings (and these are huge buildings we are talking here), a wastewater treatment facility, an organic farm (mentioned in an earlier post), a gazzilon solar panels, and a model Thoreau cabin. The Thoreau cabin don't really offset our carbon footprint but I guess its more of a sustainable philosophical message. I didn't find all of the things on the list. I missed the gardens that around Furman's lake that prevents soil erosion and promotes biodiversity. I ended up taking a lovely nap on a bench. Gotta love naps. I was really impressed by the amount of green things that Furman has invested money into to promote a better world. Furman could have easily spent the money elsewhere but I applaud their decision. Check back next week to see what the latest news as I journey further into sustainability science. Later skater.

Stay Classy

I just saw this on my friend's Tumblr. I thought it was pretty inspirational. Go create something, fool.

Trampin'

Alright so, I am in the coolest class ever. It is a nature walk class. I know right?! Too cool. Anyways, my professor assigned us some reading to do from this book called The Gentle Art of Tramping. It is basically a hiking for dummies book. It is so inspiration about hiking and freeing yourself from the stress of everyday life and makes you want to go hiking or "tramping." This guy, Stephen Graham, is definitely a cool cat in my eyes. I think my professor just scanned a few chapters of this book, but 3 chapters in and I am totally digging it. Check it out, kiddo.

The Gentle Art of Tramping

A Song

I don't know if this song was produced sustainably, but every time I hear it I think about nature and all of the cool experiences you can have alone outside, whether it be hiking or biking or just taking in all of the beautify scenery. All of these beautiful things in life won't stay around if we don't change our way of consumption and treatment of the earth. Anyways, the band is Youth Lagoon (they are super chill) and the song is July. If you like this check out their other song Afternoon.

Observation Point

This isn't really a sustainability post, but rather a college post. I am taking a Nature Walk/writing class and one of our first assignments was to find an "observation point" where we can go each week and observe our surroundings and write in a journal. I found this really peaceful spot on a small bridge that goes over a little creek. The only bad thing about it is the mosquitos!  But the sound of the water is so calming that I think it's worth the bug bites. Furman never stops surprising me with all these scenic views!

The Furman Farm

Here at Furman, we have a small organic "farm" where we grow all sorts of good fruits and veggies, from kale to blueberries. Everyone is welcome to come out in their free time and volunteer. The manager, Bruce, loves the help and is happy to tell you all about the science behind everything we do. We have a really cool CSA that lets people enjoy our delicious food. A great thing about our farm is that we compost the food scraps from our dining hall and use them to fertilize our plants. Even the pest control methods we practice are eco-friendly, I used coffee grinds to get rid of ants. Who knew?! Here is a picture of the row of arugula I planted!

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to my blog! My name is Tim Sharp and I am a freshman at Furman University, and I am planning to major in sustainability science, hence the title. Pretty clever huh? As part of a sustainability scholarship set up by the great Dr. Shi *key inspirational music* I have to make a blog and tell all about my sustainability adventures. I am not sure exactly what I will be posting, but I'll try and get a groovy mix of pictures and textual posts in here, but we'll see as the blog evolves. Stay golden Ponyboy.