An Open Letter To Messiah College,

You thought the power outage on Tuesday was simply a construction fluke. Think again.

Attention Messiah Community. It is time for us to step out of the shadows and into the light. We call ourselves FLABBY SOWING: Guerilla Sustainability, Building A Brighter Future Whether You Like It Or Not. (Yes, we know you have to rearrange the letters a bit to get the acronym. Our other options were Babying Fowls, A Swobbing Fly, or Abs By Fowl Gin…never mind, we don’t need your input. This isn’t a democracy.)

This post is to let you know that if you continue to spurn our efforts to encourage sustainable living, we will have to take it by force. Unplugging your laptops when you aren’t using them is too inconvenient? BAM. There goes the power in the library. Taking thirty-minute hot showers in February just because you’re cold? BAM. So long gas line. (Remember Propane-Gate, the great gas debacle of 2014? Yeah, that was us.)

Consider yourself warned Messiah. Shape up, or we’ll do it for you.

Ok, obviously none of that is true, but it does beg the question, what does it look like to live sustainably on Messiah’s campus? Sustainability is something of a buzzword around Messiah, but at times it can be hard to understand what living sustainably actually looks like. You’ve finally figured out what you can put in the organics bin in the Union, and maybe you even have a compost bucket in your apartment, but is that all there is too it?

The truth is, living sustainably is something of a sliding scale. Maybe you already weave your own clothes out of hemp you grow in the back-40 on a loom made of recycled wood pallets (bad idea by the way), or maybe you print your essays in forest green ink because you think that’s more environmentally friendly. Regardless of your level or commitment or environmental literacy, here are a few practical ideas for how you can live more sustainably as a student on campus.

Wool Dryer Balls. When my older sister first started using these, she was able to convince her husband that they were actually dried sheep testicles. (Breaking News! They aren’t.) In reality, these dryer balls preform the same function as dryer sheets without all the chemicals, waste and money. You can purchase them from places like woolzies.com (15$) or check out DIY Dryer Balls for a great article on how to make them yourself. Most last for over 1,000 loads and reduce drying time, saving time and energy.

Water. Little changes make a big impact. The average person would save around 150,00 gallons of water over their lifetime if they turned the faucet off while they brushed their teeth. Keep showers short. The average bath uses 20 gallons of water. A five-minute shower uses only 8 gallons. But do the math . . . a twenty minute shower puts you in the red. Play some music on your phone and keep showers to a 2-3 song maximum. Instead of leaving the faucet running while you do your dishes, put dirty dishes on one side of the sink and fill the other side with soapy water.

Shaving. In the U.S. alone, around 2 billion disposable razors are sent to the landfill every year. That’s a lot of waste for something that is pretty standard practice! On top of that, shaving creams and aftershaves often contain harsh chemicals that are tough on your body and the environment. Look into purchasing a straight razor or safety razor, and try shaving with coconut oil or aloe vera. SustainableBabySteps is a great resource for learning more about sustainable shaving.

As with most life changes, sustainable living requires some experimentation You have to figure out what works, what you can afford, and most importantly, what you will actually do. Checkout eartheasy.com and How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by Joanna Yarrow for more sustainable living tips!

Yours truly,
Joel Johnson

Supreme Commander of FLABBY SOWING

Posted on November 20th, 2015 by as1635@messiah.edu
Filed under: Fall 2015, Grantham Community Garden