Sustainability
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Student Organization Works with UGA, Athens Community to Reduce Plastic Waste
Bag the Bag is a student-run organization at the University of Georgia that works with the Athens community to promote sustainable practices. One way that Bag the Bag connects with the Athens area is through community clean-ups and helping businesses with handling their old plastic bags. On the University of…
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Zero Waste Athletics at Georgia Soccer Score Goal
Looking at concessions alone, sporting events produce a considerable amount of waste. Denise Plemmons, the waste reduction coordinator for the Athens-Clarke County Recycling Division, said the landfill typically receives an additional 35-40 tons of landfill waste after a University of Georgia home football game. According to the University of Georgia…
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Making Waves: Athens Water Festival Uses Interaction to Educate Young People
Children raced from tent to tent across the park, as their parents closely followed. Underneath one awning, visitors learned about coastal Georgian plant diets by means of dissecting pitcher plants, while volunteers at another nearby booth tossed a handful of balls atop a playground parachute to visualize how states of…
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Horticulturist Abra Lee to Give Lecture on Black Female Gardeners
The State Botanical Garden of Georgia will host author and horticulturist Abra Lee for its Johnstone Lecture at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Lee’s lecture, titled “The Invincible Garden Ladies,” will highlight the stories of Black female horticulturists in U.S. history. The Johnstone Lecture series, which started in 1994, honors the garden’s…
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Student Organizations Cultivate Change with Sustainable Food Initiatives
Athens-Clarke County often prides itself on being a community that values the environment and the well-being of its residents. This commitment extends to the food system, where local efforts are under way to ensure a sustainable future. There is a network of organizations that work together to prioritize locally-sourced food.…
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How Local Gardens, Farmers Markets are Feeding Athens
Feeding America reported a 13.5% food insecurity rate in Athens-Clarke County in 2021. The USDA defines food insecurity as “a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.” Around 27% of the Athens population is in poverty, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.…
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Historian, Educator Explores Sustainability and Eco-Consciousness Through Lens of Fashion History
A pair of fluorescent, color-blocked dresses drape across the desk, bursting with shades of pinks, blues and greens still as vibrant as they were so many decades before. Atop the neighboring table are folders of black-and-white photographs, some discolored with age and others curled at their edges. A book with…
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Social Justice and Sustainability: Denmark’s Take on Green Menstruation
When you first hear that Copenhagen, Denmark is known for sustainability, you may picture the green spaces, windmills or thousands of bicycles, but the nation’s eco-friendly alternatives are also taken to a more personal level: menstrual products. Of the 1.9 billion menstruators around the globe, The World Bank found that…
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Urban Farming in Copenhagen Grows Relationships in the City
If it’s a sunny day, expect to find the greater population of Copenhagen outside, trading phones and laptops for conversations over coffee and soaking in the warm weather. On days like this, green spaces like local farms become oases for the Danes to escape from the bustle of life in…
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Hygge in the Harbor: Copenhagen’s Success Creating Sustainable, Livable Waterways
Copenhagen’s waterways are nothing short of bustling. I biked by in late spring, which in my native-Georgia opinion, is far too chilly to go swimming. Despite this, locals and tourists alike fill the harbor. They dive in and swim, dip their toes in, sit by and watch the water in…