Welcome to our Sustainable Living Blog
On this site, our Autumn 2022 & 2024 Foundation Seminar first-year students showcase the great research work and position papers that they have created during the semester on topics in Sustainable Living. On this page, you can visit a variety of amazing student research works covering a multitude of topics on living more sustainably on Planet Earth. Their creative works are grouped under the major headings of sustainable energy, sustainable food and/or sustainable lifestyle. You can filter by major topic area or year of research simply by clicking one of the buttons on this page.
A global effort: How can climate change be solved?
It’s not an individual task Climate change is a bigger and more complicated threat to the human race than nuclear annihilation. In his book, “21...
Are electric or gas cars better for the environment, economy, and consumers?
Audio Summary Introduction Electric Vehicles (EVs) are an emerging alternative to gas-powered vehicles, prompting questions about which is more sustainable overall. Are electric or gas...
Are microplastics really an issue knowing their small size?
Microplastics. What are microplastics? How are they an issue? Why should we even care about them? These are some of the questions I am going...
Are renewable energy sources genuinely renewable?
Introduction Renewable energy, in the mind of many Americans, leads to a cleaner healthier world whilst utilizing the energy we need to live and grow...
Can Regenerative Farming Realistically Replace Traditional Farming and Feed the World?
Regenerative farming is often portrayed as an idealistic alternative to conventional agriculture. However, it has major scientific, economic, and social foundations that make it a...
Can Vertical Farming Save Our Future?
Figure 1: Vertical Farming Facility Audio Blog Overview: Introduction: In 2050, the world population will be around 10 billion, which is 1.8 billion higher than...
Can We Stop the Pollution created by Plastics in our Oceans?
Introduction Plastics: something that we find to be so convenient in our everyday lives and something that we most often do not think about twice...
Do You Know What You Are Wearing? The Hidden Cost of Fast Fashion on the Planet and People
How Fast Fashion Pollutes the Planet and Exploits People When you pick up a $10 t-shirt or scroll through a flash sale online, it is...
Do You Know What’s in Your Body?
Imagine something so small that it has attached itself to almost everything around you yet, you can never see it with the naked eye. Imagine...
Does hydroponic farming offer a more sustainable approach and does it provide resolution for food insecurity?
Initial Introduction to Hydroponics: My first exposure to the practice of indoor hydroponic farming was during an entrepreneurship club meeting that was hosted my junior...
Fast Fasion is Affordable, but at what cost?
Introduction The unbelievably low prices of clothing and the super-high sales look enticing and make you think “Oh, why not just buy this cute outfit...
Geoengineering: Can (and Should) Humanity Engineer Its Way Out of Environmental Crisis?
A World on Fire The planet is dying. Dramatic statements like this have become commonplace in public discourse, news headlines, and even government debates. But...
Have Plastics made us soft
For this blog, I would like to address how plastics have made us softer as a group of people. Making us choose between our planet...
Have you ever considered how convenient solar cooking could be?
Solar cooking is the practice of preparing food using only the energy of the sun. Unlike traditional stoves, solar cookers are designed to take advantage...
How Beneficial Are Probiotics on The Gut Microbiome?
Introduction The gut is a vital component of the human body and is one of the most complex portions of the body. It is often...
How can food waste sustainability save the world
Introduction Many things are normalized in the United States such as access to clean water, easily accessible food, and unfortunately wasting food. Food waste affects...
How Can Individual Small-Scale Yard Rewilding Efforts Combat The National Decline in Insect and Bird Biodiversity?
Introduction Since the first colony ship arrived at Jamestown, the United States has suffered from a horrific rate of environmental change brought on by our...
How Can Reducing Our Consumption of Beef Help the Environment- Draft
I will be addressing the act of removing beef from one’s diet to help reduce the demand for beef, which overall helps mitigate Climate Change...
How Can Reducing Our Consumption of Beef Help the Environment?
I will be addressing the act of removing beef from one’s diet to help reduce the demand for beef, which overall helps mitigate Climate Change...
How do plant-based diets affect human and environmental health?
Imagine transforming your health, protecting biodiversity, and preserving the environment—all with a single dietary choice. This is possible by following a plant-based diet. It is...
How Do We Make Big Agriculture Sustainable?
The Problems with Modern Agriculture Fig. 1(A Harvester collecting wheat in a monoculture field- Source: EOS Data Analytics) Monoculture is the cultivation of a single...
How Environmentally Beneficial are Electrical Cars?
Abstract You may have noticed more electric cars or hybrid cars on the roads or more public charging stations appearing in parking lots. Electric cars...
Industrial farming: Is It Failing Us Or Feeding Us?
Introduction Every year, more than 70 billion animals will never feel the warmth of the sun or the taste of fresh grass. This is all...
Invisible Invaders of Microplastics: What Are You Really Consuming?
Understanding the Mechanics of Microplastics If you’re ever analyzing where the plastic you get rid of goes, you will find that it may never completely...
Is Brazilian Beef Burning Earths Lungs?
Daniel Hilmer 12/11/2022 About Me Last summer I went on a trip to Flagstaff Arizona. I spent 2 weeks altitude training with some of the...
Is it appropriate to construct more grass fields in schools and towns, given the widespread PFAS and hot weather conditions today?
Introduction On numerous playing fields in my neighborhood and elsewhere in the nation, I observe this same crossroads. There are those who demand playing fields...
Is Regenerative Agriculture the Future?
About Me Before I went to college, I had never heard the term “regenerative agriculture” before, and it wasn’t until I came to Bucknell University...
Is the incorporation of pesticides and tilling in our modern farming methods doing more harm than good to the diversity of our soil?
Abstract: In this blog I will be addressing controversies surrounding the practices of pesticide application and soil tilling in our modern farming systems. There remains...
Is there a fast-food epidemic plaguing the USA?
Have you ever wondered what fast food actually does to someone’s body over time, and how fast food companies became so ingrained in American culture?...
Is turning food waste into energy a sustainable solution or a danger to the environment?
Introduction Approximately 1.05 billion tonnes of food are wasted each year globally. The food that people are wasting does not go away, but instead is...
Is Wind Power the Best of the Renewables?
Introduction There is no question that global warming and climate change are having a variety of harmful effects on our planet, which can seriously pose...
Lithium Batteries: Truly Clean Energy?
Abstract Lithium mining is an industry that has seen a large increase in popularity over the last 20 years due to a revolution in lithium...
PFAS, Their History, Danger and How we Fix The World
Something in our world is unseen by the eye but is in every human alive. It is a toxin slowly killing and damaging all of...
Popular Sustainability: The Overconsumption of “Sustainable” Items
Introduction: Water bottles, Tote Bags, and Metal Straws: The Newest Trends in “Sustainability” With the continued increase in social media usage and the chronic need...
Should Athletes Increase their Vitamin D Intake?
Introduction What is vitamin D? Vitamin D is a nutrient the body needs, along with calcium, to build bones and keep them healthy. The body...
Should the World go Vegetarian?
Do not immediately say no to cutting out meat. The positives of a vegetarian diet do not only benefit health, but they carry tremendous rewards...
Sustainability in Generative AI: Why we Need Clean Computing
Abstract: What is Generative AI? The concept of generative artificial intelligence and terms like “AI” have gained an unprecedented level of hype as well as...
Sustainable Living is Achievable, Isn’t it?
Throughout time, farming has been pretty straightforward. You plant seeds, watch them grow, and tend to them accordingly. By “tending” here I mean watering them...
The Colors You’re “Dyeing” For
About Me I was in middle school when I first did a project on food coloring. At that age, I adored foods with coloring, as...
The Negative Impacts of Fast Fashion
Introduction In today’s world, fashion patterns and the mass market for clothing rapidly change, causing high production rates and many harmful effects to the environment...
Urban Rooftop Agriculture: The Future of Farming?
In the past, agriculture has always been associated with expansive fields, roaming livestock, and large machinery. This stereotype exists for good reason—throughout history, farming has...
What are the Health Effects of the Standard American Diet?
Abstract The “Standard American Diet” has been a growing health hazard to human health over the years. Each year, more and more unhealthy ingredients are...
What is the Future of Our Energy Systems?
Introduction The topic of our nation’s energy and how we should get it has been hotly debated in politics and the news. It is only...
What is the future of plastic bags in the world?
Introduction Figure picture of how many bags are used by an average grocery store purchase Imagine the following situation: It’s a Sunday afternoon in...
Why should cover cropping be adopted as a sustainable and reconstructive farming practice?
What is Cover Cropping? Cover cropping is a technique where farmers plant one or a mix of extra crops in their field as ground cover...
Would You Use A Greenhouse That Regulated Its Own Temperature?
The self-regulating greenhouse will change your life! I believe that everyone should have their own greenhouses that regulate their own temperature because it is beneficial...
You Are What You Eat: Are You Aware Of What You Are Putting Into Your Body?
By Luke Oliver Trevisani Introduction: Western society in the present day has made it far too easy for individuals to consume processed foods. With the...
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