Everything Old is New Again

I mentioned in the last couple of posts that where I work has a large enough population for our CSA farm to drop off shares, so I thought I’d share (har-har) a little more about where that is. I work for a large public research university in New York, one that is relatively progressive when it comes to promoting sustainability. Take today, for instance. There’s a huge festival on campus celebrating Earth Day, with displays from local schools, vendors of anything from organic food to solar energy system, and tables offering information on green community organizations. Alternative-fuel cars will be there, from a vegetable-powered car to the new Mercedes Smart Car. And there will be music, sunshine, and 70-degree weather, courtesy of climate change.

The hope is that students and citizens from the greater community will come and learn and enjoy and make real change in their lives and towns. This outreach is part of our mandate as a university, and it is part of a greater movement afoot at universities, not just nationally but in the world, to teach sustainability and create change. What good is all the research if it’s not shared? A growing portion of this research is about food and how we interact with the land – but much of it is not new. It is, rather, a relearning of old agricultural methods and native wisdom, repackaged for the modern world. For example, I received this notice last week about a course offering at Arizona State University:

“Arizona State University recently began offering a plant biology internship, ‘The Edible Campus,’ which charges interns with harvesting ASU's fruit and nut trees, maintaining their individual organic garden plots, and marketing the harvested products. The internship program, which meets regularly as a class, aims to connect students to their campus landscape and help students understand the reasoning behind composting and eating locally.”

Everything old is new again…