by: Macrae Hanke The meandering walk started on pavement; concrete cookie cutter blocks molded from the ground, poured to match the miles of sidewalk before it. As I continued my departure from man-made civilization, the buildings turned to trees and stadium lights faded from view. Concrete turned to gravel and gravel to dirt. Step after … More The Bend In The Creek
by: Jessie Opfer The air was crisp, probably 50 degrees. I had not checked the weather app on my phone since the morning. It had not been considerably windy, but there was a breeze, one that was almost blocked by the trees and valleys along Four Mile Creek. It was one of those days where … More One Winter Moment In Nature
Written by: MJ Watkins You asked, we listened. Here are three more green clubs around Miami’s campus worth checking out! Zero Waste Oxford is a “green organization” centered around waste management and sustainability. Zero Waste promotes the ideology of zero waste living for students and community members alike. The organization got started a few years … More Hungry For More? So Are We!
Written by: MJ Watkins Miami University is home to over 700 student clubs and organizations, all aiming to engage students and deepen their connection to the communities around them. Many of these reside in the realm of environmentalism—including GreenHawks Media! Anyone can create a club or organization on Miami’s campus with almost any idea. Here are … More Three Green Clubs To Check Out Around Campus
Thanksgiving is almost here, which means the trees around Miami are losing their leaves faster than we can say Turkey time! Before winter’s chill settles in and snow blankets the landscape, let’s look back at some of the vibrant fall colors that painted our beautiful campus this autumn. All photos and captions by Gia Mariani.
Written by: Morgan Schneider “If I could take you somewhere right now, it would be that walkway in the Peruvian Amazon,” said Meg Lowman, PhD when asked what her favorite place on Earth is. Known as “Canopy Meg”, Lowman, an ecologist studying tree canopies, visited campus on November 3 for the 48th annual Hefner Lecture. … More Renowned Tree Ecologist Visits Miami
Written By: Morgan Schneider Jacob Kramer was living near Kramer Elementary on Sycamore Street when he had an idea. Since his house was further away from Miami’s campus, white-tailed deer would frequently run around in the street and yard. He’d seen them around campus often, thought they were beautiful, and took photos of the deer … More The Minds Behind the Miami Deer Cam
By: Jackie Dutkanych Our bodies are exposed to pollution in the air on a day-to-day basis. How is pollution affecting us and could it cause health implications for us later in life? Depending on where you live, you will experience various levels of pollution in their daily life. NCBI has said that 10% of adults … More Is Pollution Making You Age Faster?
By: Gia Mariani This past Sunday I spent some time exploring Ault park and Alms park in Cincinnati. Ault park is know for its massive amount of cherry trees that blossom around this time, turning the park pink. I highly recommend going to the parks for a picnic once the weather gets warmer! All photos … More Ault Park Blossoms
By: Annie Lalonde During J-term I walked almost 200 miles of El Camino in Spain. Camino de Santiago is more a pilgrimage than just ‘a walk’ as the name in Spanish directly translates. The path goes through Spain, France, and Italy. There are numerous routes and starting points that pilgrims can use; however, all routes … More Walk ‘The Walk’ Through Photos
By: Chelsea Worrell As the psychological effects of climate change grow apparent, so does a novel approach to our predicament. By this point, many sustainability initiatives have grown repetitive. Opting for organic products, using energy-efficient appliances, and recycling may seem second nature to many of us. I can recall chanting “reduce, reuse, recycle” when I was … More How Introspection Promotes Environmental Protection
By: Gia Mariani This past week my Childhood Environmental Education class took a field trip to Maplewood Farms. This maple syrup farm is located in Brownsville, Indiana, which is about a 45 minute drive from Oxford. The owner, Kevin, took our group around the farm showing us the tap lines and cooking barn. Now you … More A Trip to Maplewood Farms
By: Jackie Dutkanych Oftentimes organic produce has more nutrients and antioxidants than non-organic produce. This is because non-organic fruits and vegetables are treated with chemicals, pesticides, and preservatives that strip away nutrients. When produce is treated with these toxic chemicals, they remain on our foods even after being washed. Switching to eating organic produce will … More What Eating Organic Does For Your Body
By: Shannon Reilly Social media apps often encourage fast fashion by speeding up trend cycles, with new must-haves popping up as fast as a video or post can go viral. I personally cannot count the number of times I have shopped for something completely unnecessary just because I saw it on my feed. But some … More Capsule Wardrobe Trend
By: Annalise Chapdelaine If you’re anything like me, you’re (somewhat reluctantly) trying to kick your expensive caffeine habit for an option that’s a little easier on the body and the budget: tea. But the majority of options at Kroger or Walmart come in plastic-covered boxes that contain individually-packaged tea bags, which seems wasteful. The amount … More Sustainable-tea Made Simple
By: Kelsey Plasse Over J-term I took BIO299: Flora of the Bahamas which was a Miami-led program. This program took place on Andros Island which is the largest island in the Bahamas and remains vastly untouched. We stayed for two weeks at Forfar field station. Unfortunately, we were unable to interact with the local community … More Photo Series: J-term in the Bahamas
BY: GIA MARIANI AND HOLLY FLAIG For the past several years GreenHawks Media has posted at least one fall photo series of our gorgeous campus per year. With the weather changing so fast over the past month I was worried about not getting fall pictures in time, so I asked Holly to do a joint photo series with me so … More Catching the Last Colors of Fall
The impacts of increasing heat waves are more than skin deep. BY: CHELSEA WORRELL As winter ushers in the first snowfall to Miami University, I find myself reminiscing on the hotter days of summer and fall. In freezing temperatures, nothing sounds more enticing than a warm, sunny day. But cooling temperatures provide only temporary relief … More The Earth can’t handle the heat, and neither can we.
BY: MARIA ALMEIDA What Really is Greenwashing? You know what’s a shame? How people who try their very best to act eco-friendly are often scammed by companies that lie about how they are “helping the environment” with their sales. If you weren’t aware of this unfortunate phenomenon, let me give you a brief overview, and … More Opinion: How to Avoid Greenwashing
BY: GRACE BERRY Plastic pollution in the oceans is a well known problem. We’ve all seen pictures and videos of plastics choking marine wildlife or of giant masses of plastics floating across miles of open ocean. The problem of plastic in the ocean goes deeper, however, and is made worse every time we wash our … More Microplastic Contaminants in Personal Care Products
BY: INDIGO MILLER What is Ecosia? Ecosia is a search engine that plants trees from the ad revenue they earn. With the click of a button, this free and easy switch offers you the chance to make a difference in your everyday life Ecosia’s team does extensive research to ensure that they’re planting native trees … More Why You Should Switch to Ecosia
BY: KELSEY PLASSE This past spring I was desperately trying to find a summer internship. In the prior summer, I had been accepted to the Undergraduate Summer Scholar (USS) program here at Miami University for a biochemistry project. The USS program allows Miami students to carry out research during the summer term alongside a faculty … More Interning for the U.S. EPA
BY: ALEX KNUTTE Unsurprisingly, the hardest part about being vegan is going out to eat. While at home, I can purchase all the ingredients I need to create yummy, delicious plant-centric meals, but it becomes a little more difficult to follow this lifestyle when looking at a menu. When I first shifted to eating vegan … More How to Eat Vegan Uptown
Part 1: Introduction and Thoughts BY: SYDNEY RUSHING Co-living/Co-housing has become an increasingly popular typology in architecture recently. It is characterized by communal housing where major common spaces are shared such as kitchen, family, and sometimes bathrooms and bedrooms being private spaces. This model prioritizes community building, and it is affordable, flexible, more sustainable, and … More Opinion: What College Living Teaches us About Life; A Series.
BY: KELSEY PLASSE Similar to Gia Mariani, I also went camping over fall break. A few friends and I went to Mammoth Caves which is a national park in Kentucky. Mammoth caves is the longest cave system in the world of which only 420 miles of the cave has been explored and mapped. Mammoth Caves … More Photo Series: Camping at Mammoth Caves
BY: GIA MARIANI Over Fall Break, my friends and I traveled North to camp at East Harbor State Park. Due to rain, I didn’t get the chance to take many pictures of our campsite, but below are the pictures I captured of the park and surrounding islands that we were able to explore. All photos … More Photo Series: Camping During Fall Break
BY: ALLISON REINECK Although Halloween is approaching, there is still time to grow some plants that will thrive and endure in the cold weather that will provide you with some fresh and healthy vegetables. You may face some challenges that come with planting this time of year. For example, there are few local places that … More Starting a Fall Vegetable Garden
BY: DAKOTA SKINNER The cows pictured below are all part of the making of the best ice cream in the world. Lapp Valley farm is in New Holland, Pennsylvania and home to these cows. The farm itself is open for visitors to watch the milking process, explore the grounds, and even bottle-feed the calves. Visitors … More Just Cows Being Cows
BY: MARIA ALMEIDA The available green spaces around the town of Oxford, the effects they have encountered post-Covid, and how to bring them back to the public’s attention. After taking a deep dive into the media platforms of the Natural Areas around Miami University, it became hard to find recent updates on what has been … More Recovering the Beautiful Scenery of Miami
BY: ALEX KNUTTE Do you own a pair of Nike AirForce Ones, Adidas, or Converse? Sneakers have become the fashion trend, and this is causing many to buy more simply based on what others are doing or what is popular, not when needed. This excess consumption of shoes is costing our environment. A study put … More Put Your Best Foot Forward with these Sustainable Shoe Brands
Community Supported Agriculture programs connect eaters with growers BY: JILLIAN INKS If you care about the quality of your food, you want to know where it comes from and how it’s made before it lands on your table. This kind of thinking is what makes buying local, seasonal produce so enticing. Going to the source of … More Getting to Know your Farmer
BY: CELINE THORMANN The recent news cycle has been inundated with stories of natural disasters of unusual intensity, duration, and span. With stories of disasters coming from all around the country and in every direction, it can be difficult to keep track of what is happening, where it’s taking place, and why. In recent weeks, we have … More Hurricanes & Wildfires & Floods, oh my!
BY: SHANNON REILLY In the spring, myself and many other students hunted for summer internship experiences. The application process is a stressful undertaking for students of any major or level, but students in the environmental and sustainability field, who have had doubts planted in their minds about their career path since the beginning, may carry … More Job Seeking in the Environmental Sector
BY: ALEX KNUTTE This past summer, I had the opportunity to live and work in Monterey, California. Monterey is located on the central coast of California, about two hours south of San Francisco. It is best known for the Monterey Aquarium, which is also the aquarium that Pixar’s Finding Dory is based on! This is … More Photo Series: Living in Monterey, CA for the Summer
Is the Miami farm viable without significant university support? BY: FIONA LAWLER The Miami University Institute for Food farm will be in a tough position this fall if it doesn’t grow revenue from its community supported agriculture program, sales to university dining and the community, grants and other funding. The institute’s mission is teaching students … More Crunching the Numbers
As the Miami University farm struggles financially, hope abounds in CSA programs, regenerative growing and one tough farmer BY: SARA COY Just down the road from the precise brick buildings that make up Miami University, the beauty continues in a different way at the school’s Institute for Food farm. On this 8-acre farm, Miami students … More How You Can Save a Farm, Eat Better, Help the Climate
Charles Griffin brings lifetime of agricultural expertise to the Miami farm By: Fiona Lawler Meet the heart, soul and roots of the Miami University farm. Charles Griffin, age 67, has been director of farm operations since 2017. With more than 20 years of experience, this organic growing expert says he is dedicated to the success … More Growing Community
By: Ivy Richter How regenerative agriculture serves up food and mitigates climate change Large, green posters above supermarket produce aisles and prominent packaging labels pasted on packaged fruits and vegetables scream “organic.” Companies proudly promote their limited use of pesticides and fertilizers with the flashy, green USDA certification label. Organic is a step in the … More Bringing Life Back to the Soil
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