This semester, I have become fascinated by garbage. Trash isn’t talked about, but “too much trash” is an important environmental problem.

This attraction stemmed from two factors. One was my increasing poverty after a summer of unpaid interning. The second was reading “Gone Tomorrow: The Life of Garbage” by Heather Rogers for an environmental sociology class this semester. Rogers describes the history of our current trash situation. She links increasing rates of trash accumulation to our increasing rates of production.

Breaking news! The College now offers a minor in Marine Science effective Spring 2010.

The undergraduate minor is related to the biology, geology and environmental science departments. There will be an information session about it later this year; if you are interested you should contact Liz Canuel at the School of Marine Science at Virginia Marine Institute of Marine Science, the College’s graduate school of marine sciences and marine research center. On campus, contact Heather Macdonald in the undergraduate gepartment of geology.

Williamsburg’s RealFood co-op is an important part of my life, as it provides food for my meals. But it is more important to many others who spend their time growing, selling and distributing the food from Williamsburg’s local organic co-op. This blog records a fabulous intersection of student and community involvement and initiative.

The RealFood co-op provides food from local organic farmers to Williamsburg community members. They offer fresh produce, dry goods, bread, milk, eggs, “deli” (hummus and the like) and, most recently, meat.

This weekend, students from the College of William and Mary traveled to northern Virginia for the regional Power Shift Conference. It provides workshops and networking opportunities for developing activists. It is targeted to college environmental groups, and it is organized by the Energy Action Coalition (EAC) and Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN).

Power Shift focuses on clean energy and jobs through petitioning, lobbying and other forms of direct political action.

“Getting Landrum to go co-ed was easy. Getting WM to go green? We’re working on it.”

This quote was one of the proposed ideas for the 2009-2010 Eco-House t-shirt. And it sums it up pretty well: Eco-House is the new co-ed sustainable living hall in Landrum basement. With 20 girls and eight boys, sometimes it seems a little less than co-ed, but no one seems to mind.

This is the Eco-House’s first year in action. The idea came about during discussion at SEAC’s Energy Campaign last year.

Are you planning a protest soon? Or maybe you want some inspiring tunes to keep you on track with a personal sustainable goal of some kind? Music can be an important part of those endeavors, as music is often a powerful motivator for causes.

Pablo Casos said, “Perhaps it is music that will save the world.” I don’t think I need to try to convince any college student of the power of music. Many of us create music or live for the next great concert.

But even so, it is interesting to consider the ties between music and the environmental movement, both past and present.

“We want to see you naked!” read a recent e-mail from the Student Environmental Action Coalition, which puts out a nude calendar annually to raise money. They shoot student models in tasteful photo shoots involving recycling or other environmental props.

Students are covered (in the right places) by these props, which have included recyclables and fake wind turbines in the past.

The photo shoots are held throughout the fall by individual appointments. Some are held in the SEAC office in the Campus Center, but others require more space. These are held in Tucker’s little theater.

On Tuesday, Sept. 15, two representatives from Clean Energy America spoke at the College of William and Mary. The representatives are sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Institute. Because of this, I couldn’t really get an unbiased look at nuclear energy, so I did some research myself.

Nuclear energy provides about 15 percent of the world’s energy. France is the leading producer of nuclear power per capita; it comprises about 70 percent of their energy production. The United States relies on nuclear for about 20 percent of its power.

This year, the College unveiled the new Center for Geospatial Analysis on the second floor of Swem Library. As I am enrolled in the Environmental Science GIS class this semester, I am getting a lot of personal time with the new CGA center. Let me tell you a little about GIS at the College.

GIS is a tool generally associated with the environmental sciences, but GIS can really be used in a variety of disciplines. If you haven’t heard of it, GIS stands for Geographic Information Systems. It is a mapping tool that presents data spatially.

Tree-sitters are probably best known for protecting the beautiful California redwoods out West, but this week some inspiring spirits made news on the East Coast as they sat in trees to attempt to prevent the land from being demolished by mountaintop removal. Nick Stocks, 25, and Laura Steepleton, 24, perched on top of 80-foot poplars to protest this damaging process at Pettry Bottom, in Raleigh County, W.Va.

The two opposed ongoing blasting for the Edwight Surface Miner by Massey Energy.