Community Project 1

Running head: Community Project

Analysis of Sustainable Community Project

Beth Ann Carkuff Simpson
University of Memphis

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORSHIP: I certify that I am the author. I have cited all sources
from which I used data, ideas, or words, either quoted directly or paraphrased. I also certify
that this paper was prepared by me specifically for this course.
Signature:

Beth Ann Carkuff Simpson

Date: 4/18/13

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BACKGROUND

In Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in Challenging Times, author Paul Loeb
reminds his readers, that even in an apparently losing cause, one person may
unknowingly inspire another, and that person yet a third, who may then go on to change
the world, or at least a small corner of it (2010, p. 109). Before enrolling in LEAD7100,
I had already witnessed one person initiating change in a small corner of the world at the
University of Memphis Lambuth campus. Last Spring, a student and I discussed the need
for a recycling program on our campus. I had been serving as the recycling-rep as
many students and staff would deposit their recyclables in my office because I would take
it home to a neighborhood bin. However, this student challenged me to do something
more. She wanted to see the University of Memphis implement a recycling program on
the Lambuth campus to provide equal services to all students and to begin creating a
sustainable campus culture. After months of emails and attempts to get attention from the
universitys sustainability office, this student was able to arrange a meeting in early
January to discuss desires to implement a recycling program. The sustainability
coordinator responded quickly by bringing left over recycling bins for offices,
classrooms, and larger outdoor stations. She arranged a local Jackson company, Sunrise
Recycling, to pick up twice a week from three larger bin locations on campus. While I
was excited to have the program in place, I soon realized the bins were not being well
utilized and items were being disposed of improperly. I assumed others knew the protocol
to recycle as I did. From this revelation, I acknowledged the need to bring awareness and
education to our campus community. In order to be true stewards of our environment and
create a sustainable campus, we had to move others to actively participate.

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DESCRIPTION

In response to this need, I planned a Recycling Kick-off event for March 27, 2013
designed to educate the Lambuth campus faculty, staff, and students about the newly
implemented recycling program as well as bring awareness to the universitys mission
for practices supporting urban based ecologically-friendly sustainability that preserve
the earths resources and promote a high quality of life for mankind (University of
Memphis, 2013).
Leading up to the event, I had to connect with other key departments and staff to insure
their role in the program was held accountable. I arranged a meeting with the physical
plant director to clarify the expectations of the new custodial staff beginning work on
April 1. The custodial contract would include their responsibility to dispose of trash and
recycling separately, and the new staff would receive formal instructions through training
and orientation.
Flyers advertising the recycling program as well as the Kick-off event were posted
around campus along with additional signs on each hallway bin to remind contributors to
only dispose of clean recyclable items to alleviate contamination. Information regarding
acceptable items and bin locations was uploaded to the website and social media page
and sent out via email to help educate the community prior to the Kick-off event.
I reached out to student organizations to encourage student involvement and increase
manpower. The Visual Arts Club borrowed a recyclable art show from a local middle
school to display at the event and demonstrate sustainability through hand-made art. A
newly formed interest group, Lambuth Environmental Sustainability Society (L.E.S.S.)

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participated by setting up a table to gather student interest and provide a hands-on pot
planting activity to demonstrate small sustainable efforts.
The main focal point of the event was the Swap for Swag portion that required
participants to collect recyclable items prior to the event in order to receive promotional
items in exchange. I coordinated with the sustainability office to purchase Swap for
Swag items (i.e. magnets, water bottles, tote bags, Frisbees, dry erase boards) all
imprinted with the Tiger Blue Goes Green logo to serve as a reminder for our initiatives.
When students arrived for the come and go event, we had them actively participate by
counting and sorting their recyclable items into larger bins. My student worker assisted
by keeping a tally of total items, distributing swag per total number of items, and
entering each participant in a chance to spin the prize wheel for door prizes (i.e. desk side
bins). Every participant and bystander received a magnet with instructions on where and
what to recycle on campus.
ANALYSIS
The need for a recycling program originates from much deeper roots, as it is an issue of
consumption in our society. According to Storey in Consumption, Adult Learning, and
Adult Education, this ideology promises that consumption is the answer to all our
problems and will make us whole again(as cited in Sandlin, 2008, p. 49). The culture
industry convinces the general public of desires to fill in order to drive consumption
capitalism (Sandlin, 2008). Our society is detached from this mass production industry
because we conveniently walk in a store or click a button to buy what we want. We
simply consume without thinking about where it comes from, how it is made, and whom
it may affect. Giles and Middleton describe several perspectives within the sociology of

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consumption, one of which views individuals as trapped within a system of exchange

over which ultimately they have little control (as cited in Sandlin, 2008, p. 49). Our
unconscious consumption is a result of our lack of control and connection to the mass
production system. This explains why we are currently in a state of correcting our
mistakes, reusing our resources in order to preserve and protect our environment for
future generations. Establishing a recycling program in a community provides an
opportunity for learning and for people to rethink their values and choices, raise
questions theyd kept to themselves, move from silence and accommodation to
engagement and in the process set the stage for their next round of involvement (Loeb,
2010, p. 335).
The recycling efforts began with a residential student seeing a need to provide this
sustainable service on campus within her community. With support from a biology
professor and myself, this student leader decided to form an organized group focused on
implementing sustainable initiatives and building a greener campus culture. As a result
of the growing interest obtained from the Recycling Kick-off event, this student group is
now recognized as Lambuth Environmental Sustainability Society (L.E.S.S). L.E.S.S. is
an example of a community development group designed to improve or regenerate
communities (Hugo, 2002). According to Hugo, Characteristics of community
education include a focus on real-life problems identified by community residents,
coordination of service delivery, community collaboration through shared resources, and
links between home, school, and community (2002, p. 14). This student group
contributed to community education by addressing a real-life problem (p. 14)
recognized by students living on campus, collaborating with university personnel and

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resources, and providing a relationship between their home, school, and community
(Hugo, 2002). Unfortunately, the group of faculty, staff, and students passionate about
sustainability is few, posing challenges for campus-wide involvement in recycling.
One of the major challenges leading up to the community project event was the issue of
recycling contamination. I believe this was due to a lack of education and awareness
about what items are recyclable and how to properly dispose of the material. Another
factor in the contamination was a result of what Loeb describes in Soul of a Citizen: The
Cynical Smirk as blind trust (2010, p. 86). I believe this term depicts the attitudes of
many faculty and staff in regard to the recycling process. Each office and classroom was
supplied a small recycling bin intended to be used to conveniently collect and later to be
sorted into larger bins labeled paper/cardboard, plastic/metal, and glass. However, instead
of taking personal responsibility to carry office or classroom collection down the hall to
sort, many faculty, staff, and students expected the custodial staff to handle it as they
collect the trash. The custodial staff would then empty the small recycling bins into their
large trashcans each day. Instead of taking individual action, they relied on others to
make decisions even if they were not correct (Loeb, 2010). They did not want to hold
anyone accountable or question policy, so instead of helping alleviate the contamination,
they sat back as bystanders potentially jeopardizing the integrity of the recycling
program. However, in practicing positive action and sharing with our colleagues and
peers, we set an example that may inspire others to action. In Soul of a Citizen, Matthew
Fox suggests we take an active role in forming workplace communities, so we can
gather to tell our stories and as a group create new and more generous visions for our
vocations, (as cited in Loeb, 2010, p. 174).

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The obstacles presented during the establishment of the recycling program are what lead
to the development of an interactive, educational program to bring awareness and stir
campus engagement. The Recycling Kick-off event was intended to be a type of
nonformal education (NFE). In Making Meaning of Local Nonformal Education:
Practitioners Perspective, Heimlich defines NFE as any organized, intentional and
explicit effort to promote learning to enhance the quality of life through non-school
settings (as cited in Taylor, 2006, p. 292). Taylor further describes nonformal education
as more present-time focused, responsive to localized needs, learner centered, less
structured, and an assumed nonhierarchical relationship between the learner and
facilitator(2006, p. 292). The Recycling Kick-off event provided a come and go
informal setting and learner centered approach, as participants were encouraged to
individually collect and drop off items to gain rewards. This style of learning is different
from formal education as the facilitator and learner have an equal relationship during the
experience. I believe my community project would be considered a supplement to the
formal system as it means to address issues of developing nations and add to what is
taught in the academic setting (Taylor, 2006). Brennans opinion of supplement NFE is
its required as a quick reference to educational, social and economic needs because the
formal education is too slow in its response (if it does in fact decide to respond) to these
needs (as cited in Taylor, 2006, p. 294). The findings presented in Taylors article
identify with major themes like an emphasis on hands-on teaching, the necessity for fun
within the learning experience, and a minimal level of expectation of the learner. During
the recycling event I believe nonformal supplement education was achieved through
hands-on interaction with L.E.S.S.s pot planting station, actively sorting recycling

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instead of handing it off to someone else, and visualizing the concept of sustainability
through local recycled art. The environment at the event was relaxed, light-hearted, and
did not demand a great deal of time or effort from the participants, which I believe
contributed to its success.
The experiential learning that occurred was a social event allowing adults to learn by
reflecting on life experiences with each other (Donoho, 2005). I believe this project
provided an opportunity much like what is described in the Scrap Mettle SOUL story of
learning through theater productions. One of the ensemble members Kyra contributes
their success to allowing room for people to be self-organizing, giving them breathing
roomdescribing the sense of responsibilityas organicthat it came from within
people rather than as a result of someone telling them how to behave (Donoho, 2005, p.
71). This voluntary participation allows for engagement in practice and creates a concrete
learning experience, hopefully leading to reflection and transformation.
Among my goals for the project was to provide an opportunity for environmental
learning which Parker and Ballentyne define as changes in cognition, affect, attitudes,
and behavior in relation to both the conservation of species and protection of the
environment (2010, p. 25). While I do not have data for achieving particular learning
outcomes, I do believe the results of the event demonstrate a change in thinking and
behavior. With a relatively small number of participants, the quantity and quality of their
contributions exceeded expectations. Sunrise Recycling reported that our contamination
has improved since the Recycling Kick-off event, which may be a result of both the
education provided to faculty, staff, students as well as the newly trained custodial team.
As a result of our event, the collection bins were filled multiple times, and our local

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newspaper published our efforts, sharing our desires to continue sustainable initiatives on
campus as well as with our surrounding neighborhood community.
CONCLUSION
My hope is this project is the first of many opportunities for learners to reevaluate their
norms and challenge themselves to gain new insight, which Mezirow would consider
transformational learning (Donoho, 2005). In conducting transformational learning, the
ultimate goal would be for this Lambuth campus community to become a community of
practice a transformative community (Cowles, 2005). Lave and Wenger illustrate this
type of community as a community of practice in which the sociocultural practice of the
group is the pursuit of personal and communal transformation toward an ideal powerful
and pervasive enough to be central organizing feature of identity (as cited in Cowles,
2005, p. 388). My hope is to continue creating an identity for the newly establish
University of Memphis Lambuth campus as one centered on sustainability. My hope is
this community project, Recycling Kick-off event, was a small step in bringing awareness
and educating our small corner of the world ultimately inspiring others to consider how
their actions will affect generations to come.

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REFERENCES

Cowles, S. L. (2005). Charting a third way in minority education: Transformative

community in the old order Mennonite church of Kreider County. Anthropology
and Education Quarterly, 36(4), 386-404. Retrieved March 27, 2013, from the
EBSCOhost database.
Donoho, B. H. (2005). Scrap mettle SOUL: Learning to create social change at the
intersection of differences through community performance theater. New
Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 107, 65-73. Retrieved April 6,
2013, from the EBSCOhost database.
Hugo, J. M. (2002). Learning community history. New Directions for Adult and
Continuing Education, 95, 5-25. Retrieved January 23, 2013, from the
EBSCOhost database.
Loeb, P. R. (2010). Unforeseen fruits. Soul of a citizen: Living with conviction in
challenging times (2nd ed., rev. and updated ed., pp. 105-124). New York: St.
Martin's Griffin.
Loeb, P. R. (2010). The fullness of time. Soul of a citizen: Living with conviction in
challenging times (2nd ed., rev. and updated ed., pp. 316-353). New York: St.
Martin's Griffin.
Loeb, P. R. (2010). Values, work, and family. Soul of a citizen: Living with conviction in
challenging times (2nd ed., rev. and updated ed., pp. 161-194). New York: St.
Martin's Griffin.
Loeb, P. R. (2010). The cynical smirk. Soul of a citizen: Living with conviction in
challenging times (2nd ed., rev. and updated ed., pp. 82-104). New York: St.

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Martin's Griffin.

Packer, J., & Ballantyne, R. (2010). The role of zoos and aquariums in education for a
sustainable future. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 127, 2534. Retrieved February 9, 2013, from the EBSCOhost database.
Sandlin, J. A. (2008). Consumption, adult learning, and adult education: Envisioning a
pedagogy of consumption. Convergence, 41(1), 47-62. Retrieved February 25,
2013, from the EBSCOhost database.
Taylor, E. W. (2006). Making meaning of local nonformal education: Practitioner's
perspective. Adult Education Quarterly, 56(4), 291-307. Retrieved April 5, 2013,
from the EBSCOhost database.
University of Memphis. (2013, January 9). Sustainability Plan. Retrieved from
www.memphis.edu/bluegoesgreen/sustainabilityplan.php