Author Archives: Patrick Loi

Trust in Land Trusts

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During the last Cafe, Andy Zepp, the executive director of the Finger Lakes Land Trust and a Cornell grad came to speak to us about his job managing the land trust. Land trusts, nature protection, and environmental sustainability were all fields I never had an exposure to before Cornell, as I lived in NYC my entire life. The purpose of the FLLT is to conserve the land, since the US doesn’t have as much land regulation as European countries. Zepp described the job as a balance between conservation and economic development. They negotiate with property owners about their land, and they help oversee it so that no detrimental developments occur, and ensure that people who make bad decisions can’t exploit the land. It’s a delicate balance to strike between micromanaging and safeguarding the land. Zepp also described various other projects the FLLT tries to implement, like creating a world class system of trails across, maintaining agriculture, and keeping the land clean.  My first impression was wonder about how this small nonprofit could overlook all these acres of land surrounding Ithaca, and how they are able to negotiate with so many people to ensure productive conservation. It’s a massive job and Zepp just seemed to talk about his work so matter-of-factly. I know little to nothing about conservation, land trusts, and sustainability, so just hearing about all these efforts was remarkable. It’s really interesting how so many people developed a passion for land conservation, and after living in Ithaca, I can see why.

Social Justice will be Served

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Today, Laura spoke about her career working at the Advocacy Center for Tompkins county, which is definitely an interesting and unique profession. She first started out talking about all the resources that the Advocacy Center provides to help people with trauma, survivors of abuse and domestic violence, with options in either legal advocacy or just emotional support. The center provides a shelter for domestic violence victims, a 24 hour hotline service, and forensic examinations for sexual assault victims. The center also organizes events to promote awareness regarding these issues, such as Take Back the Night. It makes me feel relieved and optimistic that as a student all these resources are accessible and covered. Laura also talked about her specific job of providing people the guidance to choose what available resources they want to use, and her background in working with local nonprofits and indigenous group leaders, and refugee families in getting them settled with jobs. I really liked this talk because it transformed from information about the advocacy center to a broader talk on choosing careers. Laura for example, originally started out majoring in economics and getting an MBA, but realized her real passion was in social justice issues. Her main advice was to pay attention to what you think about a lot, and for her, she loved service and social movements. Just hearing all that she does sounds exhausting, but for her that work is worth it because it brings her joy. We also discussed how even though many people would like to get involved with social justice that it is not very practical to, given student loans and the low pay. This is the most challenging dilemma, as many of us have to balance between what we really want to do, versus what is considered a practical job. Even if one isn’t as passionate about entering the social justice fields, there are many other ways to get involved, like volunteering for the hotline. I really liked this talk to get that exposure on the Advocacy center and just a general discussion of career opportunities.

Cambodian Perspective

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Last week’s Rose Cafe featured Professor Andrew Mertha from the Government department and his recent studies about Cambodia and the role China had in influencing its development. This talk was interesting because our world history classes never discuss Cambodia’s history much, besides the Khmer Rouge and that it’s just a smaller country that China exerts its hegemonic influence onto. It was really fascinating to hear about his own travels to Cambodia, and how he discovered these secret Chinese government official documents. It’s jarring to hear how disorganized the Chinese government and bureaucracy can be, which is understandable given how it’s one of the world’s largest nations and it has influences in countries scattered across the Pacific, but still contrary to the established image as the terrifying next-world economic power. I think the most interesting part of the talk was about his experiences talking to Pol Pot’s former cook and now Chinese ambassador. I loved seeing the photos he showed, and the stories he told about him conversing with the cook in Chinese and how happy it made her feel. Overall, I loved the talk, and it was so refreshing to get that global perspective.

Everyday Activism

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Last week, GRF Esmeralda led a discussion entitled “How do we do Activism” and it was great because I love these events that allow room for small group discussions. I feel like activism has garnered a very polarizing stigma, in which people only think of activists as those people who are marching, picketing, protesting, and rioting. It was interesting when Esmeralda asked who considered themselves in the group as an activist, and very few people raised their hands, even though everyone in the room shared an issue with society they had a problem with. We first started the discussion with definitions and keywords of what activism means and then moved on to a quote by Alice Walker, “Activism is the rent I pay for living on this planet.” There were many people who agreed and disagreed with this quote. Many people believed that activism is a necessary responsibility, while others thought that suggested that as an obligation. I felt that rent didn’t feel like the right word, rather activism is something that people should want to contribute to in order to make the lives of others better.

In my opinion, activism shouldn’t be defined just by the huge actions of people like Malcolm X or MLK, but also as small actions people can do in their everyday lives, such as promoting awareness of social issues, and respectfully calling out and educating the people around you who might have contrary opinions. We also discussed some steps that should be taken when wanting to start a movement, and pros and cons of having a figurehead to lead the cause (having a person with clear goals to connect to, versus giving too much power to an individual). I also really enjoyed hearing another student’s accounts with being an activist, and it’s certainly difficult and tiring. However, I like to think that you succeeded in your job as an activist if you changed another person’s mind about an important issue, and you inspired other people to challenge these notions the same way. Overall, I really liked the discussion and the small group format, and I hope to see more of these discussions in the future.

Not so Dirty Work

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Last week’s cafe featured Dawit Solomon, a research associate in the School of Integrative Plant Science, Soil and Crop Sciences Section. It was interesting because I don’t know many people who are focused on studying soil, so it was very revealing to hear about Solomon’s work. The bulk of his talk focused on identifying and quantifying the soil quality, especially in indigenous West African countries, since it’s remarkable how those indigenous countries were able to transform their soil to become more fertile and enriched. We learned a bit about how this process unfolds: it took hundreds of years to build their soil, and it was through constant efforts of adding back bio-organic degradable material, such as animal based organic inputs, charred plants, pyrogenic carbon, cooking byproducts and deposits to allow them to decompose. Thus, this restores the concentration of phosphorus, nitrogen and other valuable minerals and nutrients back into the soil. What I liked most from his talk was how he emphasized the importance of proper soil management and how great of an impact it can have on the future. Soil enrichments not only can help traditional plants grow better, but can also take carbon out of the atmosphere and serve as a climate smart alternative to more conventional agriculture. Solomon even brought a bag filled with repurposed waste that can be used as fertilizer as an example. I think this talk was valuable because it provided really interesting perspectives and alternate solutions for soil enrichment, improving our climate, furthering agriculture, and environmental sustainability. It’s not going to be an easy task, as those indigenous West African countries took centuries to transform and build their rich soil, but it’s exciting to think it’s a possibility. It’s just fascinating to utilize something as seemingly trivial as soil to address future agriculture problem solving.

DREAM a little DREAM

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During this week’s Cafe Series, PhD student and GRF Esmeralda Arrizón-Palomera came to speak to us about her work on studying undocumented immigrants, and particularly the youth and children of those immigrants. First, Esmeralda spoke about the difficult conditions of living as an undocumented youth, and compared it to the feeling of being stuck. Even though those undocumented youth may be able to move on with their lives, get an education and better opportunities, they will have that undocumented condition that follows them whenever they try to do something with a social security number, such as get a driver’s license or apply for financial aid. These are privileges that many US-born citizens don’t really acknowledge as luxuries.

However, what was the most interesting part of the talk for me was hearing about how Esmeralda frame recent events with undocumented youths as a civil rights movement. She spoke about the immigrants right march, La Gran Marcha in the mid 2000’s when nearly 1.5 million people came together to mobilize a coalition against anti-immigrant legislation. In addition, the DREAM Act helped to reframe the notion of immigrants as criminals and build a narrative for undocumented youth in which their existence is ‘legalized’.Unfortunately the DREAM act polarizes and places blame on the parents of the undocumented youth. But hopefully these movements are just stepping stones to help to spread awareness that people don’t just come to America for any reason and perpetuate the stigma of crime, but due to dire circumstances out of their hands in their original country that forced them to leave. I found Esmeralda’s work to be empowering and informative, and I do hope that eventually undocumented youth are able to take back and reconstruct their own narrative.

The Collective Action Problem

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Last week during the Cafe Series, Professor Blalock came to speak to us on “why isn’t technology helping the poor?” First he started off using the Prius as an analogy. Almost everyone in the audience agreed that electric cars are better for the environment. However, despite that, the majority of the people in the audience, except for a few didn’t electric cars at all. We discussed how there are many factors that influence one’s decisions to buy more environmentally friendly goods; in the Prius’ case, it included style, cost, and functionality. Thus, even though everyone accepts as a fact that while certain consumer decisions are better for the greater good, they might not be beneficial if not used correctly. Prof Blalock called this a problem of collective action, in which individuals don’t take action for a greater cause because they believe their individual action would not have an impact on the cause in the long run. This ultimately leads to a chain of inaction. The analogy is difficult because although everyone knows the positive impact of electric cars, it’s unreasonable for many of us/our families to just buy one because it’s good for the environment. Cars are huge luxury goods, and many families can only afford one or two cars at most, and it’s unpractical to expect families with cars already to trade them in for a Prius. Although none of us should feel bad for not owning a Prius, it goes to show how difficult it is for people to change their lifestyles even when a better alternative exists.

Regardless, the Prius analogy represents a larger issue of a cause that Professor Blalock has been working on, which is the use of cooking stoves in Uganda. The story is nearly identical to the one he spoke about last year, which is detailed in a blog post I made previously. But the underlying issue is still present. Even though many of those people bought the cleaner, more efficient stoves, they stopped using them in the long run. This might be likely due to familiarity with the three rock stoves and inability to adapt and use the newer stoves. Prof Blalock’s story shows that new technology and innovation might not always be the best solution, as there exists psychological barriers that prevent people from fully utilizing them. Perhaps now what’s important is not just the development and sale of new technology, but how to make their functionality more accessible to more people.

Education of the Future

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During last week’s Cafe Series, Adam Shwartz came to speak to us about Cornell Tech and the new degree programs they have planned. How Shwartz pitched the Jacobs Institute was very interesting; he emphasized how Cornell Tech values collaboration, and interdisciplinary studies in technology, business, health, and connective media. Cornell Tech is very focused on the art of “creating something” and almost all classes have a culminating project that involves a building component. Additionally the school specializes in intensive immersion working, in which faculty and students are constantly collaborating together that simulates a real life working environment. Although Cornell Tech is not very relevant for me, I appreciate hearing and learning about this new model of education, which I would really appreciate if something similar is implemented in our undergraduate campus. I feel as if this talk helped to spread the word about Cornell Tech, but it wasn’t very useful as Shwartz didn’t cover much that would be directly applicable to undergraduates, such as admissions or how to get involved early on.

I am a little ambivalent about the creation of Cornell Tech.  I would have loved having this kind of school, similar to Weill Cornell and its resources be accessible for undergrads to get a head start as well. Being from NYC, I feel like Cornell Tech is just a hopeful attempt at grabbing a stronghold in the city because many of its business people might worry that Ithaca is too far from most of the jobs. Regardless, I am appreciative of the new curriculum model, and I’m looking forward for Cornell Tech to establish its presence.

Balance of Environmental Comedy

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During last week’s Becker/Rose Cafe, Prof Aaron Sachs came to talk to us about environmental humor, which at first seemed like an odd topic. Who would have thought that environmental comedy is a real thing? It was one of the more entertaining Cafe talks, as the tone and the topic of the talk itself was dark, satirical, and what Sachs deemed as “gallows humor.” I thought it was extremely interesting when Sachs pointed out how comedy is actually more effective than tragedy, as it helps make the situations feel more relatable. It’s interesting because many environmentalists like to warn people about the endangerment of the world and often this just alienates, scares, and paralyzes the people instead of encouraging them to take action. Using humor instead, it creates a more light-hearted atmosphere which is better than inducing guilt in an audience. Then Sachs proceeded to show us various clips as an example of this type of comedy. Rather dark jokes were made about overpopulation, as well as a proposal to build a safe highway for wolves. It’s difficult to strike a delicate balance when trying to inject humor to a serious topic. On one hand, it helps make the topic more palpable for larger audiences, but on the other, you don’t want to undermine the seriousness of the topic if the humor is not communicated correctly. Regardless, I really enjoyed Sachs’ talk and I appreciate the new perspective when approaching these issues.