Global Warming in Richmond

A local effort for improvement in the area.

There are many people concerned about global warming here in Richmond and are doing things about it, but a lot of people still aren’t concerned.


By Santia Nance

There are many things going on in Richmond to prevent global warming and it’s effects.

“We’re going to see a lot more warmer temperatures and it’s going to have a lot of stress on the environment, including trees, water… our resources… and its important that we take action now,” said Scott Burger, the vice chair of the Richmond Sierra Club, which is a national organization that strives to save the planet.

Global warming is a term used for climate change of the earth due to human activities that change the atmosphere's composition and natural factors.

There are a lot of organizations and individuals who are doing many things to help prevent global warming.

One of them is called the Falls of the James Group. They celebrate nature and the outdoor recreational opportunities of our diverse region and their goals are urban sustainability, protecting greenways, blueways & parks, and global warming-green solutions.

“We keep trying to push bike and pedestrian activities by supporting the new downtown plan which is supposed to be more bike, pedestrian and transit friendly,” said John Zeugner, the Chair of Falls of the James.

Another one of the bigger missions going on in Richmond right now is the Cool Cities program started by the Sierra Club in 2005. It’s mission is to empower city residents and local leaders to join and encourage their cities to implement smart energy solutions to save money and build a cleaner, safer future.

“It’s definitely happening, I’m watching it,” Lisa Taranto, the director of Tricycle Gardens said, who is very concerned about global warming.

“Ice caps are melting, water is limited, it’s just really rapid change and we need to do something about it now,” Taranto said.

With Virginia not being a very ‘green’ state, and Richmond going backwards, Zeugner said it’s hard to get everyone worried about the climate change.

“There’s not enough action, not enough recycling, and not enough people doing energy conservation in their own homes,” Zeugner said.

“It is a good time because we do have the resources right now, and we might not have them in 10 to 20 years,” said Burger.

“It takes a lot of time to turn a battleship around, and we already have so many things just going in the wrong direction… hopefully we will see a better change with new leadership,” he said.

President Barack Obama just signed the new economic stimulus package, which includes $71 billion for energy and environmental initiatives and another $20 billion for green tax incentives.

“It will definitely take more federal and state guidance to really push incentives with more energy efficient vehicles, and controlling emissions,” Zeugner said.

Although it is a huge issue, many small things can be done by everyone in the city including car pooling, growing your own food, and using less energy.

Burger said that people could also have a ‘Meatless Monday,’ which is a day where some people go without meat for at least one day a week.

“Eating meat actually requires a lot of energy and resources and it puts off a lot of CO² itself because of the factories,” he said.

What happens to plastic bottles after they are recycled in Richmond?

People recycle plastic bottles but what actually happens to them? They end up in a series of different places at different times and can end up reformed as many things.

By Santia Nance

Going Green With Community Gardening

Community gardens are a beneficial method to go green during the recession because it saves money, brings the community together, and teaches people to be self-reliant. Tricycle Gardens in Richmond is the organization to start with.

By Santia Nance

Community gardens provide a way to beautify neighborhoods, eat healthier, and learn ‘green’ habits all at the same time.

“It’s like the epitome of going green,” said Lisa Taranto, the director of Richmond’s own Tricycle Gardens, a non-profit community garden organization based out of theChurch Hill neighborhood in downtown Richmond.

It was started in 2001 by a group of neighbors and friends, who turned a vacant lot into a beautiful garden that grows fresh food, herbs and flowers.

Through grants and donations, Tricycle Gardens has managed to get four gardens up and running, and there is an additional garden that will get planted this summer.

“It takes about a year of organizing, finding a location, and deciding what’s going to go in the garden,” Taranto said.

Rebecca Spivey, the head of Carver community garden on the corner of Leigh and Kinney streets, said that maintaining the garden isn’t too hard.

“Everyone tends to their own plot as they please, but there are about three to four days out of the year where everyone in the community comes out and does everything such as weeding the garden,” Spivey said.

She also explained that there are guidelines to being a plot owner.

“The plot has to be plated by May 1, the plot owner has to help on work days, you can’t give your plot away, you can’t have pets in the garden, etc.,” Spivey said.

“There is also a $40 leasing fee which includes the cost of water and maintenance on the plot,” she said.

Not only are people in the community gaining knowledge in planting and maintaining gardens, they’re learning self sufficiency and that growing their own food is a skill everyone should know.

“Growing your own is like gaining back power from the big… corporate world,” said Taranto.

Tricycle Gardens even offers to teach people how to start gardens at their homes.

“I visit peoples homes and help them with their gardens one on one. We also have group classes at Tricycle Gardens on many aspects of organic gardening that accommodate up to 25 people, ” said Nellie Appleby, the kitchen gardener of the organization.

There are other reasons to start to grow thier own besides self-sufficiency. In fact, it will impact the world. Taranto said people should see a change in the environment in five years.

“The wake-up call is coming sooner than we think,” Taranto said.

“Food pricing is already going up... California droughts -- and they produce a lot of our food, food bourn illness… The food system is extremely in jeopardy,” Taranto said.

Which is why she says it is extremely important to start growing food and doing it in your community makes it better for everyone.

“It’s important to grow your own food to know where it’s coming from, that it’s grown in a healthy manner, to get more nutritious vegetables than you can buy, to save money not buying them, to connect to nature via gardening, for the exercise, meditation, beauty and pleasure of it,” said Appleby.

Community gardens allow people to come together and share both their ideas and food.

“It’s healthy for the body, neighborhood, and the community, and the city, the country and the world and counting,” Taranto said.

DRUMline Live! comes to Richmond

Drumline LIVE! comes to Richmond.


DRUMline Live is an exciting theatrical tour based on the 2002 hit movie “Drumline,” which is centered around historically black colleges and universities and their marching bands.

By Santia Nance

Published in The Commonwealth Times
Read Story...

(Photo Courtesy of Columbia Artists Management Inc.)

"All We Can Do is Hope." (Breaking News Assignment)

How retail stores around VCU are affected by the recession.

By Santia Nance

There is no surprise that the bad economy has been affecting retail stores around VCU and the students that buy things from them.

Since December 2007, the United States has been in a recession and many retail establishments have been hit hard. Some have been closing stores, and others have just been going out of business completely.

As for the Monroe Park Campus, a lot of the stores around campus are still here, but that doesn’t mean they’re not suffering.

“Students don’t have money,” said Mohammed Mohammed, manager of Alawada Discounters, a store at 1313 W Broad St that sells bath and home décor, designer clothing, and snacks.

“People come in, but the issue is them buying cheaper stuff,” he said.

Students agree. Kim Jamilla explained that it was hard for her and her roommates to buy things unless it is a true necessity.

“I have to save up just to buy stuff that I only truly need,” she said. “And since a lot of students, like myself, don’t have jobs, it makes us very limited to what we can spend,” she said.

Michael P’Pool, the operations Manager of the Virginia Book Company, also thinks that people are reducing the luxury.

“Whether it’s waiting to get that book when they absolutely need it, or just not getting a VCU sweatshirt, we can tell that people are more conscious of their spending,” he said with a concerned look on his face.

Not every business around is looking at the recession in a bad way. Rumors, a retail store that sells women’s clothes recently had a big change because of the economy.

“We changed it all!” Casey Longyear, one of the owners of the store, said enthusiastically. “Now everything we sell in the store is pre-selected thrift!” she said with a smile on her face.

According to Longyear, Rumors is a shop that previously sold new name brand designer clothes, but her and her business partner, Marshae Wyche, realized that they weren’t getting many sales because their clothes were priced too high. Therefore, on Jan. 29, 2009, they switched over to a buy-sell-trade store.

Longyear explained that business has been going really well since they changed the store, and thinks that it blends well with the economy.

“A lot of people aren’t used to thrift shopping, but I think with this economy, it’s going to get more widely accepted,” she said.
Overall, stores are doing their best to do as well as they can and grow with the economy and so are the students.

“All we can do is hope,” said Mohammed. “Just hope that it gets better,” he said.

Ridje Chery, a student, thinks that students have to be more innovative with their spending by buying cheaper things.

“If that means going to Dollar Tree to buy socks and food, then that’s what I’ll do!” she said as she showed her socks.

Commons Gets A New Look

The University Student Commons gets remodeled to help better serve the large student crowds.

By: Santia Nance

Thousands of students have returned from winter break to discover that the University Student Commons has been newly renovated.

“I walked in thinking ‘wow, they really did this!’” said Virginia Commonwealth junior Emily Brutout as she looked at the new Commons convenience store.

Construction in the Commons started at the beginning of the fall semester. The $200,000 project mostly involved the front door; which was widened, and the many food services throughout the building.

Louise Kapelewski, marketing manager of the VCU Dining Services, wanted to make the crowds more manageable.

“We recognized that the previous space in which Subway, Bene Pizza and Commons Convenience were located was very small for the number of customers in the space,” she said.

The smallest, most used area Subway, offers subs for meal swipes on weekends. It is the biggest food crowd drawn in the Commons and where the space issue started.

“I’ve had to wait over an hour before,” said another student, John Monroe, “and usually the service was bad because they were in a rush!”

Kapelewski said that the overall flow of traffic needed to be revised.

“Subway’s line backed up into the cashier’s lines, all three venues utilized only two registers – the space simply couldn’t hold the number of people that wanted to use it,” she said.

The driving forces of this decision was the comments and feedback that the Dining Services had received over the last two years.

Taylor Allen, a member of the VCU Monroe Park Campus Student Government Association, claims they got the job done.

“We had gotten a lot of complaints both about the doors and how crowded the commons food area was, so we wrote up a bill to change them both, and voila!” she said.

Those student comments and finding the space to put the convenience store was what really put the entire project in motion and the actual transition took about four months.

Construction began with Bene Pizza moving next to Chick-fila, and the construction of the convenience store, which is where the E2 store used to be before it went out of business.

Then in October, the plan to build a second Subway line began. Also, the construction for the door started, causing students to take an alternate route into the commons for a couple months.
Finally on Jan 5, 2009, the commons opened all of the new facilities to the public.

“So far we have received excited comments from students and the SGA. They greatly appreciate the space that is now available for moving between venues and meeting with friends or classmates,” Kapelewski says.

Student, Syed Moosvi was relieved when he saw the door. “Most students have to go through that door every morning, and it’s so much easier now!”

Monroe agrees. “It was an over all good change, and it really needed to happen.”

In the future, the VCU Dining Service hopes to make it even easier by re-designing the Larrick Student Center on MCV campus.