Events
Spring 2014
Feb. 27 (Thursday) and on: ART 100 gallery exhibit: "Trashformation," Manzanita Hall, second floor.
Mar. 4 (Tuesday): Let's Talk T.R.A.S.H. Food, live performances, music, games, art. USU Plaza del Sol, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Through Mar. 28 (Friday): Recycle Mania at CSUN
Apr. 14-24 (Monday-Thursday): Radioactive Seafood Market exhibition, West Gallery, CSUN.
Apr. 24 (Thursday): Earth Fair at CSUN: giveaways, crafts, yoga, inflatable games, music, art, interactive activites, and Aquarium of the Pacific on Wheels. 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Bayramian Lawn.
Fall 2013
Sep. 12 (Thursday): Freshman Convocation. Missed it? View the 2013 Convocation video.
Ongoing all year: Unified We Serve events.
Oct. 22 (Tuesday): Sustainability Day at CSUN. This year's theme: TRASH!
Dec. 4-5 (Wednesday-Thursday): Freshman Celebration 2013
Garbology news
How Plastic In The Ocean Is Contaminating Your Seafood: NPR story by Elizabeth Barclay (12/13/13)
Your Trash May Be Someone Else's Dinner: Sundial (10/8/13)
Press coverage of Convocation: the Sundial (9/13/13) and CSUN Today (9/17/13)
CSUN Freshman Reading Choice to Explore Our Love Affair with Garbage (8/13/13)
L.A. approves ban on plastic grocery bags (6/18/13)
L.A.'s Latino senators divided on banning plastic bags (6/10/13)
L.A. makes history with ban on plastic bags at stores (5/23/12)
L.A. County passes sweeping ban on plastic bags (11/16/10)
Other campuses reading this book
Marymount California University
Washington State University
University of New Mexico
Freshman common reading programs on other campuses
CSUN's Common Reading Archives
2012-2013: One Amazing Thing
2011-2012: The Glass Castle
2010-2011: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
2009-2010: The Soloist
2008-2009: Nickel and Dimed
2007-2008: The Things They Carried
To the entering freshman class of 2013-2014:
Welcome to Cal State Northridge! CSUN's 2013-2014 Freshman Common Reading is Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash by Edward Humes. You may be surprised to learn that "we are best understood by what we throw away." You may even disagree. But consider that the average American throws away "about 7.1 pounds per person per day, 365 days a year"--including "enough plastic film to shrink wrap Texas" (a tantalizing thought!).
As a new freshman, you are invited to read the book and to discuss it as part of a campus-wide community of readers. If you are enrolled in UNIV 100 for fall 2013, you will have the opportunity to read some or all of Garbology as part of the course. Reflecting about a book in this way places academic engagement—teaching and learning—at the very center of the community that you are about to join. The Common Reading allows us all to think, talk, and learn together across and beyond the boundaries of any single classroom.
Edward Humes (the author of Garbology) was the keynote speaker in fall 2013 at Freshman Convocation. Read this book; talk about it with other students; and discuss it with faculty, with staff, with administrators, with friends, and even (who knows?) with your family.
Welcome to CSUN!
CSUN Garbology resources
Anthropology Department: "archaeologists have a lot to say about garbage" (according to one professor) and "I'm a sucker for garbage" (another professor).
Associated Students sponosors the campus Recycling Center. Don't miss the three-part A.S. Recycling Squad YouTube video.
CSUN Reads Garbology: Facebook page
Garbology bookmarks (designed by Susanna Eng-Ziskin and Joyclyn Dunham, Oviatt Library) are available to CSUN faculty, staff, and students on request: email Cheryl Spector for more information.
The Institute for Sustainability
Matador Exchange: "The Matador Exchange is a market for items from furniture, electronics, and sports equipment to textbooks and school supplies. Based on sites like Freecycle and Craigslist, the Matador Exchange seeks to encourage students to reduce the waste of unneeded items that may be of use to other students." (New for fall 2013.)
Did you know that Sustainability is one of CSUN's GE Paths? (Check out the current GE Paths course list to see what courses are offered each semester.) CSUN also has a Sustainability Minor.
Other Garbology resources
Bea Johnson gives a tour of her house (video): http://www.thewomenseye.com/2011/01/21/interview-bea-johnson/
Edward Humes's website: http://www.edwardhumes.com/
Garbology Facebook page
Map: single-use bag ban legislation world-wide
MIT's Trash Track: http://senseable.mit.edu/trashtrack/
NPR story about Edward Humes and the Pacific Garbage Patch: "Following Garbage's Long Journey around the Earth."
Recology's Arist-in-Residence Program: http://www.sunsetscavenger.com/AIR
Assignments for faculty using Garbology
Classroom assignments and discussion topics faculty can use with Garbology are posted on the faculty workshop page. If you have a new idea for teaching with the book, please email it to me and I'll add it to the collection.
