Students showcase sustainability knowledge, research at 8th Annual Student Scholars Symposium
Students across campus congregated in Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena to showcase their findings at the 8th Annual Student Scholars Symposium poster session earlier this month.
Kells Johnson | College of Leadership & Public Service |
Emily Kendall
The event serves as a celebratory occasion for young scholars, in which they present creative or scholarly work that exhibit the university’s diverse program offerings. Students from the Institute for Sustainable Practice, housed in the College of Leadership & Public Service, focused on pinpointing challenging impacting communities on a global level and identifying innovative, sustainable solutions that enhance the economy, environment and wellness in those same communities. In the process of presenting their work, they showcased scientific communication skills they’ve been working on this semester in a class called Principles of Sustainability.
Take ISP student Emily Kendall for example. Kendall, a freshman at Lipscomb, looked at “The Social and Economic Factors Inhibiting Societal Inclusion of More Plant-Based Diets in the United States.” Her research explains how education, income and peer pressure are just some of the factors that keep people from incorporating healthier eating habits.
“I chose this topic for my presentation because food, people and plants are three things I enjoy the most in life,” says Kendall.
Kendall’s findings show that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s guidelines for healthy meals is not necessarily the best option, and suggests referring to Harvard University’s School of Public Health’s Healthy eating plate instead.
“Eating healthier can appear to be hard, especially depending on how much money you make. People who make more are inclined to purchase a steak dinner at a nice restaurant, but red meat is not very good for you. On the flip side, people who make less feel they can only afford to eat fast or processed food, which is also unhealthy,” Kendall says.
For the best adaptation to a healthier diet, Kendall suggests sticking to a plant-based diet and educating one’s self on what is actually safe to eat. Students like Kendall focused their presentations on examining healthier dieting alternatives for humans, but some looked at better ways to raise farm animals through the land they occupy.
Freshman Matthew Maldonado’s research poses the question “Do Cattle Grow Fatter and Healthier When They are on a Silviopastured Land?” Based on Maldonado’s findings, the answer is yes. According to the Association for Temperate Agroforestry, silvopasture is the intentional combination of trees, forage plants and livestock together as an integrated, intensively-managed system. Maldonado says raising cattle on a silvopastured land makes more sense for a farmer who is trying to get a good return on investment.
“Raising cattle on silvopastured land is not just a benefit to the animal itself. Having this system in place helps to achieve the 3 P’s of Sustainability,” says Maldonado.
He’s referencing the goal of sustainability, which is optimizing benefits for people, planet and profit. With silvopasture, farmers make more money by growing high-value trees while providing people with a healthier source of protein from cattle. Those same cattle then produce waste that adequately fertilizes the very land they eat from.
Junior Sierra Gonzalez
Like Maldonado, Junior Sierra Gonzalez focused on adopting innovative systems that utilize the earth to achieve better environmental outcomes. Gonzalez’s presentation, “How Do Indigenous Slash-and-Burn Agricultural Practices Affect Climate Change?” looks at how adopting slash-and-burn practices can be conducive to ecosystems. To support her theory, Gonzalez studied the Milpa cycle, a specific type of slash-and-burn agriculture derived from Mayan people. Milpa catalyzes ecological succession of forests as it functions as a cycle. Over time, it increases biodiversity and changes the ecosystem’s species makeup.
“Effective slash-and-burn processes depend on geographical location, climate, and how well you contain the burn,” says Gonzalez, “Wind levels, soil quality and erosion are all major components to consider when incorporating a process like this.”
Gonzalez found that burning forests encourages growth because it adds nutrients to the soil and also increases greenhouse gas emissions.
“The words ‘slash-and-burn’ instantly alarm people, but so many do not understand the benefits of burning forests, if done properly,” says Gonzalez.
More than 300 faculty and students participated in this year’s Student Scholars Symposium. The semester-long research executed by ISP students was spearheaded by Dr. Emily Stutzman, ISP academic director. Their presentations not only prove their abilities to think critically and support theories using fact-based evidence, but they also reveal their dedication to introducing innovative techniques that will improve our world from an environmental standpoint.
The College of Leadership & Public Service aspires to help shape and practice a different approach to leadership and public service, built on a model of civil discourse, innovation and bold action. We are teaching our students and those community members that participate in our programming to ask the right questions. Listen to understand. Collaborate to serve. And use collective impact to create. We offer academic and community programming through the Fred D. Gray Institute for Law, Justice and Society, the Institutes for Conflict management and Sustainable practice, The School of Public Policy, our statewide Leadership Tennessee program and the Nelson and Sue Andrews Institute for Civic Leadership.