Alors, it is the last week of the semester and you’ve not yet even thought about what to get the girlfriend or boyfriend, mom or dad, brother or sister, and family or friends. “Maybe the good ol’ SSTF has an idea or two to get me going,” you might say to yourself.
Friends, the Student Sustainability Task Force is more than happy to help this holiday season. Let’s take a look at the typical online shopping world, and finally see what Uncle Sam’s Troy has to offer.
Useful, fun gadgets anybody? A UK-based company called United Pepper offers a small selection of webcams and USB hubs in the shape of quirky sea creatures. The product is manufactured out of sustainable materials in a certified free-trade workshop in Vietnam.
For the many photographers on campus that want that extra preparedness and conversation-starter ammo, the Primus AW offered by Lowepro is a 100 percent recycled material backpack swearing to rugged construction and to keeping your camera-ware dust-free.
For the cooks, revered chef Alice Waters has been credited with initiating “Slow Food” and local and organic ingredients in the United States. Her new book The Art of Simple Food is great for students who have just a couple ingredients at their disposal.
Snowboarders and skiers: If you’re looking for a nice place to send your buddies, The Aspen Skiing Company and Vail Resorts offer environmentally friendly slopes. For hardware, companies like Venture Snowboards and California’s Arbor use sustainable materials like bamboo, cork, and wood. Vegetable-based waxes are apparently popular as well from suppliers Purl Wax and One Ball Jay.
Of course, one of the finer things to enjoy—if it picks your fancy—is local shopping. Many of these gifts wouldn’t make it without the large amounts of oil necessary to fuel the cargo ships and trucks that carried them. Buying gifts locally reduces transportation waste and gives local economies a boost.
One of the star streets that comes to mind is River Street, the one you run into going down the Approach and through Broadway. Going in a southerly direction from where River meets Fulton upstream, Market Block Books has a pretty gnarly selection of books and even has a section of Troy-published books, courtesy of its next-door neighbor. Broken Mold Studio has a host of professional and in-training potters selling gorgeous pots, mugs, and knick-knacks you wouldn’t dream of, and the tail end of River Street offers a beads shop, a beat shop (cheap music), several dining venues, and Hair Indigo (an organics stylist and product shop). The entire street is riddled with friendly faces all willing to help students impress that loved one.
While you’re in the downtown area with your Rensselaer posse, feel free to check out Third and Fourth streets, where plenty of other independent shops and dining places lie. Clothing shoppers will love visiting Rhe’s down Third by Broadway Street.
From here, the Student Sustainability Task Force would like to wish all a safe, happy holidays; and would like to thank The Poly! Of course this SSTF corner wouldn’t be possible without contributing writers, doers, and researchers on campus and beyond. And don’t forget, from clothes to corporations, green is the new sexy!
Editor’s Note: “Sustainability: Inside Scoop” and “Sustainability: Outside Scoop” are columns granted to the Student Sustainability Task Force by the Editorial Board to discuss issues of sustainability on the Rensselaer campus and around the nation.
