Rodale Institute Executive Director ‘Coach’ Mark Smallwood will visit Albright College 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 3, part of his two-week walk from Berks County to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness about the benefits of regenerative organic agriculture on climate change.
Smallwood, who set out from Rodale Institute’s Kutztown location on Oct. 1, will tour the College’s Community Garden and new Sustainability House. He will be joined by Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer, as well as Albright students, faculty, staff and administrators.
The nonprofit Rodale Institute, which is dedicated to pioneering organic farming through research and outreach, has authored a white paper contending that by switching to widely available and inexpensive organic management practices (dubbed regenerative organic agriculture), the world could capture more carbon than emitted, thereby drawing down greenhouse gases and helping to reverse climate change.
Smallwood intends to walk more than 160 miles from Berks County to the nation’s capital to hand deliver the research to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, stopping along the way to meet with farmers, people working to change the food system, and others. He will also invite policymakers to walk a mile with him.
During his visit to Albright, Smallwood will tour the College’s Community Garden, which provides space for faculty/staff and residents from the surrounding neighborhood to tend to and cultivate their own plots. Fruits and vegetables grown in the rest of the garden are sold on campus, and student interns working in the garden promote eco-friendly living on campus and beyond. The garden employs permaculture, a design process promoting agricultural, environmental, architectural, technological and economical sustainability, and utilizes recycled products from campus.
Smallwood will also stop by Albright’s new Sustainability House, the first student housing option tied directly into the academic curriculum. Located on North 14th Street behind the garden, the Sustainability House accommodates five undergraduates interested in living environmentally sustainable lives. The students engage in green activities, such as recycling and tracking their energy use, water consumption and waste, and maintaining a blog about their experiences.
Regenerative organic agriculture involves promoting healthy soil and includes such practices as crop rotation and conservation tillage.
From Albright College
