Please join us for readings from three acclaimed Irish poets, Jane Clarke, Katie Donovan, and Catherine Phil MacCarthy on Monday, Sept. 25, from 5-6:30 p.m. in Falvey Library’s Speakers’ Corner. This event, titled “Wonders and Realities: Three Irish Poets on Sustainability,” will explore how poetry helps us fine-tune our senses and pay attention to the wonders and realities of our threatened world.

Dig deeper and explore the links below for more information on the featured poets.

Jane Clarke grew up in County Roscommon, Ireland. She is the author of three poetry collections: The River, When the Tree Falls, and A Change in the Air. The latter is shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection 2023. When the Tree Falls was shortlisted for the Pigott Prize 2020, the Irish Times Poetry Now Award 2020, and the Farmgate Café National Poetry Award in 2020.

• The River (Clarke, 2015)
• When the Tree Falls (2019)
• A Change in the Air (2023)
• Jane Clarke website
• Jane Clarke reads and introduces twelve poems from When the Tree Falls (Bloodaxe Books)
• Three poems by Jane Clarke (And Other Poems)
• Conversation with Jane Clarke (Rattle Poetry)
• Interview with poet Jane Clarke (Writing.ie)
• NYU DC Salon Series: A Conversation with Jane Clarke

Katie Donovan was born near Camolin in County Wexford, Ireland and earned degrees from Trinity College Dublin as well as the University of California at Berkeley. Her five books of poetry have all been published by Bloodaxe Books. Her most recent, Off-Duty appeared in September 2016. It was shortlisted for the Irish Times/Poetry Now Prize in 2017. She is the 2017 recipient of the O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry.

• Entering the Mare (Donovan, 1997)
• Watermelon Man (Donovan, 1999)
• Day of the Dead (Donovan, 2002)
• Rootling (Donovan, 2010)
• Off Duty (Donovan, 2016)
• Katie Donovan website
• Expert workshop: Katie Donovan and how family inspires creativity (Irish Family History Centre)
• Writer’s Block with Katie Donovan (The Gloss)
• Poems from Off Duty by Katie Donovan (Poethead by Chris Murray)
• In conversation with Katie Donovan (The Attic Sessions)
• Katie Donovan reads from Rootling (Bloodaxe Books)

Catherine Phil MacCarthy was born in County Limerick, Ireland. The author of five poetry collections, she studied at University College Cork, Trinity College Dublin, and Central School of Speech and Drama, London. She is the 2014 winner of the O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry. The Arts Council, An Comhairle Ealaíon, have awarded her a Bursary in Literature towards each of her 2013 and 2020 poetry collections.

• How High the Moon (MacCarthy, 1991)
• This Hour of the Tide (MacCarthy, 1994)
• The Blue Globe (MacCarthy, 1998)
• One Room An Everywhere (MacCarthy, 2003)
• Suntrap (MacCarthy, 2007)
• The Invisible Threshold (MacCarthy, 2012)
• Daughters of the House (MacCarthy, 2019)
• Catherine Phil MacCarthy website
• “Limbo,” read by Catherine Phil MacCarthy (UCD Library Special Collections)
• Interview with Catherine Phil MacCarthy (Island’s Edge)

This ACS-approved event, co-sponsored by the Center for Irish Studies, Falvey Library, and Global Interdisciplinary Studies, is free and open to the public.

Julia Wagner ‘26 CLAS is a Communication major from New Hampshire (Go Patriots!). She works as a Communication & Marketing Student Assistant at Falvey Library. Links provided by Kallie Stahl, Communication & Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library. 

By Ethan Shea

“thirsty while drowning” at Vasey Hall

Until Jan. 18, 2023, there will be an exhibit in the Villanova University Art Gallery titled thirsty while drowning. In addition to this installment on the second floor of the Connelly Center, there will also be exhibitions in Vasey Hall, Bartley Hall, and the Jake Nevin Field House.

“this majestic ancient ice-flood came from the eastward”

The installation conceptualizes the consequences of climate change and advocates for sustainable solutions in the face of the seemingly insurmountable challenges posed by ongoing environmental devastation.

The artist behind this exhibit, Cole Sternberg, is a Villanova graduate, having received a Bachelor’s in Business in 2001. Today, Sternberg lives and works in Los Angeles. His work is displayed in several prominent museums including the Pérez Art Museum of Miami, the American University Museum in Washington D.C., and Deutsche Telekom in Germany.

“if you turn your head to the side, the horizon moves upwards”

Villanova University presents this exhibit in conjunction with the ongoing strategic plan, “Rooted. Restless.”, which includes a ten-year sustainability initiative.

Falvey Library is proud to host a sustainability database on JSTOR, which includes countless resources to keep you informed on the latest research regarding sustainability. Learn about the database here.

To read more on Cole Sternberg and his inspiration for the current exhibit, check out this article.

Ethan Shea is a graduate student in the English Department at Villanova University and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.

After reading about the 130 billion disposable masks used globally each month during the height of the pandemic, according to the Sierra Club, I couldn’t help but see all of the masks littered across the campus, even nearby the statue of St. Thomas of Villanova, the University patron.

Additional research revealed the personal protective equipment (PPE) waste has been observed in the ocean and washing up on shores. It threatens ocean life, like whales and turtles.

And, according to a story from the MIT News Office, the cost to our environment will only continue. “The Covid-19 pandemic is estimated to generate up to 7,200 tons of medical waste every day, much of which is disposable masks. And even as the pandemic slows down in some parts of the world, health care workers are expected to continue wearing masks most of the time.”

I reached out to Villanova’s Sustainability Office to ask “what can we do?” Turns out masks are difficult to recycle, but the office found a company that handles them and responded, “If you collect them, we will fund a recycling solution.”

I expected to find a handful, maybe 50. But the problem of one person accidentally dropping a mask was magnified when there are thousands of students, faculty, staff, and visitors. I would collect what I saw along 2-3-mile runs, circling, eventually, the whole campus.

An example of a typical day’s route around campus.

Yet each morning I ventured out, there were new masks to find in the same places. Some days topped 40-60 masks, but it wasn’t until I passed 400 masks in less than a month that I understood the scope of the  problem.

Why was this happening?

I never saw anyone drop a mask, so I pondered where they appeared and reflected about how they may have appeared there. While the whole campus had a least some mask litter, most was squished near cars, frozen on pathways, dangling from plants in front of academic buildings and residence halls…even blown against the fences of our beloved campus community garden.

As of this morning, Jan. 13, I have collected 729 disposable masks, along with 65 reusable ones. 

It’s clear that this is not one person or group. It is a community problem. Likewise, this could be solved by the community. It takes all of us.

I know. Masks are no fun. Just one more thing to carry. And disposable masks (vital protection during a public health crisis) are treated like plastic bags or soda cans. If they are dropped, people don’t go back to find them, and if seen on the ground, they are ignored. But if everyone ignores them, what then?

A disposable mask, one of more than 794 masks collected, hanging from plants on campus.

In a community of thousands, nearly 800 masks left on the ground is completely avoidable. If our community can be mindful of their masks and reuse them, or discard them when they are worn out, we can reduce the issue, at least in our small community.

Better yet! Drop them off to me, and I’ll recycle them.

A big improvement would be to invest in reusable masks, but, at the very least, be as mindful of those items as you are of your phone.

If you dropped your phone, you’d go back to get it.

Villanova can be a model for how sustainability can succeed beyond campus. And working together to make small changes, just as we have to ensure campus environmental health and safety, we can model how to make a big difference in our world.

Learn more about the impact of mask waste (and possible solutions) during the pandemic through the Library’s digital resources:

“Face Masks, PPE and Throwaway Cutlery — After Covid, Where’s Next for Sustainable Packaging? The Global Pandemic Pushed Consumer Behaviour Back Toward Single-use Plastics to Avoid Contamination. So How Can Short-term Hygiene Requirements Be Balanced with Long-term Sustainability Goals?” The Guardian (London, England), 2021.

Hartanto, Broto Widya, and Dyah Samti Mayasari. “Environmentally Friendly Non-medical Mask: An Attempt to Reduce the Environmental Impact from Used Masks During COVID 19 Pandemic.” Science of the Total Environment, vol. 760, 2021.

Majerník, Milan, et al. “Environmental Waste Management of Disposable Surgical Coverage.” Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, vol. 30, no. 6, 2021, pp. 5163-5174.

Torres, Fernando G., and Gabriel E. De-la-Torre. “Face Mask Waste Generation and Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Overview and the Peruvian Case.” Science of the Total Environment, vol. 786, 2021.

Venesoja, Anu, et al. “Healthcare Workers’ Experiences and Views of Using Surgical Masks and Respirators, and Their Attitudes on the Sustainability: A Semi-Structured Survey Study During COVID-19.” Nursing Reports, vol. 11, no. 3, 2021, pp. 615-628.

Shawn Proctor is Communication and Marketing Program Manager at Falvey Memorial Library.

By Ethan Shea

Vendor Station at Wildcat Thrift Event

Last Friday, Villanova hosted the first-ever Wildcat Thrift Shop. As someone who loves to thrift, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to write about another interest of mine while hopefully learning something in the process.

The recent thrifting event seemed to be very popular, and I’m not surprised. There are plenty of reasons to thrift.

For one, new clothes are ridiculously expensive. As cute as that jacket at Urban Outfitters is, I can’t bring myself to spend $90 on it, so if you’re looking to save a few bucks, thrifting is the way to go.

Students wait to enter a busy Wildcat Thrift event

Thrifting is also sustainable! By re-using or repurposing an article of clothing, you’re preventing it from ending up in a landfill. You’re also distancing yourself from the waste that comes with packaging new products. I can confirm from working in retail for a couple years that A LOT of waste is created in the process of shipping new clothing to stores.

Just as thrifting invites shoppers to make a positive environmental impact, Falvey Library is keen on sustainability initiatives. The JSTOR Sustainability database is accessible through Falvey and will keep you updated on all things eco-friendly. If you’d like to read more on this topic, check out this blog from earlier this year.

Although Villanova’s recent event was all about finding new outfits, thrifting is not only about clothes. You can find all sorts of strange and entertaining items at thrift stores. One of my favorite purchases was a Coca-Cola themed toaster designed to toast hotdogs and hotdog buns. Did I ever use this toaster? No, but it was only $5 and a great conversation starter, so I have no regrets.

And don’t forget about used books! Most thrift shops sell books for only a few dollars, and you can usually find some classics on their shelves. The amount of second-hand books I’ve bought rivals the number of books I’ve checked out from the library, which goes to show that reading can find its way into just about any activity.

Finally, furniture is another great item to thrift. My aunt and uncle are experts at taking used furniture and “flipping,” or refurbishing and altering, the old pieces to make them into something that is both stylish and seemingly brand new. They were actually featured in an episode (Season 14 Episode 4) of Flea Market Flip on HGTV!

A few places near campus to thrift are the Bryn Mawr Hospital Thrift Shop, the Goodwill in East Norriton (my local Goodwill), and the Junior League Thrift Shop.

Altogether, for the sake of your pockets, your style, and our environment, be sure to visit your local thrift shop as soon as possible!

Ethan Shea is a first-year English Graduate Student at Villanova University and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Memorial Library.

Do you have an interest in sustainability research? If so, be sure to check out JSTOR Sustainability, one of Falvey’s resources. This database provides a wide range of scholarly journals, ebooks, and research reports in effort to help you stay informed on topics related to sustainability. Having celebrated the landmark 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, there is no better time to dig into this dynamic resource!

Within this database, users have the option to search for content on a broad range of topics related to sustainability. Some featured topics include:

• Agricultural productivity
• Agroforestry
• Carbon footprint
• Climate change policy
• Conservation biology
• Emissions trading
• Energy policy
• Environmental education
• Environmental engineering
• Environmental history
• Environmental law
• Food security
• Green buildings
• Human ecology
• Industrial ecology
• Land use planning
• Natural resources
• Nature conservation
• Population geography
• Renewable energy
• Resource economics
• Sustainable cities
• Sustainable urban infrastructure
• Transportation planning
• Urban development
• Waste management
• Water quality
• Wetland conservation

There are many other topics you can delve deeper into as well, depending on your interest or research needs.

Matters of sustainability impact all people, so the JSTOR Sustainability database could potentially be of use to not only scholars in environmental science/studies, sustainable engineering, global health and peace and justice fields, but really to anyone who has a general interest in climate studies or wants to learn more about living a sustainable life. In fact, Villanova University has expressed a pledge to sustainability efforts through its Climate Commitment, so the information found within this database is of great significance to all Villanovans—past, present, and future.

If you need help using this or any other library resource, you can Live Chat or email a reference librarian at ref@villanova.edu.

Be sure to check out JSTOR Sustainability to stay informed on the latest and greatest information in sustainability research.

Regina Duffy is a Communication and Marketing Program Manager at Falvey Memorial Library.

Next week, Villanova is hosting a virtual Teach-In to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. This celebration falls within a larger Earth Month event, encouraging people to challenge themselves to live more sustainably. The webpage for the event can be found here, including subpages with specific information on how you can reduce your carbon footprint with small lifestyle changes.

With information broken down into Energy, Waste, Water, and Food concerns, the weekly sustainability challenges could offer a good way to become more mindful of your environmental impact.

Personally, I will try one of the challenges to line dry my clothes instead of using the dryer. I think that spring’s arrival is the perfect time to try it out.

However, there are many great suggestions provided: reusing old clothing to make tote bags and bathmats, making hand sanitizer with few at-hand ingredients, and opting for biodegradable packaging when possible.

I have certainly become more conscious of my ecological footprint at these times, taking more time out to compost food waste and saving those horrifically bruised and soft vegetables for soup stocks.

I am spending more time in my backyard, preparing numerous buckets to plant herbs and vegetables in, as well as maintaining a compost bucket for personal use in addition to my weekly compost pickup bucket. Although these changes are small, I hope that I can continue them to be a more environmentally conscious person in the future.

Yet, it is important to recognize that these lifestyle changes must extend beyond the lock downs and shelter-in-place orders. In addition, many of the fault for carbon emissions are out of our own hands and backyards, requiring large-scale systemic change spearheaded by responsible governance.

I am sure many of us have seen the photos and videos circulating online that show skylines absent of smog, and oft-discrete wildlife venturing into areas normally dominated by people. However, it is important to recognize that the current emission reductions brought on by Covid-19 lockdowns are not long-term changes. A recent article from the International Energy Agency (linked here) clearly express these concerns.

“We may well see CO2 emissions fall this year as a result of the impact of the coronavirus on economic activity, particularly transport. But it is very important to understand that this would not be the result of governments and companies adopting new policies and strategies. It would most likely be a short-term blip that could well be followed by a rebound in emissions growth as economic activity ramps back up.

Real, sustained reductions in emissions will happen only if governments and companies fulfill the commitments that they have already announced–or that they will hopefully announce very soon.”

–Dr. Fatih Birol, Executive Director International Energy Agency

Nate Gosweiler is a graduate assistant for Falvey Memorial Library and a graduate student in the Communication department. This week, he is slogging through some more of Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day.