Submitted by Caldonia Carmello on the 2022 spring semester DIS study abroad program in Copenhagen, Denmark…
Last week, I was lucky enough to have been able to travel with one of my classes! We went to a small island of Denmark in the Baltic Sea called Bornholm. This island, while not talked about often, is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited (even with gusts of wind and rain). My class is focused on food sustainability, so throughout the 3-day trip we met with various businesses and organizations on the island looking to increase sustainability and improve agriculture. A much more circular food system and less wasteful way of life is able to be implemented on this island due to its small scale. By having many ideas test-run on this island, it hopes to be an example to other, larger communities and countries to revamp the food system. I was amazed and inspired by how waste products from one facility are moved and reused for something else on another area of the island. When comparing Bornholm to the United States, the inefficiency of the American system became very apparent. Instead of reusing waste products or converting gas into renewable energy, many things are just left to rot or are moved to landfills to emit methane (a greenhouse gas). The practices of circular consumption and collaboration which I learned about on this island are things I will take with me after my time abroad and hope to implement on smaller scales in American communities. Being closely connected to our food is something everyone benefits from and is especially necessary in the United States. I am so grateful to have been able to experience a new part of Denmark and have an amazing hands-on learning experience.
