Simply living ahead of the times
Frank Schiavo helped promote environmental studies major
Danielle Torralba
Issue date: 11/25/08 Section: News
Frank Schiavo can fit his week's worth of trash consumption into the palms of his hands.
"I try to live simply," he said. "I can't get behind living extravagantly at the expense of the environment and the people who come after me."
In 1981, Schiavo helped make composting legal in the city of San Jose. Since moving into his home, he has never owned a trash can and has never had a garbage truck stop in front of his home. Everything he uses gets recycled. Food waste is composted in his front yard.
"I paid my garbage bill the first year I moved in, and after that no more," he said. "My energy bill has never been above $30."
Schiavo is a retired lecturer from the environmental studies department at SJSU who has been living a "green" lifestyle longer than most.
In the early 1960s, Schiavo began teaching at James Lick High School for a year and then was recruited by the principal of Willow Glen High School to teach physics and general science.
He said his outlook on the world and how he lived changed after taking a class with his brother for his master's degree at SJSU.
"My brother found a course in a descriptive booklet that the school used to publish that really recommended that the class is something you really needed to take for yourself and for your country," he said. "It was called Conservation of Natural Resources and it was taught by Dr. Hartesveldt."
While teaching at Willow Glen, Schiavo slowly started transitioning all his general science classes into environmental studies courses with the approval of the school district.
"They were happy to see something that progressive in those days," Schiavo said. "I think they thought it would keep kids in school, instead of having them protest against the war and Civil Rights. They were pretty open to experimentation."
In 1969, Schiavo started a recycle center at Willow Glen High School and ran it until 1974. He was also a part of organizing five Earth Day events there starting with the first one in 1970.
"I try to live simply," he said. "I can't get behind living extravagantly at the expense of the environment and the people who come after me."
In 1981, Schiavo helped make composting legal in the city of San Jose. Since moving into his home, he has never owned a trash can and has never had a garbage truck stop in front of his home. Everything he uses gets recycled. Food waste is composted in his front yard.
"I paid my garbage bill the first year I moved in, and after that no more," he said. "My energy bill has never been above $30."
Schiavo is a retired lecturer from the environmental studies department at SJSU who has been living a "green" lifestyle longer than most.
In the early 1960s, Schiavo began teaching at James Lick High School for a year and then was recruited by the principal of Willow Glen High School to teach physics and general science.
He said his outlook on the world and how he lived changed after taking a class with his brother for his master's degree at SJSU.
"My brother found a course in a descriptive booklet that the school used to publish that really recommended that the class is something you really needed to take for yourself and for your country," he said. "It was called Conservation of Natural Resources and it was taught by Dr. Hartesveldt."
While teaching at Willow Glen, Schiavo slowly started transitioning all his general science classes into environmental studies courses with the approval of the school district.
"They were happy to see something that progressive in those days," Schiavo said. "I think they thought it would keep kids in school, instead of having them protest against the war and Civil Rights. They were pretty open to experimentation."
In 1969, Schiavo started a recycle center at Willow Glen High School and ran it until 1974. He was also a part of organizing five Earth Day events there starting with the first one in 1970.
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