Planting a tree on Earth Day, 2010
"A lot of us look at sustainability through different lenses," said Lauren Magrisso, sustainability advocate and president of Students for Ecological Design. I have to admit, that when I talk about sustainability, I'm thinking about how to sustain ecosystems and our planet, whereas other groups may focus more social equality or human sustainability issues. This disclaimer itself describes a larger umbrella that a lot of people around UC may be asking about. So, what is UC|Sustainability?
A good way to start is at the UC Sustainability website. Under the "about" section, you can find that UC Sustainability is "a marketing term created to represent the diverse and interdisciplinary sustainability movements at the University of Cincinnati." Diverse... exactly! The thing about sustainability at UC is simply that there are so many players and so many initiatives that one would be hard pressed to put it any better than that.
So, here I'm going to list as many of those players as I can and some of their current projects, as best that I know:
I'll start with the administrative level....
Office of Sustainability:
Part of Planning+Design+Construction and linked to facilities. Sustainability Director Shawn Tubb, with 2 graduate assistants and 12 undergraduate advocates, (including me!).
Projects: Bearcat Bike Share, the Bike Kitchen, the UC Garden, Bearcat Recycling, UC Farmers Market, Re*Use Market, Operation Move-In Recycle, and various educational and outreach opportunities such as the sustainability film series, workshop series, Climate 101 lecture series, Trees for Tomorrow, Earth Day bike parade, Arbor Day campus tree planting, Housing Conservation Challenge, Pitch In, RecycleMania, etc.
PACES (Presidents Advisory Council on Environment and Sustainability):
Created by Nancy Zimpher after signing the President's Climate Committment, led by a steering committee. Meets once a month and is open to all students. Advises President Williams about how to reduce Carbon Footprint, drafts initiatives to improve sustainability at UC.
See also: Environmental Studies Department, Womens Gender and Sexuality Department,
Intermediary:
SSC (Student Sustainability Coalition):
Made up of students representing several student groups and led by Alan Hagerty, UC Student Sustainability Director and student senator (running for pres next year!). SSC is a sub-committee of PACES and the two groups share information. SSC meetings are a great way for students to have an open forum to collaborate efforts and report in from various student groups. Provides an opportunity for students to send their ideas about sustainability to PACES. This group has most recently been planning the Earth Day Festival at UC.
Student Groups!
LEAP (Leaders for Enviromental Awareness and Protection):
Originally Leaders for Environmental Activism and Protection, originally comprised of A&S majors, particularly Environmental Studies majors. Recently has broadened its membership to include even a nursing student. LEAP members recently coordinated getting a large group of UC students to Washington D.C. in April for Powershift, a national student conference and grassroots movement which supports the transition to clean energy. Held an event this year called "FLOF" or "fresh, local, organic food" in hopes to inspire UC to reduce its "food-print". Also, launching the "UC Beyond Coal" campaign through its partnership with Ohio Student Environmental Coalition and Ohio Sierra Club, a campaign which hopes to work with PACES and campus administration to move UC beyond burning coal for energy as soon as possible. (To be fair, I am in this group and naturally gave it a longer description!)
Students for Ecogical Design:
UC's DAAP (College of Design Art Architecture and Planning) is a highly ranked and well known program. This student group has an equally high reputation among UC sustainability. This year, SED is working on establishing a comprehensive plan for the university to implement widespread composting. The initiative is showing early signs of success, and if you know the leadership of this group you can expect the program to do very well.
Engineers Without Borders:
Engineering majors that care. From "lights out fridays"- literally turning building lights out to save energy- to working with Taft Elementary to help with a national "Future Cities" competition, to encouraging sustainability through engineering worldwide, this group brings it hard.
Preservation Action Network:
Formerly Re|UC, changed their named to more clearly reflect their goal of preserving historical buildings from destruction in the Cincinnati area. Reusing entire buildings is about as sustainable as it gets, ecologically and historically. Recently worked in conjunction with OTR's A.D.O.P.T. program to revitalize an old church in order for it to be converted into a children's music and art education center, among other things.
Planning Students Organization:
Planning students from the DAAP program have been working on sustainable transportation initiatives such as supporting the 3C, and hoping to work with Cincinnati Metro to make the bus system better for UC students. Also, has been working towards creating more visible garden spaces on campus.
Bottom Line!
UC|Sustainability has a lot of people involved, and are working really hard towards making UC one of the most sustainable campuses around! We are legit!
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