Students, faculty discuss sustainability

In the spirit of sustainability, students dined with glass plates and goblets and composted their leftovers at the Second Annual Student Sustainability Summit.

The event took place Thursday night at Union Street Auditorium and was sponsored by the IU Office of Sustainability and the Student Sustainability Council.

“The event is to, one, bring students together who are working on sustainability issues in different realms on campus,” said Sarah Baulac, education and research intern at the Office of Sustainability and first year graduate student. “And, second, we want to show our faculty and staff counterparts how much support there is from students for sustainability initiatives.”

Baulac said these are issues she said she deeply cares about.

“I think sustainability is anchored in what people do and how we treat each other,” Baulac said. “I think it’s in everyone’s best interest and for our future to talk about sustainability.”

Compared to past summits, this one was considered especially pressing because of the Provost’s new Campus Strategic Plan, Baulac said.

“As we’re moving into a new year with a new Strategic Plan this is our time to show how important sustainability is,” Baulac said. “This is our chance to shape the future of campus as it relates to sustainability.”

The event included guest speakers Jeff White, professor of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs; Michael Hamburger, the co-chair of the campus sustainability advisory board; and Bill Brown, the director of sustainability.

White announced a new degree in environmental and sustainability studies that was just approved by the Commission of Higher Education Wednesday.

This degree will allow for middle ground between the two degrees in environmental affairs that already exist, a B.S. in environmental science and a B.S. in environmental affairs, he said.

The first is more science based, while the second is more management based.
The new degree will focus more on the combination of arts, humanities and science of sustainability, White said.

After the speakers, students broke out into small roundtable discussions to discuss sustainability issues of all sorts with those on campus currently who are working on them.

The break out topics included energy and the environment, computing sustainability, environmental quality and land use, food, resource use and recycling and transportation.

Groups discussed work in progress and what students wanted done in the future.
“It’s such a wonderful event because students learn about campus and we learn about what students care about,” Brown said.

With the Office of Sustainability’s five-year anniversary coming up this Saturday, Baulac said she has big hopes for the future.

“I’d like to see sustainability happen in more degree programs,” Baulac said. “I think its important students incorporate sustainability into their education and it would be great for it to be as common as English or writing.”