For Student Union, going green will be a top priority this year as the student government pushes forth an action plan to make campus events more environmentally sustainable.

“What we’re doing is trying to make a specific contribution to the entire dialogue about sustainability on campus, and one thing that I don’t think we have talked about is sustainable campus events,” said senior Jeff Nelson, Student Union (SU) president.

Senior Will Fischer, former president of Green Action, will be spearheading the effort to make campus events greener. Fischer, a senior, has been appointed SU’s executive advisor for sustainability and will lead the newly formed Green Events Commission (GEC) to research ways of making University events more sustainable.

“The responsibility for me is to work with Jeff on implementing sustainability at Wash. U.,” Fischer said. “We’re going to be working together to try and instill sustainability in the student body.”
Fischer will work with a group of other students on the GEC to research sustainable practices that can be incorporated into SU policy.

“We’re looking to build some system through which we can quantify whether or not a given student group is running a sustainable event,” Fischer said.

The commission will focus on special issues like using limited paper in publicizing and monitoring the sources and disposal of food.

“Mainly, we’re going to focus on reducing waste,” Fischer said.

Fischer suggested that alternative disposal options, such as turning unused food into compost, could eventually be used to take event waste “beyond recycling.”

After researching sustainable practices for campus events, the GEC will then submit a list of recommendations to the newly formed Special Executive Task Force for Sustainable Events (SETSE).
The SETSE will be co-chaired by Fischer and senior Trevor Mattea, SU vice president of administration, and will include representatives from the Senate, Treasury and student groups like Team 31, the Greek community and Dance Marathon.

“I know there are a lot of things we can improve on,” said senior Andrew Seidl, executive director of Dance Marathon.

Seidl mentioned reducing bags, serving soda in two-liter bottles instead of cans and using less electricity in the Athletic Complex as possible ways for Dance Marathon to go greener. He said he is looking forward to working with Fischer and the GEC in new these initiatives.

“I’m really excited to be one of the first groups to work with Will and to really get this off the ground,” he said.

After SETSE representatives from student groups and SU deliberate, the SETSE will then form campus event guidelines that will be sent to the Senate for approval as SU policy.

Regarding this phase of the process, Nelson emphasized that he wants to see the taskforce shape specific, concrete policies.

1 Comments

• 

  On October 9, 2009 at 11:20 am RK said

  These are great initiatives.

  Transportation is often a major part of an event’s footprint. If many people drive, another way to green events is to promote ridesharing.

  http://www.viamerge.com is a map based ridesharing app especially designed for events. Joining takes very little time, and is not required to participate.

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Tags: Green Events Commission, jeff nelson, SETSE, Student Union, Will Fischer

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