Green Living

Even if your college campus isn’t installing solar panels to provide for almost half its energy needs like East LA College (kudos to them!), you can still have an impact by making smaller-scale green plans and putting them into practice with the help of your peers, professors and facilities staff.

I had the privilege of attending a lively session on student environmental clubs at the Green Community College Summit in Pasadena a couple of weeks ago. Sponsored by Green Technology, the event was a meeting of the minds on how to make college campuses more sustainable and train students to be part of the green economy.

There, I heard from Suzanne Robinson, a Los Angeles City College student who plans to study Environmental Economics and Policy and who served as VP of the college’s environmental club last year.

Some of the things LACC’s eco-club pulled off: campus botanical tours, environmental film screenings, a successful, fun and awareness-growing Earth Week along with the establishment of a campus recycling program.

Suzanne’s advice for students who want to implement programs for change:

1. Create partners, not opponents: “…it is important to view your relationship with [the] administration, or any other group you want to engage, first, as a partnership.” When asking for reforms, partnership helps more than demands.
2. Define “clear, measurable goals and a flexible timeline.”
3. Enlist “a network of interested students from diverse backgrounds.”
4. If recycling is your bag, “no recycling program is successful without the help and input of the facilities staff.”
5. And finally, “Document, [which] allows you to leave an easy to follow road map for future members and professor advisors.” After all, it’s all about sustainability, right?

You can get more inspiration for environmental club project ideas from the Campus Center for the Environment at UC Davis.

And consider a competition like RecycleMania to jumpstart the third R at your place of learning.

Green Technology’s next event to be held in Anaheim, “Green California Schools“, will focus on building eco-minded schools for littler learners.

Tags: east los angeles college solar panels, environmental clubs California, green campus los angeles, los angeles city college environmental club, recyclemania, student eco-clubs