Syracuse University, one of the biggest research institutions in the Northeast, does not have its own recognized student organization focusing on environmental issues. The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry has the Green Campus Initiative and the Environmental Studies Student Organization, but SU only has a couple groups that approach environmentalism at all, such as SU College Democrats or Students in Free Enterprise.

We need to change this because our generation needs aggressive environmental activism on a local level so as to push SU to be firm in its commitment to become carbon neutral by 2040. In the early 2000s, there was an organization that pushed SU administrators to buy 20 percent of the school’s energy from renewable sources, but it died as a campus organization soon thereafter.

But why? Climate change still threatens ecological stability, and SU still contributes a large amount of carbon emissions to our atmosphere. Nobody wants the school to stop using power, especially during our current three-day blizzard, but there are so many ways the school could easily cut waste. For starters, how about weatherproofing all the buildings on campus? We’ve all been in classrooms that were either drafty or had the heat turned up too high to make up for the inefficient insulation. We need a student group that can do energy audits and push for energy-efficient buildings. Currently there are only school officials working on such initiatives, and they don’t have the leeway that students have to demand firm action.

One group, the Student Environmental Alliance, is trying next semester to become a recognized student organization. If enough students show that they care about having an organization on campus, the group will likely become recognized in the spring. The main mission of SEA is to promote sustainability on campus, which its constitution defines as ‘polices and strategies that meet society’s present needs, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ Sounds reasonable, right?

This is a necessity for SU. Currently, our university is one of the most progressive in terms of administrative leadership on reducing our carbon footprint and making the school carbon neutral by 2040. However, students aren’t getting involved and trying to push for innovative solutions that could make us carbon neutral earlier. 

Also, environmentalism goes beyond climate change mitigation and carbon emissions. We need a group that fights against incredibly unsafe practices like hydrofracking, a process that contaminates groundwater and can make people sick from exposure. Currently on the ESF campus, ESSO is spearheading a hydrofracking campaign this spring with some funding from Campus Progress. SU College Democrats is also helping on this initiative, which coincides with New York state’s temporary moratorium on hydrofracking, to allow an environmental assessment to be completed. This needn’t be a partisan issue. We need a group focused on issues affecting the environment to be inclusive and open to different ideological leanings, to coordinate with all of these groups to be effective and to speak as a unified body.

Through the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, there is SIFE, a group that focuses on several different initiatives having to do with sustainability and is open to all undergraduate students. Its Green Business Initiative works to certify local small businesses as ‘green businesses,’ providing consistency when companies market themselves as environmentally conscious. Then, there is its Converting Organic Waste campaign, which aims to install a permanent anaerobic food waste digester on campus that would turn the waste produced by our dining halls into usable energy. SIFE is also working on a campaign to be launched next semester. SIFE’s Do One Thing campaign will aim to promote sustainability on an individual level. The campaign asks people to choose a single action they can perform in their normal routines that would save energy or be more sustainable than usual, such as by using a reusable water container instead of plastic bottles.

Our collective environment is being destroyed, yet many see it as a necessary evil of industrial development. That’s a lie. We must work to better the natural world that has literally given the human race everything. It starts with young people, who have yet to fall into the ruts of cynicism that too many generations have been mired in. Below is some contact information for the groups I mentioned, which I urge you to join if you care about the environment. 

SEA contact: jnmeyer@syr.edu

SU College Democrats (hydrofracking campaign): mcconroe@syr.edu

SIFE: safogal@syr.edu

Luke Lanciano is a junior political science major. His column appears every Tuesday, and he can be reached atlllancia@syr.edu.

Published on December 6, 2010 at 12:00 pm