WKU Students Attend Conference, Develop Student Declaration for Campus Sustainability
The Greentoppers Students for Campus Sustainability are working to make a difference at WKU. Since January, 2007, they have initiated a student sustainability pledge drive, supported expanding recycling on campus, supported community “green” activities, sponsored an Earth Day compact fluorescent light bulb giveaway, and will be holding an all day WKU Earth Days Festival on Friday, April 27th – with speakers, music, information booths, alternative energy demonstrations, a photography contest and much more.
A Provost’s Initiatives for Excellence grant was awarded for eight Greentoppers and the group’s two advisors to attend the second annual Kentucky-wide Campus Community Partnerships for Sustainability Conference on April 20-22, hosted this year at Eastern Kentucky University. WKU students were pleased to discover that they represented the largest student contingent of the colleges and universities present. Dr. Richard Bowker, Acting Dean of the Graduate School, also attended as WKU Administrative representative. These WKU representatives joined with students, faculty, staff and administrators from colleges and universities across the Commonwealth to participate in a Student Summit, Administrative Summit, presentations, hands-on workshops, renewable energy demonstrations/tours, networking sessions, and more. The keynote speaker was Eben Fodor, an urban planner and author of Better Not Bigger: How to Take Control of Urban Growth and Improve Your Community.
An important goal of the conference was for student leaders attending the conference to develop a common Student Declaration on Sustainability in Higher Education. According to Christian Downing, Vice President for the Greentoppers,“We worked extremely hard to design a statement that would express the strength of our commitment and seriousness with which we desire and expect change in the policies and attitudes of our institutions. The time to begin our sustainable future at Western Kentucky University is now, and we return with our Declaration in hand.” Sara Ferguson, also a student from Western and a Greentopper, was selected to present the Declaration to the University Administrators and other conference participants on Saturday evening. The principles of the Student Declaration will be brought back to the attending students’ respective institutions to promote a greater focus and sense of urgency for progress in education for sustainable development.
Sustainable development is commonly defined as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [Brundtland Commission, 1987] and is thought to encompass environmental, economic and social aspects within a framework of global responsibility. Universities are thought to have a major responsibility to create the “awareness, knowledge, technologies and tools” needed to transition to a sustainable society [Talloires Declaration, 1990.] Conference themes included: models of institutional partnerships, energy conservation, renewable energy, green building, greenspace and habitat protection, water quality, building local economies and food systems, integrated transportation networks, local governance and planning, and school and community environmental education.
The event was co-sponsored by Eastern Kentucky University, Western Kentucky University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Bluegrass Community & Technical College, Centre College, Transylvania University, Hazard Community & Technical College, and Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College. The conference will travel annually to a different Kentucky campus. WKU tentatively plans to host the conference in 2010.
For a copy of the Student Declaration, video of the reading, photos from the event, and conference web site, go to http://www.wku.edu/green/.
For information about the local event, contact Christian Downing, christiandowning@bellsouth.net or Sara Ferguson, sara.ferguson422@wku.edu (students); Ouida Meier, ouida.meier@wku.edu or Nancy Givens, nancy.givens@wku.edu (advisors).
