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With the publication of the College Sustainability Report Card 2010, more than 1,100 school survey responses from over 300 institutions are now available online. In total, these surveys offer more than 10,000 pages of data collected from colleges and universities during the summer of 2009. To access surveys from other schools, go to the surveys section of the website. To see grades, or to access additional surveys submitted by this school, please click the "Back to Report Card" link at the beginning or end of the survey.
Name: Aishwarya (Aisha) Iyer
Position (in student organization): President
Date survey submitted: 08/06/09
STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
1) Please describe the student-run campus environmental/sustainability organization in which you have a leadership role.
Name of organization: Environmental Club
Number of active members: 13
Website: none
Date of last meeting: 05/26/09
Frequency of meetings: once a week
Key issues addressed and programs implemented since August 2008: The key issues addressed were:
1) Promote the ‘Build LACCD’ recycling program.
2) Changes on campus-visible recycling and generating awareness among peer groups.
3) Demand for support: from faculties, student government etc for making a more sustainable campus.
4) Proposal of every event on campus having a recycling component to it.
5) Making a statement for change- zero waste events.
6) Participation in "Recyclemania"- a nationwide recycling competition where green teams from big universities participate thereby gaining a great learning experience.
7) Promoting, and participating in the SUSTAINABLE WORKS workshops.
8) Making a smoke free campus-sent a representative to the space and work committee meeting, and also organized a debate which did not earn the support of many from the student government.
9) Reduce the waste from the cafeteria and promote composting on campus, which would also help save money without excess waste. We also discussed to promote more native plants around campus, which would again save water and money, wisely battling the budget cuts.
Out of these, only 1, 4, 5, 6 and 9 couldn’t be implemented as we are a new student group, which was started in the same semester. We still have a lot of work to do to implement 8.
Progress made on each issue/program since August 2008:
1) we are still talking to Mr. Joe Lucas, from the Build LACCD program, who is guiding us about the Recyclemania competition, as well as to go on with getting the faculty and staff involved.
2) Also, we’ve been conducting and participating in the sustainable works workshops, which also requires mandatory community service, which helped us conduct various clean up drives.
3) We are also taking up the smoking in designated area issue; as some still support the smoking areas, which are unfortunately not even ‘precisely 15 meters away’ from the buildings. Also, some of the areas on campus which aren’t designated smoking areas are still used and the students aren’t charged by the campus police. Working on these and other major issues have been in progress since the birth of our group. These issues have been taken up by us, trying to gain as much support from the student government, the faculty and staff and the other administrators. Despite being a very touchy topic, we’ve been working on reaching a mutual goal where we have everyone’s support; without ignoring anyone’s grievances.
SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES AND COMPETITIONS
2) Does your group organize any sustainability challenges/competitions for your campus and/or with other colleges?
[X] No
[ ] Yes. Please list details for each competition.
#1 - Name of competition:
Year initiated:
Frequency of competition:
Participants:
Incentives:
Goal of competition:
Percent of energy/water/waste reduced:
Lasting effects of competition:
Website:
SUSTAINABILITY IN STUDENT GOVERNMENT
3) Does your student government include a specific position or committee dedicated to campus sustainability issues?
[ ] No
[X] Yes. Please describe: There is an elected position for the post of the Environmental Commissioner, where he/she is responsible for forming a student sustainability group, and helping us win the support of the faculty and staff, and also to get a lot of students involved. Unfortunately, our group started in the spring 09 semester, we couldn’t acquire as much help from the previous commissioner, who only attended the space and work committee meetings, and represented us there.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
4) Please describe any additional campus sustainability activities or projects that you or your group has initiated at your school:
We have been working on conducting more campus clean-ups, and to get more student involvement. Recently, we all went to the city council meeting regarding some old trees near the campus which were scheduled to be chopped down for the purpose of road re-construction. We are also planning a lot of trips with involved students to go and volunteer with other various big organizations. Heal the bay and sustainable works have been really supportive to us.
5) Please list and briefly describe any other student-run organizations related to campus sustainability at your school, and provide URLs if available (e.g., student groups; student government committees; student-run food co-ops, gardens/farms, bike co-ops) and provide contact information of the student leaders, if possible:
Other than our sustainability group, there is another group which is helpful to get a more sustainable campus. They call themselves ‘Winona Riders’, which is a bicycle riders club. Unfortunately I do not have the contact information of their leaders.
Questions 6 is for informational purposes only; your response will NOT be included in the Report Card
evaluation process.
6) Please list any regional or national networks with which your group is affiliated (e.g., Energy Action Coalition/Campus Climate Challenge, Sierra Student Coalition, a state PIRG, a state student sustainability coalition): Our group is affiliated with ‘Sustainable Works’, an organization from Santa Monica, which is responsible for getting many students involved, educating them through their workshops and building a lot of support. We also have the support of a few from the district, namely Ms. Dee Patel, member of the LACCD student affairs and the Infrastructure committee, and Mr. Joe Lucas, who is the head of the Recycling Program.
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