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Environmental efforts on campus
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Here in Idaho we value our beautiful forests and stunning mountains, not wanting to see them fall to environmental perils. At Boise State, student clubs and university organizations work together to keep our local climate in a healthy state, increasing awareness of community issues and volunteering to help ecological efforts. The following are two such clubs.
The Environmental Health Club
Created by students studying Environmental and Occupational Health at Boise State, the Environmental Health Club began a few years ago.A subset of public health, Environmental Health focuses on infectious disease control and air, water and food quality.
“The club is derived from the degree,” Anne Holladay, club president, said.
The club works with the City of Boise on recycling projects at many different events in this area such as Robie Creek, Women’s Fitness, Barber to Boise, Main Street Mile and Art in
the Park.
At these events, the club mans recycling booths allowing people to separate their plastics, aluminum, cardboard and paper from regular trash.
“We station ourselves at each one of these places so we can encourage people and help them to put them in the right bins,” Dale Stephenson, club adviser and environmental health professor, said. “What you’re doing is diverting a large amount of poundage from solid waste to recyclables. We use the city’s materials and do the recycling and then they transport it to the recycling centers or the landfills.”
Stephenson explains how the City of Boise strives to recycle with limited resources.
Using student resources they can help Boise achieve better recycling.
Stephenson explained how the club benefits from this contract as the city pays them $3000 a year into a local account used for student education services.
The club also marks storm drains around campus, putting signs in the pavement that prevent people from throwing hazardous waste down the drain as it goes directly to the river.
Club members also participate in other activities associated with the degree such as the environmental challenge.
In this, students compete with universities in the Pacific North West. They address solutions to a mock environmental issue, presenting a written proposal and oral presentation.
The club also takes part in Recylemania, a national competition between universities to recycle.
This coincides with other environmental efforts at Boise State and took place as part of Sustainability Day on campus.
The organization also works with New Belgium Brewery, who enlists them to help recycle at their annual Tour de Fat, a festival which promotes the use of bicycles.
The club plans to continue their current projects, working with different agencies to further environmental causes in Boise.
For more information go to http://clubs.boisestate.edu/details/clubDetails.cfm?ID=82
The Sustainability Club
Founded this semester, the Sustainability Club aims to “promote sustainable lifestyles through environmental education and political action,” according to their student organization purpose.
“We will also strive to make Boise State a more sustainable campus through student and community involvement.”
They already prove an active club, holding numerous events in the past few months. “For our first event we held nuclear power teach-ins, which the energy policy analyst from the Snake River Alliance came and gave lectures about the process of nuclear power and the proposals in Idaho,” Rachael Bergey, Sustainability Club president, said.
In the future the club plans to hold several education workshops on subjects like green cooking, shopping and cleaning.
“These workshops are intended to be fun, hands-on learning experiences for students and faculty to improve their own lifestyles to be more sustainable,” Bergey said.
The club also wants to get involved with creating better recycling and renewable energy on campus as well as doing some volunteer work.
“Sustainability issues affect students because, as the economy and lifestyles progress into a larger need for sustainability, we will all have to adapt to the changes and most jobs will be affected as well,” Bergey said. “Our generation is going to be leading the idea and practice of sustainability so BSU students need to start becoming that change. We think our objectives are important because environmental issues are a huge problem. More people need to understand this importance and know what they can do in their own lives to be sustainable.”
TABITHA KEILY
News/BizTech Coordinator