Students for Environmental Sustainability Tackle Campus Environmental
Issues
Amanda C. Mitchell for TEI
 A new student group called Students for Environmental Awareness and
Action, or SEAA, is making its presence known on the University of
Massachusetts Amherst campus.
Founded this past fall semester by current co-president Josh Stoffel,
SEAA has approximately 25 active group members. Though a student-run
group affiliated with the Environmental Science program, SEAA consists of
students and local area community members and is open to everyone.
According to the goals stated on the group’s Facebook page, “SEAA
strives to decrease both individuals’ and the UMass community’s
environmental impact by promoting environmental stewardship and encouraging
sustainability through group initiatives, outreach, education, and
community-building”.
SEAA spent last semester publicizing and recruiting new members. This
semester they are ready to spring into action. At the beginning of
January, the entire group sat down together and chose five different
environmental issues affecting the community to address over the next
five months. Four committees formed around these five issues, and these
committees, consisting of approximately five students each, will be
taking to the campus and community streets to raise awareness and generate
change.
Rita Shaffer, also co-president of the group, explains that this active
approach to solving environmental issues is what drove her to become
involved with SEAA. “It’s about time an environmental group
on campus with strong goals and concern for local issues formed,” she
said.
Of the five initiatives, all but two focus on generating change beyond
the borders of the UMass campus. The group hopes that this semester
will prove to be a strong start for SEAA and that they will complete
the goals they have set for themselves.
The most campus-focused initiative is known as the Light bulb Project.
Working with the Western Massachusetts Electric Company and Mike Lucey
from UMass Housing Services, the committee hopes to convince the University
to invest in discounted energy efficient light bulbs to hand out to
students moving into the residential halls in the fall of 2007. The
bulbs, known as compact fluorescents, have a ten year lifespan and,
providing 6,000 students participate, could potentially save the university
$80,000 annually in electricity costs. The group surveyed a test group
of approximately 100 students regarding their willingness to use the
light bulbs in their desk lamps. Nearly all of the students surveyed
said they would definitely use the light bulbs. SEAA hopes that the
project will raise awareness about energy conservation among students
at the same time it saves the university money in electricity costs.
Another on-campus project is a film series the group is putting together
in conjunction with the Focus the Nation student group. Though planning
is still in the early stages, the two groups hope to run a film series
including student shorts created in the Community Food System’s
class, and other independent-film environmental documentaries. Plans
to have guest speakers at the screenings to speak for a half an hour
after the showing of the films are also in the works. The series will
run weekly through April and culminate with a four day marathon leading
up to Earth Day on April 22.
SEAA also hopes to get involved with the Amherst Town Commons Earth
Day Festival. This is a project that all 25 members will be involved
in, however planning is still in beginning stages and will not pick
up until Earth Day approaches. According to Shaffer, “We’re
not sure what we can do with the town yet, but we’re really hoping
to play a part in their festival.”
In another major project, the group is collecting signatures to petition
the University to join the “President’s Climate Commitment” University
Challenge. This national effort was created with the intention of encouraging
universities to reduce their carbon footprint, or the amounts of greenhouse
gases released into the air due to energy usage, as well as achieve
climate neutrality. Climate neutrality can be achieved through the
reduction of campus greenhouse gas emissions and the offsetting of
unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions. The presidents and chancellors
who sign onto the challenge also commit to accelerate research and
educational efforts to equip society to re-stabilize the earth’s
climate. To date, 103 colleges and universities throughout the nation
have signed onto the agreement. SEAA hopes to collect enough supportive
signatures to convince Chancellor Lombardi to add UMass to the list
of universities already committed to the challenge.
Finally, the group’s last initiative for the spring semester
is to approach local elementary and middle schools about integrating
lessons regarding the environment into their lesson plans. Shaffer
says SEAA would like to go into classrooms equipped with lesson plans
about environmental issues that will inspire younger generations to
clean up their world. “We hope to eventually build a database
of lesson plans so that the lessons will be integrated into the curriculum
and hopefully carried on without our having to even be there,” she
said. Shaffer envisions this project as a long-term endeavor, stretching
through several semesters and hopefully continuing on for years to
come.
So far, morale and motivation in the group is strong. Shaffer says
a lot of this has to do with the fact that the group was responsible
for choosing which issues to tackle. “We’re all invested
in what we’re doing because we all think it’s important,” she
said. “There is incredible support within the group for our goals.”
SEAA meets every other Thursday night at 7pm in the Campus Center,
and is open to new members at any time. Along with their committee
endeavors, they also hike and spend time outdoors as a social group. The
UMass Daily Collegian has agreed to give the group a space in
the Arts and Living Section of the paper every Tuesday to discuss
a hot-button environmental issue. To contact SEAA, please visit their
facebook group or e-mail Rita Shaffer at rshaffer@student.umass.edu. Or visit UmassSEAA.org.
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