The Director of the Office of Campus Sustainability, Nick Hennessy, spoke on the importance of sustainability on campus at Monday’s Undergraduate Student Government meeting.
“Sustainability wouldn’t make any progress on this campus with just one person,” he said. “I consider all of you to be a part of the sustainability effort.”
Hennessy said that the office uses the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, along with combining three main objectives and goals on campus: Reduction of Emission, Reduction of Waste/Conservation of Resources and Sustainability Education/Outreach.
USG Vice President Danielle Parker said that sustainability at its core is “the future.”
USG President Victor Senn agreed, saying that it is the senate’s most important priority.
“I agree with Dr. Hennessey when he said, ‘What campus do you want to leave behind?’” Senn said. “We need to leave campus better than we left it.”
Hennessy discussed the efforts that the Office of Sustainability is making on reducing energy use.
“What do you do when you don’t have renewable resources on campus?” he said. “A lot of (emission) is lighting.”
Hennessy noted that there are a lot of grassroots efforts to turn off the lights in every building, and buying more efficient lighting for classrooms.
The Office of Sustainability is also conducting a feasibility study with an engineering company in Cincinnati. The feasibility study will be examining all options for the University to reduce emissions and increase sustainable options.
Additionally, the Office of Sustainability challenged the senate to find more disposables around the University because the weekly average of trash produced by the University is 50-75 tons, 8 tons by the Union alone.
“If I knew the answer to (reducing trash on campus), I would be a very happy person,” he said.
Hennessy said that the Office of Sustainability is making an advisory committee for next year, and encouraged the senate to reach out to the office and representatives to make your voices heard.
“Get in touch with us,” he said. “There’s so many ways to get in touch with us.”
Parker followed up Hennessy by discussing the Adopt-a-Block initiative for the Bowling Green community.
“Adopt-a-Block is essentially Adopt-a-Highway, but for the community,” she said. “Any individual, organization, etc, can register to adopt a block and once a month, they commit to cleaning it.”
Parker and Senn expressed bittersweet feelings about leaving the presidency, and Senn spoke about making a last impression with the new leadership transition.
“The thing that separates a good leader and a great leader is a great transition,” he said. “We’re only in control truly of the things we do while we’re here, but we’ll be able to influence the future (with the transition).”
Parker said that it was an amazing experience to “be a part of such a supportive community.”
