| Change the world, start with your campus |
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(Green Awakening Tour dispatch from Renewal's very own Student Leadership Team member, Megan Risley) "A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead AJ and Ben come to Seattle Pacific University! Preparing for their visit proved quite interesting - arranging for rooms, events, tables and classrooms presentations isn't as easy (or as hard) as it seems. University Ministries has a standing reservation of a large lecture hall on campus, and apparently, I was the first student (not in a student government-recognized club) to request use of the room. It was a learning experience for everyone, but we did manage to pull it off. Despite the early hour (9:30am on a Thursday morning), interested students and staff came to listen to Ben Lowe talk about the biblical basis for creation care, discuss his new book "The Green Revolution," and host a Q&A touching on Renewal's reception on other Christian campuses during the tour. A somewhat surprising (to me) trend that came out of this discussion was the curious breakdown in communication between administration and students. Faculty and staff on a lot of Christian campuses are doing a lot - like, for example, signing the "American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment," hiring sustainability coordinators to head up sustainability committees, building LEED certified buildings, and making plans to go carbon neutral by the year 2025 (or at the latest, mid-century). However students are, by and large, blithely unaware of all this excitement. It's not that they don't care - we here at SPU are very service oriented and have a staggering amount of programs, ministries and organizations that do a lot of good to our hurting world - but "the environment" is still an emerging issue. "Ignorance," said Jason Clapp (the president of the budding environmental club on campus) when asked what he saw the greatest need for our campus was, "is bliss." The greatest need, it seems, is communication between administration and student body. The talk was recorded and is promised to be put up here in the near future. That evening we gathered to address the issues raised during the morning's meeting. Alice VanderHaak, co-founder of the new community garden about to break ground at SPU, hosted interested students at her house to discuss needs, desires and ideas for how to get this green thing moving among the larger SPU student population. How do we reach students who are already loaded with classes, books, homework and other extra curricular activities going on without overwhelming or annoying them?Where do the funds for what great ideas we do generate come from? How can we involve the student body more? Renewal, Ben and AJ discussed, can be a resource and springboard for many campus' needs in these areas, providing resources, training and encouragement to those who care and those who don't (yet...). On Friday, we met with Bethany Walrad, the new sustainability coordinator at SPU. Many wonderful ideas for websites, "quick communication" websites (with more visual and quick fact links than paragraphs of reading) to offer to students and "advertising" for creation care were generated, and Bethany provided a detailed description of what is already going on at SPU. The Sustainability Committee, which had one of its first meetings since the snow in December, convened the previous morning to discuss plans for carrying out the agreement Pres. Eaton signed in the Presidents Climate Commitment. Over lunch that afternoon, we tabled in the dining hall on campus and met a number of interested students. Many signed postcards to send to the White House to turn up the pressure on creation care concerns. The close of Renewal's visit was a presentation to Dr. Kathleen Braden's geography class. At the end of the talk, Ben left us with one last (and lasting) thought: "When you leave SPU, how would you like to see your campus changed because you were here?"  Student leaders and staff meet with Renewal's coordinators to discuss sustainability at SPU. Pictured above, left to right: Jason Clapp, founder of SPU's budding environmental club, Alice VanderHaak, co-founder of SPU's new, student-led community garden, Megan Risley, Renewal student representative at SPU, Bethany Walrad, SPU's Sustainability Coordinator, and Anna Jane (AJ) Joyner, Renewal's Co-Coordinator |