Students are the heart of the sustainability movement

Mike and Peter are back this spring 2010 with Sustainability Now radio on The Lion 90.7. Every Friday from 4-5 pm we will be bringing you the latest on sustainability at Penn State, the Centre Region, Pennsylvania, and beyond. There is no shortage of great practices from people here working together to make our world a better place to live. Not just to live, but to flourish.

From the slow and steady work in local soil by gardeners, farmers, and children to large-scale agricultural work, understanding the climate, and working for justice on global climate change, we will be talking with and reporting on some big issues. Look for us to be around campus and the Centre region to talk to you on the street too. We want to meet you and hear what you have to say about bringing us to live abundant lives that we can sustain in a more healthy relationship with other organisms.

The sustainability movement would be nothing without college students. When the environmental movement began almost forty years ago, students were its greatest advocates. Awakened by the environmental work of Rachel Carson and Aldo Leopold and the social justice movements of Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X, and the women's liberation movment, students began to see non-human nature as needing human advocates. The voiceless needed a voice.

And today, we are will be talking with students from two of Penn State's environmental groups. Jared Blumer is an officer in Penn State's 3E-COE [*], a group of current and future teachers working on getting sustainability into schools. Over the last year, they have been fighting to get Penn State to ban the sale of Aquafina. Why? Even more, what do they think should be happening in schools? Kevin May and Kelley Cresswell are in Penn State's EcoAction, the longest running student environmental group at Penn State. We'll talk about their action on the Kleercut campaign and the future of environmentalism. Where are we going?

Both groups recently joined a counter-protest against one staged by Penn State's Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and the 9.12 Project who have been calling for an independent investigation on Michael Mann regarding the so-called "Climategate" issue. Why did they come out? You can watch local news or read an article on the protest, read YAF president Sam Settle's letter to the editor on an investigation, and read Michael Mann's recent Voices article on climate change (pdf). We want to hear what this means for environmental work here at Penn State.

Call in 814-865-WKPS (9577) or AIM us: TheLION907.

[*] Peter Buckland is the president of 3E-COE.