Environmental advocacy is no longer the concern of only a select few, nor is it an issue that can be pushed aside by lawmakers and politicians. Yet our current administration, and almost surely those to follow, will continue in at least some capacity to deny that climate change is a pressing issue. For this reason, we as Wooster students and as global citizens must use our positions of privilege to affect change from the ground up. Through voting, through activism and through educating those around us, we have the ability to slow the effects of climate change and create a safer and cleaner world for those who will come after us.
Greenhouse is pushing students to do all of these things. Through the club’s activities, Greenhouse hopes to not only improve the sustainability of Wooster’s campus, but inform the student body about how they can improve as individuals. Greenhouse and other groups on campus can directly influence the future of sustainability by creating a network of successful alumni that are conscious of their environmental impact in their homes and throughout their careers.
The issues that Greenhouse and other environmental groups on campus address are especially important because of the impact that climate change disproportionately exerts on impoverished communities. As climate change continues to impact the entire globe, impoverished communities will undoubtedly experience the effects of food shortages, severe storms, droughts and flooding more acutely than those in positions of privilege. As Wooster students, we are told that one of our six core values is Social and Intellectual Responsibility — the responsibility to recognize our privilege and exercise leadership that “contributes to the welfare of humanity and the environment.”
While Greenhouse focuses each year on how we as individuals and as a campus can be more socially responsible — in our food consumption, in our energy use, in our production of waste and in countless other areas — there is always more that should be done. In the past semester alone, I have seen a growing concern about Wooster’s environmental impact due to the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports by the United Nations and other scientific findings. I am hopeful that the administration, Greenhouse and the entirety of the student body will be able to come together at such an urgent time. In doing so, we can begin to make significant, genuine change, through the creation of a five-year sustainability plan and other projects.
While these plans are being made, individuals on campus should not be content to sit by and wait for change to happen to them. There are choices that every individual can make to live more sustainably. Greenhouse encourages its members, and all students, faculty and staff, to think about changes that can be made in our daily lives. The elimination of bottled water and other single-use waste, especially plastics, is an excellent place to start and is facilitated by the reusable mug program that Greenhouse created. The reduction of food waste, which is encouraged by the food audits that Greenhouse conducts, is also important. Education about energy use and renewable energy sources is also a goal that Greenhouse is working towards.
Overall, Greenhouse is excited to play a part in such an important issue that affects all of us and is particularly relevant to Wooster’s core values. But the real responsibility lies with each of us to make changes in our own lives and to pursue ethical changes in our fields of study and work, and to vote for those who further the values that Wooster has taught us to uphold.
Oria Daugherty, a Contributing Writer for the Voice, can be reached for comment ODaugherty21@wooster.edu.