As the world climate clock ticks lower every day, so does the hope of people fighting for a better Earth.
At this time, there are around three years left to limit climate warming to 1.5 degrees celsius. For some, it may feel like it’s too late and that the environment is too far gone. But small victories scattered around the globe provide a source of hope.
Rooted in its agricultural background, Colorado State University prioritizes sustainability and has established policies to achieve LEED certifications, a productive course load from the School of Global Environmental Sustainability and accessible public transportation.
These elements have come together and resulted in CSU being named No. 2 in the United States for its incorporation of sustainability into university efforts. The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education awarded CSU a Platinum rating for the fifth-consecutive year. The university hits all the main targets when it comes to being green, and while the institution sets it up, it’s the students who carry it on.
“It’s not just the boxes that you’re checking in terms of ‘Am I sustainable?’” said Sidney Stadelmann, founder and president of Community for Climate Anxiety. “It’s going above and beyond in terms of recognizing that sustainability doesn’t end with certification. … (That’s) where CSU student orgs really shine, is in addressing those, like, cultural and ideological pieces of trying to find alternatives. … (We’re) working to just create a space where people don’t feel so discouraged.”
Climate activism, however, can be especially difficult when students are told it’s more likely to affect future generations than themselves.
“You’re looking at all this stuff, and you’re like, ‘Wait, so we’re just going to die, what’s the point?’” said Bella Conrad, director of the Student Sustainability Center. “But when you get too deep into that mindset, you can’t actually make change.”
The SSC serves as one of the primary organizations to motivate engagement among climate-conscious students, as it helps them learn about the different clubs offered that best fit their interests. It also acts as a resource for several green projects, translating what students learn in the classroom to the real world.
“Student organizations, especially here at CSU, we share that same stress and worry,” Conrad said. “So talking to each other about it and going to volunteer events that actually make an impact, picking up trash where you see it … and then just talking to people about it — leaning on that community is so important because, without it, you can feel so alone and it’s hard.”
When Conrad first joined the SSC, she said she didn’t click with the club at first, but with the help of a friend, she began to connect with the work the center was doing and eventually moved her way up to the director position.
Now Conrad helps students identify their passions within sustainability. Even if that means they part ways with the SSC after finding a new club, they found what makes them inspired.
“It is really exciting and really impactful that I get to help students find their interest in sustainability,” Conrad said. “We try to host such a variety of events and bring in such a variety of speakers that students don’t feel pushed to be whatever I’m interested in or to do a certain thing.”
Several of the SSC’s projects have become their own established clubs, one of which is Stadelmann’s CCA.
The CCA’s stated purpose is to “(provide) a space for community members to engage in activities that promote a sense of hope, agency and community to combat feelings of climate anxiety and fear.” Stadelmann said the club also serves as a way for people to find a creative expression while experiencing feelings of climate grief.
“Maybe you’re not going to change the whole world, but you’re going to do something and you can revalue things,” Stadelmann said.
Stadelmann acknowledged the limited impact one student might have on a global scale but said CCA is taking that agency back — one person and one project at a time.
“I really wanted my club to focus on creativity as a combat to both climate change and sustainability, but also feelings that you don’t have agency (over) because creativity sort of is that inherent ability to create and to make something out of nothing,” Stadelmann said. “So I felt like that was a really important bridge between climate grief and sustainability.”
The idea to prioritize one small act was introduced to Stadelmann by sociology Professor Stephanie Malin, who referred to it as having a “climate niche.”
And doing that one thing can be enough.
“Just recognize that you have to take care of yourself and the people around you so that we can all keep showing up for this fight,” Stadelmann said. “Because if we become paralyzed by grief and fear, they win.”
As a club, CCA is finding purpose in things that society often deems of no use, finding a way to take back the narrative and the control.
Because, as Stadelmann pointed out, it’s too much to put the world’s problems onto one person’s shoulders. Instead, Stadelmann said she has chosen to encourage her community to prioritize small niches in the face of overwhelming fear.
“To combat the severity of what is going on is going to take a lot of work, and it’s going to take a lot of time, and it’s going to take a lot of energy,” Stadelmann said. “At this point, hope takes the form of resilience.”
And sustainability falls into every avenue of life, especially when it comes to clothing.
Kelbi Hall is the president and coordinator for the Patchwork Project, a club that was born from the SSC and focuses on extending the lifecycle of clothes by teaching students how to repair their own clothing and through hosting clothing swaps.
“If you have an old shirt or whatever piece of clothing that you don’t wear anymore, before you donate that to the thrift store, try and either fix it or upcycle it to make it something you would wear, or offer it to a friend,” Hall said. “(Keep) it in circulation instead of letting it become waste.”
Stadelmann, Conrad and Hall have worked on turning sustainability from a daunting responsibility into a community that focuses on allowing small acts to grow into meaningful impacts.
“Giving up on all hope isn’t an option,” Conrad said. “Don’t give up on hope. Don’t give up on the impact that you’re making.”
Reach Sophie Webb at life@collegian.com or on social media @sophgwebb.
