The School of Global Environmental Sustainability sponsored a symposium Tuesday on modern sustainability issues in the Lory Student Center in honor of their 10th anniversary of being on the Colorado State University campus.
Throughout the day, the sponsors held panels to address the future of sustainability in our transitioning society. These panels included the future of sustainability through the perspective of new scientists, a discussion of the Green New Deal, how climate change can contribute to a growing lack of biodiversity and how to incorporate sustainability in leadership.
Ten years after the addition of SoGES to the CSU campus, there are now around 300 students involved in the GES minor from over 70 different majors, said Dale Lockwood, academic coordinator for the school.
“It is interdisciplinary and it is about learning how sustainability interconnects everything that we do,” Lockwood said. “Basically, whatever your major is, there is an element of sustainability to it.”
The past 10 years have signaled significant growth for SoGES, with a large expansion of their services and a diversification of the programs they offer, said Craig Starger, a researcher with SoGES. Now, there are different offices that offer advice on sustainability issues from a student’s perspective, even offering information to the U.N. in order to stimulate global policy change.
“We have grown like gangbusters over the 10 years that SoGES has been here, and frankly, there is plenty of room to grow even more,” Lockwood said. “This is something that many people are passionate about.”
SoGES is heavily involved in the Presidential Sustainability Commission, a commission charged by the president of CSU with pushing sustainability guidelines and policies, said Olivia Bruce, director of the Student Sustainability Center.
“Tony Frank is amazing and he is very supportive of sustainability on campus,” Bruce said.
Bruce added student voice and opinion regarding sustainability are very important. SSC meetings in Johnson hall allow students to discuss their concerns about on-campus sustainability or make suggestions on new policies.
“The SCC really likes to connect students to opportunities that they have,” Bruce said. “If they have a question, we want to have an answer. Even if we aren’t the answer, we want to be able to direct students to the right resources.”
Editor’s note: In a previous version of this article, it was incorrectly stated that there are 70 students involved in the GES minor, spanning eight colleges; according to Lockwood, 300 students involved in the GES minor from over 70 different majors.
Corbin Reiter can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter at @CorbinReiter
