On Thursday, Feb. 20, the USG Sustainability Committee (SUSCOM) held their first major meeting of the year with 40 members in attendance. At the meeting, SUSCOM Chair Daniel Powell briefed the committee on the progress SUSCOM projects have made in the last 20 weeks. The committee also brainstormed projects for the rest of this year and next year.
“Last night, the idea was to bring everybody back together and brainstorm,” said Powell. “The theme was this: there are forces constraining what is possible, but the biggest constraint is our perception of what is possible.”
According to Powell, nine out of 43 projects on this year’s project list have been completely finished. The rest of the projects are currently in-progress and most of them are almost finished.
These projects address issues on campus such as bicycling and transportation, Greek Life composting and recycling, gardening, solar energy, divestment from fossil fuels, sustainable food, water conservation and hosting sustainability events.
Starting last fall, Powell arranged for SUSCOM to become the umbrella group for all “green” student groups, including the DU Environmental Team (DUET), Divest DU and Students for Sustainable Food.
“Sustainability in terms of student activity has been fractured in past years,” said Powell. “The idea was to bring all those groups together under one group. Especially with SUSCOM having the funding, it made sense. Now it’s more streamlined and better for everybody. The idea is to work less and do more.”
SUSCOM receives funding from university fees, according to Powell. Every undergraduate student pays a $16 green student fee as part of his or her student activity fees. This means the total budget for SUSCOM varies based on student enrollment, but this year it is roughly $90,000.
This year, Powell also decided not to have standing weekly meetings, because he did not think they accomplished enough. He said the new model was for SUSCOM to meet once or twice per quarter. During the rest of the quarter, sustainability groups meet on their own and check in with Powell or his successor, third-year student Wyeth Seidel. Then SUSCOM sends out weekly email updates.
“Nobody needs to go to more meetings,” said Powell. “It’s better to use that time for the projects instead of sitting around updating each other.”
With the new model, SUSCOM passes a budget for each project at the beginning of the quarter instead of voting on every expense.
Another change to the SUSCOM bylaws allows the current chair to choose their own successor. The chair no
longer needs to be a USG senator, but they do need to be a member of USG. Powell selected Seidel to be his successor after working with him on sustainability initiatives.
“He’s definitely going to get a lot of stuff done. He’s got big plans,” said Powell.
According to Powell, some of the plans for next year include introducing a solar power golf cart on campus, creating more community gardens and hosting more farmers markets.
As part of SUSCOM, Powell is also a member of the DU Center for Sustainability, which falls under the Provost’s Sustainability Council.
On Wednesday, Feb. 19, Sustainability Coordinator Chad King sent a university-wide email asking members of the DU community to fill out a survey about sustainability at DU.
“The DU Center for Sustainability is revising the university’s sustainability plan that outlines key goals and milestones to help our campus reach carbon neutrality by 2050,” said King in the email.
Powell said the sustainability plan was last updated five years ago, but they are moving to a three-year model.
“We’re trying to get opinions across campus that will be incorporated in the three-year plan,” said Powell. “If 75 percent of students want something, based on that survey, it will be a lot easier for us to push it through with the new chancellor.”
Powell ultimately expressed his enthusiasm for the direction SUSCOM is taking.
“It’s in good hands and they have a lot of great activities planned,” he said.
