Mary-Lynn Zweers
Steven Marx
English 145
24, May 2007
Sustainability: A Conscious Decision
YouÕre a Cal Poly student and everyday you have the same routine. Upon reaching the campus each morning, you drive around the parking lot with your eyes peeled for an open spot. Your neutral expression soon fades into frustration, which quickly switches to panic as you check your watch. Yet again the battle of finding parking on campus has made you late for class. At around noon, you head into Campus Market and buy enough waters to last the week. Without thinking twice you walk out with them in a plastic bag and head to the parking lot. You chug one of the waters and toss it into a recyclable before hopping into your car to make the five-minute drive home. This is how many students live their lives at Cal Poly: unaware of the impact theyÕre having on the environment. Cal Poly prides itself with many sustainable programs, however most students fail to live sustainably. While there is an attempt to raise environmental awareness in students here at Cal Poly, our program falls short in motivating us to change the way we live. Although Cal Poly has made huge strides towards sustainability through many programs on campus, the majority of students donÕt live sustainably once theyÕre living on their own. The programs at Cal Poly are designed to make sustainable living convenient; however once students leave campus they are the ones that must make the decision to live sustainably. Cal Poly needs a program to not only teach students how to live sustainably off campus, but motivate change in studentsÕ outlook on life as well. CCAT, a sustainable program at Humboldt State, serves as an example for a way to promote sustainability and encourage environmental change. Through CCATÕS Òdemonstration homeÓ Humboldt students learn how to live sustainable lives and are passionate about doing so. Adopting a similar program at Cal Poly would teach students to live more sustainably: changing their motivation for doing so from a convenient to a conscious decision.
Cal
Poly is involved in numerous projects that promote sustainability, however many
are designed in such a way that manipulate us into living sustainably, instead
of educating us on the importance of sustainability and allowing us to make the
decision to do so. As President
Warren Baker stated, Òit is at the core of our mission to examine ways in which
knowledge may be applied to improve society, manage scarce resources and preserve
the precious environmental values that support us physically as a species and
uplift us spiritually.Ó In 2001
Cal Poly developed its ÒMaster PlanÓ which is dedicated to ÒgreeningÓ our
campus or making it more sustainable.
One of the items in the Master Plan Òcalls for a reduction in commuter automobile
trips by at least 25% by 2020.Ó (Biennial Progress Report) Between the Fall Quarter 2002 and 2005,
the number of permits sold went from 7774 down to 5629. (Biennial Progress
Report) Cal Poly successfully reduced the number of commuters by reducing the
number of parking spaces and increasing the amount for a parking permit. This movement has in effect been
positive and great for the environment, however it hasnÕt changed our attitudes
towards more efficient ways of transportation. Less parking spots and higher permit prices will keep
automobile commuting down but mostly because students are either unwilling to
pay the high price for a permit or donÕt want to deal with the stress of having
to find parking. The program makes
sustainability convenient by making parking inconvenient, but this movement
would be dramatically improved if Cal Poly continually stressed the importance
of more sustainable transportation.
In 2004 Cal Poly came up with OPTIONS a Òcampaign to encourage commuters
to use alternatives to single-occupancy automobiles.Ó (Biennial Progress
Report) This campaign could be
expanded and improved with more advertising. To motivate change, campaigns such as OPTIONS should be more
encouraged.
As
the voice of the student body, Cal Poly ASI, is responsible for many of the
sustainability projects that Cal Poly has taken on. Last year, ASI dedicated the month of January to the theme
ÒSustainability: Resolve to Change Your World.Ó In an ASI press release, descriptions of the events included,
speakers, films, and a variety of clubs all devoted to sustainability. Then ASI president Tyler Middlestadt
stated, ÒThis event is about encouraging our generation to explore critical
issues facing the world today by increasing our understanding and taking
decisive action to make a positive impact.Ó ASI supports actions taken on by Cal Poly to increase
sustainability such as, ÒUtilizing passive solar energy and technology,
improving indoor air quality, promoting conservation of energy and resources, increasing
the recycling of solid waste and grey water, implementing waste water treatment
and processing systems, defining all possible ways of recycling waste generated
on CSU campuses into energy or food for other industrial or biological systems
contained within the campus.Ó (In Support of CSU Sustainability Policy) ASI is also responsible for bringing
awareness to the student body about the importance of sustainability. Two years ago ASI put together a
handbook titled, Guide to Sustainable Living. A guide to help students
live more efficiently is a great idea-if itÕs accessible. When the guide was
first published a few years ago 150 copies were distributed to each college,
however, since itÕs no longer in the hands of ASI, every copy has been given out,
and even the Library has misplaced its copies, even the most determined to find
this Guide to Sustainable Living
might not. If this guide isnÕt
easy to get at, it isnÕt effective.
However, if ASI republished and distributed their Guide each year, more
people would have access to it and its message of sustainability. In addition to a Guide, Cal Poly
students need a program that not only advocates, but also demonstrates
sustainable living.
Humboldt
State University has a well-established student run program devoted entirely to
the promotion of sustainability. CCAT, Campus Center for Appropriate
Technology, is a unique program, which demonstrates sustainable living in a
residential setting. CCAT, which
has gained the support of HSU faculty, staff and surrounding community members,
is located on campus in a sustainable home, run primarily by the live-in
co-directors. Developed in 1978 as
an experiment, the environmentally friendly home produces close to zero waste
and consumes less than 5% of the energy used by the typical American household.
CCAT strives to educate students at HSU with their mission statement that
refutes Òthe myth that living lightly on the earth is difficult or
burdensome.Ó Much like ASI, CCAT
helps run numerous sustainability projects on HSU campus including: the
amplification of recycling, composing, usage of energy-efficient light bulbs,
double-sided printing labs, and ROSE, a project that focuses on the collection
and redistribution of un-used school supplies. Upcoming CCAT projects to promote water-efficient techniques
include; rainwater catchments, greywater marsh, and a
composting
toilet. Projects run by CCAT
support communal sharing, a dominant theme in Native American culture. Through CCAT, students at HSU
gain the tools they need to live a sustainable life, and as students graduate
and settle down into the surrounding community their attitude towards the
environment is further shaped by society.
Just as any other culture influences an individual, the culture of the
community surrounding HSU influences its members. Although the population of Humboldt County is predominantly
white, much of the culture reflects that of Native American. Therefore, there is a lot of pressure
to be environmentally aware, use what you have, and generally live a
sustainable life.
CCAT co-director
Beckie Menton explained, ÒWe have it easy in Arcata, CA. Many people
around here, including students, are incredibly hip to the environmental
lifestyle. Solar panels and thermal heating units dot many of the roofs
of this area, and resource conservation tends to be second nature (i.e.
backpacks and cloth bags brought from home instead of shopping bags, biking,
bringing your own cup instead of using a reusable, etc). The farmers
market and the local agriculture found there is a big hit.Ó According to Beckie Menton, ÒWe are the
only local place where people can gain hands on experience in appropriate
technology, gardening, natural building. We offer an appropriate
technology database, including a library, free and open to the public. It
would be difficult to find anywhere comparable in the CSU or UC system.Ó
Cal Poly is
capable of creating a sustainable structure and did so with the Solar
Declathlon House. Winning third
place in the international competition sponsored by the US Department of
Energy, it stood as a 650 square foot home powered entirely by solar energy. Cal
Poly is also constantly constructing more on-campus housing in the effort to
lower automobile commuting. ÒBy
2008-09, the much larger Poly Canyon Village will be available. At that time, there will be housing for
over 6000 students on campus, about one third of the total population.Ó (Biennial
Progress Report) Devoting
one of the new Poly Canyon Village residences to sustainability would make a
huge impact on the residentsÕ attitudes towards sustainable living. CCAT may
have been the Òfirst student run demonstration home for appropriate technology
in this countryÓ but Cal Poly should be next.
Cal Poly as a
campus is making huge environmental change, but individually we must take on
sustainability in our daily lives.
Living sustainably may not be second nature for all of us yet, but with more education on the subject of
sustainability, encouragement to be environmentally aware, and an example of
sustainable living to follow, our attitudes will be renewed. We need motivation to change the way we
live now, so we will live
sustainable lives after college,
and itÕs up to us to change our attitudes about how to live. We must choose to live the right way, and in the famous words of Mahatma
Gandhi, "You must be the change you wish to
see in the world."
Works Cited
1.
"Associated Students, Inc." ASI Cal Poly. Cal Poly
University. 24 May 2007 <http://www.asi.calpoly.edu/>.
2.
Lowe, Bonnie, and Michael Multari. "Sustainability At Cal
Poly." Biennial Prrgress Report 2006. Facilities Planning and
Capital Projects. 24 May 2007
<http://www.facilities.calpoly.edu/campusprojects/projects/sustainability/SusInd06.pdf>.
3.
Lucero, Matthew. "CCAT's Stratigic Plan." CCAT.
Humboldt State University. 24 May 2007
<http://www.humboldt.edu/~ccat/sp/strategicplan.html>.
4.
Newton, Lisa H. Ethics and Sustainability. Upper Saddle River,
New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2003.
5.
Personal Interview with Beckie Menten, CCAT Co-Director