Below you will find Austin Gee's description of his "Sustainability Talks”" program, how it works, and its goals.  If you are involved in something similar, let us know by emailing Marta Brill.

Austin Gee
Costa Rica Summer '06

Sustainability Talks are my response to the challenge we were given at the end of the session: "What are you going to do with what you have learned?"

I said that I was going to make Albion College more sustainable.

The first step was to identify five different areas of sustainability at Albion College. We chose composting out of our cafeteria, recycling on campus, organic foods/gardening, energy usage, and the new Ethanol plant here in Albion.

Next, we created teams of students (about 7 each term) to present information on these topics on periodic Sundays throughout the semester. These teams of students also have their own faculty or staff advisor who is there to assist the students in any way they can. There have been more professors and staff members interested in playing this role then there are teams!

Each talk consists of the student team presenting and then a few moments of initial gut reactions from everybody. This allows people to speak their mind and heart about the topic. Following a short break, some people will stay and discuss the options for Albion College in more detail, addressing some of the questions and concerns brought up during the reflection time.

The philosophy of the talks comes directly from my time living sustainably down in Costa Rica. My time down there taught me that if the expectation in a certain place mandates that you are going to be sustainable and environmentally sustainable, then it is easy to do so!  There was some griping for the first couple of days, but after that, we just got used to it! It was what we were there to do. I want that on Albion's campus. I want our first-year students to show up and discover that they are expected to not waste water, or to compost, and recycle, etc. These talks are part educational campaign and part social-norming campaign. I want the culture on campus to faciliate sustainable living.

The composting team went recently, and we had over 30 students, staff, faculty and administers present to listen to Albion's options for composting out of our cafeteria! Everyone had a wonderful time learning something and discussing what they thought was possible.  The director of our dining services was present, and so was the director of our grounds department. Both were key voices that needed to be at the table.

I am very grateful to the 35 or so students who have joined the teams and been very supportive and energized about the whole thing! I could not have done all of this on my own.