St. Michael’s environmental club, Green Up, created a new policy known as the “Sustainable Classroom Contract,” which has planted a way for people to be environmentally aware and active.
Students take charge
This contract has been a vision since last semester for Green Up and the Environmental Council which is a group of students, faculty, and staff working to tackle the environmental issues of today. The idea behind the contract is that it would contain a list of suggestions for living a lifestyle that would better the environment.
The list contains six primary initiatives and six secondary initiatives. The primary initiatives are designed to be easily adaptable for the individual, such as turning off the lights and recycling, a couple rules that come at no cost.
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Bosia said that less paper means less weight for students carrying backpacks.
(Photo by Lucia Suarez)
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Senior Dan Hock, a member of Green Up who helped create the contract, said it was based largely on levels of commitment.
Josh Wronski, a sophomore and Green Up member, drafted the contract in December. Members of Green Up as well as the Environmental Council, notably, professor Marybeth Redmond of the journalism department, edited and perfected it. Afterwards, Hock, along with fellow Green Up members seniors Dan Sandberg and Derek Souza, revised it once more before the final draft went out to the St. Michael’s community.
“I think a lot of people on this campus would say global warming is real and that it is human caused,” Hock said. “But we see a disconnect between that and how our personal decisions cause that global warming.”
“Our goal with this is to kind of spur people’s interest in how they can make personal changes and decisions that will affect that,” he added.
A part of the classroom
The contract’s existence is heavily due to anthropology and gender studies professor Patricia Delaney’s Sustainable Development class from last spring, Sandberg said.
The contract has not only caught the eyes of a few professors on campus, but has also made its way into their teaching. Economics professor Reza Ramazani decided to link it to his class: Environmental Issues.
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Bosia's classroom utilizes natural light.
(Photo by Lucia Suarez)
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“We’re using economic models in order to measure both cause and the benefit of some of the environmental issues,” Ramazani said.
Printing out fewer papers has a health benefit for students who don’t need to carry the extra weight in their backpacks, political science professor Michael Bosia said.
Bosia also implemented the contract in his classrooms.
The contract does not call for professors to force all the rules upon their students. In fact, they can choose. Bosia emphasizes printing double-sided and shortening margins as well as using reusable mugs. He said his classrooms run on “natural light.”
Ramazani has those rules as well, and takes it a step further by giving his students—not only an economic incentive—but also an academic incentive by adding a few points on final exams of students who demonstrate consistent sustainability practices.
The future of green learning
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Students are encouraged to use reusable mugs.
(Photo by Lucia Suarez)
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The only negative feedback brought to the attention of Green Up and the Environmental Council, is the mention of “turning off” the computers. The Information Technology department said that turning off computers before each class would slow down the process for the next class and use up more energy than necessary.
IT is probably going to set up double-sided printing and greener technology, Souza said.
“They’re going to set up some infrastructure where they can turn off all the comps at night from one hub,” he said.
In the meantime, Green Up, the Environmental Council, active professors and students said they hope the contract will continue to spread across the St. Michael’s community.
“You don’t have to be an environmentalist to follow these rules,” Sandberg said.
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