Students gathered in front of Brooks Hall on Friday, Sept. 27, they were not there just because it was lunch time; rather, they were there to spread awareness about the climate crisis. Several environmental groups on campus, such as Food Recovery Network, Geology Club and Green Students of Color Society hosted the Day of Climate Awareness, an event to educate students on the importance of sustainability and conservation on campus. The event featured demonstrations of the Bike Share’s smoothie bike, an array of stones from the Geology Club and a recycling sorting game from Green SOCS.
“Since Allegheny is a carbon neutral campus, I think this (Day of Climate Awareness) is an important part of that,” said Food Recovery Network President Sofia Hassan, ’25. “Just becoming aware of the climate and what you can do to keep it good, reduce consumption, things like that.”
Hassan said FRN works to collect food that is not distributed at dining halls and delivers it to community partners. FRN also maintains the Food Resource Center for students facing food insecurity, located on the third floor of the Henderson Campus Center.
“There’s so many things that go into climate, like riding a bike instead of taking a car,” Hassan said. “I think events like these are important to get people thinking about how they can do their part in the green campus and being green in their daily lives.”
Hydroponics and Leading Coordinator for FRN and Public Relations Chair for Green SOCS Lorna Becker, ’27, also highlighted the importance of the event. Green SOCS’ table at the Day of Climate Awareness had a sorting game, which sourced various recyclable items from inside of Brooks, and encouraged students to learn more about what materials are recyclable or not. Becker said it was the perfect analogy for why groups like Green SOCS exist on campus.
“Half of it was in the trash and half of it was in the recycling, which goes to show right there why we need a game like this,” Becker said. “It’s also kind of just to bring awareness to what we do as a club because we not only do this, but we do a lot of field trips, we have a lot of guest speakers, and we want kids to just know about it.”
Green SOCS and Students for Environmental Action worked in tandem to bring the event to fruition. According to SEA President Elsa Waidelich, ’25, it is a re-imagining from its previous form, which was known as “Climate Strike Day.” This transition was to instill a clearer goal for the event and future events going forward, Waidelich said.
“It wasn’t like a, ‘we are protesting this,’” Waidelich said. “But it was more like a, ‘We all know this is an issue. What are some things we can do about it on campus and on a local scale?’”
In addition to the Day of Climate Awareness, Waidelich still feels there is a lot more to be done. Many clubs are already aiming to make students more attentive to their usage of items. For example, SEA is currently working on new methods of effective recycling on campus and how to educate students on composting. However, there’s also the hope for the future when these initiatives are successfully implemented. With events like the recent #SporkTheQuad hosted by the Office of Sustainability, students can get educated on the importance of reusable items and how they play a role in becoming more sustainable.
“The information that’s presented is often the doom and gloom,” Waidelich said. “Everything’s terrible and it’s gonna fall apart, which is partially true because a lot of things are kind of a mess. But, that’s kind of counterproductive if that’s your only message. So, I feel like part of what I wanted to see with this event was just like, ‘Hey, there are things you can do.’”
There are plenty of ways students can become involved in environmental efforts. In the future, SEA plans to host more cleanup events around campus, as well as general meetings that any one can attend. Bike Share is always available for students who want a quick method of transportation. Food Recovery Network is also looking for anyone to help out with food conservation efforts.
“We have general meetings, which people don’t always find the most interesting since it’s on a Thursday night, and not that many people want to go to that,” Waidelich said. “But, if we have people go to that, we can make more things happen. We have to have the planning meetings to get to the events.”
