In late October, 27 Carleton students, four staff members, and several faculty members attended the annual Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Conference in Minneapolis! This large conference attracted students and staff from colleges and universities across the country to come together around campus sustainability issues. The conference featured an all-day student summit on Sunday October 25, and three days of workshops, tours, case studies, panel discussions, exhibits, and keynote addresses. Many Carleton student participants attended talks and breakout sessions on such topics as behavioral change, the fair trade movement, and national collaboration. In addition to attending Sunday’s student summit, 5 Carleton students presented on both Monday, October 26 and Tuesday, October 27 on a variety of topics.
CCCE Fellows Sarah Goldman (‘18; Environmental Studies), Claire Kelloway (‘16; Political Science), Shira Kaufman (‘16; Sociology and Anthropology), and Emma Vinella-Brusher (‘16; Environmental Studies) gave presentations on Carleton food recovery and sustainability programs. Director of Sustainability Martha Larson also gave three presentations, and Professor Melissa Melissa Eblen-Zayas joined Larson to give a poster session on their collaborative public scholarship work.
Kelly Scheuerman, CCCE Program Director for Civic Engagement Pathways who oversees fellows and programs on food, energy, and environment topics, said student, faculty, and staff engagement is important at these conferences to promote sharing “best practices in their field or areas of interest so they can learn and anticipate any pitfalls and challenges in the implementation of their ideas.” In addition, she noted that “conferences like this can inspire new ideas or revitalize old ones in order to take the necessary steps to become a greener campus.”
Students from different class years, areas of study, and program affiliations enjoyed learning and sharing knowledge at the AASHE conference. Fellow Emma Vinella-Brusher, who is passionate about transportation sustainability, said she developed “a ton of great ideas for programs/initiatives to implement, both on Carleton’s campus and in Northfield,” including a faculty and staff “bike-share” pilot program she hopes to launch in the spring. First-year student and volunteer with the CCCE’s Kids for Conservation program, Sarah Ogle, was excited to attend her first conference and “wanted to learn more about sustainability and how students can get involved.” She was inspired to see “students from all across the country . . . gather to learn about this issue.” Another first year student and KFC volunteer, Juliette Bobrow, also expressed her excitement to connect with other college students about sustainability: “Being a novice when it comes to the administrative functioning of a college campus as a first year student, I decided to attend to AASHE Conference to hear ideas about how to implement effective sustainable practices within the very specific environment of a college campus.” Juliette met students from other college and universities who gave her ideas on building a successful zero waste campus program, and she hopes to apply these ideas at Carleton. A student involved in many campus environmental organizations, Natalie Jacobson ’18, organized the group of students who attended the AASHE conference. Natalie noted how exciting it was to have such a large group of first-year students attend, explaining that “the conference served as a wonderful opportunity to start developing new sustainability leaders at Carleton and share ideas and enthusiasm.”
To learn more about opportunities to get involved with CCCE food, energy, and environment programs, visit the links below. For more information about the AASHE Conference and sustainability on campus, visit the Carleton Sustainability Office’s website and post about the conference.