Every semester the CEC leadership team crafts a vision statement that reflects our leaders’ goals, current events and campus needs. This is our vision statement for the 2020-2021 semester:
An accessible and interdisciplinary community focused on individual accountability and taking collective action to promote systemic change. We aim to remain adaptive and promote inclusive education that acknowledges past history to ensure an equitable and sustainable world.
The key concepts we honed in on during our discussion were accessibility, individual accountability, collective action, adaptivity and inclusive education.
The CEC works to be as accessible as possible and constantly reevaluate where we can improve accessibility. This semester we are recording our events to post to our website for those who cannot attend; finding new ways to engage our general members through virtual social events (check out our Facebook for our Oct. 8 social); and creating more entry-level sustainability resources for those new to the efforts.
“The Microfarm is dedicated to meeting the student’s need for accessible fresh produce through the UT outpost, as well as expanding our educational resources about food sustainability and food justice through dynamic means.” – Nikki Hammond & Sally Jung
“Half-Pint Prairie will reject environmental education’s problematic legacy of preferentially catering to white audiences by joining in solidarity with communities of color in their struggles. Continuing to perpetuate injustice in any form undermines any positive work we could hope to accomplish. As students who are privileged enough to be paid for our work, by student tuition through the Green Fund we are obligated to prioritize accessibility, be interdisciplinary, and create programming that is reflective of the values of the UT student community.” – Jack Rouse & Pranav Jayaraman
We are holding ourselves accountable this semester by promoting voting information, setting clear expectations and following up with people one-on-one.
To promote collective action, we are going to work on sharing action items after events, working with aligned organizations and thinking about how to reach the wider Austin community.
“The Environmental Justice Collective affirms the CEC’s vision to emphasize collective action and promote systemic change as ways to build a just and sustainable world. We seek to educate students about the systems that bind environmental degradation with human injustice, as well as how we can challenge them on our campus and beyond.” – Cerena Ermitanio & Srikari Punyamurtula
“Trash to Treasure’s Making Amends program aims to facilitate various phases of upcycling by providing the physical and online tools necessary for students to do so. We seek to promote sustainability through our collaborative and inclusive approach to more circular fashion design.” – Abbey Lehr & Diego Allison
We all know how chaotic 2020 has been. It has always been important to us to be an adaptable organization, but this year has tested our adaptability. We have moved all events virtual for the time being and will continue to find ways to connect with our community safely.
“Green Greeks, a student-led organization that encourages members of Greek life and other organizations to improve their sustainable habits and help educate those around them. We aim to help educate people on how to incorporate sustainability into their own lives through informational Zoom meetings and other resources. Anyone that is interested in learning about ways to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, would like to be a better advocate for the environment or is interested in potential leadership opportunities is more than welcome.” – Izi Munera
We aim to be a space any person can approach and learn something from us. Whether that person is just beginning on their sustainability journey, or they have made a career of it, we want our educational materials to be inclusive. We also keep our meetings open for anyone to join.
“Green Events plans to provide opportunities and resources to learn more about niche topics within the broad waste issue. The events and educational resources that Green Events creates will be accessible to anyone who can reach the Campus Environmental Center website and wants to easily inform themselves on waste. We aim to make this education inclusive by sharing stories of communities from underrepresented backgrounds who have been disproportionately impacted by any aspect of waste.” – Shreya Kabra
We hope to see you at one of our events! But if not, check out our website or sign up for our newsletter to keep up with us. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please email hello@utenvironment.org
Campus Environmental Center 