Student Council representatives last Sunday elected second-year College student Sheffield Hale and fourth-year College student Garrett Trent to lead this year's University Unity Project, which will focus on environmental sustainability.
"We hope to give student groups that are concerned about environmental issues a little extra backing," said Nikhil Panda, Council vice president of administration. "That way it will be clear that a lot of people are concerned about the issues at hand."
The project's goal is not only to promote and advance sustainability, but also to bring different people together who usually would not come together to promote a cause, Hale said.
If Council is to accomplish its sustainability goals, however, it may have to overcome a mountain of community resistance. According to professional consultant David Ropeik, who has written about how to encourage environmental sustainability, it remains difficult for both student and national leaders to persuade people to alter their habits to benefit - not harm - the environment.
"There's a gap between the risk we face [of global warming and pollution], a risk we understand and a risk we actually feel," he said. "Surveys show that most people are aware of the dangers, but they can't act on that awareness."
Therefore, Ropeik said, the most effective way to encourage environmental sustainability is to turn abstract scientific ideas into real, localized programs and initiatives to which community members can respond.
Council's committee, though, is still planning what it will do to promote sustainability on Grounds and does not yet have any concrete plans in place.
"We're still in the stage of brainstorming and bouncing around ideas," Hale said, noting that University Unity Project participants will meet again Sunday to discuss more specific goals they hope to tackle this year.
Regardless of whether Council's project remains in an ideational phase or is able to promote an effective sustainability program, Urban and Environmental Planning Prof. Timothy Beatley said he believes any effort to expand environmental awareness is a worthwhile endeavor. He also added that he thinks University students mostly have been successful in their efforts thus far to push for increased sustainability.
"Programs [like this one] can really contribute to the push for sustainability," Beatley said.
He noted, though, that initiatives such as environmental sustainability should be lifelong commitments, not a short-term ones.
"It shouldn't be the fashion choice of the year," he said.
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