Editorial: How to sustain success as a green institution

Seattle University's done it again, earning recognition as a Campus Sustainability Leader from the Sustainable Endowments Institute.

It's unsurprising: in our little tuck of the Emerald City, locally grown food graces many of the plates in C-Street, pesticide-free bushes trim the walkways and silvery solar panels shine off the top of the Student Center.


We've seen the school tout its green ribbons all over press releases and admissions viewbooks, and deservedly so. The administration has made some progressive strides and wise decisions when it comes to environmental sustainability, from expanding the composting program to shooting for LEED Gold in all of the new buildings.


But what about the students?

At Seattle U, it's easy to fill up that reusable mug you got for free at the beginning of the year or to toss a newspaper in a little blue basket without really knowing why. And that's the problem: convenience without a thought leads to complacency without a thought. If students are trashing compostable material just because the compost bins are 10 feet out of the way, we clearly aren't being eco-conscious.

If students are so passive about "being green" that it ends once they're paying for recycling pick-up themselves, we aren't practicing anything sustainable. If we can't explain our choices, can't engage with them and can't develop new ones out of the unique student perspective that the administration doesn't have, then we're not being sustainability "leaders," and we won't be until we realize that the school's identity in this issue ultimately reflects on us all.


"Sustainable" doesn't mean watching "An Inconvenient Truth" and carrying around organic cotton shopping bags. "Sustainable" simply means "able to be maintained or continued," and students need to play their own part to ensure that our progress in environmental stewardship is maintained. This school can't just keep holding our hands and making sure it puts waste in the right receptacle.

We need to take care of the dirty business ourselves.

Reach the editorial board at opinion@su-spectator.com.