As director of sustainability at ETSU, Kathleen Moore knows that she can have an impact far beyond campus.
“You’re inheriting our mess,” Moore said of younger generations. “You’re going to be here a lot longer than me, and you guys are going to have to come up with solutions, which is why it’s important to care about [climate change].”
That’s why, with the help of the EcoNuts – a student organization that helps plan and operate sustainability initiatives on campus – they started the Ted Taco-thon. For the last three years, they’ve hosted the monthly event, which features free tacos and Ted Talks on environmental issues, in hopes of engaging more of the student population and inspiring them to take action on climate issues.
“You kind of think students don’t really care,” EcoNut Madison Huber said of climate issues.
But, that may be changing – at least on ETSU’s campus.
In April, ETSU played host to the university’s inaugural “Earth Day Fair,” which featured several ETSU organizations, as well as outside organizations, with hopes of bringing more awareness to the effects of climate change on campus. And while the university has hosted some Earth Day celebration for the past two decades, April’s event saw hundreds of students not just perusing the tents and table set ups and grabbing free swag, but engaging with student and faculty leaders on environmental issues.
“More than anything, we just want students to get engaged, get involved and get excited about sustainability,” organizer Cierra Linka told the East Tennessean in April.
“It was awesome,” Huber said of the April event. “There were a lot of people that showed up, and that made us happy.”
Moore, who’s been with the university of over two decades, said the event got a lot of students interested, but that they still have to figure out ways to get them involved.
Students “have to push our legislators” on climate issues, Moore said, adding that she hopes to get more students engaged on not just a university level but a regional and national one as well.
Earlier this month, Hurricane Dorian decimated the Bahamian islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco as a category five, while reported wildfires in the Amazon Rainforest have increased 77% from 2018. And while the Tri-Cities, largely, haven’t felt the impacts of extreme weather events, that doesn’t mean the Tri-Cities shouldn’t be concerned or preparing to handle the effects.
“We’re like the sweet-spot they say, but here’s what’s going to happen: People who live down in Miami [Florida], on the coast, the middle of South Carolina where it’s so hot they can’t stand it, they’re going to come here, and we need to be prepared for that,” Moore said. “We’re seeing the effects [of climate change here], but it isn’t that visual ‘here’s a hurricane or flooding,’ but it’s all happening here now. … I think we need to talk about the bigger picture, and try and localize it.”
Scientists believe powerful hurricanes are driven by rising water temperatures, and climate change also increases endless wildfire season killing dozens and torching millions of acres across the world. Things we see like mosquitos here year-round, explosion of ticks, rising asthma rates and extreme heat are all things Moore says are attributed to climate change.
“Our summers are [getting] hotter here, so it’s about trying bring it locally and then take it [big picture],” Moore added. “That’s what we’re trying to do – saying, ‘Yes, we are experiencing it here.’”
In April 2020, the Department of Sustainability will be holding another, larger Earth Day Fair for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The organization will also hold a series of events for Sustainability Week in November. On Saturday, they’ll also be holding a climate advocate training led by the Citizens Climate Lobby in Rogers-Stout Hall room 125 at 10 a.m.
“[This] is what our job is here at the university: To educate and inspire people toward action,” Moore said. “That’s why it’s important.”
For more information of the EcoNuts or the ETSU Department of Sustainability, visit https://www.etsu.edu/sustainability/default.php.
