The Environmental Club began at the SLCC Taylorsville Redwood campus in the fall of 2009 and has been awarded by Student Clubs and Organizations with “Best New Club of the Year.”
“Society is at an essential point in history where the human impacts of our actions are starting to catch up to us. We are starting to realize the negative effect of oil spills, deforestation, urban expansion, and globalization,” said Todd Lehman, Vice President of the Environmental Club.
The Environmental Club at SLCC was created to bring more awareness of environmental concerns to students and the community. The mission of the club is to get students and the community more involved in environmental issues and therefore anyone can join. Since the club started, there have been more than 90 members that have joined.
Through the Environmental Club, members hope to bring knowledge to SLCC students and the community to make changes for a positive impact on the world.
At the Taylorsville Redwood campus, the Environmental Club has put up demonstrations in the past to encourage students to think critically about their lives environmentally. The first demonstration was two trees that were covered with plastic bottles collected within a few days from the Taylorsville Redwood Campus. There were over a few hundred bottles between the two trees. The second demonstration took place inside the SLCC student center. An enormous blue tarp was covered with plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The blue tarp was used to represent the ocean. The cans and aluminum were used to represent the pool of plastic that is being generated by ocean currents.
“Our ocean literally is becoming a swirling soup of plastic. It’s really disheartening,” Lehman said.
Along with demonstrations, the Environmental Club holds weekly meetings. The meetings are held to get student’s opinions about environmental issues and what students are personally doing to help. Each officer of the Environmental Club holds their own meetings to allow students with strict schedules the freedom to attend any of the meeting times. Students can check the schedule for meeting times and the location of the meetings on the club website at enviroclub.org/calendar.
The Environmental Club will be supporting their community through a few fundraising sales of eco-friendly products on campus such as the “801” mug. When re-used at a local coffee shop, coffee shops will give students a discount for being environmentally friendly by re-using their mug. Environmental Club t-shirts, which are 100 percent organic and are printed with environmentally friendly ink will also be for sale. These are just a couple of items that will be for sale at the fundraisers.
The Environmental Club is trying to accomplish a trip to Africa called “Project Navongo”. The purpose of this trip will be to teach a community of Navongo in Ghana about environmental values.
“We need all the help we can get in this endeavor from students. We know Africa is of great distance, but one of our clubs’ goals is to spread environmental awareness wherever needed,” said Lehman.
Another goal of the Environmental Club is to promote recycling on campus by working with the Sustainability Committee. The Sustainability Committee is known for environmental endeavors such as recycling and community gardens.
“One person can make a difference and when two people get together they can make an even greater difference. Not only does The Environmental Club need your [students] help, the world needs your help as well,” Lehman said.
If students are interested in learning more about the Environmental Club, becoming a member, or learning about new projects, students can visit the club website at enviroclub.org.