With an incoming university president and an unmatched student interest in protecting the environment, Students for Ecological and Environmental Development is out to prove that they’re in full bloom.
Riding what he called a “wave of student support” for the environmental cause, SEED incoming co-chair Sam Eckland said “the moment is now.”
“The student body especially right now is really on board with this and is looking for a greener university,” said the Weinberg junior. “We’re taking the lead as SEED to facilitate it and create ways to mobilize a student voice and present the administration with actionable solutions.”
With a line-up of spring events and two new incoming co-chairs, SEED is stepping up its on-campus visibility. Philfest, the group’s annual bluegrass benefit concert, is set for May 17, and Eckland said SEED members are pushing to expand the event.
“More so than before, we’re trying to turn it into a green kind of festival with tables set up of different student groups, local organizations, give-aways and arranging some free food,” he said.
An upcoming spring lecture series called “Environment and Religion” is in the works, and SEED is making arrangements for a campus-wide “Sustainability Pledge,” where students will be asked to fill out postcards and commit to “simple ways to reduce their environmental footprint,” Eckland said.
Mt. Trashmore, SEED’s latest collaborative effort with other on-campus organizations, shows that SEED isn’t shy about getting their hands dirty.
Headed by Facilities Management, SEED alongside other campus organizations including Engineers for a Sustainable World, Environmental Campus Outreach at Hillel and the Sustainability Working Group, collects trash for six hours on Earth Day, April 22, and piles the waste in front of Lunt Hall. The event, which began last year, is intended to demonstrate Northwestern’s waste production. Many SEED members collect trash for the event, while ESW builds the frame on which the trash is mounted, Eckland said.
Eckland and Communication sophomore Elisa Redish, the other incoming co-chair, both credit SEED’s growth to last year’s co-chairs, Weinberg senior Jesse Sleamaker and Weinberg sophomore Emily Wright. Wright said she and Sleamaker focused on restructuring SEED’s executive board while reaching out for opportunities to collaborate with other environmental organizations.
“Coming in, the exec really didn’t exist,” she said. “Formalizing executive positions and making sure people knew exactly what their responsibilities (were) brought a lot of structure.”
While Wright acknowledged that restructuring SEED ran the risk of alienating some of its members, she said SEED “tried to strike a balance” between a resource for advocates and a social community.
Chelsea Baldino, an environmental science and economics sophomore who became involved with SEED last year, said she was in support of SEED’s expansion.
“An expanding organization just shows that there’s expanding interest,” she said.
Redish said she hoped to continue that legacy of collaboration, but also to focus her efforts on off-campus advocacy for national and state legislation.
“We did do some (off-campus advocacy) before, but it was very difficult to do that and on-campus advocacy,” she said. “But it’s a big goal of ours – to be involved in the larger movement so we’re not stuck in the Evanston bubble.”
