In August, the WashU Office of Sustainability kicked off a semester of student-driven environmental change with its SPARK leadership program. The program inspired a cohort of students to spread environmental stewardship throughout their networks and tailor the message to their communities’ needs.
Written by Office of Sustainability student associate, Meghan Jachna, Class of 2027. We are highlighting five prominent women who have positively shaped the environment and have inspired sustainability in profound ways. March is Women’s History Month, and we want to share the stories of women who have played an influential role in creating policies and […]
Environmental Studies’ Impact Internship program places a WashU student with Metropolitan Congregations United (MCU) to support their regional environmental justice work. Impact Intern, Allie Lively, shares a reflection on her semester working with MCU. During my internship with Metropolitan Congregations United (MCU) I noticed how little I initially knew about the environmental justice issues that […]
Written by Communications Associate, Jarea Fang It is a common trait among college students to love free food, which is probably why free food is present at almost all campus events. While hilarious, it’s also important to consider that a college student’s love of free food may be more complicated than we think, as food […]
Written by Communications Associate, Jarea Fang Climate change is a scary reality whether you’re on the leading edge of climate research or an individual experiencing the impacts of it. In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared climate change to be the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century. According to a 2021 […]
Pictured is Jasen Vest (far right) with some Sierra Club members during Metropolitan Congregation United’s 2022 Air Quality Bridge Rally . The rally was moved online to keep attendees safe in the sweltering heat. Vest was an Environmental Studies Impact intern during the summer of 2022. He shares his experience working at MCU below. While I did […]
ENST Impact Intern Applies Architecture Knowledge to Energy Burdens in St. Louis In the fall of 2021, Austin Tsailin served as a Renewable Energy & Affordable Housing Intern for Idleburg Consultants as part of Environmental Studies’ Impact Internship program. Austin reflects below on his experience as an impact intern, and how he applied knowledge from […]
During the spring semester of her junior year, Julia Feller, an intern with the Office of Sustainability, worked for The Nature Conservancy in Missouri. There, she created the St. Louis EcoUrban Assessment, an interactive project that maps environmental racism in our region. Using ArcGIS technology, she compiled, processed, and analyzed environmental and demographic data, and made a […]
On Sunday, April 18th, Office of Sustainability staff along with students from the Energy, Environment and Sustainability Internship Program participated in a clean up initiative at O’Fallon Park, located in North St. Louis City, less than a mile from the Mississippi River. The volunteer project was one of several Environmental Justice Days of Action, organized by earthday365, a local […]
Are you thinking of staying in St. Louis this summer? Are you searching for ways to get involved in the local sustainability scene? Do you need to practice social interaction after a year of pandemic-induced isolation? Look no further! St. Louis has tons of wonderful organizations working to center equity and sustainability in their activism, […]
Coffee is a luxury good, yet the average person living in the United States drinks around two cups a day. In 2010, 5,600 paper cups were disposed of every day at WashU, most of which were coffee cups. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the carbon footprint of drinking […]
The Origin of the Midwest Climate Summit On average, Midwest states lag behind the rest of the country on energy efficiency, decarbonization of the electric sector, transportation electrification, and green building. However, the Midwest is also home to states, cities, businesses, institutions, and organizations that are national climate leaders and can serve as models and […]
Wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, heat waves– all are making headlines as symptoms of a larger climate crisis. Although climate change used to be relegated to talks of future disaster, an increasing number of media outlets now recognize that the crisis is upon us, and that it is taking the shape of extreme weather that rocks communities […]
Director and producer of the 2019 documentary The Story of Plastic, Deia Schlosberg is an educator, activist, and journalist who graduated from WashU in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Earth & Planetary Sciences and a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Visual Communications. Then, after a two-year off-road, 7800-mile trek in the […]
Being stuck indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic has made many of us realize something tremendously important: Our closets are too big. The scheme of fast fashion, cheap and trendy clothing that are quick to produce and quick to become unstylish, has caused us to simultaneously buy and throw away at an increasingly quicker pace. In […]
The global mobilization for Black lives and racial justice that we are experiencing today brings us to take a close look at how our disciplines have been perpetuating white supremacy and racism. We are challenged to take every action possible to dismantle these mechanisms, and to ensure that the work we do deliberately and simultaneously […]
Updated February 2022: Bear Bites is no longer running and there is no plan to reopen. Dining Services maintains the Food Security Fund to ensure no students go without meals. Any questions regarding the Food Security Fund can be directed to diningservices@wustl.edu. According to a 2018 study published by Bon Appetit Management Company – WashU’s […]
Increasingly transparent and diffuse, environmental injustice is pervasive locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. Communities of color, as well as lower-income communities, witness a higher rate of environmental injustice, which imposes disproportionate economic, environmental, and health burdens on these communities. Increased awareness of the universality of environmental injustices helps foster advocacy and educational initiatives to advance […]
The Office of Sustainability, in partnership with the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, has helped with the planning of Engage STL, one of the four “themes” in the newly restructured Bear Beginnings program. Engage STL, like the WUGA program, provides incoming first-years with an important introduction […]
Improving food access for the city’s most vulnerable residents is one of the top priorities for the St. Louis Food Policy Coalition (STLFPC), a formal multi-stakeholder entity housed within the Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE). As part of this mission, MCE released the St. Louis Food Access Story Map to illustrate the patterns of […]
March 5 marked the end of WashU’s 9th annual Green Cup, with LeeBeau residential college coming in first place, and Brookings and HIG Residential Colleges coming in second and third place, respectively. For almost five weeks, Green Cup challenged residents of the South 40 to reduce their energy use, while engaging in a broad range […]
On the night of February 13th, Graham Chapel was packed with students anticipating the words of speaker Dr. Vandana Shiva, world-renowned environmental activist focused on GMOs, intellectual property rights, bioethics, women’s rights, and agriculture worker conditions in India and around the world. The talk came as a part of the Trending Topics series and brought […]
Officially founded in 1931, University College has the mission to give adult students the opportunity to experience the excitement of attending and earning a degree or certificate from a world-class research institution. As the professional and continuing education division of Arts & Sciences, UCollege offers tuition rates that are surprisingly affordable and competitive for everyone, […]
After years of back-and-forth between community members, grassroots organizations and government agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency has come to a final decision on their path forward for the West Lake Landfill Superfund Site. Located in Bridgeton, Missouri, only a 20-minute drive from campus, the West Lake Landfill is a problem that stretches back to the […]
Washington University in St. Louis is being recognized nationally for its institution-wide sustainability efforts: the school recently earned a gold STARS rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System) measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education. The university also landed in […]
This is the final section of a three-part interview with Melinda on her journey through the world of sustainability. You can find the first part of this interview series here. In this section, we discuss the impact that we can all make in our daily lives […]
This is the second of a three-part interview with Melinda on her journey through the world of sustainability. If you haven’t read the beginning of Melinda’s story, you can find the first part of her interview here. In this section, we discuss the WEA, its impact, and its future […]
Melinda Kramer graduated from WashU in 2003 with a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology and Environmental Studies. In addition to working with various NGO’s, such as CARE International, Pacific Environment, and the Natural Capital Institute, Melinda is best known for her founding of The Women’s Earth Alliance (WEA), a nonprofit that seeks to foster sustainability […]
Last Friday, nearly 40 members of the WashU community came together to talk about the connections between climate change, disasters, and displacement, to acknowledge the end of “Displaced: An Art Installation for Climate Justice.” Seniors Kristen Patino and Julia Widmann spearheaded the project, with the help of Fossil Free WashU and funding from the Student […]
Above: Students in the Sustainability Exchange visit Earth Dance Farms to learn about urban farming for their project that addressed food access. Browsing through WebSTAC for the right courses can be tricky, but luckily there are a few resources available to find courses related to environmental topics for this summer and fall. Recently, initiatives have […]
Above: “Barrel Mountain” by Jason Hargrove was inspired by his visit to the Weldon Springs toxic waste containment site where uranium was processed and stored. On February 1, the EPA released a record of the decision announcing its new proposal to remove radioactive waste from the West Lake Landfill. This removal strategy proposes the excavation of […]
On Thursday, February 15th, the rain didn’t stop students and community leaders in environmental justice from attending the Spring 2018 Environmental Justice Ice Cream Social – if anything it quickened their pace to the Brown School for an evening of presentations, ice cream, and internship-seeking. Nearly 80 students from across campus, undergraduates and graduates, gathered […]
2017 marks the 100th birthday of one of Washington University’s most notable alums: Barry Commoner. Commoner was a founder of modern ecology, and was influential in the creation of the EPA and development of foundational environmental legislation. Importantly, Commoner believed that one of the four rules of ecology, “everything is connected to everything else,” necessarily […]