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 […]
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 […]
According to a 2018 study published by Bon Appetit Management Company – WashU’s main Dining provider – soaring tuition costs and inadequate financial aid have caused food insecurity among students to rise. The growing gap between students’ basic needs and what they can afford has forced many to sacrifice their basic needs in order to […]
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 […]
Washington University in St. Louis is pleased to support the 2019 Green the Church Summit by providing no-cost registration for a limited number of St. Louis community members, as well as university students, faculty, and staff. Green The Church (GTC) is a national initiative designed to tap into the power and purpose of the African […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 Student Sustainability […]
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 […]
The Office of Sustainability has launched a new portion of our website: the WashU Environmental Justice Initiative. The St. Louis region is home to some of the most egregious social and environmental disparities in the nation, from deep-seeded issues of prejudice to concentrated patterns of air pollution, asthma, and lead poisoning. The Office of Sustainability recognizes the […]