Loyola community involved in environmental issues on and off campus
by Elizabet Travis, A'05, Intern in the Offices of Public Affairs and Publications
The Loyola community has long been concerned about the environment and its importance in shaping the quality of our lives. This realization has manifested into positive, proactive initiatives, both in recycling and environmental consciousness-raising to course offerings to students and training for communications professionals to involvement of student groups in environmental activities.
Loyola's comprehensive approach to the environment permeates through facilities and departments, crossing almost every discipline. Primary among these is the Environmental Studies Minor Program (ENVA), the Center for Environmental Communications, and the School of Law's budding environmental program, which now has an eminent scholar whose mission is to examine how environmental laws are made and how they affect citizens' everyday lives.
Student groups, too, are involved in the effort to raise awareness of environmental issues and garner participation. From faculty, staff, and students, everyone has gotten involved in making the environment a concern. And because of their efforts, the future looks a little brighter and a little greener.
University Recycling Efforts
Ann Tregle, director of physical plant, developed a recycling program several years ago at the urging of faculty and students. Today, there are blue recycling containers labeled "office paper only" in nearly every building on campus, and containers for aluminum cans are located outside of these buildings. A dumpster designated for newspapers only is on the south end of Biever Hall. With the help of facilities services, Loyola's custodial and grounds contractor, and specialized recycling contractors, the recycling efforts have been successful.
Campus Greens expanding recycling initiative
Lisa Buchanan, the president of Campus Greens, Loyola's environmental awareness club, is working on a campaign this year that will help get a comprehensive recycling program on campus, one that includes plastics, glass, and paperboard. "We are also working toward the elimination of Styrofoam cups in the Orleans Room, C-Store, and Underground and replacing them with a more sustainable alternative," Buchanan said. This year, Campus Greens will focus on education and awareness. Buchanan explained the program: "Each week is devoted to a different environmental issue, such as eco-footprint calculations, deforestation, population, agriculture/permaculture, food, menstrual health, energy, and more." Gaia Fest is put on by Loyola's Greens on April 20, with food, music, activities, and information on community groups and non-profit organizations. In order to fund-raise for the event, they sell homemade all-natural soap, recycled notebooks made out of paperboard boxes, and have a veggie bake sale. By being active at Loyola and within the community, the Greens bring environmental education to the entire New Orleans area and are working to better the overall environment.
Greens members and ENVA students join David White, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences and environmental studies minor chair annually for an evening canoe trip, the Canoe Paddle. The trip takes students to swamps and bayous in Southeastern Louisiana. There is also an annual Spring Frog Walk hosted by Robert Thomas, Ph.D., Loyola Chair in Environmental Communications, that takes place in the evening at Jean Lafitte National Park.
Environmental Studies Minor Program
The environmental studies website states that the mission of the program is to, "Attempt to develop in students the kinds of knowledge, wisdom, and problem-solving skills that can enable them to play an active role in protecting the future survival of our ecosystem." At this time, the program is offered as an interdisciplinary minor within the College of Arts and Sciences; in addition to completing several different courses, students in this minor are required to undergo a three-hour environmental studies practicum involving field work or independent study. The biology, chemistry, math, geography, sociology, communications, philosophy, and religious studies departments, as well as faculty in the City College, offer classes in the program. Additionally, Loyola now has three endowed chairs in the environmental arena: Robert A. Thomas, Ph.D., Loyola Chair in Environmental Communications; Paul Barnes, Ph.D., the Rev. John H. Mullahy, S.J., Chair of Environmental Biology; and Robert Verchick, J.D., Wendell H. Gauthier-Michael X. St. Martin Eminent Scholar Chair in Environmental Law.
White said, "I am working with each of these individuals to increase program awareness on campus, to increase student enrollment in the program (which has about 20 students), and to increase university-wide understanding of the importance of environmental issues at the campus, local, regional, national, and world levels."
Environmental Law
The newly-founded environmental law program is being led by Verchick, who has established specific goals for the school. Verchick's main focus is environmental justice. This is an especially prevalent topic in Louisiana, where there is continual concern that pollution has had severely adverse affects on much of the population, such as the alleged "Cancer Alley," and in New Orleans, where the Superfund project on Agriculture Street is an ongoing environmental justice issue. Verchick hopes to develop working relationships with the other departments on campus, as well as with other universities, local lawyers, and community leaders. Verchick seeks to bring his students into the field of environmental law to get them involved in the community and eventually assume a role in the environmental area.
Loyola University Center for Environmental Communications
The Loyola University Center for Environmental Communications (LUCEC) shares most of the environmental studies faculty. First, LUCEC and Panos (an international organization that works on sustainable development issues), based in Jamaica, have been working on a grant that helps to train environmental journalists by providing education forums such as a training workshop headed by Lisa Boe, a part-time instructor in the Department of Communications. Second, they were able to set up a Secretariat for the Caribbean Environmental Reporter's Network (CERN), for which they bought equipment put together a board of trustees, and launched the program, enabling them to become pre-eminent environmental journalists. Through CERN, LUCEC and Panos produced a radio series called "Island Beatnews from the environmental front line of the Caribbean" that played throughout the Caribbean, United States, and Europe. Currently, LUCEC is producing a documentary on the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet that will explore the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the outlet.
Last spring, LUCEC hosted the Society of Environmental Journalists, where 700 reporters from around the country met in New Orleans. Annually, the center sponsors the Institute of Environmental Communications, where professionals in environmental-related fields go through a 14-week program that focuses on environmental issues that are vital to this region and the nation. Thomas explained that, "As always, we are taking an active role working with industries to help them develop a sense of social justice."
LUCEC has a long history of addressing coastal wetlands loss issues, and sponsors an ongoing student program which explores the environmental efficiency in the university's overall operations.
Environmental community going to a new level
The environmental community of Loyola, through its various programs, keeps the university grounded by focusing attention on the values of a healthy environment, the need for a commitment to environmental justice, and the necessity of understanding and protecting our world's biodiversity. Thomas shared his optimism for Loyola's environmental program, "As a liberal arts university, we have a rare opportunity by having three endowed chairs (in environmental communications, science, and law), coupled with faculty strength in ecology, the humanities, and social sciences. The mood among members of the environmental studies faculty is to take the program to a new level that will benefit everyone in the Loyola community."
