Florida State University
EN-3: Student Life

Environmental Service Program – The Environmental Service Program fosters a strong sense of place, spreading knowledge and concern for local environmental problems in the North Florida area. ESP aims to engage students and community members with the environment around them using education, service, and advocacy. We focus our activities on Leon, Jefferson, Wakulla, and Taylor counties through conducting educational service field trips and hosting speakers on pertinent environmental topics. We also encourage sustainable lifestyles that connect humans with the environment. ESP assists with petitions, letter-writing campaigns, and organizing social activism to raise awareness and achieve our goals. We take an active approach, empowering students to take action on important issues they feel strongly about as well as volunteering for causes. https://nolecentral.dsa.fsu.edu/organization/esp

Surfrider Foundation FSU - Surfrider aims to engage students and community members with the environment around them through education, social events, and political advocacy. We conduct educational and service group trips and hosting speakers on pertinent environmental topics, encouraging sustainable lifestyles that connect people with the environment, and keeping our members up to date on pertinent legislation. We may also collect petitions, host letter-writing campaigns, train members on how to lobby, or organize social activism to raise awareness and achieve our goals. We take an active approach, empowering students to take action on important environmental issues. https://nolecentral.dsa.fsu.edu/organization/surfriderfsu

Florida PIRG Students - Florida PIRG Students is a student-led, non-profit, non-partisan organization that is focused on giving students the tools that they need to make their voices heard on issues that they care about. With campaigns such as ending hunger and homelessness, college affordability, and breaking free from plastics Florida PIRG Students is committed to bringing positive change to FSU's campus. https://nolecentral.dsa.fsu.edu/organization/floridapirg

Florida Association of Environmental Professionals - FAEP FSU works closely with the Tallahassee chapter of the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals to provide insight into the different job possibilities in the environmental work force. Speakers from all environmental fields will provide all kinds of possibilities for work after graduation. Through networking socials, luncheons, and meetings, FAEP FSU will provide a safe and easy place for dreams to be achieved!
https://nolecentral.dsa.fsu.edu/organization/faepfsu

Thrift Club at FSU – Thrift Club at FSU creates a community of students at FSU who share an affinity for secondhand shopping and all things vintage. It promotes ethical ways to buy and donate clothing to help the environment and the local community, and it teaches students how to earn extra income through reselling thrifted finds online.
https://nolecentral.dsa.fsu.edu/organization/thriftclub

The Seminole Organic Garden is a shared space amongst organizations and individuals across campus, and it serves as a peaceful outlet for those who want to take a break from their schedule. The FSU community can get involved with the garden by coming to Garden Work Hours or by renting a garden bed. Students and staff are encouraged to grow their own food using sustainable methods and can plant, construct garden beds, and perform other garden maintenance activities. The daily management of the garden is supported by a student Seminole Organic Garden Coordinator, who is advised by the Sustainable Campus office. https://sustainablecampus.fsu.edu/students/seminole-organic-garden

The Little Dinner Series has been in operation since 1957. Each semester, students in the Dedman College of Hospitality work side-by-side with instructors to create a series of four-course themed dinners. The series is part of the required senior-year catering management course for all hospitality majors. Every element – from menu to décor – is conceptualized by a group of students tasked with planning and managing their own event. Working with a professional chef and front-of-house manager, students spend the semester learning the methods and concepts utilized in the food and beverage industry. Waste disposal is an important aspect of the course, and students are exposed to sustainable food waste solutions such as composting and donating leftover food to the Food Recovery Network and local food banks. In a single week of events, the course can divert 200 to 300 pounds of waste from the landfill through composting and donations. Instructors of the course believe that students who graduate from the program should know how to identify irresponsible waste management practices and how to change them to be more sustainable.
https://dedman.fsu.edu/alumni-friends/littledinnerseries

The Green Fund provides an opportunity for the campus community to realize their ideas for sustainability and environmental progress at Florida State University. The Fund awards grants for projects that align with the goals of the FSU Sustainability Strategic Plan in one or more of the following areas: 1) Climate Action: Reduce greenhouse gas footprint through energy conservation and efficiency; 2) Waste Minimization: Maximize the principles of reduce, reuse, recycle; 3) Resource Stewardship: Expand commitment to best practices that prioritize the protection of the North Florida ecosystem; and 4) Education for Sustainability: Ensure all students have access to sustainability-related learning experiences. To receive funding support, students, staff, and faculty members are invited to develop a proposal including details on how project success will be quantified and how each project contributes to student learning. Preliminary funding for the Green Fund was provided by the Student Government Association with continued donations from FSU Alumni and community sustainability advocates. The Green Fund is administered through Sustainable Campus and FSU Facilities.
https://sustainablecampus.fsu.edu/green-fund

Across disciplines and in partnership with community organizations, numerous events occur throughout campus to foster a culture of awareness, dialog, and engagement in sustainability issues such as: speaker series, movie screenings, Community Dialogues, symposia, workshops, and book clubs. For example:

- The FSU Center for Environmental, Energy, and Land Use Law offers a series of enrichment lectures and thematic events every year.
- The Center for Leadership & Social Change invites students to engage in dialogue with dynamic FSU faculty, staff, and community members through its community Dialogue Series.
- The College of Social Sciences and Public Policy host Policy Pub events each semester that focus on policy decisions made at the local, state, national, and global levels. Sustainability-related Policy Pub events include: “Going Under? Sea Level Rise and What We’re Doing About It,” “Could the Next Water Crisis Be in Tallahassee,” and “The Hots are Getting Hotter.”

https://law.fsu.edu/academics/academic-programs/juris-doctor-program/environmental-energy-land-use-law/environmental-program-recent-upcoming-events
https://thecenter.fsu.edu/diversity/community-dialogue-series
https://coss.fsu.edu/policy-pub/

- From September 6 to 12, 2021, the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art hosted a week of arts-driven events focused on conversations, performances, activities and films about ecology, climate, culture and environmental justice.
- The Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts hosted the exhibition, “A Shared Body” from August 23 to December 11, 2021. “A Shared Body” dealt with environmental issues, specifically water protection and management.
- The Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts hosted the exhibition, “Rising Water: Artists Working in Response to Hurricanes” from January 16 to March 28, 2020. “Rising Water” explored how to center creativity, empathy and humanity in planning for a future that will include increasingly violent storms. It brought together artists who have documented and been influenced by Hurricanes Katrina, Harvey, Hugo and Maria to explore the broader ramifications of climate change and weather in the southeastern United States.

Outdoor Pursuits (OP) is FSU's outdoor adventure program. OP travels all over the country with day, weekend, and week long trips to great outdoor adventure destinations. Every adventure is unique, and each offers an opportunity to develop new skills, enhance student appreciation of the wilderness, while adapting to new and challenging situations, and building lifelong relationships. All OP programs and services are available for FSU students, faculty, staff and the Tallahassee community. FSU Outdoor Pursuits is a proud partner of Leave No Trace in its efforts to build awareness, appreciation and respect for wild lands.
https://campusrec.fsu.edu/outdoors/outdoor-pursuits/

Engage 100 is designed to connect, engage, and challenge students in their first semester at FSU, as well as pave the way to future success in college. Engage 100 courses are small, guided group experiences centered on a particular topic or curriculum that assists students in acclimating to university life. Sustainable Campus hosts IDS1107 A Student’s Guide to Sustainability: Changemaking and Mythbusting, which is an Engage 100 course that specializes in working with first-time college students to promote academic success and sustainability learning in freshman year and beyond. A Student’s Guide to Sustainability introduces first-year students to programs, services and resources here at FSU to assist them in engaging in sustainability communities across campus. In addition, within this section students create a sustainability philosophy and game plan to take advantage of these resources throughout their time at Florida State University.
https://sustainablecampus.fsu.edu/campus-dashboard/students/engage-100

Eco-Reps: Eco-Reps are peer-to-peer ambassadors and leaders who educate, engage, and empower our campus community to be more sustainable. Inspiring others to take action to green their community, students involved in the Eco-Rep program take on different roles that help bring sustainability programs to life. https://sustainablecampus.fsu.edu/get-involved/programs/eco-reps

Outdoor Pursuits trips: Outdoor Pursuits (OP) is FSU’s outdoor adventure program. OP travels all over the Southeast with single day and weekend to great outdoor adventure destinations. OP also stays local with shorter excursions from campus. Every adventure is unique, and each offers an opportunity to develop new skills, enhance appreciation of the wilderness, adapt to new and challenging situations, and build lifelong relationships.
https://campusrec.fsu.edu/outdoors/outdoor-pursuits/

Seminole Organic garden: The Seminole Organic Garden is a shared space amongst organizations and individuals across campus, and it serves as a peaceful outlet for those who want to take a break from their schedule. The FSU community can get involved with the garden by coming to Garden Work Hours or by renting a garden bed. Students and staff are encouraged to grow their own food using sustainable methods and can plant, construct garden beds, and perform other garden maintenance activities.
https://sustainablecampus.fsu.edu/students/seminole-organic-garden

Center for Leadership & Social Change: The Center for Leadership & Social Change transforms lives through identity development, leadership education and community engagement. We encourage students to learn, serve and transform through programming that encompasses leadership, diversity and service. The Center offers more than 30 programs intended to foster opportunities and vision to create positive, sustainable change in their communities and the broader world. Opportunities range from one-time service at local nonprofits to year-long training and leadership roles. The Center offers training on such topics as leadership development, identity and cultural competence, service learning, and community change.
https://thecenter.fsu.edu/

Sustainable Campus, through FSU Facilities, employs student coordinators for a variety of programs including the Seminole Organic Garden, Garnet & Gold Goes Green (gameday recycling), Eco-Reps, and the Food Recovery Network. Seminole Dining provider, Aramark, also hosts sustainability-related student positions.
https://sustainablecampus.fsu.edu/get-involved/jobs-fsu-sustainable-campus

Food Recovery Network’s mission is to eliminate food waste on campus and in the Tallahassee community. Since 2014, when the FSU chapter was formed, the Food Recovery Network has recovered over 130,000 pounds of consumable excess food from various locations around campus. This food goes directly to partner agencies, both on and off campus, who distribute it to individuals and families experiencing food insecurity.
https://sustainablecampus.fsu.edu/students/food-recovery-network-frn