Northwestern University
EN-3: Student Life

ASG-Sustainability Committee (ASG SusCom) The Associated Student Government Sustainability Committee (ASG SusCom) works to research, facilitate, and implement sustainability activities on campus. They aim to provide a unified, legitimate, and consistent voice from the students to the administration. They work closely with other campus groups to promote sustainability through academics, awareness campaigns, and tangible, impactful projects. Eco-Reps Eco-Reps organize activities and events and create tools and resources to promote sustainable living on campus. There are Eco-Reps for residential halls, residential colleges, Greek chapters, and off-campus living. Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) ESW is a national nonprofit organization, with the Northwestern chapter run through the McCormick School of Engineering. The group channels the skills of engineers into sustainability projects on domestic and international levels through education, volunteer opportunities, and design projects. Fossil Free Northwestern Fossil Free Northwestern is a campaign of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members calling on Northwestern University to remove its investments in coal and move toward divestment from all fossil fuels. As part of an international movement, the goup aims to build a sustainable endowment that refuses to fund climate change, pollution, or injustice. Group Residence for Environmental Engagement at Northwestern House (GREEN House) GREEN House is made of up roughly 40 on-campus residents interested in living sustainably. Their mission is to engender exploration, discovery, and critical thinking about environmental problems to inspire future leaders to act in ways that will protect and sustain our planet. (This opportunity is only open to undergraduate students living on-campus). In Our Nature In Our Nature aims to bring the environment to everyone as Northwestern's only environmental and science publication. Whether you’re a granola guru or a casual recycler, the stories, tips and entertainment will bring out your inner treehugger. Student contributors write, take photos, shoot video and more, all with the goal of showing readers why the environment is important for everyone. Kellogg Energy Club The Kellogg Energy Club seeks to provide leading educational, professional, and networking opportunities that help Kellogg students develop successful careers in the energy industry. Their major objectives include providing critical and timely resources to support energy careers, bringing industry thought-leaders to speak, partnering with sustainable business, consulting, and building relationships with a broad range of energy companies to support on and off-campus recruiting. Their goal is to establish a true Energy Club brand within the Kellogg community and expand the Energy Club network across Northwestern and Chicagoland. Kellogg School of Management Net Impact Kellogg Net Impact Club’s mission is to inspire and prepare emerging leaders to use the power of business to create a more socially responsible and sustainable world. The Northwestern Energy and Sustainability Consortium (NESC) NESC works to encourage and facilitate communication and collaboration at Northwestern University between sustainability and energy students at the undergraduate and graduate level. They seek to increase awareness and collaboration, and encourage support among students, student groups, and the campus at large. Northwestern Energy Technology Group (NETG) NETG's mission is to promote informed discourse about energy issues, and to provide opportunities for collaboration both among Northwestern University students, as well as between students and external people and organizations. This is done through hosting talks and panel discussions, traveling to energy technology facilities, and organizing social events that encourage networking with other energy-related organizations. Northwestern University Outing Club The Outing Club's mission is to enjoy the outdoors and get people in touch with nature. They organize trips all over the northern Midwest to kayak, hike, and climb while raising awareness of how to create a sustainable planet. Northwestern University Solar Car Team (NUsolar) NUsolar is a student-run team that designs, builds, and races completely solar-powered vehicles. Their goals are to promote a greater understanding of sustainable transportation technologies and to provide an opportunity for students to gain real-world engineering project experience. NUsolar has built six solar racers throughout it's history and travels across the nation each summer to compete with other university teams in the American Solar Challenge and Formula Sun Grand Prix solar car "races." NU Real Food NU Real Food works to create a student-led movement that engages administrators, faculty, staff, workers, producers, and community members to enact a shift to a community-based food system built on fair labor practices and food that is humane, local, and ecologically-sound. The Roosevelt Institute The Roosevelt Institute is focused on progressive public policy, including environmental policy. Roosevelt looks at policy on both the macro and micro levels. They explore macro policy and seek to affect change on the micro level in our communities. In the past, they have worked on the GMO policy, solar panels and brownfields, explored bike policy, composting policies, regional climate change adaptation, and partnered with public schools. No policy experience is necessary and all skill sets are welcome. There are also opportunities to attend national policy conferences and publish pieces in national journals. Students for Ecological and Environmental Development (SEED) SEED is the largest and oldest student environmental group at Northwestern. They support progressive environmental movements at NU. Through event programming, service, and advocacy, SEED seeks to engage the entire Northwestern and Evanston communities to further sustainability. Student Physicians for Social Responsibility (SPSR) Student Physicians for Social Responsibility is dedicated towards supporting community service, advocacy, and education for environmental sustainability and anti-nuclear efforts in the context of improving health. They seek to fight for social justice by mitigating the effects of climate change, toxins, and other environmental threats to human health. SPSR promotes this by engaging students and community members through lunch talks and programs to improve sustainability practices at the Chicago Northwestern campus. They also collaborate with Physicians for Social Responsibility chapters at other Chicago medical schools.

Wild Roots The purpose of the Wild Roots garden is to connect students to the earth and each other, to serve the evolving educational and social needs of the Northwestern community, and to inspire students to think critically about the food they eat by starting conversations about sustainability, social justice, and NU’s food system. Plant-it Purple Plant-it Purple Graduate Gardens is a community garden located next to the courtyard behind the Technological Institute. The garden includes a vegetable garden, flower garden, and shade garden. Plant-it Purple's goal is to create a space where students, staff, and other members of the NU community can work together outside of classrooms and offices to cultivate and enjoy a living project.

Paper flyers can be seen pasted to the pavement and walls throughout campus. Turnout is an IOS & Android application aimed at connecting students to the events happening on campus. It uses personalized recommendations to give users events that they would like. The goal of Turnout is to reduce the amount of paper used on Northwestern’s campus to promote events. The project received founding from the Northwestern Sustainability Fund to improve the app and launch it for use on campus.

The Northwestern Sustainability Fund is a $50,000 pool established to catalyze Northwestern student engagement in energy and sustainability. The Northwestern Sustainability Fund (NSF) provides one-time grant funds for student-led projects directed toward improving the sustainability of the operations or student experiences at the Northwestern University campuses. The fund and its grant making committee empower students and enable student-driven projects at Northwestern University by providing a source of funding, guidance, hands-on experience, and networking. Fossil Free Northwestern is a movement of NU students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members all in support of sustainable investment practices. The campaign advocates for divestment from coal (moving toward divestment from all fossil fuels) and uses lobbying power to convince the Board of Trustees and administration to act. NU has continually shown its support for divestment through petitions, letter writing campaigns, resolutions in student and faculty senates, and a referendum vote where 74 percent of undergrads voted in favor of coal divestment. FFNU is now meeting directly with the Board of Trustees to discuss the creation of a socially responsible investment committee. (www.fossilfreenorthwestern.org)

There are several major sustainability events each calendar year. The Climate Change Symposium is held each spring and brings a series of speakers to campus to talk about various issues related to climate change. Engineers for a Sustainable World runs a day-long Summit on Sustainability each year, focused on a different topic. Past topics included food security and economic policy. Kellogg's Energy Conference is also held each spring and discusses the intersection of energy and business. In addition, any student may participate in quarter-long seminar series run by the Northwestern Energy and Sustainability Consortium, which focus on the technology and policy of energy. These seminars bring in speakers weekly to teach students about energy and sustainability.

The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern features environmental exhibitions-- most recently, they showcased "Ecological Looking: Sustainability & the End(s) of the Earth," which was curated by a Northwestern doctoral student in Art History and commented on industry and resource use throughout history. (http://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/view/exhibitions/past-exhibits/2014/Ecological_Looking.html) The library has also been active in featuring environmental and sustainability installations. In 2014 they showcased "2 Degrees and You," an exhibit educating students on climate change and showcasing Northwestern's efforts to reduce its environmental footprint. In 2015, the library launched "Opening Doors," an art display organized by two NU students made of recycled and reused products, including old doors. Artists from the Evanston area painted the doors with imagery that commented on wastefulness and environmental degradation. Several performances centered on sustainability have also been brought to campus. As part of Earth Day 2014, The Seldoms (a Chicago-based contemporary dance company) came to campus to perform "Exit Disclaimer: Science and Fiction Ahead," which reflected on the ways the public reacts to climate change. (http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2014/03/the-seldoms-to-stage-exit-disclaimer.html) In 2017, the theater department presented Urinetown, a satirical musical that explores the issue of water scarcity. https://www.communication.northwestern.edu/wirtz/urinetown In addition, during 2016, sustainNU hosted two exhibits in the Norris Galleria, an exhibition space on the ground floor of Norris University Center (http://www.northwestern.edu/norris/arts-and-recreation/dittmar/norris-galleria/index.html). One exhibit featured photos of campus bike commuters with their bikes along with brief narratives about each cyclist and an essay by a staff member about her love of cycling. The second exhibition featured photos, graphics, and text highlighting energy usage and energy efficiency efforts on campus.

The Northwestern Outing Club runs outdoor immersion experiences for students throughout the year, including kayaking, backpacking, camping, canoeing, snowshoeing, spelunking and more. They emphasize environmental stewardship and connection to the outdoors. Project Wildcat (PWild) is a pre-orientation program at Northwestern where incoming students go on a backpacking trip led by upperclassmen student counselors. PWild aims to build relationships among students, lead campers in self-reflection, and foster an appreciation for the environment and nature.

Northwestern University selected Thomas Friedman's 'Hot, Flat and Crowded' for its University-wide One Book program in 2009-2010, which included a year's worth of programming centered around the book and themes of sustainability and environmentalism. For the 2013-2014 school year, the book was “The Last Hunger Season” by Roger Thurow, which "chronicles a year in the life of four small-scale farmers in western Kenya who, with help from a social enterprise organization founded by a Kellogg School of Management graduate, begin to transcend the cyclical poverty and hunger that they have always known." The book explores themes of hunger, sustainable agriculture, and community-based development. During the 2016-2017 academic year, Northwestern selected The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver for the One Book program. The book discusses the interpretation of data. It includes a chapter focused on understanding the data of climate change.

The Eco-Reps program aims to teach all Northwestern students about skills for sustainable living. All Eco-Reps are given products and instructions to create "green rooms," like smart powerstrips, efficient lightbulbs, energy monitors and more. Eco-Reps teach their residents about sustainable life skills through fireside talks, events, and signage in their residence halls. Additionally, other groups on campus coordinate events that promote sustainable life skills. Wild Roots organizes annual cooking demonstrations where students learn how to cook with organic ingredients. sustainNU has also partnered with the ASG Sustainability Committee and Eco-Reps to run a composting tutorial for off-campus students.

Among the work study opportunities offered at Northwestern are positions at sustainNU and the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern. These positions focus on a variety of topics, including energy monitoring, bicycle coordination, communications, recycling improvements and more.