Pacific Lutheran University
Tier2-1: Student Group

PLU has multiple student groups:GREAN, Sustainability Committee, Climate Change Ambassadors, RHA, ASPLU

•Grass Roots Environmental Action Now (GREAN) is a student run campus group whose mission statement reads, “Our mission is to promote environmental awareness and action on campus and in the community.” They do this by meeting weekly to plan campus events regarding issues of sustainability, and by taking on environmentally related projects around campus.
oIn 2008, the Board of Regents passed a resolution proposed by GREAN (by petition of 1100 students) that students are willing to pay $20/year to go towards the purchasing of green tags, and energy conservation efforts across campus.
oIn the 2008-2009 academic year, GREAN sponsored the Take Back the Tap Campaign, which provided reusable water bottles to students for $1 and a commitment that they would move away from the use of bottled water. This campaign happened in collaboration with the department of Dining Services, who agreed to pull bottled water from their shelves for the week of the campaign.

•Climate Change Ambassadors were a group of 16 students and 1 faculty advisor that met during the January and Spring terms of the 2008-2009 school year, and were funded by the Wiancko Charitable Foundation. Their primary goal was to educate students on and off campus about climate change, and potential ways to mitigate the effects.

•Residence Hall Association (RHA) is an elected body of 8 students with 2 professional staff advisors. One of the 8 positions is the Sustainability Director. They are responsible for sustainability programming for the on campus population. Under this position, Sustainability Coordinators are chosen for each residence hall on campus that program specifically for their halls and report back to the RHA director. Some recent programs RHA sponsored or co-sponsored include: Take Back the Tap, composting programs in the halls, and student education campaigns.

•Associated Students of Pacific Lutheran University (ASPLU) is our student government organization. In terms of sustainability efforts, ASPLU has a sustainability director who partners with and supports other programs for events around campus. One of their primary responsibilities is to be a part of programming that is happening within other committees, and suggest potential alternatives to unsustainable practices or elements of events. For example, the 2007-2008 Spring formal was (by suggestion of the sustainability director) held on campus to eliminate the need for transportation to the event: saving energy, and money. ASPLU is also responsible for educating first year students during their no-waste picnic during orientation weekend. Everything that is used at this picnic can be reused, recycled, or composted. During the liveGREEN pledge of 2007 (created by then ASPLU vice president and Sustainability Fellow, Tamara Power-Drutis), approximately 200 students, staff, faculty and groups signed the pledge, with ASPLU committing to waste reduction practices. Following this commitment, they supported events like “Can the Can”, which provided 1.5 liter trash cans to promote more recycling, and less waste production.
So far in the 09-10 School year, ASPLU has supported unPLUg, a program run out of the sustainability office, round two of Take Back the Tap, and encouraged students to contact their senators regarding support for clean energy bill that was being considered.

Additional webpages:
http://news.plu.edu/node/2323
http://www.plu.edu/rha/Advocacy/Sustainability.php