Saint Louis University
EN-3: Student Life

The Green Billikens are a student organization that works with Sustainability and Benchmarking. The group works as a liaison between the Office of Sustainability & Benchmarking and the SLU student body. The goals of the group include: affect policy on campus and publicize current sustainability initiatives on campus. (https://groups.sluconnection.com/organization/greenbillikens) SLU Habitat for Humanity: A chartered student organization and official Campus Chapter of Habitat for Humanity International that actively engages in social events, fundraisers, volunteer opportunities, and education & advocacy campaigns in order to further the mission of Habitat - ending standardized housing worldwide. (http://sites.slu.edu/habitat/home) Engineers without Borders-SLU: This organization uses engineering as a way to help improve people's lives around the world by helping them meet their basic needs through implementation trips locally, regionally, and globally. (https://groups.sluconnection.com/organization/EWB) SLU Global Brigades: This organization aims to empower volunteers to facilitate sustainable solutions in under-resourced communities while fostering local culture. (https://groups.sluconnection.com/organization/SLUGB) The Environmental Law Society (ELS) is dedicated to addressing regional, national and international issues related to environmental law. ELS periodically sponsors speakers on a wide range of topics pertaining to environmental law, natural resources law, environmental science and the environmental movement.( http://law.slu.edu/student-organization/environmental-law-society-student-animal-legal-defense-fund)

Fresh Gatherings Cafe in the Doisy College of Health Sciences is operated by the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics. The goal is to run the cafe in an eco-friendly way, support local farmers, and provide the patrons with menu items using local products. As part of their commitment to sustainability, they operate an organic farm and orchard on campus with a comprehensive composting program. By integrating the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics undergraduate and graduate student practicum experiences and dietetic internship rotations in the café with chefs committed to sustainable food systems, they create an environment that fosters unique experiences for student development and professional growth. Along with being used as a teaching garden, the campus organic farm also provides a limited number of garden plots to the campus community for their use to grow their own produce. Fresh Gatherings also runs a CSA program, Fresh Gatherings Harvest, that partners with local farmers to supply quality, local produce to customers. In addition, the Cafe holds a Harvest Market which features local produce, milk, eggs, and bread harvested weekly by farmers within a 150-mile radius of campus and is grown in an environmentally friendly manner. Urban Garden --> Saint Louis University’s garden was established in 2002 to address the disconnect between the food people eat and their knowledge of where it originated. It has been fulfilling its mission to improve access to healthy, local foods by providing nutrition and garden education to the St. Louis community ever since. SLU’s dietetic interns decide what is planted in the garden during their academic rotation. Additionally, the accessible garden bed serves as an education tool for special needs teachers and occupational and physical therapy students at Doisy College of Health Sciences.

Campus Kitchens (first pilot campus at Saint Louis University in 2001) Student volunteers develop partnerships, plan menus, run cooking shifts, organize drivers, garden, glean, and teach nutrition education to children and families. They keep track of all of the paperwork (so we know everything’s being done safely), organize fundraisers, develop curriculum, and recruit new students to get involved. They accomplish an incredible amount of work every day.

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A two-day Sustainable Energy Future Conference took place in April 2016, which was sponsored by Ameren, Missouri University of Science & Technology, Saint Louis University Center for Sustainability and Washington University in St. Louis. The conference was open to attendance by various individuals including students, thought leaders and visionaries from academia, government agencies and energy industries. The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics hosts the annual ""Gardens to Tables Food Day"" to promote sustainable, healthy, and just agricultural practices, as well as to promote a healthier St. Louis community. SLUstainability Month, sponsored by the Office of Sustainability & Benchmarking, is designed to raise awareness about sustainability and showcase all that the University is and could be doing to be stewards of the environment, advocates of social justice, and promoters of economic viability. Events during the month are designed to help the campus community learn about sustainability at SLU and how to incorporate sustainable practices into their daily campus life.

"Trash Macbeth", performed in fall 2015, based on Shakespeare's text, this semi-devised, ensemble-built, original content piece considers the 1950‘s housewife while asking the question: How can we re-purpose waste into something beautiful? Performed by six actors with all costume, scenic and prop elements created from found, not purchased, materials.

Wilderness Adventure Club (WAC) The Wilderness Adventure Club (WAC) organizes hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, mountain biking, and other outings. On their trips, the WAC emphasizes the “Leave No Trace” principle. In other words, every effort should be made to leave little to no mark on the natural environment. The WAC realizes that even a biodegradable or “natural” item left behind in the wilderness could pose a threat to the native ecosystem. On backpacking trips the WAC carries all of trash for the duration of the outing. The only thing left behind is human waste (i.e., feces) for which the WAC uses a trowel to dig a minimum six-inch hole. Toilet paper is discarded and transported in the trash bags that WAC carries with them throughout the duration of the journey. Basically, WAC aims to leave visited areas as pristine (if not better) than the way they found it. SLU also offers a student-led Kayak Club, which is a non-competitive club dedicated to the promotion of whitewater recreation. In short, the club's goal is to share Missouri's sublime Saint Francis River with a wide range of students in collaboration with the Missouri Whitewater Association. Club members travel around the country to paddle some of the best whitewater rivers in America.

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The Sustainable Energy Conference held on campus was designed to inform the community on sustainability from the perspective of leaders in the energy field. The four areas of focus include: achieving a sustainable balance in the utility industry, opportunities for sustainability in the transportation sector, energy innovations in urban development, and importance of sustainability policy development. There are also helpful tips provided online during SLUstainability Month (on greenbilliken.slu.edu) that tell people habits to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

The University has sustainability-focused Graduate Assistant positions available in the Center for Sustainability and in the Division of Facilities Services. Graduate Assistants serve as research assistants in the Center for Sustainability. In Facilities Services, Graduate Assistants engage in activities designed to promote and increase sustainability in campus operations (grounds, water, buildings, energy use, etc.). Graduate Assistants receive a monthly stipend as well as tuition remission. Links to the Graduate Assistantships and details about the positions are available in the public notes section of this report. In addition to the Graduate Assistant position, multiple undergraduate student interns also work in the Office of Sustainability in the Division of Facilities Services. These include a Graphic Design Intern, Green Billiken Student Group President, and Sustainability Intern. The interns help at events, data collection, and running various engagement programs on campus. An internship opportunity was developed through a partnership between the University's waste hauler and Facilities Services. The internship was designed to help reach waste goals, particularly in the area of waste reduction and diversion. The paid internship, offered during the spring semester, provides experience in the growing field of sustainability by learning and applying principles of the field and participating in both in-depth analysis of current situations and developing sustainable solutions for campus operations.

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The Green Billiken student group offers students a way to take knowledge acquired in the classroom and apply it to real world situations. The group is mainly focused on campus sustainability efforts; however SLU is so closely integrated with the St. Louis community the group also participates in outreach programs. The main goals of the group are to promote sustainable policy change on campus and in the community and market the current sustainability initiatives on campus.

Graduate Assistantships with Facilities Services: http://www.slu.edu/Documents/facilities/Sustainability/JD-Grad%20Assts.%20-%20Sustainability%20Coordinators.pdf