Speakers at the 2020 Southeastern Student Sustainability Conference present to over 100 participants at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. This conference represented 16 different universities and included initiatives such as “Sustainability in Housing: An Uphill Battle,” presented by students Sophia Kirn and Max Taylor. (Photo/App State 125 website)
By Anna Kadet
The University of Georgia Office of Sustainability and University Housing will be hosting the Southeastern Student Sustainability Conference this weekend at the Delta Innovation Hub beginning on Friday at 6 p.m. and concluding festivities at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Led by student leaders, faculty, sustainability interns and staff advisers, the conference is aimed at fostering collaboration and leadership training that navigates various sustainability initiatives.
The University of Georgia will host the conference for the first time this year after a group of students started the gathering in 2012 at the University of South Carolina. There will be over 150 participants, including registered attendees, volunteers and faculty from all over the region.
Liora McElvaney, fourth-year University of Georgia student and Office of Sustainability EcoReps intern, served as the head of student planning for the event. She said that the conference is geared toward three principles: “knowledge, navigation and networking.”
Fifteen student speakers will be arriving to present their initiatives, with the farthest attendee flying from the University of Missouri, said McElvaney. Outside of the classroom, interactive experiences such as a tour of UGArden and a sustainable cooking demonstration with Campus Kitchen are available.
“I hope that the student speakers who are coming are able to share in a way that makes people think about it when they leave,” McElvaney said. “I really just hope they leave inspired and can take some of the things they learned here back to their campus and make change there.”
The event costs $25 for attendees and $75 for faculty, as four meals will be provided from Athens businesses that include Donderos’ and Maepole. In an effort to make the event “as zero-waste as possible,” McElvaney said that compostable dishes will be used.
“I think that a lot of times if people aren’t exposed, they think sustainability is all about tree huggers,” McElvaney said. “But it’s really so much more than that. There’s a really intense intersection with the social side, ethical side, economic side and also the environmental side. So it’s important for people to engage with that.”
Why I Wrote This Story
The Southeastern Student Sustainability Conference is the culmination of many facets of Athens, Georgia regarding sustainability in one weekend. Emphasizing its occurrence prior to the event is vital to letting people know what is being done, by students, faculty and local residents, to make our community better for future generations to come.