Wednesday night at the Ohio University Student Senate meeting, the Office of Sustainability's Samuel Emerson Crowl gave a presentation on the sustainability of OU.
He first reminded the senate that the definition of sustainability is “to meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” Crowl explained that OU had a “three-legged approach” to sustainability, in which each leg functions like a leg on a stool. A three-legged stool cannot stand with one leg missing. He outlined each leg as the three P’s — planet, people and prosperity (profit).
Crowl went on to explain the current sustainability plan, which was approved in 2011, as “kind of raggedy” and missing a few connections. He said missing connections has been the biggest goal to resolve as the office continues to revise the plan for 18 months. The Sustainability Plan has nine main benchmarks for OU to achieve by 2075.
“2075 seems like a long way in the future, but if you don’t have a plan to get there, then just saying that doesn’t mean a lot,” Crowl said. “This plan gets us there. We’d like to see it get there a little quicker.”
To reduce carbon emissions, the Office of Sustainability has been pushing for a bike share program on campus, one where students do not have to pay for bikes and instead are able to borrow them from racks all over campus instead of driving. Such options are in the works and might be available to OU students as early as Spring Semester.
Senate voted to table getting business cards for Students Defending Students.
One of the two main causes was that all university funding for printing must first go through the OU student printing services to at least get a price estimate. The second cause was the question of whether or not Student Senate could go through a local printing shop as opposed to one that does not support local businesses.
During the President’s Report, Student Senate President Landen Lama signed a letter in solidarity with the University of Virginia, who asked him to sign it against white supremacy and what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, at the beginning of August.
“We will not let this tragedy and the circumstances that created it fade into a past that we cannot remove ourselves from,” the letter said.
