Americans make up 5% of the world’s population and consume 26% of the world’s energy according to Point Park University’s “Fun Facts about Sustainability”. Just 5% of the world goes through 26% of the total energy! Ouch, that’s hard to read isn’t it? As reported from the U.S. Census Bureau’s website, in the United States alone, the college and university population was 19.9 million as of fall 2018. As college students, our daily choices will accumulate to make a momentous mark on the planet. Here at Haskell, there is the Sustainability Program to help the university and its students. This program was founded in September of 2014 and is funded by the Equity grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Joe Brewer, Bill Welton, and Megan Fisher were all advocates for its start-up.
Since its beginning, the Sustainability Program has built a greenhouse and research vegetable garden as well as began a recycling program. The program has also been collecting recyclables at events like the art market or powwows. In addition, student interns have been hired to manage all the work and services. The long-term vision of the program is to grow in understanding of what sustainability and environmental resilience means on Haskell’s campus and to meet those needs.
