At their first meeting of the semester Sept. 19, the Associated Students of Madison (ASM) Sustainability Committee celebrated the GOLD Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) rating the University of Wisconsin-Madison was recently awarded, while calling for increased student and faculty involvement in combating the climate crisis.
Despite progress evident through the STARS ranking, which is the world’s most widely recognized comprehensive rating of college sustainability, the committee aims to take UW-Madison’s climate efforts further. Members are interested in future campaigns to reduce student food waste and single-use plastics and support Madison’s lakes.
Another of ASM Sustainability’s overarching objectives is to educate the general student body on sustainability and encourage students to take accountability for their role in climate change. To reach students, committee member Brooks Barnum suggested creating simple online resources or courses with sustainability tips.
This year, the committee hopes to emphasize cross-campus connections between students, administration, faculty and with other climate-focused campus groups.
“One student representative cannot represent 50,000 students on campus,” Co-Campaign Coordinator Aayana Roy said. “We want to make it more diverse. That's why, as ASM Sustainability, we’ve taken up the role of facilitating a conversation that brings in a bigger student body and a smaller committee.”
Notably, ASM Sustainability is working with a climate-based ad hoc group formed by Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin in August. The group, although not a regular shared governance committee, will serve as a bridge between ASM Sustainability and administrative, academic and university staff. ASM Sustainability hopes to convey student goals and concerns to the committee, reaching the chancellor's staff and the Office of Sustainability.
ASM Sustainability’s campaigns largely aim to help the campus meet the university’s five sustainability goals. These include launching the Sustainability Research Hub, converting to 100% renewable electricity on campus by 2030, ensuring student access to education on sustainability, achieving a Zero Waste campus by 2030 and earning the STARS Gold ranking. In order to achieve these goals, ASM Sustainability Chair Caitlyn Kenney said it is necessary to “hold people and administration accountable.”
“It’s easy to say we’ll be 100% renewable energy by 2030, but…we [have] to find innovative and incremental ways to actually make it happen,” Kenney said.
ASM Sustainability is currently working on several campaigns, including paving and lighting the Lakeshore Path and assisting with the climate march on Sept. 28. ASM Sustainability members also helped with a sustainability walking tour on Sept. 19 and supported the campus Sustain-a-Bash, a school-wide event that encouraged students to learn and celebrate sustainability.
Going forward, ASM Sustainability members are excited to make an impact. “We are a strong proponent of actually trying to fulfill the change that [students] and committee members want to make,” Co-Campaign Coordinator Matt Mokrzycki said. He explained that, above all, ASM Sustainability aims to “make change by being active within [the] local community.”
