On Sept. 20, students from NC State joined hundreds of others gathered outside of Halifax Mall in downtown Raleigh. Mostly students, these protesters were part of a global strike 7.6 million strong, the largest strike for environmental issues in history. Demonstrations spanned all seven continents, but the demands were the same everywhere: immediate policy action to address global climate change.
However you identify — as an NC State student, as a young person, as a resident of North Carolina, as a citizen of the world — we all have a stake in climate change and issues of sustainability, and from this comes a responsibility to be engaged in efforts to combat these processes. Being engaged does not necessarily mean striking. It does not necessarily mean starting or joining a climate organization. First and foremost it means being informed, and there are many resources present on campus to facilitate this.
The Office of Sustainability has many useful resources to inform students and help them get involved with sustainability on campus, from information about events and composting, to ways to find sustainability-related courses, to programs such as the NC State Stewards, an internship program in which students design and implement campus sustainability initiatives.
The NC State Stewards Program puts on several events throughout the year, such as a yearly energy reduction competition between the Tri Towers and a workshop called “Sustainability is for Everyone.” Sarah Coull, a second-year studying environmental engineering and NC State Steward, helped lead the workshop.
“We’re just trying to get students engaged with sustainability on campus, educating students on sustainability and how they can get involved,” Coull said. “Regardless of your major, your background, the color of your skin [or your] socioeconomic status, you can get involved in sustainability.”
Another group on campus is the Climate Reality Project, which leads campaigns to increase awareness of climate issues and to get the UNC System to disinvest in the fossil fuel industry. The Office of Sustainability also offers the Zero Waste Wolves program. As a part of this group, students can volunteer to help with compost, recycling, and waste reduction programs.
When looking at widespread, complex and deeply rooted issues like climate change or environmental degradation, it can be easy to dismiss individual actions as insignificant, or to stop short at following consumer trends like reusable straws.
“I think a lot of people now are looking to social media as a way to be informed about these things, when the truth of it is [social media] can be very toxic,” says Coull. “If you are scrolling through Insta, and you see something like, ‘We have eighteen months to reverse climate change,’ you’re going to be like, ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do about this.’ But the truth of the matter is that there’s a lot more information than that.”
Coull is right. It is necessary for us to realize that individual actions are integral to enacting change, and to not underestimate the power these actions have. It can be easy to fall into a mindset of cynicism; I would know. But this pessimism ignores the impact one individual can have and leads to a neglect of responsibility. It’s easy to forget or dismiss, but it has been shown that individual actions do cause change. Actions like turning off the lights when you leave the room, using reusable containers, or going vegetarian won’t alone solve environmental issues, but they will lead to changes in societal norms. Until we collectively shift what values we embody as a society, policy will not respond.
Aranzazu Lascurain is the assistant director of the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, an organization located on campus dedicated to providing support for sustainable resource use and climate change to land managers throughout the Southeast. The center also leads public events on campus, including film screenings and talks, with the most recent one focusing on hurricanes and climate change.
“We’re all members of a society,” Lascurain said. “We live in a democracy. And so we need to exercise all those civic responsibilities: to vote, to speak up when you see something is wrong or incorrect, and to speak truth to power.”
The recent strike was a demonstration of what is possible when these responsibilities are exercised, bringing global awareness to the direness of climate change and acting as a massive platform for education, advocacy and solidarity that was impossible to ignore. But all of this will do little if we don’t continue to work towards change, one action at a time.
When I left Lascurain’s office, she pulled a small piece of paper off the shelf, where it had been taped. She told me that the message on it was the mantra that she goes by. It was the words of Susan Hassol, a science communicator and author: “It’s real. It’s us. It’s bad. Scientists agree. There’s hope.”
For more information:
Office of Sustainability Website.
Applications to be a Sustainability Steward are open through Nov. 4.
The Climate Reality Project meets every other Monday at 6:30 pm (123 Tompkins Hall). The next meeting is Oct. 28.
Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center website and newsletter.
