The Environmental Center’s Fourth Annual Sustainability Summit

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The Environmental Center held its 4th Annual Sustainability Summit in the Vallecito room at the Student Union Tuesday.

The theme of this year’s summit is "Powering Up” or influencing power structures to create a more sustainable world.

For a truly sustainable society, policies and a government system that reflects sustainable values are necessary, Rachel Landis, coordinator at the Environmental Center, said.

After the presidential election people became more interested in how governmental and power structures work and how they could influence them, Marty Pool, assistant coordinator at the Environmental Center, said.

The Sustainability Summit provided people with information about how those structures work and how they can be influenced, Pool said.

From 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. students had the opportunity to network with organizations interested in sustainability and several groups tabled this event.

One group is Zero Waste, which is a program that works with the Environmental Center to reduce waste on campus.

The goal is to educate people about some issues regarding sustainability, Nic Pasquini, a member of the Zero Waste program said.

After 5 p.m. and until 6 p.m. presentations were held on what sustainability is and how FLC is working to achieve it.

One of FLC’s current goals regarding sustainability is to be carbon neutral by 2080, Landis said.

Being carbon neutral means that FLC does not produce carbon emission and the carbon emissions it does create are neutralized by strategies such as planting trees, Landis said.

Starting at 6 p.m. the Sustainability Summit broke into four different workshops, Power Mapping, Truth in Media, Protesting and Civic Engagement, Pool said.

At the Power Mapping workshop students had the opportunity to learn about who the powerful people who make decisions are in their community and how they can be influenced, Pool said.

The Truth in Media workshop educated students about navigating the media in regards to environmental issues such as sustainability, he said.

The Protesting workshop is headed by Anthony Nocella who received a summons to court for parading without a permit and obstructing the streets during the protest of President Trump’s inauguration in January, Pool said.

The Civic Engagement workshop taught students how the government works and explained ways that they can get involved, Pool said.