By Adam Hornbuckle
Staff Writer
The Center for Sustainability will host its seventh annual sustainability dinner in the Tilles Atrium on April 26 at 5:30pm. The event will offer a gourmet vegan meal, student musical performances, student and faculty speakers and a keynote address by former Congressman and now Chairman of the LIU Global Institute, Steve Israel. This sustainability dinner has been coordinated by Professor Carol Boyer and Professor Scott Carlin.
Scott Carlin, professor of Earth and Environmental Science
Carlin, who has served as the coordinator of the sustainability committee since 2010 and now as the chairman of the LIU Post Center for Sustainability, described sustainability at Post as “an academic field of study, but it is also a way to rethink the university experience.” In 2012 the university began to offer a master’s degree and now it offers an undergraduate degree and minor in environmental sustainability. “These degree programs are interdisciplinary and students learn how to examine the way economic, environmental, and social processes relate to each other,” Carlin said.
The sustainability committee recently benefited from the establishment of the LIU Post Center for Sustainability this past fall. “This past fall, LIU created the LIU Post Center for Sustainability which give our work greater visibility on campus and provides a more formal structure for us,” Carlin said.
Explaining the difference between the suitability committee and the new Center for Sustainability, Carlin said “The sustainability committee predates the Center; the sustainability committee had an ‘ad hoc’ structure for most of its existence. We would meet and make recommendations to different parts of the campus but there wasn’t a formal reporting structure. The Center, created last fall, reports to the Senior V.P. for Academic Affairs, Dr. Je Kane. Today, the work of the ‘committee’ is part of the work of the Center.
Amidst the growing sustainability dialogue on campus, The Coalition for Climate Change club was established last semester. The club seeks to raise awareness for sustainability on campus through programming and student involvement. The Center for Sustainability has also began to revamp the use of the greenhouse on Riggs Lawn by growing a campus garden.
Going forward the Center’s goals include expanding the campus garden, strengthening campus recycling and waste practices and finalizing a climate action plan. “On April 24, an Earth and Environmental Science class will release LIU Post’s first Climate Action Plan. Last year we completed our first campus sustainability assessment. Both efforts have used national assessment tools,” Carlin said. The sustainability assessment analyzed the sustainability practices of campus operations such as academics, campus events, residence halls, landscaping, energy, food services, and recycling.
The dinner is open to all students. Anyone interested in attending can RSVP to Carol.Boyer@liu.edu. The Center for Sustainability and in the past the sustainability committee has held these dinners to promote campus sustainability initiatives and help to inspire and expand sustainability work on campus. For more information about the Center for Sustainability, visit www.facebook.com/LIUPostGreen.
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