This month, I decided to go to the second part of the Environmental Issues panel. Unfortunately, I had to leave a little bit early, I wasn’t able to hear the last of the three speakers, but I found the first two extremely interesting.
We live in a time where climate change is a serious global threat. However, I feel like I constantly hear about governments falling short of their promises to “go green” or completely taking back their promises. The first speaker was Cathy Becker, who works for the Ohio Sierra Club. What I enjoyed about the first speaker was how dedicated Becker and the people she worked with were towards making Columbus, and eventually the rest of the world, environmentally sound. I personally I’m very worried that we will be able to come back from all the damage humans have done to the earth. I appreciate her efforts to work towards this goal, and it gives me hope that we will be able to reduce our carbon emissions. Though I wish she went deeper into what each event she put on entailed, I am grateful for all the work that she has done. She passed around a petition, which I signed. Becoming more involved in working towards turning the tides on climate change is something I need to do. I wish more individuals had showed up to the meeting so there could be even more people in support of the organization she works with, 100% Columbus. I was also glad to see how many governors are still committed to working towards the goals set with the Paris Accords even though Trump backed out of the agreement.
The second speaker I also found super interesting as well, however I wish she was more interactive with the audience. Kate Bartter who works with the Sustainability Institute, had so much information on The Ohio State University’s role with sustainability. I found it extremely interesting that the most energy efficient building on campus was the James Cancer Hospital.
As for the third speaker, I had to leave early for a presentation with another club on campus. Despite not hearing him speak, I looked up Serdar Tufekci, who works with the Ohio State Energy Partners, LLC. I am glad to see this work to be throughout all different parts of the University and Columbus.
Though I have put some thought to it in the past, these speakers got me thinking about how The Ohio State University is really trying to work towards attaining a more environmentally friendly campus. I took a ceramics class last semester, and they had committed to not using any paper towels in the building. I also have noticed the efforts that dorm halls have been making towards having a more environmentally sound campus, such as turning off lights in bathrooms and in dorm rooms, using less paper towels, etc. Though there is still a lot to be done, it is nice to see all the work going towards slowing, and eventually reversing, global warming.