Justice issues discussed at event
CU students are continuing to brainstorm on solving the world’s environmental dilemmas.
Thursday evening CU students gathered in the UMC to take on the task of solving environmental justice issues in the community. It was the third and last event in the Environmental Center’s Environmental Justice Series that began in October.
Alexis Goggans, a senior history major and diversity outreach coordinator for the Environmental Center, said that she was pleased with the discussion’s turnout.
“The coolest thing is when you bring people in and you don’t know how they’re going to reach and then they say something like ‘I’ve never thought about it that way before,'” Goggans said. “Even if we reached just one person, we’ve accomplished our goal because they’ll go out and tell five more people.”
Goggans said that she firmly believes that although Americans may be the biggest contributors to global environmental crises, they also have the greatest potential to solve those crises, particularly when it comes to aiding underdeveloped or lower class communities.
“There’s a way for everyone to contribute to the upliftment of underrepresented communities,” she said. “A solution does not reinvent the wheel, it reinforces it.”
Amy Harris, a senior environmental policy major and UCSU sustainability director, said that she believes the discussion accomplished a great deal.
“What we were able to accomplish was getting people in the room, talking about environmental justice and talking about solutions,” Harris said. “These solutions won’t just disappear.”
While the earlier discussions focused primarily on environmental justice problems, Thursday’s session was designed to focus on solutions.
Following an opening speech by Goggans and a video from the Bioneers Conference in October by Van Jones of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, those in attendance went to individual tables and discussed potential solutions to environmental justice issues. The solutions offered by students ran the gamut from increased political activism to becoming vegetarian.
Harris emphasized that students need to become involved with groups that support environmental causes.
“The first step is joining groups that support those causes,” Harris said. She also suggested that students interested in environmental justice join or participate in CU’s Environmental Justice Steering Committee.
Sarah Haynes, a junior environmental policy major who also worked at the Bioneers Conference, said that she was encouraged by what she saw at the discussion.
“(The movement) is evolving, people want to know what’s next,” Haynes said. “Things like this take on a life of their own.”
Haynes also thought that there was still a great deal of work left.
“When you’re building from the ground up, it takes a long time,” she said. “There was much more discussion that needed to happen. I wish we had four forums (to discuss), but we do what we can.”
Contact Campus Press Reporter Rob Ryan at rryan@thecampuspress.com
