{"id":68248,"date":"2017-10-10T10:16:41","date_gmt":"2017-10-10T20:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=68248"},"modified":"2019-03-12T16:01:47","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T02:01:47","slug":"students-drive-sustainable-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2017\/10\/10\/students-drive-sustainable-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Students drive sustainable practices on UH<\/abbr> Hilo campus"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Students of Sustainability members build waste bins for the UH<\/abbr> Hilo Campus Center Dining Room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Students of Sustainability<\/a> (SOS) club at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Hilo takes its mission to stimulate new ideas for “green” initiatives on campus seriously.<\/p>\n

SOS<\/abbr> is currently working on a campus compost initiative<\/a> by securing bins for the Campus Center Dining Room. The collected food waste will be composted near one of the campus\u2019s sustainability gardens<\/a>. Members of the SOS<\/abbr> club are providing the labor for this project and will help ensure the composting process is completed correctly and safely.<\/p>\n

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Alexis Stubbs takes measurements of collected waste material.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sustainability projects on campus also allow students to apply the learned theoretical material<\/a> they are receiving in class to real world problems.<\/p>\n

“The SOS<\/abbr> group offers to do zero waste for community events,” says Brooke Hansen<\/strong><\/a> of the UH<\/abbr> Hilo anthropology department and the SOS<\/abbr> advisor. “The club also includes coordination with Recycle Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span><\/a> for programming and events through Vicki Haili<\/strong><\/a> who was a sustainability intern last year and part of the club—now she has graduated and works [as an administrative assistant] with RH<\/abbr>. She comes to SOS<\/abbr> meetings where we discuss how the club can work with the county on solving our enormous land fill and recycling issues.”<\/p>\n

Award-winning leadership <\/h2>\n

As part of a delegation of 12 from UH<\/abbr> Hilo attending the 5th Annual Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Sustainability in Higher Education Summit, Alexis Stubbs<\/strong>, former president of SOS<\/abbr> and a sophomore specializing in tropical horticulture, won a $10k Green Student Leadership Award for the composting initiative. The prize money will go into expanding the composting program into other parts of the campus such as the dormitories.<\/p>\n

“We are an island,” said Hansen. “We have to think like an island. The reality is we need to do something\u2014this is about human and cultural survival.”<\/p>\n

For more on this story, go to UH<\/abbr> Hilo Stories<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

—A UH<\/abbr> Hilo Stories<\/em> article written by Anne Rivera, a public information intern in the Office of the Chancellor<\/p>\n

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This article is part of a series on curriculum and projects at UH<\/abbr> Hilo focusing on sustainability. Read the previous stories:<\/p>\n

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