Blog

Almost every day we’re confronted with the reality of climate change and the changing natural world. This can spark all sorts of emotions across the spectrum, from fury to resolute optimism and everything in between. Understanding our emotions around climate change is vital in managing them.

Sustainable Campus takes an innovative approach to sustainability through its Campus as a Living Lab program. This program serves as a bridge between academia and practical sustainability solutions. One crucial aspect of its success lies in the robust partnerships forged within the campus and community. 

For many college students and young adults who live in dorms or apartments, gardening is an inaccessible hobby. Because of our living situations, we lack the outdoor space to grow our food. As someone who grew up gardening, I could not let this injustice inhibit my need to be one with the soil any longer.

In 2005, the Garnet and Gold Goes Green (G4) gameday recycling program was introduced on FSU’s campus. Since then, G4 volunteers have made an appearance at every home game to encourage sustainable practices at tailgates. Throughout the years, the G4 program has continued to evolve and expand in hopes of reaching the most people to create a larger impact. Part of this growth has led to the re-introduction and re-imaging of the G4 Ambassadors. 

The Greek Goes Green program (GGG) is a partnership between Sustainable Campus and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life that guides Greek organizations who wish to increase their sustainability. While all opted-in chapters work to earn “Green Chapter” status by earning points off of the GGG Sustainability Guide, some organizations go above and beyond, exceeding expectations.  
 

On October 24th, 2023, Sustainable Campus held our Fall Festival in the Seminole Organic Garden. Celebrating Halloween, Fall, and the ten-year anniversary of the Garden, it was a big celebration. The festival featured outdoor games, upcycled tote bag creation and decorations, birthday wishes for the Garden, and, the main event, a sustainable costumes contest. Read here to find out more about the winning costumes, the students behind them, and what sustainability principles guided their way.

Environmental documentaries often fall under three categories: entertainment, information, and influence, and inherently cannot escape the bias of their nature as a result. This in itself isn’t a bad thing, it’s just the way of media. This blog post explores some common tactics seen across environmental documentaries. This way, viewers can be aware of what these tropes look like in practice and how they affect the message and presentation of the film.

They’re all over the shelves and our screens. From products in the grocery store labeled “All Natural” with no elaboration to commercials filled with images of trees and rivers for natural gas companies, “greenwashing” has infiltrated our advertising world. Greenwashing is a term that refers to making practices, policies, or products appear to be more environmentally friendly than they actually are.

The Greek Goes Green Program (GGG), a student-run partnership between Sustainable Campus and FSU’s Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, is focused on educating and engaging the Greek community on sustainable living practices. GGG began at Florida State many years ago but was brought back in the Spring of 2022 because Sustainable Campus assessed the untapped potential for sustainability initiatives within Greek life. Over these past two years, the GGG program has developed into a full-functioning program and continues to grow and gain new chapters each semester. 

As Halloween draws near, it’s time to start figuring out decorations for the house, apartment, or even dorm. Pumpkins and Jack-o-Lanterns are a staple of the Halloween decoration market. However, these iconic carved gourds eventually rot, and every year after Halloween around 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkin end up in landfills around the United States. So how can we get our spooky decorations to last longer and turn this environmental trick into a treat for the planet?