LC Students Forgo Showers, Attend Environmental Conference

By Kiel Johnson

There is a certain feeling after good sex when your entire body is exhausted but at the same time completely satisfied. Well this past weekend nine Lewis & Clark students journeyed up to Seattle for the second annual Cascade Climate Network convergence. All of these students felt that way by the end of the weekend. They were joined by 120 student environmental leaders representing most colleges and universities in Washington and Oregon. The student organized and lead event was surprising amazing considering that it was student organized and lead.
The two day event was filled with grand idealism, organic food, and actual genuine inspiration. Jared Schly (12’) said, “The weekend was epic. Mind expanding in every way.”
For two days these students attended workshops and talked with other students about what they were doing at their respective colleges. Some of the trainings offered were on topics such as, starting a campus garden, starting a bike share program, how do you run a meeting, and how do you deal with a school's pesky administration.
The highlight for Jared Schly (12') was the open discussions Saturday night. If you have ever, while in an alternate state, turned to your friend and asked “what is nature?” or “dude look at all those stars, we are so fucking insignificant” then you may or may not have enjoyed the open discussions. While it is unlikely that many people were in altered states we all broke off into groups and had interesting conversations that weren't guided by some professor whose ultimate goal is to turn everyone into himself. One group was titled “what are the social constructs of nature?” and while they never really came close to answering this question they all felt pretty smart trying to.
At the end of the weekend Holly Kellum (11’) was “I was amazed at how much progress has been made in regards to sustainability but I also got a glimpse of how much work is still ahead of us. The knowledge and technology are there, we just need to implement it, and sooner rather than later if it is going to be effective.”
The best part was just getting to be around all these people from other school who were all doing amazing things and passionate and committed to doing more things. Lewis & Clark is not alone in the struggle to change into a more environmentally responsible campus. We still might not know how to deal with the administration, or anything about starting a campus garden but at least we know that it is not just one person, or just our school that is trying to do these things. The convergence gave hope that if we work together we can begin to accomplish some of the goals on our long list of things to do to become a more sustainable place.