Whitman Campus Climate Challenge

“Recently, Whitman Investment Company (WIC)invested $8,000 in Monsanto, a socially and environmentally unethical agribusiness company.  When members of Campus Climate Challenge found out about this, they decided to approach WIC and encourage them to sell the stock and take into greater consideration the ethical ramifications of their actions.  After much spirited debate, WIC sold the stock on May 5th.  Campus Climate Challenge will follow up by writing a letter to Monsanto to inform them of these events.  It is important that even though WIC is no longer a shareholder of Monsanto, we let Monsanto know that their practices were behind the decision to de-invest in the company.”
-Contributed by organizer Robin Lewis

This spring, the unstoppable Robin Lewis organized Whitman artists Jes Alford, Lauren Imbrock, and Nat Clarke to create an inspiring installation on campus for climate education.  Their work showcased the immediate need to reduce atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million (ppm), down from dangerous and unsustainable current levels of over 388ppm.

See the image below in the 350 art gallery, and contact Robin at lewiscr(at)whitman.edu.

Dear student leader,

Every year, young activists at Whitman College, WWU, and WWCC organize to create change in Walla Walla and across the world.  While figuring out how to get things done around this place, we’ve run into similar hurdles, discovering anew–and separately–how to overcome them.

That’s why I’d like to invite you to join activists in the Whitman Campus Climate Challenge for a cross-community picnic at Pioneer Park Friday, May 8th at 5:30 pm. We’ll meet each other, share goals, strategies, frustrations and victories, and plan for a Walla Walla Youth Leadership Summit this fall.

Why?

As activists, we may all be working toward different ends–from environmental causes to latino voting rights to water projects in India–but we share passion, vision, and a desire to further our respective ends with greater success and ease.

Together, let’s brainstorm what we want out of a community-wide youth leader training next fall:

Do you want to learn how to…

- Motivate your peers
- Run meetings
- Conduct conference calls
- Network
- Recruit and retain volunteers
- Work with your school’s administration
- Build institutional memory
- Use the media: TV, radio, newspaper articles and OpEds
- Market your cause through websites, listservs, and advertisements
- Create a community-wide calendar to avoid double-booking events
- Apply for grants and attract funding
- Ensure the longevity of your group post-grad

… let’s add to the list!

By sharing experience and resources, we can kick off an amazing year of action in Walla Walla!  Can you join us for a potluck picnic in Pioneer Park, May 8th at 5:30pm?  You can be experienced or brand new to organizing, in high school, college, or a recent grad, we want to share stories and good food with you!

–> Please RSVP to: Camila Thorndike: thorndce(at)whitman.edu

Please distribute this message to other inspirational young leaders you know!

P.S.
If you cannot attend, please send a message outlining, but not limited to the following:
Your group’s mission, level of engagement, history in Walla Walla, and what you’d like to see included in the activist training.

Check out the flickr bar to the right for photos of our wonderful volunteer-teachers and helpers (eating Sweet Basil!)

The Cool the Schools Campaign was a collaboration between Whitman’s Campus Climate Challenge and the Environmental Education for Kids Club with assistance from the Sustainable Living Center and Whitman Mission Historic Site of the National Park Service.  Five students, Julia Lakes, Katie Hallett, Camila Thorndike, Elena Gustafson, and Lisa Curtis got together with the intention of organizing a campaign that would bring Whitman students into local schools to teach students about climate change.  They sought help from Mike Dedman of Whitman Mission, and Freda Tepfer and Erin McMahan of the Sustainable Living Center (SLC).  SLC reached out to teachers to find times when we could go into their classes and Mike provided us with a few trunks worth of lesson plans and curriculum.  We put our heads together and came up with a variety of lessons and then solicited Whitman students to teach these lessons.  We then held training sessions to go over the lessons with the Whitman students and supply them with the materials for the lessons before we sent them off into public and private Walla Walla schools.  Everyone learned a ton, made young friends in the community, and is looking forward to an even bigger and better campaign next year!

For another perspective and some great insights from Elena, check out this article in the Pio.

THANKS TO ALL THE AMAZING VOLUNTEER TEACHERS WHO GAVE THEIR TIME AND PASSION TO WALLA WALLA YOUTH!

Interested?  Leave a comment and we’ll get back to you.

CCC teamed up with the inter fraternity council to throw a barbecue featuring Thundering Hooves local sustainable beef.

Yes.  Happy meat.  Love it.

Whitman tops schools in the nation for Udall recipients this year, and the CCC tops groups on campus for their activism — Elena, Camila, and Lisa!

Check out what these leading women have, are, and will do with their lives: http://www.whitman.edu/content/news/3udalls.

SustainUS will be sending 25 young people – and our own Lisa Curtis is one! – from across the United States to the 17th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD),  May 4-15, 2009 in New York City.  Click here for her bio.

SustainUS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of young people advancing sustainable development and youth empowerment in the United States. Through proactive education and advocacy at the policy-making and grassroots levels, they are building a future in which all people recognize the inherent equality and interdependence of social, economic, and environmental sustainability.

Click here for the excellent Whitman College Pioneer article written by Gabriela Salvidea.

Thank you to Whitman photographer Greg Lehman for the photos!

Check out Lisa Curtis’ profile-interview on the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Ed Web site.

http://www.aashe.org/blog/aashe-interview-series-lisa-curtis-whitman-college

The Jewett Solar Project was included in “A Beginners Guide to On-Campus Solar Development,” prepared by Tom Nagawiecki of University of Idaho. The guide will be distributed through AASHE.

A copy is available on the Sustainability Wiki on the Ratings and Surveys page:

https://cleo.whitman.edu/access/content/group/SUSTAINABILITY_WIKI/A%20Beginners%20Guide%20to%20On-Campus%20Solar%20Development.pdf