An AS President Committed to the Environment

Western Washington University has a strong commitment to sustainable environmental practices. From the green building of our Student Recreation Center and Academic Instructional Center, to the success of Students for Renewable Energy and the Green Energy Fee, to President Morse signing the President’s Climate Commitment and everything in between, we are national leaders in our battle to save the environment. The AS needs a president who will continue our environmentally conscious approach toward governance while understanding the logistical challenges to future progress and is willing to address them.

Since taking office over 10 months ago, I have brought a level of environmental advocacy previously unseen in a Vice President for Legislative and Governmental Affairs. Here are just a few examples of things accomplished during my tenure:

• A large expansion of the state and federal legislative agendas to include a strong emphasis on environmental issues and proposals to address those issues. These proposals include: a state mandate that all state institutions be run with 100% renewable energy, increased LEED certification requirements for all new state buildings, state funding for safe and organic agricultural practices, and increased funding for public transportation systems.
  
• The implementation of the Alternative Transportation Fee and Universal Bus Pass program. As chair of the ATF committee, I have overseen the planning of the late night shuttle routes, distribution of bus passes, and promotion of the program, among other things. Through the use of the universal bus pass, Whatcom Transportation Authority ridership has shot up 50% in the last year.While I agree that bus overcrowding is an important issue that must be addressed next year, (see my previous post on Affordability and Accountability), this is possibly the best problem WTA could have. I’m sure the ozone is thanking us for the 3,650 tons of carbon dioxide, 128 tons of carbon monoxide and 13.46 tons of hydrocarbons we Western students have not released since June 2006.
  
• Over spring break this year I went to Washington, D.C. with our current Legislative Liaison and AS President to represent the Associated Students to Washington’s congressional delegation. Along with thanking representatives for their support of the Higher Education Act of 2008 and asking our two senators to support it, a large part of our emphasis was on the environment. In alignment with our Federal Legislative Agenda, we highlighted bills that established a national climate change education program and green transportation infrastructure. Rather than just going to D.C. and saying we liked the environment, I put those issues into a policy perspective. That kind of approach is exactly what is needed to get anything done at a state or national level.
  

Aside from my past work, I have a couple proposals for the future of AS involvement in environmental sustainability:

• A more efficient and expanded Alternative Transportation program. Things I would like to address include future late night shuttle routes (namely to Happy Valley and Fairhaven), advocating for more buses to and from campus, and encouraging alternative transportation for all students at all times.
  
• Continuation of the Associated Students’ legislative emphasis on the environment and public transit. This would be alongside our traditional areas of tuition, financial aid, campus life, student rights, diversity and faculty support.
  
• Full utilization of the Outback as an AS program. Currently, the Outback Farm is a national leader in sustainable environmental learning, and since it’s also an AS program, it is our responsibility to develop it in a way consistent with the goals of the farm. The current AS Board nudged it in the right direction with the revitalization efforts recently, but we can do more, like finishing the amphitheater and making the Outback fully integrated with the rest of the campus community.
  

These are just a few of the ideas that I have for next year and further down the line. Western has done so much to minimize our negative impacts on the environment, and we can’t afford to let that go to waste. Vote for someone who will continue Western’s fight for the environment, vote Erik Lowe for AS President.