USG to expand sustainability initiatives

The Undergraduate Student Government hopes to expand and progress on their sustainability initiatives in the 2022-23 year by advocating for recycling bins to be implemented on the Row and calling for a ban on single-use plastics. 

One of the sustainability projects USG advocated for over the 2021-22 year was talking to University administration about the elimination of single-use plastics, which recently gained ground with Chief Sustainability Officer Mick Dalrymple’s recent announcement that USC plans to eliminate single-use plastic bottles by July 1. 

Another project that USG’s sustainability committee has been working on with the Environmental Student Assembly, a USG programming assembly and the largest environmental student group on campus, over the 2021-22 year is a vegan and vegetarian digital cookbook that students and staff can use as a “starting point” for a green diet. The cookbook will be accessible on the ESA and USG websites when it is released next semester. The cookbook will be a living document that can be added to, former senator Russell Agustin said.

“A lot of our projects have been to bring more awareness of things that have been going on,” Agustin said. “If [the USG Sustainability Committee] can ensure that there’s more accessibility to that whole concept of environmental mindfulness, then we know that we’re on the right track, and we can always be better.” 

ESA is working with Generation Conscious, a BIPOC-owned laundry detergent brand that significantly reduces carbon emissions, to have their detergent sheets implemented in USC Housing.

ESA hopes to pilot the implementation of the detergent sheets next semester and currently has a petition to raise awareness about the detergent up on their Instagram, assistant director Connor Castillo said. The effects of common detergents often use plastic and water unsustainably.

“We just want to have as many names and then as many student group affiliations as possible to get admin to implement [the laundry detergent],” Castillo said. “It seems that we do have a lot of the administration’s support as far as the Office of Sustainability.”

Castillo said he expects some difficulty garnering the support of USC Housing for the initiative due to the high upfront costs associated with installing and financing substantial amounts of detergent regularly.

The sustainability committee has also been working with faculty and operations to implement a sufficient amount of trash bins in USC Libraries. The committee has also recently explored placing shoe bins at the Lyon Center next semester to create channels of donations of athletic footwear that can be redistributed to unhoused communities in the area. 

Senator Aidan Feighery is also looking to get more funding for student initiatives for sustainability, such as SC Garden Club, an organization that manages the Parkside Garden, a fully organic garden space. The club’s members, Feighery said, often use their own money to fund projects. 

“That should never be happening because it’s prohibitive toward the success of the initiative and also toward, like, if the student didn’t have that kind of money, then suddenly the initiative fails,” Feighery said. “The senate, because it does function somewhat as a funding party, is able to address that kind of concern.”

USG’s chief financial officer Adenike Mikende’s recently established Green Engagement Fund will financially support student programs, initiatives and projects that build community and culture through sustainability and environmental justice. 

USG chair of campus operations and sustainability nominee Sara Stienecker said she also hopes to have more sustainable forms of transportation available for students and said this can be accomplished by providing Metro passes to undergraduate students. USG senators will vote on her confirmation at next week’s senate meeting. 

“I feel like transportation is our angle [in our sustainability goals],” vice president Nivea Krishnan said. “What we’re hoping to get started is a shuttle between USC and LAX … that’s something we’ve talked to [President Carol Folt] about, and she would love for that shuttle to be electric, so we think that would be really cool.”