The sun illuminates the new skyline of Hunter, Okla., Sept. 18, 2012 with the additions of windmills from the Chisholm View Wind Project. (AP)
As the global warming debate continues, sensitivity to environmental issues is at an all-time high. Blue recycling bins grace alleyways behind local businesses and hybrid vehicles are more popular than ever. A campaign promoting clean energy-solar, wind powered and geothermal-is sweeping the state, and now SMU students are getting involved.
A new environmental group Emerged on campus with the commencement of fall classes: the Sierra Student Coalition (SSC).
The student-run chapter of the national Sierra Club envisions itself as a space for activism and promoting environmental and social change. The SSC pursues local, statewide and national environmental campaigns via the support of high school and college students.
At its kick-off meeting on Sept. 19, SSC discussed the statewide clean energy campaign that the organization will take on this fall. In partnership with multiple other environmental, labor and public health groups, the SSC will push the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) of Texas to fully implement a law passed in 2005 which mandates the use of renewable energy sources within the state.
Since the law was passed, Texas has become the national leader of wind energy manufacturing, but it has failed to implement other non-wind energy sources, such as geothermal and solar technologies, required by the law.
“In 2005, the law was passed, but not implemented,” SSC Campus Organizer Katie Siegner said. “This is about accountability. We need to present a united front [to the PUC].”
Ten percent of Texas’ electricity is provided by wind energy. By diversifying its clean energy supplies and implementing solar and geothermal sources, Texas could become a national leader in the use of clean energy, according to Siegner.
“I think that encouraging our Texas representatives to go through with these implementations is an easy but crucial stepping stone to making alternative energies more of a productive, practical and publicly accepted source of power,” SMU junior and SSC volunteer Leslie Hurley said.
SSC chose to set up camp at SMU because of the universities top research facilities for geothermal energy and commitment to sustainability. The group has already linked up with a number of professors and other environmental groups around campus.
Siegner contacted Keya Devani, president of SMU’s Environmental Society, at the beginning of the semester.
“As a fellow environmentalist, it’s good to support others who try to attain similar goals as you,” Devani said. “Changing the way Texas views renewable energy is one of them.”
The SSC has already collected over 600 “petitions”, or cards of interest, from SMU students since the onset of classes.
Word about the new group has made its way quickly around campus, as Siegner and other SSC volunteers have hit the ground running.
Most recently, the SSC hit the boulevard during family weekend to spread the word to students, parents and alumni. SSC volunteers chatted up tailgaters during the family barbeque and even snapped photos with a few Mustang fans sporting posters with slogans promoting clean energy.
“Our whole purpose is to get out there and try to get other people to see why [the clean energy campaign] is such a great idea,” SMU freshman and SSC volunteer Story Zanetti said.
“It’s all about connecting and joining together, and I think we could all use a little more of that.”
