Summary of the 2nd Annual Sustainability Summit

Climate change isn’t cool and the Michigan economy is cooling down too much. On the surface, these may seem like two disparate dots, but the Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition is connecting them. We are mobilizing to create an economy that empowers communities, works with natural forces, and has the power to lift people out of poverty.

In the third ever Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition Summit, 140 students from 13 campuses converged on East Lansing to join in the dialogue and actions to create a sustainable future in Michigan. Students came from as far away as the Upper Peninsula to present and participate in workshops and environmental, community-building service. The summit was the largest student-organized sustainability and climate-action gathering to happen in Michigan.

It kicked-off on Friday evening with the Mayor Singh of East Lansing calling for students to “go out and grab the power” and keep the heat on politicians at the local level. Omeyele Sowore, a longtime oil-activist from Nigeria, was the keynote speaker. He brought an inspirational message of the power that we, as students and future leaders, have to make change in our campuses and communities. As student leaders, we can catalyze the rectification of global injustices perpetrated by our society’s dependence on fossil fuels. The energy leaving Sowore’s talk carried over in full to Saturdays full agenda of workshops.

The conference was designed to inform students of the environmental problems that exist in Michigan and give the tools with which they can address these problems. These problems, ranging from Sulfide Mining in the Upper Peninsula to our destructive energy economy, were put in an environmental justice context on Saturday morning, when Rhonda Anderson of the Sierra Club’s Detroit Environmental Justice office guided students in discussion of the Seventeen Principles of Environmental Justice. Solutions were the topic of Saturday afternoon. Students participated in eight tracks of workshops led by professional specialists, fellow college students, and organizers from Rainforest Action Network, Global Exchange, and Sierra Student Coalition. All in all, thirty-five unique workshops were offered on topics of campus organizing, sustainable business, sustainable technology, activism, environmental policy, freedom from oil, media, and organizational development.

On September 30^th we translated words into action, spending the day in the communities of Lansing and East Lansing. We broke into groups to build community gardens, rain water collections systems, raised bed planter boxes, and work on an organic farm. Following our get-your-hands-dirty-for-sustainability morning, we were treated with a conversation with Guster guitarist and singer Adam Gardner. Adam is behind the pop-music tour greening organization, Reverb

As the summit closed, thoughts turned to “what next?” There was no shortage of answers. Curbing climate change and creating a sustainable infrastructure are the MSSC’s most urgent priorities. The MSSC is launching a campaign for a strong Renewable Portfolio Standard in Michigan. Such legislation will advance Michigan’s powerful manufacturing economy toward a profitable, ethical new enterprise - the manufacture and installation of wind turbines and solar panels. This campaign fits perfectly with our geographically dispersed structure. As stakeholders in congressional districts around the state, we can equally leverage state-legislators in many of Michigan’s communities. MSSC will also continue to support Campus Climate Challenge campaigns, and will introduce the Transportation Challenge to its campuses with the support of Rainforest Action Network. The MSSC is energized in Michigan. Expect a strong turn out at Power Shift!

Thank you to Campus Progress, Rainforest Action Network, Global Exchange, Sierra Student Coalition, University of Michigan Student Assembly Environmental Issues Commission, and MSSC members for their support, financial and otherwise. Our State. Our Planet. Our Future.