Club Promotes Eco-Friendly Practices

A club on campus is attempting to protest the amount of waste that the University of Tampa produces.

The club’s name is Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC). SEAC’s goals are to efficiently and creatively change the world we live for the better.

SEAC’s President Andrew Visnick hopes to igite a change in the way students handle waste.

“We have been working very hard to increase awareness about sustainability issues here at UT and globally and to make it easier for students to be more sustainable (i.e having recycling bins in dorms, more around campus, reduce waste things like that).”

SEAC has a running petition to bring recycling bins to dorms, with signatures from a plethora of students and even UT’s own Dean of Students Stephanie Russell Krebs.

Other students have weighed in on UT’s recycling.

Alex Engel, a freshman living in Smiley Hall said, “I would totally recycle if the university gave me a bin, but right now it’s not really emphasized on campus.”

Sean Chambers, another freshman living in Smiley Hall was surprised at the lack of recycling.

“ I don’t really see recycling bins around campus. It’s a surprise considering how pretty the school is. You’d think they’d be all eco-friendly.”

Approximately 70 percent of incoming students agree that “having information about a school’s commitment to the environment would influence their decision to apply to or attend that school,” according to the Princeton Review in April 2012.

The group has also compared UT’s campus sustainability policies and ratings to other colleges to look for things UT could do better. They say that UT has a lot of room to improve.

“We are starting a cool project with a sustainability solutions company called SCI (Smart Campus Initiative),” said Visnick. “This is a very cool hands on project that involves our members testing plug load in a hope to reduce UT’s plug load demand.”

If students want to get involved they can check out their Facebook group “UT Student Environmental Action Coalition” or attend the weekly meetings on Thursdays at 4:00 p.m. located on the second floor of the wellness center (LEED certified building) in conference room 210.

SEAC is planning a trip to the state of the art Waste Management recycling facility and keeping with the theme of reducing waste, they are giving out reusable water bottles to students around campus.

“Our generation needs to take drastic measures to make the world a better place,” said Visnick. “We are starting to take strides but there is still a lot of work to be done.” He added, “That is why we are fighting and “calling the school out” to be more sustainable. UT says that they are doing a great job but it reality there is much more to be done.”

Pranav Lokin can be reached at Pranav.Lokin@spartans.ut.edu.