THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2007
NEWS
5A
》 ENVIRONMENT
Students promote campus sustainability
BY SASHA ROE
sroe@kansan.com
Two students showcased their efforts to promote environmentally-friendly living at Campus Sustainability Day Wednesday in the Kansas Union. The Center of Sustainability hosted the event to focus on environmentally conscious operations developed by students and faculty.
Director Jeff Severin said because the center developed from student initiative, it was important to get students involved with opportunities and research on campus and to highlight their work.
Neil Steiner, Tulsa junior, and Dena Hart, Chicago junior, presented their contributions of environmentally friendly practices.
the playground over the summer and presented it to Lawrence Parks and Recreation this fall. The design is being considered for use in west Lawrence's DeVictor Park that opens Friday.
Steiner, an architectural engineering major, explained a Natural Playscape design, a playground made almost completely of natural products and, most importantly, stimulating to children. Steiner and two other students Christina Hoxie, graduate student, and Rolf Petermann St. Louis senior, designed
Steiner said the playscape used native vegetation such as herbs, and fruit-bearing trees that appealed to all the senses and were edible. Steiner said it was both educational and safe for children "who are always eating things anyway." He said the plan also featured trails, structures made of bamboo and tree trunks, and recycled materials for the children to play on.
Steiner said the design of a completely natural playground seemed limiting at first, but the benefits of natural playscapes were obvious.
"It doesn't leave a negative aspect on the environment," Steiner said. "And it's much more intriguing for a child."
Steiner said it was absolutely necessary to incorporate sustainable practices into our lives.
"It must be a holistic approach," Steiner said. "It's difficult when we've spent 200 years going the opposite
way."
Hart said she became interested in sustainability at Social Action Project last spring after hearing environmental Journalist Simran Sethi speak. The project challenged students to create some kind of presentation to highlight an aspect of sustainability. Hart and two other students decided to make a documentary, "An Evening of Green". Hart showed the documentary at Campus Sustainability Day.
The documentary focuses on people's awareness of sustainable practices. Hart said they shot much of the film on Massachusetts Street and asked people at random to define sustainability and global warming.
Hart said she was shocked at some of the answers. Some of the interviewees got confused looks on their faces and were at a loss of how to define the terms. When asked what global warming was one student said, "Is it coming to Lawrence?" and another said, "Stuff that hurts the ozone."
Hart said the film highlighted just how unaware people were of the situation and didn't realize that
even the little things made a big dif.ference.
"We're not very educated about this," Hart said. "People get so involved in their own lives. They don't realize the smallest things we are doing are what're hurting our environment."
Adam MacDonald/KANSAI
One scene of the documentary shows two girls brushing their teeth with a timer in the bottom of the scene to show how long people let water run. Hart said after that scene she always thought about the water when brushing her teeth. She said there were small ways students could work at sustainability in their lives. Hart said turning off lights and television, using washable water bottles and unplugging chargers not in use were little things she tried to do.
Dena Hart, Chicago junior, and Jessica Levy, Dallas senior, receive an award on the behalf of their 11-member project from KU Provost Richard Lariviere Wednesday afternoon in the Kansas Union. The award was in recognition of the team's four-stage sustainability project.
The day also featured presentations from KU Dining Services, the Environmental Stewardship Program, CRESIS, Chevron Energy Solutions and the chemical and petroleum engineering; department. Each group presented their research and work in sustainable practices.
The Center for Sustainability
opened last January after research and work by students, faculty and staff. A sustainability task force made up of students and faculty, which initiated in Fall 2004, helped establish the center. Severin
said the goal of the Center for Sustainability is to educate and involve the campus in sustainable projects and policies.
- Edited by Kaitlyn Syring
INTERNSHIPS
International organization provides work abroad opportunities for students
BY JEFF DETERS
jdeters@kansan.com
Ashlee Crowl has seen the world. She has been to England, France, Holland and Italy, just to name a few. But to Crowl, one destination stands out among the others: India.
Crowl, Topeka senior, traveled through India and other countries in the Asian subcontinent last spring and summer while on an internship with the International Association of Students in Economics and Commerce, or AISEEC, (pronounced eye-sek).
AIESEC, according to its Web site, is
the world's largest student organization and has chapters at more than 800 universities, and the University of Kansas is one of them. AISEEC's mission is to promote international understanding and cooperation and it facilitates a work-abroad exchange program between its member countries.
Vaishali Gala, Hays junior and vice president of student process for AIESEC, helps students plan their trips. She said about 40 students are involved in the organization this year.
"We want people and students to go abroad and get an understanding of what the world is," she said.
While in India, Crowl worked for a marketing company that promoted educational programs for students. She said she wanted to travel to India because each area of the country is unique. For example, in the southwest the culture has a strong Portuguese influence and the north has a predominant Chinese and Buddhist culture.
"I'm just really interested in the culture and history of religion" she said.
During her trip, she rode camels, slept under the stars in Pakistan, stayed in a Buddhist monastery and took a week-long introductory course in Buddhism and meditation.
She also saw the Taj Mahal, where she was a subject of attention. Crowl said because she is a white woman with blonde hair - something many of the people there likely hadn't seen very often - they took pictures of her as well.
"I was sort of surprised." she said.
I was sort of stumped, she said. For fun, Crowl also went bungee jumping and canyon swinging in Nepal. She said that she dropped about 160 feet, and then swung on a rope in a canyon for about eight seconds.
"I wasn't really scared," Crowl said.
"I guess I was thinking, 'What am I doing right now?' 我 was crazy.
Crowl said in the future she would like to return to the region, but right now she was concentrating on getting into law school. She said international law appealed to her.
"There are a lot of people that need someone to stand up for them," Crowl said.
Nate Barbarick, a 2006 graduate from Olathe, is living in Tampere, Finland. He said he decided to go to the country because he had always liked Nordic countries and thought it would be a good experience for him.
"I love this country very much," he
said. "The nature is beautiful and the people are mostly kind and friendly"
For about six months, Barbarick worked at a university of applied sciences as a tutor, teaching staff and administrators English. He said he also wrote for a magazine. He planned to return next month.
"Working abroad has been a fantastic experience, definitely," he said.
For information about AISEEC, aieesekansus.stupn@gmail.com
Edited by Rachel Bock