Well, I think I’m finally coming back down from the events of the weekend. Last Saturday, the 28, Drake held the first ever Iowa Earth Summit, where students from the environmental organizations of Iowa colleges and universities came together to talk about issues, learn how to become stronger organizations and most importantly build a statewide coalition of students concerned about the environment. After months of work and planning, the members of the Drake Environmental Action League (DEAL) and I can breathe a sigh of relief.
DEAL as a group first came up with the idea last semester. Sitting around at one of our Wednesday night meetings, we talked about how student environmental organizations in other states had come together to build a coalition. Why couldn’t we? So we contacted the environmental groups of other Iowa schools, who were just as enthusiastic as we were. We went about planning informational sessions and contacting speakers and, finally, last Saturday we saw our work pay off.
For its first year, Iowa Earth Summit was highly successful. With much help from Juliana Williams, the Great Plains Organizer for the Sierra Student Coalition, we were able to bring together 12 Iowa colleges and universities including Drake. About 75 students joined with about 15 to 20 of us from Drake.
Once everyone was together in the Olmsted Center of Drake, it was time for lunch. Our dining service, Sodexo, worked hard to ensure that both lunch and dinner were comprised entirely of food that was organic, local, or both. During lunch, we were privileged to hear talks from Ed Fallon, who served on the Iowa General Assembly from 1993 to 2006 and was a candidate for governor and US Congress, as well as Rich Leopold, director of the Iowa DNR.
Fallon emphasized taking small steps toward change and Leopold discussed how as the director of the DNR he has had to work within the “system” to accomplish goals. Hearing from two people who had devoted much of their lives to environmental concerns was inspiring to a room of people who are just setting out on this mission.
After lunch, students were able to split up among four rooms for informational sessions. The sessions went on for about an hour and after a small break, students could attend one more session. The topics discussed ranged from how to be an effective leader to engaging the community to environmental justice and were led by students, professors and guests, like ELPC’s own Andrew Snow. Discussion within every session was encouraged and students from each school were able to learn from session leaders as well as from one another.
And this was perhaps the most important part of the day, that students from different schools learned from one another. There were schools of every size represented and both environmental organizations that had high membership and those just starting out were present. After the sessions, each school was asked to take part in an informational fair, where most school presented a poster highlighting what their group had been working on. We were able to exchange ideas about effective activities and just talk about what matters to us.
After another sustainable meal for dinner, we were able to finish the day by using the connections we had all made during the day and put them to work. The goal of Earth Summit was not simply to get everyone into one room and then leave and go about our lives. We wanted the connections we made to be lasting and useful. This is where the coalition building took place. We discussed how we were going to keep in touch, first through Facebook and later by having our own website. Students volunteered to be in charge of communicating with those from the other schools and to be part of a temporary “steering committee” to lead us in accomplishing our goals. We talked about communicating with the media, the public and lawmakers. We committed to a retreat fall of next year as well as holding another summit in the spring. Since Earth Summit, we have already been in communication with one another.
What was so exciting about Earth Summit was seeing so many students in the same room, motivated toward a single goal. We all want to help each other with planning our individual campus events as well as join together to work on issues that unite us. I have always been proud of what DEAL has accomplished on Drake’s campus, but when I looked at everyone at the summit, I was overcome with how powerful we could be as a united force. The fact that so many students committed to Earth Summit and that each individual made a significant contribution to the day makes it almost impossible for me to become doubtful about the future in our hands. I can’t help but be proud of my generation.
-Laura
