The Program on the Global Environment works with a variety of student-based environmental organizations. ES faculty members advise various student-run environmental projects, and student environmental organizations frequently cosponsor Environmental Studies Program events and projects during the academic year. Details about each student group or program follow below. To find out more information about any of these programs, contact the student-run University of Chicago Environmental Center via email or visit their web site.

To learn more about enviornmental events sponsored by these organizations and others on campus and elsewhere in Chicago, you can sign up for the Econet listserv.

University of Chicago Environmental Center (UCEC)

Founded in 1992 at about the same time as the Environmental Studies major, the University of Chicago Environmental Center provides a hub for student-run environmental activity on campus. The UCEC also maintains an extensive lending library of scholarly and popular environmental books in their office (Reynolds Club basement, Room 002A).

For more information about the UCEC, email ucec@uchicago.edu or call the UCEC at 773-702-0405.

Environmental Concerns Organization (ECO)

The Environmental Concerns Organization (ECO) is the main student environmental activist organization at the University. They organize informational events, protests, letter-writing campaigns, and other events throughout the year. They also are the lead organizers of the campus-wide Earth Week celebrations each year.

For more information about ECO, contact Alex at ajm@uchicago.edu or Leah at leolm@uchicago.edu.

Green Awareness in Action (GAIA)

Green Awareness in Action has created and taught weekly after-school programs in environmental education in three Chicago public schools: Kelly High School, the North Kenwood/Oakland (NKO) Charter School (sponsored by The University of Chicago), and the Kenwood Academy (high school). Projects for the high schools have involved critical thinking on and discussions of the intricate interdependencies within the natural world and between humans and their environment; also, how to take action on environmental issues. Projects in the elementary school have helped K-2 students learn about topics such as paper recycling and the impact of air and water pollution.

A group of undergraduates have sustained a year-round garden project at the NKO Charter School. Their provision of teaching and gardening supplies allowed the development of lesson plans linking simple garden activities to basic insights in ecology. The team also created a mentorship program in which older children worked with student facilitators in instructing the younger children.

For more information about GAIA, contact Laura at laura07@uchicago.edu.

Green Campus Initiative (GCI)

The Green Campus Initiative aims to improve the environmental efficiency and sustainability of the University. The first GCI project was to prepare a proposal to the University detailing ways to reduce electricity consumption in lighting while accruing cost savings. The GCI team was also invited to participate in a University-sponsored process to identify significant energy savings in five campus buildings in the Fall of 2000. Currently GCI operates a battery recycling program at the University, with drop boxes in many campus buildings. They also coordinate the University-wide Sustainability Council.

For more information about GCI, contact Kate at eva@uchicago.edu or Dan at danish@uchicago.edu.

Religion and Environment Initiative (REI)

The University of Chicago Religion and Environment Initiative (REI) is an interfaith community of students, scholars, and others who share concern for our environment. In conjunction with like-minded individuals and organizations, we explore the links between religion and environment in all spiritual traditions, educate others about those links, and act on our concern for the environment on both practical and scholarly levels. Ongoing projects include a lecture series on religion and the environment in various faith traditions, advocating renewable energy use by local houses of worship, assisting the Green Campus Initiative with tending a Native Plant Garden we planted near Rockefeller Chapel, and developing a Resource Handbook on Religion and the Environment. New projects planned for this year include restoration work days, field trips, and organizing an interfaith panel discussion on globalization and its impacts on world religions.

For more information about REI, contact Dave at envstd@uchicago.edu.

To learn more about religion and environment events at the University and elsewhere, you can join the RelEnv listserv.