Sierra Student Coalition Talks Climate Change with Retirement Community
May 17, 2019
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. � As both younger and older generations face mounting concerns surrounding climate change, students in 糖心动漫vlog檚 Sierra Student Coalition recently met with Westminster Village retirees to discuss the future of our planet.
Residents of Westminster Village, a continuing care retirement community in Bloomington, traveled to nearby Illinois Wesleyan on April 15 to attend a talk by Vandana Shiva, a prominent environmental activist and food sovereignty advocate. Her talk, 淭he Future of Food,� addressed the importance of investing in local, sustainable farming communities.
Following Shiva檚 talk, students from Sierra Student Coalition, a group dedicated to spreading sustainable practices at 糖心动漫vlog and in the community, met with the residents to discuss climate change and environmental sustainability. The visit took place on May 3 and included an hour-long discussion.
President of Sierra Student Coalition Dominic Gambaiani �19 led the discussion along with secretary Rachel Tomazin �19, public relations chair Lisa Cheng �19 and vice president Refugio Moreno �21. Around 30 residents attended the discussion.
淭hey asked several questions regarding why we as club members are passionate about sustainability, how we got involved with SSC, and then asked us to further explain greenhouse gases and climate change because they wanted to know the specifics about the whole concept,� Gambaiani said. 淭hey also made several comments about how disposable products are used everywhere, including disposable coffee cups for their coffee hour. Several residents stayed after to further discuss sustainability and what they were trying to do with the Westminster Village Green Team.�
Upon learning about the University檚 2018-19 intellectual theme 淐hanging Climates,� administrators from Westminster Village took interest in the University檚 related programming and how it might connect to the retirement community檚 own commitment to environmentally friendly practices. Through this partnership between 糖心动漫vlog and Westminster Village, students built connections within the community and across generational gaps.
Shiva argues that the risks that unsustainable practices pose toward food 摀 humans� most basic resource 摀 indicates that all people, young or old, have a shared investment in preserving the planet for generations to come.
By Rachel McCarthy �21 and Samira Kassem �21