USUSA Executive Council considers bill declaring Climate State of Emergency
Almost three years after a mental health crisis was declared on campus, the Utah State University Student Association executive council is discussing a new problem: climate change.
The bill, titled USUSA Sustainability and Climate State of Emergency Resolution, was sponsored by Organizations and Diversity Vice President Josh Johnson and co-sponsored by Student Advocate Vice President Sam Jackson. If passed, it would create a student taskforce to work with other sustainability groups on campus, move up a previous carbon neutrality goal by 18 years and request Utah State University President Noelle Cockett to declare a climate state of emergency at Utah State.
“This is somewhat similar to what we did for mental health,” Jackson said. “We’re hoping President Cockett will declare a crisis, but she may be more comfortable with wording it as a state of emergency.” The bill includes both wordings as options for Cockett to adopt.
The bill states part of its purpose is also to express USUSA’s support for a bill passed by the USU Faculty Senate in early February: a resolution to reduce USU’s greenhouse gas pollution. Both bills are partly in response to USU’s commitment in 2007 to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, outlined in the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment signed by former president Stan Albrecht.
“It’s one of those polarizing issues where I believe people from all backgrounds get too caught up on who’s right, rather than focusing on what’s right,” Johnson said. “In this case, what’s right for USU is another step in a sustainable and eco-friendly direction that will benefit every member of our community.”
The idea for the USUSA bill was introduced by Angelia Klein, vice president of the Non-Traditional Student Association and a student in the S.J. and Quinney College of Natural Resources, who has been involved throughout the process of finalizing the legislation, Johnson said.
The bill lists potential pros and cons should it be passed, including establishing USU as an “innovator and leader” in sustainability and climate change, bringing students, faculty, and administrators together to work towards common goals, and advocating for efforts that were previously set in the faculty senate and ACUPCC bills. It also acknowledges the potential for the bill to instigate division between supporters and others that reject the notion of climate change, whether they be individual students at USU or outside institutions.
Johnson said, “Moving forward I hope that this resolution, along with the similar resolution passed in the faculty senate will be able to assist in guiding our university toward a reduction in greenhouse gas pollution and increased sustainability, while also saving us money in the long run.”
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