Cal Poly Green Campus aims to showcase its sustainability missions to the local community at the upcoming Sustainability Festival on Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Dexter Lawn.
This kickoff event will feature a variety of environmentally-focused clubs hosting booths, fun competitions, educational opportunities, games and more with the main goal of getting people aware and involved in the sustainability and environmentalism work around campus.
“It will hopefully be a fun learning opportunity for people to stop by and maybe they’re really passionate about a certain club; they can get involved,” environmental management and protection senior and member of Cal Poly Green campus Fiona Reyes said.
“Shut the Sash” is one campaign that Green Campus will feature at the festival to encourage students and professors to be conscientious of how their lab equipment contributes to energy use.
“The fume hoods consume a lot of energy when they’re open, so just a small action such as closing it once you’re done for the day can make a difference in the building’s energy consumption,” Reyes said.
Last year, Cal Poly Green Campus led other sustainability campaigns, including For The Love of Water Challenge (FLOW) where they partnered with university housing to encourage students to limit their water usage.
They also created campaigns to promote sustainable fashion programs such as encouraging students to donate their graduation gowns and by hosting thrifting pop-up shops on campus.
Mechanical engineering senior and green campus member Karen Morales De Leon said she is excited to share the group’s missions with the campus community.
“Every year we get new students or some people didn’t even know about it,” Morales De Leon said. “Like, years prior, I didn’t know this was a thing, but then I joined it and I was like ‘this is an awesome thing that we’re doing.'”
For students looking to get involved in Cal Poly Green Campus, they can apply for paid internship positions at the beginning of the school year by emailing greencampus@calpoly.edu. Students may also join the club “Eco Reps,” a group managed by Green Campus and available to anyone interested in sustainability.