Sonoma State recently released the Campus Sustainability Update for Spring 2021, which contained the Fall 2020 Sustainability Snapshot, an informational spreadsheet containing all of the progress that has been made towards achieving sustainability and resilience goals during the Fall 2020 semester.

One of the major goals which Sonoma State is working towards, is achieving the resolutions set forth in the President’s Climate Leadership Commitment, which President Judy Sakaki signed in April 2019. One of the key resolutions in the commitment, is that SSU will need to become carbon neutral in the near future. 

The President’s Sustainability Advisory Council was in charge of compiling the Fall 2020 Sustainability Snapshot, as well as advising SSU on their way to achieving their climate goals. The Council meets once a month, and consists of faculty and staff, who each represent a faction of SSU’s community. 

The Fall 2020 Sustainability Snapshot covers four categories of projects: Zero-Impact Campus, Regional Resilience, Academic and Student Life, and Strategy, Communication, and Advancement. 

The Zero-Impact Campus initiative encompasses all projects which deal with reducing SSU’s carbon footprint; this includes projects which monitor, assess, and control energy conservation and efficiency, water conservation, solid waste, landscaping, sustainable construction, and transportation. 

Regional Resilience projects aim to work on campus preparedness in the face of natural disasters in the North Bay Area, including wildfires, and raise awareness of regional sustainability and resilience challenges facing the North Bay.  

Projects in the Students and Academic Life sector strive to engage students in sustainability focused curriculum, research and inquiry, internships, and living. A few of these projects include: fire resilience internships, residential life contests, and new-student orientation programming that seeks to enhance student awareness surrounding sustainability. 

The last category, Strategy, Communication, and Advancement, encompasses all action by the university towards the SSU Strategic Plan, as well as the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Committment, and all campus communication, media, and outreach regarding sustainability. 

Some of the highlights of the Spring 2021 Campus Sustainability Update include: a new sustainability minor for students, sustainability measures being put into place in the Stevenson Hall renovation, and contracts being awarded to Recology, and Ecoshift for 3-stream recycling on campus, and tracking greenhouse gases, respectively. 

At the same time, many projects have been put on hold due to COVID-19. One of these projects is the development of a bike-share program to bridge the one mile distance between the SMART train station on East Cotati Avenue, Rohnert Park SOMO Village, and SSU’s campus. While students are away from campus during COVID-19, the project is on hold.

Another project on hold is a survey which aims to quantify the commuting footprint of SSU faculty, staff, and students to use in a sustainability assessment. The project will move forward as a survey added onto the parking permit purchase process when campus reopens.

SSU is also striving for sustainability when it comes to student life. Associated Student Productions, also known as ASP, is planning an Earth Day event to get students involved in sustainability. 

Tim Wilbur, the SSU student planning this event said, “The event I am planning is a Q&A with Isaias Hernandez [@queerbrownvegan] who is an environmental educator who uses social media platforms like Instagram and Tik Tok to inform and educate on environmental issues.”

 The event will take place on Earth Day, April 22.

Wilbur described the event, saying, “…it’s really just an event to talk about the environment and how we educate ourselves in a time of social distancing and social media. It’s half a moderated Q&A with prepared questions and then half questions from the audience. We’ll also be doing some giveaways of sustainable products that he recommends.” 

Associated Students also plans to have members from the SSU Sustainability Coalition attend the event to discuss SSU’s commitment to sustainability. Associated Students also wants to encourage students to pitch their own ideas for Earth Week events.