St. Ambrose Sustainability Committee increases efforts to create a more sustainable campus. 

“Our goal for Earth Day and in general is to raise awareness about environmental issues, locally and globally. We want to get students involved in thinking about our impact on the planet and what is happening to it right now,” says Dr. Amy Blair, Sustainability Committee Co-Chair and SAU Biology Professor. 

Earth Day at SAU is hosted by the SAU Sustainability Committee and Green Life every year since 2021. This year’s celebration was filled with vendors, projects, crafts, and education. 

The Earth Day celebration is one of the Sustainability Committee’s largest events and provides a range of learning opportunities. This year, the committee invited Living Lands & Waters to host a tree-wrapping event. 

Living Lands & Waters is an environmental organization out of Moline, IL. The Sustainability Committee also invited Living Lands and Waters to speak at their Sustainability Round Table Series last semester. 

SAU alumni, Andrew Layer was both the LL&W Sustainability Round Table Speaker and Tree Wrapping representative and currently serves as the Programs Manager for Living Lands & Waters. “I enjoy working with the Sustainability Committee at St. Ambrose because it’s good to educate students about what’s going on in our world,” says Layer.

At the Living Lands & Waters tree-wrapping table, Andrew demonstrated the process of recycling old newspapers to use for keeping tree sapling roots moist. There was an assembly line process of dampening the newspaper, wrapping the tree roots, placing it into a plastic bag, then securely sealing the tops of the bags for transport. 

SAU students helped wrap just over 200 red oak saplings that were then delivered to John Deere employees days later. 

The Earth Day event also hosted many other tables. 

“Some of the things we had include water quality folks, PACG, a vegan food truck, and some student-led activities,” says Dr. Blair. 

Dr. Jason Senjem gave students in his Sustainability Innovation course a project to create something sustainable for the Earth Day celebration. 

Some of his students demonstrated the use of a bicycle to generate power to make milkshakes and sold them for $2 per scoop. Another group created terrariums using recycled glass bottles. 

Although Earth Day is fun to celebrate, students and faculty have expressed their value in sustainability year-round. 

“Sustainability needs to become a core value of SAU. As a social work student and personally, sustainability is very important to me. We only have one planet, and all have a part to play in protecting it,” says SAU senior Emma Romanelli. 

Emma recently helped created a PR campaign for the Sustainability Committee to boost its recognition and gain support. 

The future of students choosing colleges could depend on university sustainability plans and initiatives. 

“Gen Z has identified sustainability as a big issue for their generation. It is important to them and they are the incoming students,” says Romanelli. 

SAU Sustainability Committee co-chair Dr. Dennis Tarasi confirms, “75% of students (per a Gallup poll) consider an institution’s environmental profile in which college they choose. St. Ambrose has a lot of opportunity for increasing that environmental profile.” 

Dr. Tarasi and Dr. Blair have both expressed their desire for SAU to hire a full-time Sustainability Coordinator to help SAU reach its sustainable potential. Looking at comparable colleges can help determine where St. Ambrose stands in its sustainability profile. 

“Compared to other schools, big and small, we need to do more and the only way to do that is with more money and room given to the sustainability committee,” continues Romanelli. 

Although SAU may not have as advanced sustainability plans as other colleges, many incredible and overlooked efforts are being made. 

Dr. Amy Novak explains, “Our Ambrose values are reflective in the ongoing efforts of the faculty, staff and students involved in our Sustainability and Greenlife groups. They promote environmental and ecological awareness to our campus community.” 

Dr. Blair describes, “Some of the initiatives we [Sustainability Committee] have added are recycling on campus, vegetable and pollinator gardens, less pesticide use for the safety of bees, and we are trying to install solar panels.” 

The Sustainability Committee is continuously making efforts to improve SAU, and Dr. Novak notes, “In the spirit of Pope Francis’ 2015 Laudato Si encyclical, where he addressed the need for the global care for our earthly home, the university has taken and currently assesses energy use.” 

When asked about what administrative efforts are being made, Dr. Novak lists some of the initiatives the University is taking to address resource usage. Some things include LED lights installed (looking to install them in Bechtel, North, Rogalski, Rohlman, and Townhouses), giving kitchen grease to a firm that converts it to biodiesel, and stormwater run-off tanks used to water plants in the summer. 

Although these efforts are working towards the greater good, other colleges challenge SAU with carbon emission goals and broader environmental education. 
“I would love to see sustainability more visible on campus with more funding for an office branding. Sustainability needs to become a core value of SAU,” says Romanelli.