Campus and Community
- Dining Committee
- Contact: Michele Gross – Director of Business Operations/Dining
- Environmental Concerns Committee
- Environmental Concerns Committee Website
- Contact: Samantha Bass – Environmental Concerns Coordinator
- George Jones Farm
- George Jones Farm Website
- Contact: Evelyn Bryant – Education and Events Coordinator
- Good Food Co-op
- Good Food Co-Op Website
- Contact: Jym Sandberg
- Green EDGE Fund
- OC3 (Oberlin Community Composting Coalition)
- Contact: Melissa Streng – Office of Sustainability Compost Coordinator
- Contact: OC3
- Oberlin Permaculture Guild
- Contact: Glenn Gall
- OPIRG (Ohio Public Interest Research Group)
- Ohio PIRG Website
- Contact: Elizabeth Kozak – Ohio PIRG Campus Organizer
- Hunger and Homelessness Campaign
- Contact: Sydney Harris
- Local Foods in Local Schools
- Contact: Laura Geller
- Contact: Sarah Bolinger
- ORCA (Oberlin Radicals Committed to Action)
- Contact: Eric Wilhelm
- OSEC (Ohio Student Environmental Coalition)
- Contact: Isabelle Rozendaal
- Recycled Products Co-op
- SEED House
- Contact: Isabelle Rozendaal
- Letter Writing Campaign – Coal Plant
- Letter Writing Campaign – Environmental Justice Bill
- Slow Food Group
- Contact: Amanda Tobin
- SUDS (Sustainable Union for Detergents and Soaps)
- Contact: Margaret Kent
This committee is a mix of staff and students and works on food/CDS issues. It is open to all students and meets once a month, possibly twice in the future.
This is a group in OSCA (Oberlin Student Cooperative Association) that works on environmental issues like composting, local foods, gardening, waste, etc.
This is an organic farm one mile east of campus. They are always looking for volunteers.
A grocery co-op in the basement of Harkness dedicated to selling inexpensive and healthy food. It is open to the community. The GFC is always looking for members.
A newly established fund that provides financial support to efficiency and sustainability projects.
This group was formed last year, and this year has been reincarnated by the new compost coordinator hired by the Office of Sustainability, Melissa Streng. She holds meetings about compost and is trying to support the many initiatives that are taking off in town.
This is a community-based gardening group that is interested in meeting at different garden sites around Oberlin to learn about methods and to help people design and create new gardens.
This is an official student group that has an office on the third floor of Wilder. If you want to "run a campaign", OPIRG tries to be a resource for students who want to change things.
Initiatives:
This is an OPIRG campaign that coordinates community service opportunities, food drives, and the hunger banquet to educate people about poverty issues.
This is a project happening through OPIRG, where students go into the high school, make a garden there, and teach the students about gardening.
This is a new unofficial group. Projects being worked on include divestment (pulling investments from unethical things) and a books-to-prisoners program. Other ideas are being considered as well.
Founded two years ago to work on state wide issues such as coal use. OSEC holds one large statewide meeting once every semester. The steering committee meets more often to discuss prominent issues.
Located on the third and a half floor of Wilder, it houses recycled and saved office/school supplies. RPC teaches bookbinding and often gives away, or discounts, school supplies.
Student Experiment in Ecological Design House is a program house where eight active, interested people live and work on environmental issues and try to reduce their carbon footprint via home improvements and lifestyle changes. Events and meetings happen at the house, and the members are always more than happy to show people around and talk about ongoing projects.
Initiatives:
Help try to stop a new a coal plant from being built just east of here: Daniel Preising owns the company that wants to build the plant and lives in a small town called Orville. OSEC’s goal is to send out 200 letters. Since the town is small, Mr. Preising may not receive much mail in general, meaning that such an amount of letters can make a significant impact. Get creative! This project could involve hosting parties where people can come and write letters.
An Environmental Justice Bill is going to be introduced again when the next Ohio legislative session starts, and it is important right now to contact Ohio policy-makers and voice support for this bill, which helps protect people from environmental injustices, like pollution from coal-fired plants (see Letter Writing Campaign-Coal Plant above).
This group just started in Fall 2008 and is figuring out what it will work on. It is focused around local and sustainably produced food and food issues.
This group is working to get eco-friendly laundry soaps in dorms, has begun making soap themselves, and is considering starting a soap co-op soon. SUDS gives workshops on how to make soap.
Student Employment
- Campus Dining Service Recyclers
- Contact: Michele Gross – Director of Business Operations/Dining
- Office of Environmental Sustainability
- Contact: Nathan Engstrom – Sustainability Coordinator
- Banning Plastic Water Bottles
- Contact: Maggie Zimmer
- Green Drinks
- Contact: Maggie Zimmer
- Green Tea
- Contact: Maggie Zimmer
- Recyclers
- Free Store
The CDS Recyclers are student employees of Dining Services. These students manage the composting program for the campus dining halls, work to reduce food waste, and research ways to make the dining program more environmentally friendly.
Houses the Sustainability Coordinator, Nathan Engstrom, and four project interns. OES works with the campus and town to implement and improve sustainability related programs, projects, and policies.
Initiatives:
Interest was expressed about the issue at a Green Tea event earlier in the year. This issue is in need of a group of people who are interested in starting a campaign.
This is a monthly social networking tool to connect the Oberlin environmental community. Meetings are held the third Thursday of every month at 8:00 pm at The Feve.
This is a meeting held twice a month at the AJLC (environmental studies building) atrium to connect environmental organizations on campus. Organizations are welcome to give updates on projects students are invited to propose new ideas. Meetings are Tuesdays at 9:00 pm.
The Recyclers are student employees who work for Facilities managing the recycling program, educating the campus about environmental issues, and implementing other source-reduction initiatives.
Initiatives:
The Free Store is housed in the basement of Pyle. It is a great place to look for anything one might need, especially clothes. All items in the store are free. Donations are welcome. The store is run by volunteers.
Alumni
- EnviroAlums
- EnviroAlums Website
- Contact: Carl McDaniel – Chair
Environmental Studies Alumni Association. Provides grants to environmentally related student projects.
Initiatives
Clicking on these initiatives may open embedded text above; look up!
- Banning Plastic Water Bottles
- Fair Trade Chocolate
- Contact: Shannon Ikebe – Student Senator
- Free Store
- Green Drinks
- Green Tea
- Hunger and Homelessness Campaign
- Letter Writing Campaign – Coal Plant
- Letter Writing Campaign – Environmental Justice
- Local Foods in Local Schools
- Zines
- Contact: Deanna Goblirsch
All the coffee on campus is fair trade certified. Why not other foreign imports like chocolate, bananas and tea? Fair trade certification makes sure the farmers of the product receive a fair wage. Hershey’s uses child slavery in Cote d'Ivoire to get its cocoa. Help urge Oberlin to stop supporting slave labor.
Zines are self-published, anti-copyright, mini-magazines that anyone can write. It originially started as an underground, punk band publicity idea but soon turned into political and personal stories and a DIY sharing phenomenon. There is a zine library at The Cat in the Cream.