This summer, the SDState Sustainability Pledge was launched with a goal of motivating and encouraging faculty, staff and students to consider sustainability practices in their careers and daily lives on campus. 

The pledge has participants choose one action for each of the three pillars of sustainability – environment, economy and equity – as a way of helping participants understand the connection between all three pillars. The goal is to have 300 students and 200 faculty/staff sign the pledge by the end of the fall semester. 

Campus members may remember a previous sustainability pledge that was available in 2014. This pledge had different wording for faculty, staff and student pledges; however, the new pledge  uses the same wording for all campus members.

Names from the 2014 pledge were not transferred over due to the difference in pledge structure. The new pledge is also accessed electronically, making it more accessible to everyone.

Lastly, this pledge dives deeper into tying all of the pillars of sustainability together. This is a key concept to remember with sustainability. While you can protect the environment, spend money responsibly and ensure everyone has access to basic human needs (food, water, education, etc.), it is impossible to truly reach any of these without taking into account the other two areas of sustainability. Just like everything in nature, sustainability is profoundly interconnected.  Pledging to specific actions in each category also helps participants set an achievable goal. 

Many of the pledge items are simple actions such as: use a reusable water bottle, recycle, only buy what you can afford, shop locally when possible, volunteer and participate in a diversity event. These actions are small changes to your lifestyle that are easy, beneficial to yourself (i.e. saves you money when you use a reusable water bottle) and have a large, positive impact on sustainability.

The pledge also offers more challenging actions like biking to campus, purchasing products from companies centered on at least one pillar of sustainability and advocating for providing access to basic human needs. Participants also have the opportunity to create their own pledge for each section. 

Are you ready to help make campus sustainable? Join President Dunn and 90+ others who have already signed the pledge! www.sdstate.edu/sustainability/take-pledge Follow SustainSDState on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for weekly pledge posts throughout the semester featuring students, faculty, and staff who are committed to making SDSU sustainable!

Jennifer McLaughlin is the Sustainability Specialist at SDSU and can be reached at [email protected].