By Igor Colonno
The Sustain U: Eco Home, Happy Home event was hosted by ASI on Thursday, Sept. 21 at the University Student Union room 303 to promote efficient ways to save the planet for students.
The event promoted awareness of energy conservation and efficiency for the Cal State Long Beach campus community.
20-year-old Sustain U student assistant Jacquelin Peña gave a presentation on daily tips that decrease energy consumption, composting and other eco-friendly habits.
Official poster of Sustain U: Eco Home Happy Home. Sustain U is dedicated to ensure an environmentally safe and sustainable CSULB campus. Photo credit: ASI
Peña said the workshop’s main function was to inform students on how to make life changes in order to help the environment.
“I was able to have all these people attending. I hope they left with some knowledge on something they could do and hopefully they make some changes on their life and be beneficial,” Peña said.
During the presentation, students were encouraged to use the platform MakeSoil for composting, an app that connects ‘soil makers’ with ‘soil supporter’s’ to exchange food scraps for soils.
Tips were also given on how to decrease water consumption and smart ways to consciously use water. This is an important topic to discuss as the world may face a shortage by 2040.
Prizes were also given to students that correctly answered trivia questions at the end of the presentation.
CSULB’s campus is also doing its part to raise consciousness among students with “Waste Not,” a program that aims to end campus waste by 2030.
Several recycling bins are located throughout the campus and food waste compostable bins are located inside the USU for better disposal.
ASI is also doing its part with the “Grow Beach Garden” program that is available for volunteers to plant, cultivate, harvest new crops and help with the decomposition process on campus.
Luis Cuevas, a hospitality management major, came to the event as a volunteer and said that the presentation helped raise awareness to protect the environment.
Cuevas learned about composting and suggested more campus events to spread awareness amongst students and faculty.
“I would say making more workshops, networking and maybe putting out more posters so that a lot of people can see,” Cuevas said.
