Broadside Club of the Week: GMUEA

By Broadside Correspondent Jen Driggers

The GMU Environmental Awareness Group has been a club on campus for the past year and was founded by Ashley Sitar. So far, the club has 12 members. GMUEA, whose goal is to increase awareness of the environment at George Mason University, is looking to attract as many people as possible in order to increase involvement in the club’s projects.

“Environmental awareness is such a huge topic,” said GMUEA president Jose Gayoso. “We want to allow people to focus on what they view [as] important.”

Gayoso, a junior biology major, also works for the Environmental Protection Agency Office of Pesticide Programs. The club provides resources for students who come up with innovative projects to help with the environment on campus and is also encouraging off-campus work.

Gayoso commented that there is a certain degree of “social responsibility” individuals have to help keep our environment as clean as possible, but, at the end of the day, by helping the environment, Gayoso says, there is a great feeling of having accomplished something helpful.

In the past, the club has mainly gotten together to coordinate events such as student organization recycling bin painting. The group also co-sponsored EarthFest, an on-campus event hosted by Broadside that took place for the first time last year.

Last spring, the club organized a campus clean up where litter was picked up and disposed of that had previously been lingering on the university’s streets. They also moved Mason’s native plant garden from a construction area to a safe zone, where they intend to do more maintenance this year.

In the future, Gayoso commented that they would also like some meetings to be opportunities for discussion.

“People do care about the issues,” Gayoso said. “Even joining the club makes a difference.”

The club also would like to closely work with Mason’s sustainability office, which is currently working on the “Climate Action Plan.” The plan will work with the campus public to identify more ways to reduce CO2 emissions here on campus.

Mason is also now committed to becoming “climate neutral,” which means that the university is committed to reducing CO2 emissions from commuting, electrical use, heating, cooling and travel.

According to Gayoso, the club is also interested in working with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, whose mission it is to switch to a cleaner form of energy in the area of Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. to produce a societal change that promotes a cleaner environment.

The CCAN will be coming to Mason either this month or next to talk to students. They will stress the issue of a coal plant being built in Wise County, and talk about why that is a bad thing for the environment overall.

They will also discuss the benefits of clean energy. GMUEA will also be encouraging students to go to Virginia Tech, Oct. 10-12 to attend Power Shift, an event filled with workshops and speakers teaching and giving ideas to students about sustainability.

Currently, the club is trying to figure out effective ways to advertise its green incentives while practicing what they preach, which means no flyers.

They intend to make appearances at sporting events and other big Mason events in order to be recognized and to try to recruit members or get people interested in becoming more eco-conscious.

The group will also be working on its Web site to inform students about their group and the environment overall.
“Even small things you might not think are important matter,” Gayoso said.

It is important for students to help in any way, not only for their own personal benefit and health, but also for the health of future generations, he said.