“We all have a voice,” was the mantra of this year’s Student Summit at the 2010 AASHE Conference. Presented by AASHE and the National Wildlife Federation, this was the largest Student Summit in AASHE conference history with more than 500 registrants who filled the room with a rising hum of excited greetings and idea sharing.

Snowboarding Olympic Silver medalist Gretchen Bleiler kicked things off with her first environmental speech in front of a crowd. “I’m definitely not an expert on climate change,” she told the gathering of college and university students, faculty and sustainability staff from around the U.S. “What I am, is a professional snowboarder who has been chasing the snow around for many years and been able to see the effects of climate change firsthand.”
 

Bleiler energized the audience by pointing out that it doesn’t take an Olympic medal to encourage steps to mitigate climate change or other sustainability efforts. Instead of assuming that celebrities and professional athletes have the biggest voices, she encouraged students to speak out in any way they can: spreading facts and initiatives via Facebook and Twitter or voting for politicians in favor of renewable energy, for example. “Every single one of us has a unique opportunity to create awareness and inspire change.”
 

After witnessing the brilliant pinks and purples of a smog-intensified sunset in Santiago, Chile; the unlikely amount of snow in Tamarack, Idaho; and a haze-covered sky in Beijing, Bleiler began to get a sense of climate change havoc. When her summer snowboarding practice season in New Zealand was cancelled because of a lack of snow, “that’s when it really hit home,” she said. “For the first time in six years, I wasn’t able to go and do what I was supposed to do.”
 

After researching the carbon emissions brought on by the life cycle of a product: the production, transportation, harvesting and eventual waste of products, Bleiler set about becoming a sustainable products activist with the creation of an eco-friendly line of snowboarding wear and signature BPA-free stainless steel water bottles.

“Talk to retailers and demand sustainable products,” she urged. “We need to let retailers know we want these low impact products. Supporting green companies will help this become the norm instead of a boutique part of the retail industry.”
 

The Summit energy was infectious and the force of student voices evident. Students from both coasts and in between shared techniques, lessons learned and sustainability success stories during breakout sessions including “Waste Management on Campus” with Yale University, Swarthmore College and Bemidji State University; “Financing Sustainability Projects on Campus” with Northern Arizona University and University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign; and “Changing Food and Waste Policies on Campus” with students from McGill University and DePauw University.
 

Representatives from the Sierra Student Coalition and the National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology Program led a discussion about the youth-led Beyond Coal campaign to kick coal off campuses and communities. A major point made was the tremendous mobilization of voices needed to end our dependence on coal-generated electricity. Politicians, it was pointed out, have some of the biggest corporations in the world sitting on the other shoulder.
 

“What can we do better?” asked a session attendee.
 

“How many of you made phone calls to your senator?” asked moderator Lisa Madry, NWF’s campus field director. “That’s what we need to do better. The grassroots pressure has to be huge.” NWF is partnered with the Energy Action Coalition for Power Vote, an effort to combat the millions of dollars poured into elections by Big Oil and Big Coal with the collective voice of hundreds of campuses and communities across the country.
 

Madry urged attendees to take Power Vote postcards back their campuses to collect as many pledges for a clean energy economy as possible. She encouraged passing out the cards during a campus sustainability speaker or other sustainability campus event. “It’s more sexy when you can take 1,000 of these pledge cards [to your politicians]. Become a significant constituency with your congressman or senator. Say, ‘We really care about your vote on this and want to know your position on this,” she said. “But you need something like that rather than coming to them as an individual representing something that would please the four people in your environmental club.”
 

If the Summit was a microcosm of what we can expect from our sustainability leaders of tomorrow, the world can be full of hope for the restoration of healthy ecosystems, community engagement and a sustainable economy. During the Open Space session, where students discussed topics with each other that weren’t on the agenda, more than 25 student-initiated topics were covered that included eliminating bottled water on campus; college students as protectors for future generations; rural economics and climate change; and creating summer initiatives for community sustainability.
 

Conversation snippets overheard during the Open Space session:
 

“Talk to your dining services. Say, ‘hey, we want to lead a campaign to eliminate bottled water.’”
 

“Perform outreach with the wider community like nonprofits, elementary schools, internships. Think outside the box. Some places you wouldn’t think of being an environmental company may be interested in collaboration and education.”
 

“Most of us wear our seatbelts. Why? Because we’ll get a ticket. It’s the authority issue. It’s expected. How do we apply this way of thought to sustainability efforts to help these become the norm?”
 

We all have a voice indeed.

The full list of Open Space session topics:
 

• Ecovillages
• Psychological/Spiritual Sustainability
• Eliminating Bottled H2O on Campus
• Sustainable Greek Chapters
• Biodegradable Products
• Making your Campus Food Real (Just and Sustainable)
• College Students as Protectors for Future Generations
• Campus Swap Meet/Free Store
• Rural Economics and Climate Change
• Campus Education Campaigns
• Why Sustainability Should be a Priority
• How to Influence the “Bottom Line” Mentality when Referring to Spending from Universities or Companies
• Cutting Energy Use in Dorms
• Student Discussion on Sustainability Coordinators at Universities/Colleges
• Creating Summer Initiatives for Community Sustainability
• Getting Money to Hire Full-Time Sustainability Coordinators
• Getting Grassroots Support – how can you make students care?
• Moving Beyond Coal
• Smart Phone Apps for Sustainability
• Green Fee
• Lobbying for a sustainability Education Institute
• Creating a Campus Farmers Market
• Campus Composting