Local food month, in the works..

Last Thursday, I was lucky enough to sit in on one of the later planning meetings for Oxy's local food month. Involved are members of Campus Dining, the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, members of UEPI, and of, course, FEAST and our class of UEP 246.

A lot of the groundwork had already been laid down by above-mentioned groups, including a tentative schedule of events, dates, and who would be managing which. (I have a copy which I'll try to post as soon as).

As Jessica from UEPI explained to those in the Food Group, the local food month will involve members from a number of departments and students from several interest areas to co-sponsor and lead events such as movie showings, "harvest" celebrations incorporating local, in season foods, expert panelists, hands-on work in the garden, a trip to South Central Farms, and much, much more.

It's been intriguing to be on this side of the operations (aka, the admin) and see how much planning, organization, and give-and-take goes into events that seem to come together with such ease.

For most of my own experience, I've been on the side of the indignant student, almost entirely sure the institution was trying to crush and demoralize the spirit of progressive change and green initiative (and maybe, in past scenarios, said institutions were..).

But to my surprise, the admin I've encountered in the last year and a half have been enthusiastic and at least willing to take suggestions and study them further, adding helpful tips and guidance along the way, as well as giving their own suggestions and implementation for oxy-greening.

Such a relief, right?

In a way...and maybe this isn't the right place to be posting this, as many/most in the class are sustainability enthusiasts, doing much in his/her power to conserve energy, consume less, etc., but I couldn't help but have the distinct impression that the green-movement on campus has a bit to be desired.

Not that the commitment/passion isn't there! I've talked with a number of classmates simply itching for a way to utterly transform this place, but in terms of organization, we students could definitely get on the ball.

I do think that FEAST has got its shit together--putting the garden proposal through proper channels, getting funding, having a regular crew to rotate compost--kudos! This is probably one of the best examples of student motivation+organization we've got.

But in terms of energy conservation? Resource conservation? Landscape adjustment? Promoting greener methods of simply living and learning here? Yet to see a group of passionate students move behind one of those and push it forward like FEAST.

It is hard to simply start from scratch with noble intentions and no idea of how to get people to act with you or even listen, but what's most important is getting the message out there that we, members of this college community, L.A. community, and greater world community, care to some degree, and that we're willing to try.

If we could take these committees and channel them into the greater school body, how amazing would that be? To have standing organizations ready and on hand to organize for a drive, or for a lecture, a field-trip, what have you.

People want to do something--though sometimes that something isn't quite thought-out. That's where groups come in--to channel the energies of the many into a more defined goal and action plan.

Yes, this post did turn into a semi-rant, but I don't write blog-posts often, and get distracted easily...

will try again to better results maybe?

Tara