How Is The Student Environmental Awareness Society Helping Our Society?

Team Members: ENC3250.797S15

Theresa Ladkani Professor F. Tobienne

Jeremy Berger

Shelby Jones University of South Florida

Donald Hoover St. Petersburg

140 Seventh Ave. South

St. Petersburg Fl, 33701

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TEAM BULLS

Table of Contex

Table of Context

Executed Summery

Introduction

Who is the Student Environmental Awareness Society?

Installing Watergoat

More About Partnerships

USF St. Pete student’s plant trees ahead of international climate change event

Student Environmental Awareness Society Film series

Other Events

Social Media

Student Environmental Awareness Society IN 2011 AT USFSP

Non Related SEAS News at USFSP

Conclusion

Work Cited

Annotated Bibliography

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Executive Summary

The Student Environment Awareness Society is an active club that helps the idea of going green through their activities. The members in that club are aware of most issues that are going on in society and are trying to take steps to fix it. While walking through the campus, a person can see that the entire campus is green, which emphasize the importance of

the condition of our society that we live in. The Team Bulls is going to inform the reader about the activities and achievement of the Student Environment Awareness Society, how to get in touch with them, and hope that after reading this information, you will have an idea about this environmental club.

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Introduction

University of South Florida St. Petersburg has a lot of different organization and systems in place that are designated to help save our environment. As a University, they are very focused on making sure that we, as the society, are doing our part to keep our waters and campus as clean as possible in order to help sustain our environment. Having a lot of organizations that help the environment, the work is splitting between all organizations.

Although the campus has many things that assist student to be involved in our clubs including our smoke free campus, the Gardening Club, and the Student Green Energy Fund (SGEF), the Student

Environmental Awareness Society (SEAS) is USFSP’s oldest club that has promoted awareness for the environment while also providing activities to get students involved in helping the environment. This group of students have done so much to get others involved, raise awareness, and actually carryout these activities to help the environment. We will speak of the many activities and events that Student Environmental Awareness Society has put on to continue USF St Petersburg’s environmental awareness. Hopefully after reading this paper, you will be able to see and understand the importance of our clubs around the campus and all the effort that they put into their work.

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Who is the Student Environmental Awareness Society?

The Student Environmental Awareness Society is an active purveyor ofinformation regarding environmentally friendly practices, organizations,and services. The Student Environmental Awareness Society hosts a websitethat updates followers regularly on local events such as the society'smonthly beach cleanings. Scrolling through the website of the Student Environmental Awareness Society, a person can find all of the information needed to be able to join this society. In the beginning they mention that they are the longest running club in USF St Petersburg, which can give an idea to the potential members that they will be joining a very active club that is focused on its community. They make it clear what they do, and they even make this society interesting to everyone with different passion. The SEAS site also invited students to attend meetings about club events, community outreach and potential projects. SEAS proudly offers guidance to students who wish to pursue degrees and careers in the fields of ecology, sustainability, resource management, climate change, conservation and environmental science and policy. Certain professors teaching classes in these said fields invite members of the society to speak during their lectures, to increase awareness of their efforts and encourage participation. USFSP requires a course on wetland environments as an exit course for graduation, which is another way for the school to help SEAS achieve their goals of improving our local natural wetlands and other habitats and ecosystems. The club meets every week on campus, Wednesday at 4:00 pm in the USC Coral Room. During their meeting, they talk about different topics that concern the students in that club. They

talk about current issues, classroom topics, and community events. They also help to organize on-campus traditions like Monthly Beach Clean Ups, Food Day, Earth Week, and other activities during the semester.

This society is created for anyone who has an interest to have a greener campus, community, and world. Basically they want to make the world a greener place to live in, through their activities.

The Student Environmental Awareness society's motto is "Go Green, Stay Gold.", staying true to their school colors and spirit, while presenting a powerful statement about the mission and passion of the club. This organization also provides a resource from which students are able to springboard innovative ideas, or issue a call to arms when action is needed. The club has a record of bringing attention to important issues. In one instance, a student posted a picture of copious amounts of trash at low tide, which prompted immediate action and an impromptu environmental spot-clean.

The president of the Student Environmental Awareness Society is Cassidy McGrane. The treasurer is Ashley Ridgeway and the advisor is Dr. Leon

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Harding. Another helpful information on the Student Environmental Awareness Society website is the calendar tab. Basically, it has all the previous and upcoming activities for that club, when you click on the event; the date, time, and location is provided along with a description of the event which gave a clear explanation about that event. The event is laid out in a simple way to make it easy for those who want to attend it.

The club's presence on campus has inspired many new members to join and take action against environmental destruction in the area. SEAShas partnered with other clubs on campus such as the USFSP WaterfrontActivities and the Entrepreneurship club to make their efforts moreefficient and effective.

 The Entrepreneurship club on the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus has been very successful in competitions for business start-ups. The club also encourages ideas about

innovative and lucrative ways to support the green movement and environmental consciousness. Many of the members of the entrepreneurship club also participate in activities and events with the Student Environmental Awareness Society. One of the recent projects entered into a national innovation competition was a beehive constructed completely from recycles cans, which would assist in the use of recycled tin, as well as promote new thriving bee colonies. Each year the Entrepreneurship club enters into similar competitions, where innovations for environmental improvements and support of the green movement are highly encouraged. Awards are given to students in the form of cash and grants who come up with the best "elevator pitches" describing their innovations. Several of the winners have gone on to market their products and innovations, creating successful businesses based on their ideas. 

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Installing Watergoat

In 2011, the Student Environmental Awareness Society at USF St. Petersburg recently received a $3,500 from Tampa bay Estuary program. This money was used for the installation and maintenance watergoat that will help keep trash and pollutants away from the city out of Tampa Bay. The president of the Student Awareness said that they called it watergoat because water eats everything just like a goat.

When the old watergoat was still installed, members in the Student Environmental Awareness Society were maintaining it. They would take kayaks to clean the watergoat and take out any trash that might be stuck in the watergoat. The students in the society are going to maintain the new watergoat the same way to have it for a long time. The cleaning is usually done once or twice a week, depending on the

weather; if it was a stormy weather the cleaning will occur twice a week because more trash will be stuck in the watergoat. The Tampa Bay Estuary Program aid with the purchase of pickers, gloves, a storage shed, first-aid and sanitation supplies, trash bags and the new watergoat.

The new watergoat has a nutrient lining that holds back all contaminants from the water as water passes through the lining. The watergoat also helps to stop trash that would float on the surface of the water into the bay, which is very important to keep the water clean, without any pollutants, and safe. The Student Environmental Awareness Society has a mission to bring attention to all issues that are happening in our society, they are also trying to help solve them with their activities, as you will be reading in this paper.

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More about partnerships

The Student Environmental Awareness Society has partnered with other clubs and environmental groups several times with the intent to add to our society's ability to conserve, sustain, and manage resources. In 2010, the Student Environmental Awareness Society partnered with Sierra Club and the Audubon society to lower our impact on the environment by planting trees. In fact, many of the trees seen in the Harborside lawn are from this partnership.

Another Partnership

In another venture, the Student Environmental Awareness Society

partnered with Pinellas County in an effort to remove invasive plants from Pinellas local habitats, ranging from ourwaterways to our inland habitats. The Student Environmental Awareness Society has also assisted in the restoration of the Tampa Bay Estuary program. The Tampa Bay estuary and coastline has undergone drastic alterations due to the rapid growth and development in the area. Dredging, commercial fishing, building construction, roadways, bridges, pesticides, and destruction of fauna and flora have decreased the natural quality of the ecosystem. Over that last 40 years, attention has been drawn to the importance of restoration in the Tampa Bay estuarinesystem. Banning of certain species removal and extermination, restrictions on commercial fishing and use of pesticides, organized clean-ups, and water quality management groups such as the Southwest Florida Water Management District have been efforts made towards the improvement of the system. Although restoration has been discussed and attempted, much moreaction will need to be taken in order to reverse the damage done to the area.

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USF St. Pete student’s plant trees ahead of international climate change event

An environmental group at USF St. Petersburg is greening things up around campus ahead of an international observance of climate change. The members of the Student Environmental Awareness Society decided to plant trees. On one day they had to water the ground and get it ready for the dedication ceremony they had the following Sunday. They hoped to get sponsors to help with the planting of trees process. One of the members from the Student Environmental Awareness Society said that the trees signifies the collaboration in community partnership, they also signifies climate change and that we need to step up, restoring earth by taking carbon dioxide out of the environment and having more oxygen. They think that native trees are

very important aspect and that USF St Petersburg should be moving toward native species on campus. The first step in doing this process was that they made a proposal and what locations they are going to plant the trees. Then they presented this proposal to the ground committees, facilities. The next step was to answer questions that these committees, facilities had, and think about budgets and paying the bills, and if some of the trees are being donated or provided by some organization. They had to go to a lot of meetings to get this project approved. Overall, the message was to help the earth and to make it a better place to live in.

Student Environmental Awareness Society Film series.

The Student Environmental Awareness Society was starting this film series with one question in mind. “Why didn’t we stop climate change when we had a chance?” The film talks about how did people in 2008 2009 had allowed such disaster thing to start like global warming, and looking to the future, to 2055, to a devastated earth.

The name of the film is The Age Of Stupid. It is directed by Franny Armestrong, and produced by John Battsek. They want to bring awareness to people and spread a message to help our environment, and the earth in general.

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Other Events

The students in the Student Environmental Awareness Society would also have educational days with elementary school students, teaching them how to help better the environment. This event could be a helpful way to let other students know how they can become interested and involved in helping their society as well. The club also has reading days with other students in the organization that talks about the environmental issues and how it affects FL. Overall the student Environmental Awareness Society are trying to help and bring awareness to our society starting with elementary students.

Another way that the students in this club are helping others is with their Industry Panel Discussion event which took place September 22nd, 2014. The career center with the collaboration of the Student Environmental Awareness Society planned an event where professional industries leaders would come and talk about what they do in their career. They explained their jobs requirements and answered any questions that students who attended that meeting might have. This event was helpful because it aid the students understand the different careers out there and helped them decide what career path they want to pursue in their future. This event was very helpful because it helped our students become more involved and knowledge in our society.

Attending Conference

One of their other events was when six members of the Student Environmental Awareness Society went to a national conference of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education in Portland. One of the members said that they were so thrilled that they were able to visit Portland, such a sustainably progressive city. This Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education conference is the largest conference of higher education with some two thousands participants. In this Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education conference, there were number of green efficiencies and technologies that the six members can bring back to help improve and better our society such as food waste digester and biodiesel vehicles. The conference that was attended was very helpful in many ways for the Students of the Student Environmental Awareness Society because it introduced the six members of the club to new items that could help go green which will help the society and environment.

Ribbon cutting ceremony

Recently the Student Environmental Awareness Society attended a ribbon cutting ceremony that took place on the USF Tampa campus to launch the new Student Green Energy Fund kiosk that is now located in the Marshall Student Center. The kiosk is an interactive center to show what exactly they are doing with our Student Green Energy Fee. This is a very important

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improvement that the University has funded that will encourage students to help with the environment, not only by paying their fee but also showing students events that they can attend to help make a difference. I think that this kiosk will be a huge success in making sure that students are completely informed on what is going on within the University to help the environment and will also encourage them to go out and attend these events and make the difference themselves.

Earth Hour Event

In February 2012, the Student Environmental Awareness Society was preparing for eco-friendly activities for the spring. This club focused on bringing awareness to USF St Petersburg and to the community as a whole. One of their events was the earth hour event. The purpose of this event is not to use any technology or electricity to save energy during this hour. The Student Environmental Awareness Society planed an outside party with glow in the dark filed games, a neon theme and the light out on campus.

Social Media

As we all know today, social media is the fastest way to spread the news. Social media includes: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Myspace. The Student Environmental Awareness Society has focused on spreading the world through social media. If anyone would check out “The Student Environmental Awareness Society” they will easily find it on facebook. Checking out their page can be very interesting, not only because they post articles about their event; but because they post articles on how to go green and help our society. They share some of the simple steps that anyone can do to help our society and the environment in general. Not only they share some of the helpful steps, but they also share articles about countries and society that are trying to help the society. Some of the articles that people can find helpful and interesting to read are: “Japan

space scientists make wireless energy breakthrough,” “28 Unbelievably Easy Ways To Kick Your Plastic Addiction.” Members in the Student Environmental Awareness Society not only found it smart to share helpful articles, but also knew that this is the easiest way to get to people. They want to make sure that they are trying to spread the message to go green to people. By using the Social media, members in the Student Environmental Awareness Society are reaching out not only for students attending the University of South Florida St Petersburg, but they are reaching out to everyone around the world who is going to check out their page. If after reading this paragraph you are interested n checking out their page on facebook, you can check out this link: https://www.facebook.com/SEASUSFSP?fref=ts.

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Student Environmental Awareness Society IN 2011 AT USFSP:

2011 was one of the beginning years for the Student Environmental Awareness Society at the University of South Florida St. Pete. One of their priorities from the get-go was “beach restoration, plant removal, and policy work.” Policy work meant anything from petitions to sign waiving. According to Dave, who is the coordinator of the office of environmental responsibility, “SEAS is one

of the most active clubs on campus.” Student Environmental Awareness Society is a networking organizations meaning they work closely with local Tampa Bay companies, businesses, and environmental organizations. For example, they partnered up with “RePower America” in an effort to bring USF to the community.

NON RELATED SEAS NEWS AT USFSP:

In an effort to achieve solar sustainability, USFSP recently took action. In 2014, the campus received a $500,000 grant from Duke Energy to install solar array panels. This year, the panels (as many of us already know) were installed on the roof of the parking garage. The 100 kilowatt array will not only produce energy, but will also be used for solar power research by many students and researchers. Additionally, a similar panel at St. Petersburg college helped save the university about $20,000 in electric bills. "USF St. Petersburg is the fourth school to receive a SunSense grant from Duke, which acquired St. Petersburg-based Progress Energy in 2012." USF, SPC, and UCF also have these 'subsense' arrays. Furthermore, the process wasn't all

that simple. USFSP needed to meet specific requirements and qualifications in order to be eligible for the award. Some of these included, " full-time sustainability coordinator; installation of an energy dashboard, or online system that would allow anyone to monitor energy use at major buildings; and indications that there would be an educational role and student engagement in the process." As it is mentioned in this section Univerisity of South Florida St Petersburg proudly present other groups that contribute out of their time to help our society and environment as a whole. Which bring joy to everyone in our community that we still have people out there who care about the environment.

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Conclusion

We have introduced to you the many different areas that Student Environmental Awareness Society improved in and continue to improve on our campus. From the many events to get other to recycle to the watergoat that has changed the way that we can keep our oceans clean. Not only do the Students Environmental Awareness Society go above and beyond to raise awareness they also put in the effort to clean out the watergoat and put in time to plan these events in hopes to encourage others to do the same. We have provided a lot of information about the Student Environmental Awareness Society, that any student attending this university who is interested in our environment can join and be part of this environmental helping society. Interested student doesn’t necessary have to join the Student Environmental Awareness Society in particular; there are a lot of other clubs that can be joined that help our society. Quick mentions about other clubs are: our smoke free campus, the Gardening Club, and the Student Green Energy Fund (SGEF). When trash spreads into the waters it kills innocent animals because of our neglect for the environment. The Student Environmental Awareness Society has done so much to keep our area of St. Pete clean and they will continue to do so. Overall, this paper was designated to bring knowledge and

awareness to our readers about the importance of the Student Environmental Awareness Society, along with other clubs, and what other activities they do. We have showed you the inprotance of this club to our campus as a whole and the impact that they contiue to have on our enviornment, espically when it comes to making sure that our waters are clean and that we as a community are doing our part to keep our waters as clean as possible. We hope that this will encourage others to make a change by helping our enviornment, maybe through joining SEAS or doing things on their own to help the enviornment.

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Works Cited

Bradshaw, Kate. “USF St. Pete students plant trees ahead of international climate change event.” WMNF Drive-Time News Thursday. 07 Oct. 2010. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/8982 >

“Industry Panel Discussion”. USFSP. USFSP Blog. Sept. 17 2014. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.

< http://www.usfsp.edu/career1/2014/09/17/industry-panel-discussions/ >

June, Karlana. "USFSP Heads West for Sustainability Conference". usfsp. USFSP News Center. 21 Nov 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2015

<http://www.usfsp.edu/blog/2014/11/21/usfsp-heads-west-for-sustainability-conference/>

"Patel College of Global Sustainability | USF | USF Students Showcase Campus Sustainability Initiatives." Patel School of Global Sustainability RSS. 7 Feb. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.

<http://psgs.usf.edu/news/article/usf-students-showcase-campus-sustainability-initiatives>.

"Patel College of Global Sustainability | USF | USF Students Showcase Campus Sustainability Initiatives." Patel School of Global Sustainability RSS. 7 Feb. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.

<http://psgs.usf.edu/news/article/usf-students-showcase-campus-sustainability-initiatives>.

"Students Earn Grant to Enhance Harbor Clean-Up Efforts." usfsp. USF St Petersbrg. 2 Feb. 2011. Web. 25 Mar 2015.

< http://www.usfsp.edu/blog/tag/student-environmental-awareness-society/ >

“Student Environmental Awareness Society.” Orgsync. Web, 25 March 2015

<https://orgsync.com/62580/chapter >

Starling, Amanda. “SEAS plans Earth friendly events.” Crowsneststpete. 22 Feb 2012. Web. 07 Apr 2015.

<http://crowsneststpete.com/2012/02/22/seas-plans-earth-friendly-events/ >

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“The Age of Stupid showing tonight at USF St. Pete campus (video).” Cltampa. 20 Oct. 2009. Web. 08 Apr. 2009.

<http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2009/10/20/the-age-of-stupid-showing-tonight-at-usf-st-pete-campus-video >

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Annotated Bibliography

June, Karlana. "USFSP Heads West for Sustainability Conference". usfsp. USFSP News Center. 21 Nov

2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2015

<http://www.usfsp.edu/blog/2014/11/21/usfsp-heads-west-for-sustainability-conference/ >  

This article talks about Student Enviornmental Awarness Society attending a conference and

talking about how they brought some technology from the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher

Education,

 "Patel College of Global Sustainability | USF | PCGS and SEA Collaborate on Recyclemania

2015." Patel School of Global Sustainability RSS. 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.

<http://psgs.usf.edu/news/article/pcgs-and-sea-collaborate-on-recyclemania-2015>.

This article announces the collaboration between the USF Student Environmental Association

and the Patel College of Global Sustainability to host Recyclemania 2015 on the USF Tampa campus

from February 23-March 26. It also provides a list of events that will take place for those who would like to

participate.

 

 "Patel College of Global Sustainability | USF | USF Students Showcase Campus Sustainability

Initiatives." Patel School of Global Sustainability RSS. 7 Feb. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.

<http://psgs.usf.edu/news/article/usf-students-showcase-campus-sustainability-initiatives>. 

This article is about the ribbon cutting ceremony that took place to launch the new Student Green

Energy Fund kiosk that is now located in the Marshall Student Center. It also talks about the kiosk being a

interactive center to show what exactly they are doing with our Student Green Energy Fee.

"Students Earn Grant to Enhance Harbor Clean-Up Efforts." usfsp. USF St Petersbrg. 2 Feb. 2011. Web.

25 Mar 2015.

 < http://www.usfsp.edu/blog/tag/student-environmental-awareness-society/ >

This article talks about one of the Society's achievements. The society was funded to help with

watergoat. Additionally, it also mentioned how they clean it and how often.

 

Grant to help USFSP produce, study solar power. (2014, June 15). Retrieved March 26, 2015, from

http://tbo.com/news/education/grant-to-help-usf-produce-study-solar-power-20140615/

This article talks about the $500000 that the Student Environmental Awareness Society was

awarded from Duke Energy. This is used to buy a solar array. This is not only to help produce energy but

it is used to help students and researchers study solar power.

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