Eye on the Triangle

Erie Mitchell 0:00
The views and opinions expressed during Eye on the Triangle do not represent WKNC or NC State Student Media.

Erie Mitchell 0:14
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Ellie Feaga 0:22
Good morning triangle area listeners. I'm Ellie Feaga with Eye on the Triangle. And I'm here today with Lani St. Hill from the University's Sustainability Office. Nice to have you.

Lani St. Hill 0:36
Thank you so much for having us.

Ellie Feaga 0:43
Well, we're gonna be talking about Earth Month. And since it is now April, what exactly is the sustainability department going to be doing to celebrate Earth Month? Sure.

Lani St. Hill 0:53
Well, Earth Month is a university wide celebration of sustainability. Its primary objective is to showcase the breadth and depth of sustainability and how we integrate it into everything we do here on campus. So that includes academics and research to our student engagement and leadership to the community. And so through a series of over 50 events throughout the month, will we want our community and our campus partners to come out and engage and participate in all of Earth Month?

Ellie Feaga 1:25
Awesome. How did you get involved in this position?

Lani St. Hill 1:29
Ooh, in the position of university sustainability? Yeah. Well, I've been at the University for 10 years. Doing engagement and communications, I moved to sustainability. About three years ago, almost. Working with students, and building partnerships, and collaboration is something that I have always been a part of. and program management and running programs, collaborative programs, with people on campus and within the community is something that I have a lot of experience as well. So yeah, it's just a position that I love it. And yeah,

Ellie Feaga 2:10
did you always want to do sustainability environment? Or were you more interested in like the student networking side,

Lani St. Hill 2:15
oh, my goodness, I always wanted to do something where I felt like I was making a difference. For my own background, cultural values, I'm Hawaiian Kānaka Maoli. And so centering the earth in a relationship to it has always been integral to who I am. And so I knew that I always wanted to ensure that I was doing something that focused on that relationship. I originally started out in the hospitality industry, I worked for hosteling International. So and a lot of that was to promote travel to youth aged 18 to 24. And to help them experience the world in a sustainable way and become global citizens. When our family moved to North Carolina, you know, we didn't have a hosteling international here, based. And so I was able to find work in the university doing the same thing programming working with, you know, younger people. And so showing them how easy it is to become global citizens and to be involved in sustainability, which involves not only the environment, but also the social aspects, like working and building community with people here. So yeah, that's kind of like the history of how I came to be here. But I feel like I'm really at the right place here at NC State. And so that's,

Ellie Feaga 3:45
that's awesome. You're glad to have you at NC State? What exactly is we're entering April, this is this is what the office called Earth Month. You know, normally, I guess I would thought of Earth Day, but I like the idea of it being all of April. So when we enter this month, what should be on people's minds in terms of sustainability environment and celebrating Earth Month? Whoo.

Lani St. Hill 4:08
Well, our office is going to host two major events, specifically, the first is on Wednesday, April 10, is NC State Earth fair. And that's where over 60 organizations, campus departments and community members will be on Stafford Commons from 11am to 2pm. So all of NC State campus as well as our community is invited to come out and experience the showcase which includes demonstrations and education as well as products that are for sale that are sustainability related. And so that's a huge one. It's super fun, especially when the weather's beautiful, which it's supposed to be. And so Wednesday, April 10th, is NC State Earth Fair. The second one that our office hosts as well as with assistance from the NC State University, Sustainability Council is the celebration of sustainability here. And so that is more of a program in which we celebrate the people and the projects and the progress that has occurred this past year. And so we'll go through highlights of what has happened, as well as announced the winners of the sustainability awards, and recipients of the sustainability Fund, which is a student fee generated. fund that over about Gosh, $200,000, roughly, that's given to students specifically and or campus departments that have student impacted projects for them to implement over the next academic year.

Ellie Feaga 5:43
That is really cool. And when does that one take place? That

Lani St. Hill 5:45
will be Tuesday, April 23, and Talley Student Union 9 a.m to 10:30.

Ellie Feaga 5:54
What are some things that students can do in their own daily lives to promote Earth Month and sustainability? Hmm.

Lani St. Hill 6:04
I think one fantastic thing about Earth Month is that being sustainable is also about engaging in sustainability. So Earth Month is just a fun way to just attend fun events and go out with your friends, your roommates, your classmates, and do activities. And those activities range from attending concerts or going to lectures, or doing art making art, or watching films like what ever you're interested in, there's going to be event that speaks to you. But it's also related to the importance of sustainability, you know, here on campus, as well as around the world. And so I think that's one thing that we try to always I iterate, iterate to students is to just get involved in Earth Month is one easy way to do that just get involved. We're all connected. And so when you go out in person, and you engage with people you know, or you don't know, that builds relationships with others, and you really see how everything that we do in the actions and decisions that we have, like, can benefit one or another, it really can create a beautiful community here, as well as around the world. So that's the best thing that student can students can do is get involved.

Ellie Feaga 7:36
Wonderful. And you're talking here to mostly I would say the audience is very artsy, and probably into will very, very musical audience here and maybe into film as well. So what are some Art and Film recommendations you have? Ooh. Um,

Lani St. Hill 7:51
so NC State lives actually hosting a week of events, entitled, small island big song, and it's from a group of indigenous musicians and artists from across the islands of in the Pacific, as well as Indian Ocean, and they will be coming to NC State and not only hosting a concert, but there's also a film, art making discussions about climate and environmental justice. So definitely visit, believe the goal link is go to ncsu.edu/small Island may have to double check that, but it's on our earth month calendar of events, which you can visit at go to nccu.edu/earth month. We're really excited about that. Of course, other wonderful partners who host year round events that deal specifically with sustainability and art is university libraries. They also will be doing a number of creative workshops, pop up workshops where students can engage with art and how that translates into sustainability, especially in terms of our wellness. Because again, we think at NC State, we believe I should say we believe at NC State University that sustainability is people, planet, and profit and that profit means that we're we're making sure as a university that we're being stewards of the financial resources that we are given from, of course, our students and the taxpayers of the state. So, yes, so university libraries, NC State live, of course. Oh, my goodness, there's so much going on. Definitely view the calendar events. go.ncsu.edu/EarthMonth for the full listing. Right now. There's more than 50 and they keep rolling in. Wow.

Ellie Feaga 9:53
That's awesome. Do you work with a group of students? Is there like a sustainability club?

Lani St. Hill 9:59
Ooh, yeah. Ah, that's a great question. So out of our office, we actually have the sustainability stewards, which are a group of student leaders dedicated to educating our campus community about sustainability. But as well as actively engaging in sustainability, whether that's through events, and or like doing actual projects that impact our campus infrastructure. So for example, the sustainability stewards have done built infrastructure like the solar space and by Gardiner Arboretum, like creating structures with solar panels for students to study outside and charge their things. They've also done energy and water competition for campus housing here on campus, where they help educate and also lead a competition about energy and water conservation and see which residence hall can reduce the most. They also host like symposiums about environmental justice. So the they're kind of impact is really based on I shouldn't say, their participation in sustainability. It's about what drives them their passions, and we just kind of give them the support our office does to let them go out and make an impact how they see fit. So sustainability stewards, they're wonderful organization.

Ellie Feaga 11:23
So they're i They're in charge of the space. Is it near? Is it near Withers Hall? With the Oh, yeah, I love that spot. That's really cool that students were responsible for doing the solar panel. Project. That's awesome. Yeah, so

Lani St. Hill 11:38
they've done a number of solar projects on campus. But I will say, students across campus, no matter whether they're there with the sustainability stewards, or the student energy club, there's almost, there's so many projects that because of students, they've made it happen. I mean, even from back in the day getting recycling inside of residence halls, that was student initiated. Wow, yeah, recycling at a football game. That was a student idea, you know, so our students have really led the way in terms of why we're a sustainable sustainability leader today. And

Ellie Feaga 12:19
do you intersect? Like, I would guess that that would maybe intersect with engineering at all? Are there certain majors or program academic programs within the school that you tend to work with? Oh,

Lani St. Hill 12:29
my goodness. So every college on campus actually has sustainability related courses and research that's going on, as well as degrees. And that information, we actually have a course inventory, where students can filter according to their college and our interest about that, like what they can take, if we're looking specifically at engineering, like sustainability is built into what they do, like solving global Grand Challenges. Yeah. So and our office does a lot of work with them. Especially when, whether it's just this week speaking to Introduction to Engineering courses, and or working with a lot of the capstone. So courses, so from their first year to their graduation or office is involved in coursework as well as projects for engineering students. And that's very similar across all colleges, you know, so, because sustainability is a core value, the university, a core value, you know, sustainability is integrated into all have academia. So,

Ellie Feaga 13:39
absolutely, well, I'm in CALS - College of Ag and Life Sciences. And we integrate with sustainability all the time and say every single one of my classes, there's somehow a crossover with sustainability. Yeah, definitely.

Lani St. Hill 13:50
I mean, obviously.

Ellie Feaga 13:55
Well, it's great to see the work you're doing on campus, with students and within your own department. And we're really looking forward to the events that are coming up in April. Is there anything else that you'd like to say to the people listening about Earth Month about being sustainable? Any encouraging words or other ideas you want to share?

Lani St. Hill 14:15
We invite everyone to attend all of the Earth Month activities, they're free and open to the public. Just visit go to ncsu.edu/earth month to see a full list of all of our Earth Month events. And this is just a great way to visit to get your hands on to visibly see, engage and interact with what sustainability means for our people for the planet, and for building community here on campus and beyond. Awesome.

Ellie Feaga 14:46
Well, it's been great having you learned a lot and we're really excited for what's going to come this April, thank you so much for being here.

Lani St. Hill 14:53
Thank you so much for inviting us.

Ellie Feaga 14:56
Thank you and have a great day. This has been Ellie with Eye on the Triangle

Erie Mitchell 15:12
This has been Eye on the Triangle. I'm Erie Mitchell, your guest host right now. Thank you so much for listening to this. You can listen to back episodes of Eye on the Triangle at wknc.org/podcasts under Eye on the Triangle or just any of the other podcasts we have on WKNC. Thank you so much.

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