Story by Marin McGrath

“The more you know the less you need,” Eric Boles, Director of the University of Arkansas Office for Sustainability, said this quote is something he always comes back to when talking about a lifestyle catered to the environment. 

“Through knowledge, you don’t have to have as much stuff,” Boles said. “You know, you’re kind of carrying around that knowledge in your brain that allows you to not consume as many resources.”

While striving to use less resources, the department’s overall goals for a sustainable campus include cost effective solutions to environmental issues. One of the main initiatives of the program involves transportation and the inevitable environmental footprint that comes with it.

Students are able to take initiative by utilizing alternative methods of transportation that the university provides such as the bus system and bicycle paths on campus, Boles said. 

Boles said he feels a lot of things can be achieved by living simply and doing things such as buying used books or being mindful of food waste.  

“I think it’s kind of just a global responsibility. You know we in America or on the University of Arkansas campus have a lot of opportunity and amenities provided to us that not all the world gets to indulge in,” Boles said. “And I think it’s just our responsibility to be responsible with those resources and to not over consume.” 

While students are able to do their part in small ways, there are also various groups on campus dedicated to sustainability awareness and education.

The U of A Sierra Student Coalition is an organization that promotes caring for the environment through hikes, camping trips and clean-ups, vice president Jon Webb said. 

“We just try and reach as many people as possible,” Webb said. “We try and get them introduced (to the ideas in the program) because we think that introduction is really the way to get them involved.”

Zero Hour Arkansas also serves as one of the climate justice groups at the university that is geared toward education on the intertwining of social and environmental issues such as sustainability, founder and president Amelia Southern-Uribe said. 

“I grew up in Florida, and I was a coastal organizer for a lot of my life and then when I moved here, I noticed there are different attitudes, different beliefs, and different thinking systems,” Southern-Uribe said. “By not having the foundation of the same education that other states have, Arkansas residents, I think, miss out on understanding how different people are impacted by the climate crisis, and how race, gender, socioeconomic status plays a role in this.”

When it comes to sustainability, there tends to be unrealized nuances, they said. 

“It’s very complex and what we’re taught in Arkansas schools, it’s just from a science perspective, and not a humanitarian focused perspective,” Southern-Uribe said. “Shifting from conscious consumption to education, and restructuring systems, would fix the issue of education.” 

By the year 2040, the University of Arkansas plans to have a 90% landfill diversion rate through recycling and composting, according to a 2018 memorandum from the U of A Office for Sustainability. The memorandum serves as a detailed recommendation from the University’s  Sustainability Council Executive Committee to Chancellor Joseph Steinmentz.

Through student involvement, the university community has found a purpose for sustainability and what that can look like on a college campus.

The university, along with the city of Fayetteville’s Sustainability Department are actively striving to divert excessive amounts of waste from landfills through methods such as recycling.  

While waste diversion is complex, it is an attainable goal with the amount of resources available at the university, Southern-Uribe said.