Catherine Koning led sustainable development presentation, said they adapted UN goals for the school

by Matthew King

Catherine Koning, Professor of Environmental Science, led a presentation with her Creating Sustainable Communities class on sustainability goals for this year’s academic showcase.

The project is part of a greater effort to assess the progress made in meeting United Nation’s sustainable development goals. These are designed to achieve a better and more sustainable future.

Students in the class were divided in order to cover four sustainability goal areas. These include diversity & inclusion, clean water, a sustainable campus & biodiversity, and climate action. There are nine in total that the university is focusing on.

Koning explained in a Zoom interview they sent out tons of emails as well as surveyed students and staff in order to collect the statistics they needed. “It was a lot of work,” she said, “no one was necessarily keeping the data.”

Goal five, protect and conserve water, was especially difficult for Koning and her team, as they had to collect information on the water quality of many college campuses.

The school was rated on a scale of 1-5 for how they currently perform in each category. The presenters then provided recommendations on how to improve their rating.

“Speaking on diversity and inclusion, I think they are making steps to try and be better,” said freshman Jin Oakes, who tuned in to the presentation, in an email interview. “However, the way ALANA is (not very active, and when it is, it’s all last minute) and the egregious lack of cultural-type classes and diverse teachers makes it blatantly clear they need to take more steps.”

The full presentation can be found here.