Auburn University will host No Impact Week from March 8-15 to encourage students, faculty and staff to reduce their negative impact on the environment and raise awareness about personal well-being.
Professor and associate dean for educational affairs, Giovanna Summerfield said this year’s No Impact Week will include the return of “No Impact Man” author Colin Beavan.
After reading “No Impact Man” in 2010, Summerfield said she invited Beavan to come to Auburn to speak.
“He opened up a lot of issues with the students, not just about the environment, but about quality of life,” Summerfield said.
According to Summerfield, there weren’t many academic institutions taking on initiatives that dealt with the issues Beavan advocated in 2010. But after Beavan’s first visit to Auburn, Summerfield and her colleagues planned “No Impact Week” to raise awareness.
Summerfield said she is excited for Beavan’s upcoming visit, as his topic will be focused on what makes people happy instead of the social experiment of sacrificing a materialistic lifestyle that he described in his first book.
Another new addition to No Impact Week will be the sponsorship of International Paper who will display a cardboard cutout illustrating ways to sustain the environment on the concourse Wednesday and Thursday according to Summerfield.
“They will be educating students on how to reduce negative environmental impacts from what they’ve learned by creating sustainable initiatives within their own company,” Summerfield said.
Summerfield said another newcomer to No Impact Week will be the group Generation Waking Up, who will be hosting an event on Thursday to show how young people can make a difference in their world.
Summerfield said she feels No Impact Week should matter to students because it focuses on the end outcome of the choices people make.
“Many people don’t want to get involved in sustainable practices because they don’t think their contribution will make a difference,” Summerfield said. “I would like for students to realize that they have the power to make a difference whether it’s within your own life or your social circle it grows along the way.”
Office of Sustainability communications and outreach manager Jennifer Morse said it is hoped that students, faculty and staff take away a greater awareness of social and environmental issues and gain personal skills to know how to live with less of a negative impact.
“Our office strives to communicate the importance of making an impact but making it a positive impact,” Morse said.
According to Morse the common of goal of No Impact Week and the Office of Sustainability is to allow people to take the connection they make with sustainability and turn it into service for the community and the environment.
Nannette Chadwick, associate professor of biological sciences and director of Academic Sustainability Programs, said that the topic of No Impact Week resonates with students’ academic programs as well as their personal morals and convictions.
“I hope people have a greater understanding of our individual impact both positive and negative on our natural and social environment,” Chadwick said.
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