The Environmental Ambassadors teamed up with landscaping, and, with the help of students, planted seven trees around Weber State University’s Ogden campus on Sep. 27, as part of the ongoing process to help meet WSU’s sustainability goal of becoming carbon neutral by the year 2050.
Three trees were planted on the southeast side of Shepherd Union by the Browning Center, and the remaining four at the Dee Events Center by the Wildcat statue. The types of trees included Kwazan Cherry trees and Ivory Silk Lilac trees.
While the newly planted trees help campus look beautiful, they serve a utility as well. The trees are also helping reduce carbon emissions.
A handful of students came to help plant the trees. Sydnee Evans came out to help since extra credit was offered in one of her classes. Evans said her favorite part was getting to see the finished result.
The event was organized by the Environmental Ambassador’s president Kyia Hill and vice president Aime Ureian.
“I’m really happy with how many people came, especially in the beginning, we were overwhelmed with how many people wanted to help,” said Ureian. “The effort we make as students contributes a lot.”
Ureian says they plant trees every semester, and every spring semester a local elementary school comes up to help the ambassadors plant trees.
“It was cool to see how this brought together so many different people,” Liz Fisher, a musical theater student who turned out to help, said. “I’m definitely interested in getting more involved.”
Drew Ackerman, a computer science major, was walking by when the tree planting occurred, and he decided to jump in.
“Meeting new people and getting to help the environment while making Weber State look beautiful in the process was my favorite part,” Ackerman said.
The ambassadors’ main goal is to help Weber reduce its carbon footprint by becoming carbon neutral by 2050. They do one or two impact projects a year. Each project aligns with keeping their carbon neutral goal in mind.
Project chair officer Kailee Stratton said that putting on events like this, even though it may seem small, is definitely helping have an impact.
Along with Stratton, Ureian and Hill help plan projects. Their projects are decided in the summer but take about three weeks to organize and plan out.
“Hopefully, we can inspire more people to see how important it is to help our environment and then they’ll want to join us too,” said Ureian.
Environmental Ambassadors is mainly a student-run organization on Weber State’s campus. One of their goals is to educate students on how to become more sustainable on campus and in their daily lives.
For more information about Environmental Ambassadors contact [email protected] or [email protected]
