Green Profile- Chris Cummings, Resident Assistant Reardon House

Our latest Green Profile is Chris Cummings a CUA Senior and two year Resident Assistant (RA) currently responsible for Reardon House. RAs are tasked with created programming foster the holistic development of the residents they are responsible for.

Ryan: How have you taken environmental issues into account with your
duties in Residence Life at CUA?

Chris: As a member of CUA's ResLife, I constantly and consistently encourage the residents to be ever mindful of the recycling bins and utilize them to their full potential. As an RA, environmental campaigns are not always on my level, so outside of the bins and relying on email (rather than flyers) for advertisement there is very little individual RAs can do. However, ResLife will occasionally run enviro-friendly campaigns and I do my best to support them.

Ryan: What role do you see college students playing in the fight to stop
global climate change and promote sustainability?

Chris: College students are in the unique position to donate time and energy others cannot. College students can devote plenty of time to activism. On an individual level they can of course cut down tremendously on dorm energy costs. On their campus they can form groups, petition their university, and actively participate in grassroots campaigns in their areas.

Ryan: What is one measure college students can take to make climate
change a major focus on their respective campuses?

Chris: College students can be mindful of their energy consumption. College campuses consume enormous amounts of energy, and if each student was a little more self aware of their energy usage, it could make a significant difference.

Ryan: What improvements would you like to see future Resident Assistants
make to make their residents more aware of climate change and
sustainability?

Chris: I think RAs do as much as they can to that respect. If anything the administration needs to be more receptive to RA generated ideas on the subject and more proactive in promoting/facilitating said ideas. The administration can make other departments/university information more available to RA, and allow RA and their residents to submit ideas for serious consideration.

-Ryan