SUNY Oswego sustainability work includes Permaculture Learning Laboratory

OSWEGO, N.Y. — SUNY Oswego sees its work in the redevelopment of its Permaculture Learning Laboratory (PLL) as one of the school’s “most visible” efforts in sustainability.

PLL is a large community garden between the Shineman Center and Lee Hall. Launched several years ago in tandem with the energy-efficient Shineman Center and its science activities, activity in the PLL “stagnated,” the school said. 

Permaculture is a combination of permanent agriculture and permanent culture, described as the “conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems,” per the website of the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia. The word permaculture was coined by the late Bill Mollison, an Australian researcher. 

SUNY Oswego’s approach to sustainability includes incorporating lessons both inside and outside classrooms, increasingly incorporating green-energy sources, and outreach through efforts like the recent “Sustainability Week.”

But the renewed activity in the green space is “somewhat a silver lining of the pandemic,” Kate Spector, the campus sustainability manager who spearheads the many activities of the Office of Sustainability, said in a release.

“It’s been an awesome opportunity to engage in a 3D life, especially when we spend so much time in front of our screens,” Spector said. “It’s always a favorite day of the week. Going outside and doing some gardening is right up our alley.”

Sarah Smelko, senior global studies major with a concentration in sustainability, is one of a group of interns who work with Spector to ensure students are involved in the college’s sustainability efforts.

“A lot of what we do with sustainability might seem abstract, but this is something where you can see the real, tangible efforts,” Smelko said of the PLL. “This is about growing and sustaining and making a community come together.”

With a focus on developing organic, interconnected food systems, the PLL includes a variety of edible, medicinal, ephemeral, and pollinator plant species, including Oswego tea, the school said. Spector hopes to work with volunteers to add sunflowers and a pumpkin patch to add to the “visual and interactive appeal” of the space.

The redevelopment of the college’s PLL is an “apt metaphor” for the institution’s work in sustainability, the school contends.

SUNY Oswego was again recognized among the nation’s “most environmentally responsible” colleges by the Princeton Review. 

In The Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges 2021 Edition, SUNY Oswego was noted as “absolutely overflowing with sustainability.” As an early signer of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, “the upstate New York green stronghold combines a rich institutional commitment to the environment with a thriving student enthusiasm towards sustainable endeavors,” the editors said. 

Sustainability lessons

SUNY Oswego’s academic programs have incorporated the interest of students — like Smelko — who want to make sustainability their passion and career.

With a major in interdisciplinary global studies, “what I do in the office goes hand in hand with what I do in the major,” according to Smelko.

“It’s a nice major to have,” she added. “It’s small, it’s concentrated and there’s a lot of freedom for what you can do in it. I wanted to find something that included all of the interests I have, like the environment, politics and writing.”

Other options include an environmental chemistry major track, an environmental earth science major track and a sustainability studies minor, and students have been instrumental in changes outside the classroom as well. 

Students led the way to the college forming the President’s advisory group on sustainability in dining centers, the recommendations from which “considerably” reduced plastics in campus eateries and increased education on making environmentally friendly choices for eating and drinking.

The students in the Office of Sustainability coordinated a slate of programs for Sustainability Week in October, which included information on the college’s environmentally friendly bike-share program, plant-based eating, combatting fast fashion, and the importance of fresh water.

Spector looks forward to working with the New York Power Authority to create an energy roadmap, “which will help us to get more renewable energy on campus and ultimately, greatly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,” she said.

The opportunity comes through the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, state legislation that sets benchmarks for “significantly reducing” institutions’ environmental footprint while offering guidance on how to reach those goals.

Spector said the college is moving toward signing onto the New York Higher Education Large Scale Renewable Energy consortium. It’s a group of 21 public and private universities interested in the purchase of large-scale aggregated renewable energy. The consortium represents one of the state’s largest aggregated purchases of renewable energy to date and, by making renewable energy more cost-effective, could enable SUNY to help meet Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s statewide goal of having 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040, SUNY Oswego said.