Sustainability is everywhere on campus — so why do students feel left behind?

Planet Z: Voices of Youth for a Sustainable Future is a Gen Z–created series sharing unfiltered perspectives on climate change — from eco-anxiety and grief to the urgency, creativity, and resolve shaping their generation. Support for this series is provided by Consumers Energy. All photographs are taken by Henry Black, unless otherwise noted.

KALAMAZOO, MI — As a college student, I had mindlessly assumed that my school’s honor code would include principles such as academic integrity and a commitment to fostering a positive learning environment. So, when I learned that my school, Kalamazoo College, has “accepting environmental responsibility” written into its Honor System, it was news to me, though not entirely surprising.

It’s hard not to notice the college’s push for sustainability initiatives. Informational signs explaining what can and cannot be recycled are plastered onto every blue bin on campus, including those tucked away in dorm rooms, each recently hand-placed by workers at the Kalamazoo College Environmental Stewardship Center (ESC). Green compost bins can be seen in many campus buildings, and flyers advertising Sustainability Chats and other ESC events occupy bulletin boards around every corner.

Artist: Henry Black

Our Honor System calls on me, as a student, to “maintain and improve the condition of our physical environment” by committing myself “to the respectful and prudent stewardship of our community’s material and natural resources. So, as I approach the halfway point of my undergraduate years, I’ve grown curious about how well I, my school, and educational institutions in general, are living up to our declared responsibility to protect the environment and confront the climate crisis, both in and out of the classroom.

Most days, on the walk to my campus job, I pass a small but dedicated group of students gathered outside the ESC office. Most of these students work for the ESC itself, taking on roles from serving on the Composting Crew to marketing upcoming events to the student body. With approximately 20 student employees, the ESC relies on student involvement.

Students, however, make up only one of several groups involved in sustainability efforts on college campuses, alongside administrators, faculty, and staff. Faculty shape environmental action through the material they teach and the curiosity they inspire in students, while administrators play a key role in setting budgets and approving policies and action plans that determine how sustainability initiatives are implemented. 

According to Dr. Steven Bertman, a professor at Western Michigan University and chair of its Climate Change Working Group, “There hasn’t been a push by the faculty to make the administration take (the climate crisis) more seriously. There have been pushes by students, but students have this nasty habit of graduating and leaving.”

This uneven pressure from campus populations highlights an institutional challenge in following through on environmental action commitments. Dr. Binney Girdler, a Kalamazoo College biology professor and director of environmental studies, says, “sustainability is everywhere, and therefore it is nowhere,” pointing to a disconnect between visible sustainability efforts on campus and the limited funding and structural support behind them in the curriculum. “There is more student interest than in the scaffolding we provide,” says Girdler, referring to the college’s climate change course offerings.

Josephine Belsky, a sophomore at Kalamazoo College majoring in biology with an environmental studies concentration and a current ESC intern, agrees with Girdler’s sentiment. Belsky explains, “The funding for environmental studies is also ESC funding. They’re not separate things, so it really is limited.” She adds, “From a biology studies perspective, a lot of the resources are going towards medical biology and not ecological biology, which is really frustrating.” 

This lack of resources can be contextualized by federal funding cuts to higher education institutions’ work to address the climate crisis, and this pressure has been felt locally. In March 2025, the Trump Administration canceled a Fulbright Award-sponsored professorship for Dr. Javier Becerril Garcia, a professor at the Autonomous University of Yucatán, at WMU.

Dr. Allen Webb, a professor of English at WMU and a member of the Climate Change Working Group, explains that students lost valuable learning opportunities due to the cancellation of Garcia’s planned nine-month stay in Michigan. Still, this fall, the university will independently fund Garcia’s visit for one month without relying on Fulbright support.

“We’re going to have all kinds of activities going on with him and his family and with different groups in town and at the university. So I applaud Western paying its own money for stepping up. We couldn’t fill in the full year, but at least we’re bringing him for a month,” says Webb.

This decision by WMU is one example of how educational institution administrations can enhance their efforts to fulfill their declared responsibility to protect the environment and confront the climate crisis, both in and out of the classroom.

Moreover, approving meaningful policies can be just as important as providing funding. Sara Stockwood, director of Kalamazoo College’s ESC, explained that the center’s work is guided by a Climate Action Plan that first required approval from the college president’s staff before initiatives could move forward. Only then was the college able to make progress on policies such as its Helium Conservation Policy, which aims to reduce the use of helium — a non-renewable natural resource — by limiting its use to “industrial, research or educational purposes and prohibits the use of helium for decorative or recreational purposes.”

While co-curricular progress is undoubtedly important, classroom progress is equally necessary for instilling climate literacy among students. As Girdler explains, “If students leave (college) thinking recycling is enough, then we’re not teaching students enough about what’s happening. Which means they’re not scared as they should be. They’re not mad as they should be.”

Unlike WMU, which offers multiple distinct programs through its School of Environment, Geography, and Sustainability, Kalamazoo College does not have a dedicated Environmental Studies major. Still, the college’s liberal arts education and open curriculum allow students to connect environmental and sustainability issues to a variety of academic interests. The college’s senior capstone projects, known as Senior Integrated Projects (SIPs), are one example of this interdisciplinary approach, allowing students to merge their studies with personal interests in sustainability and the environment.

Each year, the ESC hosts a Sustainability SIP Symposium, and approximately half of the students presenting this year were not Environmental Studies concentrators, demonstrating that, despite shrinking course offerings, students are still finding ways to pursue environmental and sustainability research.

Senior Henry Black, whose photography and artwork accompany this article, is one example. A biology and studio art double major, Black combined both fields to create his project, “Deep in the Field of Change: An Ode to Observation.”

Senior Madeline Moss, an English major with a minor in Anthropology and Sociology and a concentration in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, is another. Moss’ SIP was “a Journalistic Exploration of Southwest Michigan Food Systems.” Over approximately 20 weeks, she interviewed local farmers on topics including community-supported agriculture and the future of small-scale farming.

During my conversation with Moss, she raised an important concern that educational institutions, including WMU and Kalamazoo College, increasingly need to confront in conversations about sustainability: the environmental impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI). Moss argues that the growing use of AI in academic settings, often without restrictions or consistent discussion of its environmental costs, contradicts Kalamazoo College’s stated commitment to environmental responsibility.

With this in mind, it is evident that new environmental challenges emerge. The climate crisis evolves, and resources directed toward both curricular and co-curricular learning opportunities in higher education are increasingly important because these spaces push students to pose pivotal environmental questions, such as Moss’ concerns about how her institution will account for environmental considerations as it develops and enforces AI-related policies that ultimately affect the future of our planet.

For Webb, higher education is inseparable from the responsibility to address the climate crisis and to instill climate literacy in students so they are prepared to carry their passion for sustainability and practices beyond graduation. 

“In the case of educational institutions,” says Webb, “their purpose for existence is to develop young people as citizens and as productive members of society. If they’re not addressing the fact that this world the young people are going to inherit is in grave danger of collapse, then they’re profoundly missing their most important mission. So it ought to be central to schools and universities to be paying attention to and acting on climate change in their local community and in the broader national and international context.”

Artist’s Statement: “Through the practice of active observation in natural spaces, I have explored the variety in species, ecosystems, and interactions within the landscape. Over time, I gained a sense of familiarity with the names of many of the plants and animals of the Michigan region and became more sensitive to noticing diversity and anomalies. Because the natural landscape is an ever-changing environment, there is always a different occurrence to observe, many of which only happen once every year. I grew up within the Waterloo Recreation Area, the largest state park in Michigan’s lower peninsula. With the park spanning over 20,000 acres, I had ample access to open and forested state land supporting an abundance of wildlife. As a result, I developed a feeling of rootedness in the land around where I live, knowledge which has only enhanced my admiration and connection to it. The connection has brought me to be more in tune with the rhythms and patterns of the seasons, and which species are prevalent at each time.

“I record seasonal occurrences and observations of species and weather when I am out taking photographs. Working in the field introduces a lot of unpredictable variables, and being able to compare observations from previous years allows me to anticipate what I may come across or experience. Part of the draw for wildlife photography is the uncertainty, and having to adapt to whatever conditions and subjects I come across. Keeping a journal record serves as a form of reflection for me, and from photos I take on these outings, I make sketches of notable species I see. The combination of photography and colored pencil sketches touches on both photo-realistic representation and in-field observations. I find that recording and recognizing species has provided me a much richer experience of nature, and I feel I have only scratched the surface.”