Students Team Up To Make A Difference

By: Mariana Souza-Stebbins

Posted: 3/25/08

"This is the spoon we use at the Student Union," said Craig Kell, holding a black plastic spoon. "And this is the one we used at the conference," he said, this time showing a yellowish spoon which - on first impression - felt and looked like plastic. There is one major difference though: this spoon is made out of potatoes and decomposes in 100 days. "Imagine what difference we could make just by replacing the silverware!" Kell said.

"We are not curing AIDS, we are not stopping global warming," said Curran Kennedy. "But we are all doing small practical things that make a difference."

Kell, 22, a political science major and Kennedy, 21, who is double majoring in sociology and global health and poverty, spent their spring break in New Orleans, attending the first annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University at Tulane University.

A branch of the Clinton Global Initiative - which Bill Clinton founded in 2005 to work with government and business leaders to turn good intentions into action - the CGI U intends to do the same by bringing together college students, university officials and global leaders in one network.

"It is a great opportunity for college students to take action. They are looking to the youth to affect change," said Kell. "As Clinton said, 'those of us who have more tomorrows,' who have more time ahead to act," Kennedy said. The two were among 700 students accepted to the conference. They were the only representatives of UConn present.

CGI U focused on four areas: energy and climate change, global health, human rights and peace and poverty alleviation. From Friday to Sunday, students attended discussions and working sessions where they brainstormed with other students, shot questions to panel members and planned ways to affect change back at their home campuses.

To be part of CGI U, every member - student or not - had to make a commitment, no matter how small or big, to take some practical action to bring about change. "It was all about the commitment, that was the whole point of CGI U," said Kennedy.

"Those were not students who were there because they had nothing better to do," he said. "To be able to meet with 700 dedicated students and see what they were doing and exchange ideas was a great thing."

"It was really inspirational to see what others were doing, to see the scale people are dreaming," said Kell. "You see someone with an ambitious commitment and then you think 'maybe I could do more,' " he said, referring to a Morehouse College student who committed to distribute one million energy-efficient light bulbs to low-income houses in Atlanta.

The setting in which CGI U took place was also important, organizers said, because the city experienced both the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the national efforts of recovery.

"What better place than New Orleans to put actions into words?" said Kennedy, who on Sunday, with other students, joined Clinton and Brad Pitt in the Lower 9th Ward to help rebuild the city. They prepared the site for the construction of 150 affordable and sustainable homes, a commitment Pitt's foundation Make It Right made at the 2007 CGI Annual Meeting.

"New Orleans is having a second chance in life to really change," said Kell. "Tulane University is going completely green, for example, and a city official said at the conference they will propose to make bicycles the official transportation method there." Kell was amazed at the friendly people and the recovery of the French Quarter, he said, with all restaurants, casinos and entertainment open. "I would go down there in a heartbeat," he said.

As his own personal commitment, Kennedy, who plans on working for a Non-Governmental Organization after graduation, decided to work to establish an individualized Global Health and Poverty major, with a program of courses that would fit into it.

"I developed my own major, but many freshmen don't know they can do it or they get lost and don't know where to start," Kennedy said.

"My personal commitment is to get a link to EcoHusky high on UConn's homepage," said Kell, who added several new ideas to his initial commitment. "We could create an entire section of eco-friendly products at the Co-op, replace the union's silverware with sustainable ones, have a paper drive at the end of the year to encourage students to recycle more paper," Kell said, mentioning only a few of his ideas.

Just back from the conference, Kennedy and Kell are working on their projects so they can present final proposals to the university. "One thing we learned at the CGI U was that when you want something done and you need to go through someone you don't dump a bunch of problems on them," said Kennedy. "You present the problems with all the solutions at once.

"It is our personal responsibility to the Earth and to the next generations to do something to change," said Kennedy. "As they said at CGI U, we can either make money burning the planet or we can spend money saving it."

Although Kennedy and Kell will not be at UConn much longer -they both graduate this May - they said it will all be worthwhile if other students pick up their ideas where they left off.

"We don't have to wait for others to change, we can lead the change in the country," said Kennedy. "If students can push to make universities carbon-neutral, that alone would cut America's green house emissions by about 6 percent," Kell said. "Imagine that."

For those who feel motivated by the two, they offer several ideas for UConn students to help.

"Make a micro-loan to impoverished people to start their own business through Kiva.org. You help and still get your money back in six months," said Kell. "Or go to EcoHusky and find new ideas to help."

Students can also go to mycommitment.org to make their own commitments and help, Kennedy said. "Whether you recycle or you just turn the lights off when you leave your house, every little thing counts," he said. "Just do something."

Contact Mariana Stebbins at Mariana.Stebbins@UConn.edu.