An International Student-Led Grassroots Movement

From the 1989 Exxon-Valdez oil spill to the presently rising oil prices, we have been increasingly more aware of the need to address our destructive effects on the environment. But it is not too late to change. Although we are constantly reminded how we are responsible for much of our environmental woes, we are also reminded of how capable we are at fixing the problems. For example, in the aftermath of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, stricter oil tanker regulations and safety protocols were enacted to ensure that a spill of this magnitude does not happen again. In the face of continually rising gas prices, more research has been invested into developing renewable energy sources as alternatives to oil and into exploring more energy-efficient alternatives, such as wind and solar power. Nothing is out of our hands, and we still have the power to improve our future for the better.

There are numerous outlets for solving our environmental crisis; however, environmental problems extend beyond state boundaries and create a global crisis that necessitates a global solution. While the initiative that developed nations have taken to commit to environmental accountability and sustainability represents positive prospect for the future, the unfortunate truth is that outside of with a few exceptions, environment and sustainability are very much concerns of only developed nations like members of the E.U. and the U.S. The level of awareness on such issues is considerably lower in nations outside E.U. and the U.S. Furthermore, even if there is widespread alarm about environmental degradation, such anxiety and awareness are not translated into actions in many cases because how to take action is not an easy question to answer. IDEAS is founded upon the belief that we can change this.

Chapters at U.S. Universities

Under the foundation of IDEAS lies the confidence in what students can do to make a difference in this world. We believe that students can be the driving force of spreading the idea and practice of sustainability in countries where such awareness is still nascent. For many cases where students already have a high level of awareness and interest but little information as to what they can do themselves to make a difference, IDEAS hopes to provide them with informational, operational, fiscal, and moral support through connections with U.S. chapters.

The backbone of our vision is deeply rooted in a student-led grassroots movement. Vital to this vision is the establishment of chapter organizations at university campuses across the United States. Through facilitation and aid provided by IDEAS national, each participant university will create a chapter on its campus. These chapters will be run in a fashion very similar to that of other advocacy organizations like FACEAIDS or AID. Each chapter shall have an independent standing as a VSO on that campus, with officers elected annually (president, treasurer, chairs of committees, etc.). The existence of each chapter will be independent from its projects. That is, a chapter will not be terminated because its projects are completed. A chapter may pursue multiple projects at the same time if time and resources permit it to do so.

Each chapter will also have the freedom to choose whichever university it wishes to work with in a country of its choice. Critical to this process of selecting partner universities is the involvement of international students from or students with extensive experience and knowledge of the country of choice. Knowledge, experience, and contacts that such students have in the country of choice will prove to be vital in the operation of individual chapters. The National Chapter provides tips and strategies for recruiting interested international students as well as making initial connections between international partner universities. Depending on the size of the chapter, the potential to have multiple teams working with multiple partner universities simultaneously also exists.

Chapters at International Universities

IDEAS offers the same opportunity to join our organization to international institutions. If an international institution wishes to join IDEAS, it has complete freedom over which U.S. university it wishes to work with. However, just as a U.S. chapter without a partner university can have little effect in achieving the mission of this organization, a partner university without a U.S. chapter will lead to a likewise result, and therefore IDEAS requires that all partner universities have corresponding U.S. chapters, and vice versa.

Partnerships and Projects

U.S. Universities that join IDEAS, will work with international universities located outside of the U.S. and the E.U.. Since most U.S. Universities have much experience in promoting sustainability and environmental accountability on their campuses, they will be able to provide information, insights, and advice to students in partner universities that wish to do the same in their communities. However, the relationship between chapters and partner institutions is by no means unilateral. To achieve the goal of this organization, it is crucial for the partner universities to educate U.S. students about the state of environmental problems, energy issues, and negative consequent effects as well as the efforts working against these antagonists in their communities. IDEAS believes that partner universities have just as much to teach U.S. chapters as U.S. chapters have to them. By understanding the specific context of the international university with which the students are working on, the students will be able to produce and implement more effective projects aimed at specific issues and problems that are distinct from university to city to nation.

It is from such bilateral interaction and communication that the global understanding of the environmental problems is achieved. The main objective of these partnerships is for the students from both the U.S. chapter and the partner international chapter to work together to develop, propose, and implement tangible, measurable projects that are aimed at furthering our mission of creating an awareness of environmental issues and providing sustainable solutions to these problems in these international communities.

Fundraising

The U.S. chapters will be in charge of directing fundraising efforts for all projects planned at the international partner university. Although the National Chapter provides various methods to go about this, we encourage individual chapters to generate new and innovative methods for fundraising for their projects by themselves.

Information Exchange

Central to the vision of IDEAS is creating a medium for the exchange of various ideas, projects, and solutions for the myriad of problems that we face in light of the climate crisis. As students come up with their context specific projects, we hope to provide a place where all chapters can share their work with each other in order to build-on each other’s ideas, provide help and support, and assess if projects are transferable from one region to another. This will be facilitated through each chapter’s website run through the national chapter’s webpage, and more importantly and effectively through the online social network (spoken about in-depth below).

Conferences

The national chapter of IDEAS plans on holding an annual conference for members of all chapters, domestic and abroad, to come together and share with each other their projects as well as an exciting line-up of prominent individuals (activists, government officials, academics, entertainers, and media) involved in the movement.

The annual conference will also hold a competition for the most innovative projects, judged by our advisory board, resulting in awards, funding, and scholarships for the winners.

An Online Social Network

Communication and Organization

Given the nature of the IDEAS organizational structure, effective communication and organization will play an important role in the success of individual projects, chapter partnerships, and the organization as a whole. As web technologies have shown their potential in bridging the gap between distances and allowing users to interact in ways never even conceived of before our generation, we hope to harness this great power and energy in helping to make our vision our reality.

A vital tool that the National Chapter is developing to provide its members is access to an online social network, geared specifically for its members and the tasks they are attempting to tackle. Through this network, members will easily be able to communicate with each other, provide in-depth knowledge on certain related subjects, share projects and feedback with each other, develop proposals and work on them interactively in real time over the network, and many other similarly useful tools. Even more so, members will not have to create a whole new account through our network, but will be able to use existing accounts through Facebook© or other social networking sites to access and interact in our network.

Information Exchange

As mentioned before, fundamental to our organization is the promotion of innovation ideas and exchange.  With the current set-up of our organization structure, there will be plenty of U.S. Chapter-International Chapter pairs working independent of each other; each pair using valuable fundraising techniques and generating unique sustainable solutions. To foster an environment to facilitate communication between and among chapters and partner universities, our social network will allow members to share and discuss better ways of running their chapters, effective fundraising methods, and any other helpful information. Furthermore, full descriptions of projects and proposals of each chapter will be easily available through the social network, allowing for instantaneous feedback and allowing for interested students from other chapters to also be involved in the process, creating a truly global network of committed individuals working together to combat our toughest problems.

Networking and Connections

Through the integration of various existing social networking and web technologies, like Facebook©, our social network will allow students to interact with students in their not only in their university chapter, but also the rest of their university, city, region, and even contacts in other parts of the nation and world that they are already or potentially connected with already.  This will allow for specific targeting of individuals who can help our members with their projects, from gaining further knowledge about a subject to fundraising to advertising to mobilizing others who are interested.

As our network continues to grow and develop, we hope to also include companies and other individuals outside of our IDEAS organizational structure who are interested in placing their information on the social network to help our cause. Although they will not be able to interact in the same way the student members our organization will be able to, these outside parties will have the ability to place their contact information and descriptions of their expertise or tools they offer. This will help students to locate people and resources in their region to help aid and implement their projects. Additionally, students will be able to see who of their friends and connections has contacts with people from various companies, industries, universities, or individual students, allowing for students to easily contact individuals who may be of use without trouble or hesitance.