Well, I would say that it provides a few different opportunities. One it’s the experience it provides to the council members, but I also think that it makes for the most- one of the most accountable systems in- in university settings, so other universities tend to have some sort of organization similar to ours, but where student representation is a minority of the group, and where faculty and other administrators in the university are the ones who primarily make the funding decisions. But because this is student fees, it -in my opinion- is the most appropriate to have the students, with some guidance, making the decisions about how do student fees, and I think that that’s one of the most important things about SSC. The other thing is that, because we’re so- because we’re students, we do the very best job of making sure that the fees, that’s- the money goes towards maximizing student projects- well. And other organizations, both here in UK and at other universities, there’s a lot of overhead; so suppose that you receive three hundred thousand dollars or five hundred thousand dollars in money, well (pause) forty or fifty percent of it might be eaten up in budget immediately from like payroll and employ benefits, and things like that… but every dollar that we receive (pause) ninety nine [percent] of it goes- back out again as a student project… or some other activity that supports sustainability here on campus. It’s not- I mean all of our council members, they do it on the voluntary basis, even our leaders, even though it represents a considerable more amount of time on their part, we do a very good job at making sure that all the money that we get is- goes back out again in the form of projects.

"What is the importance of having a Student Sustainability Council in a college, specifically in UK?" - 2:02

So, having a quick collaboration I would say that the- one of the most successful projects here on campus is been the water bottle filling stations and that´s- for a few different reasons: is that, basically students immediately recognize the benefits of it, and that, you know, they can have their reusable water bottle and, you know- it’s a quick association that by using this reusable water bottle, it means that I’m not buying a disposable water bottle. So that has immediate environmental benefits as well because we’re using fewer resources, and then again it also means that students kind of learn- they’re kind of educated through that process, and then from the SSC’s perspective, you know, there’s a lot of- we get to collaborate with […] on the physical plan on that, so it’s a very cost-effective way of basically getting water bottle filling stations throughout the entire campus. And we’re actually getting close to finishing retro feeding not- most of the campus so, virtually every building now has at least one, if not multiple. I think White Hall was one of the first places we did, and so you can’t go very far in White Hall without seeing a water bottle filling station.

[...] Right, and institutes the culture that, you know, basically, you only- you shouldn’t anticipate buying bottles of water, you should just bring one with you and… you know that that’s going to be there for you wherever you are on campus.

"Which project is the one that you’ve seen or have been a part of that is the most effective one? With better results?" - 4:08

So- that question is- is (laughs)… it’s… it’s really relative (pause). So, if you’d have asked me that question relative to five years ago at UK- so comparing UK today to UK five years ago, or UK 10 years ago, I’d say UK is doing (pause) fan- [Fantastic?] Yeah, they’re doing great compared to that. But (pause) compared to other universities, that’s a much more open question. And I think- I will say that, given the circumstances in the state, we are doing, you know, a pretty darn good job… in terms of reducing our- our carbon footprint, or basically reducing our resource use… because Kentucky is not known for being a especially progressive state when it comes to… conservation or- reducing the use of resources, things along those lines. But… that’s what makes it so important for UK to demonstrate the practicality of sustainability and basically it’s long-run benefits, because this audience needs more than most other audiences in other states need it. I think a lot of the progress that we’re making doesn’t necessarily look like- like a carbon-footprint type of progress, it’s more of engaging students, and getting students and the community to acknowledge the importance of sustainability. We do-, I mean we have made progress, though, I don’t- you know, I couldn’t tell you what those numbers are… But you know, even if we don’t see the bottom line of it, we know that we’re having an impact because for instance, we have those water bottle filling stations, and so it means fewer water bottles used. Or reducing the waste stream because of the outdoor recycling bins. Or the bicycle program, it means fewer- [Carbon emissions?] Exactly, fewer fossil fuel-miles driven. And so- has someone tried to estimate how many miles we’ve reduced our consumption? I- I don’t know. But- and so, quantifying is a good question, but I know that we are making a difference. And again, in my mind it’s-, when one of those bicycles is biking around, it’s still- it’s still communicating a message, and a message of sustainability, important (gestures with hands), and that’s where I think we’re… really making a lot of progress, as both the SSC and as a university.

"How would you rate overall the efforts of UK in reducing its ecological impact? Are they effective or not? Why? What needs to be improved?" - 10:00