Loras LEAF leaps forward

By Harriet Siegrist

Since the revamp of the student run Loras Environmental Action Forum (LEAF) began last year, seniors Cassidy Oberreuter and Jacob Jansen have been hard at work over the past year and a half to develop the organization. With focus on campus environmental advocacy, sustainability, and addressing climate change, LEAF is more than ready to grow bigger on campus and gain more members.

Jansen describes one of their overarching goals as “to provide an outlet for Loras students to come together around environmentalism.”

“Leaf works to provide educational events regarding sustainability and the importance of addressing climate change. We also want to encourage people to spend time outside and enjoy the outdoors said Oberreuter.”

In this semester alone LEAF has been able to host multiple events with these goals in mind. Most notably was their role in the Dubuque Climate Strike and Rally that occurred on Sept. 27, in accordance to thousands of other strikes that happened globally that day. In preparation of the strike they held a poster painting night to encourage students to join the strike in a creative fashion, and bring climate change awareness to the campus. At the event there were speakers from the organization including Rob Hogg, Najla Habibullah, who spoke of how climate change affects her Islamic faith, and many other notable speakers. The organization was also able to speak about the new organization Sunrise, a Dubuque hub for a national climate movement, which they are hard at work developing.

Following the success of the strike and rally, LEAF has continued to have meetings and events, and on Oct. 6 they were able to have their second annual campus cleanup event that falls on the Sunday before homecoming week. If you were not able to attend the cleanup, don’t worry, LEAF will continue to host many exciting events that will range from educational activities, hosting speakers, outdoor activities, working with local elected officials, and engaging with presidential candidates on climate change. Their largest event, Du Earth Week, will also be returning to campus once again this spring. It is a week full of events that will feature volunteer opportunities, clean up, eco-fest, eco-trivia, and other to be announced activities.

Still not convinced that you should join LEAF?

“Please join us for one of our meetings or events, we would love to have you!” Oberreuter said about the joining the club.

For more information contact Jacob Jansen at Jacob.Jansen@loras. edu or Cassidy Oberreuter at Cassidy. Oberreuter@loras.edu