Students Behind the Scenes: Westney Allen

Westney Allen has always been a rebel with a cause. The 20-year-old junior from Alpharetta, Ga. is a historian for Students for Environmental Action, or SEA, a campus organization dedicated to raising awareness about environmental responsibility and green initiatives.

Allen has been involved with environmental groups since her early high school days and enjoys being able to use her passion and voice to bring about social change. She became the historian for SEA at the beginning of her sophomore year and continues her work this year by updating the group’s website and Facebook page, recording minutes from the meetings and taking pictures of different events. Allen also works closely with the officers to constantly make sure that SEA is fulfilling its goals.

“We recently changed our name,” Allen said. “Last year and in years past, we were Students for Environmental Awareness. But this year, the officers and I decided that instead of doing more awareness, we want to focus on action here and throughout the state.”

Allen, along with the rest of SEA, is pursuing the active track this year.  Their goals change each year to match environmental problems and trends. The main goal now is to work on the use of coal, especially at the University, but SEA hope that this outreach will spread throughout the state and then globally. The group handles issues by taking action from a 360 degree standpoint.

The first step is to raise awareness through events. Every other Monday, SEA meets in MLC room 268 from 5 to 6 p.m. for informative “Now You Know” meetings. “Each week, a member will volunteer to talk about a different issue, which is something we started last year and are continuing this year,” Allen said. Allen also said that they borrowed the idea from popular TV host Bill Nye the Science Guy and his “Now You Know” segments. Around 40 people came to the first meeting in August, which has Allen hopeful that SEA is spreading the word.

The next step in tackling environmental issues is action, mainly through volunteer-driven activities. “A lot of us helped with Game Day Recycling, which was a huge success,” Allen said. “With that, we worked to improve recycling on campus and also increase the number of [recycling] bins available.” Game Day Recycling continues this year as a popular volunteer event, which is open to all students who want to help SEA collect bottles and cans that tailgaters leave behind. SEA also volunteers once a month at the State Botanical Gardens in Athens to remove invasive species that grow among the plants. And naturally, the week of Earth Day, known by SEA members as Earth Week, is their biggest event of the year. Last year, SEA pursued a waste audit and ventured into the trash dumpsters outside of residence halls, physically sifting through the waste to find recyclables.

SEA is always trying to reach out for new members, Allen said, and they go about this several ways. They put out a listserv for members that can be forwarded to friends who wish to join, run public service announcements on WUOG, stimulate press in student-run publications and bring friends to meetings. But the biggest draw seems to be the Fall Activities Fair, where SEA attracts many new members to join in the meetings, discussions and event planning.

“I walked by the table for SEA at the Fall Fair when I was a freshman,” Allen said. “I’ve been involved ever since.”

SEA is closely tied to other similar groups like the Ecology Club and they all come together beneath the umbrella organization Go Green Alliance. Combined, these organizations are seeing progress on campus and elsewhere, but they continue to seek more. The Athletic Association is even promoting the Game Day Recycling events and has given funding to the Ecology Club as they volunteer this year alongside SEA.

When asked what she wants to see for SEA and on campus, Allen is optimistic.

“I would like to see more visibility on campus and [continuing] to work with the other environmental groups,” Allen said. “Personal accountability [as well]. I would really love to see people being accountable for their newspapers or plastic bottles rather than throwing them on the ground or in the trash. And maybe if any of the groups get more visibility and people actually think twice, then maybe can impact that.”

And Allen is also happy to see new members at SEA this semester as they tackle their challenging coal initiatives.

“We welcome everyone. We just want to have people together who are interested and wanting to make a difference.”

Curious about joining? SEA will meet next Monday, September 21 in MLC room 268 from 5 to 6 p.m.

Ashley Strickland is a senior majoring in magazines at the University of Georgia.  She also writes a Georgia Days column for Grady Journal.