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Oberlin Students Go To World Student Environmental Summit in Kyoto OBERLIN, OHIO – Oberlin College juniors Alex Totoiu, Adam Hull, and Michelle Torres are among “tomorrow’s leaders” from 12 countries who have been invited to take part in the World Student Environmental Summit at Doshisha University June 19–22 in Kyoto, Japan. The Kyoto meeting is a prelude to the 2008 Group of Eight summit in July in Hokkaido, Japan. The students will discuss sustainable development from their standpoint as global citizens and prepare a formal proposal to be presented to the G8 leaders at the Hokkaido conference. “It is a great honor for Oberlin students to participate in this summit,” says Oberlin President Marvin Krislov. “As climate change and environmental concerns become more pressing worldwide, it is important for the youth of the world to assume an ever increasing leadership role in finding solutions.” Jordan Suter, Oberlin assistant professor of economics and environmental studies, will accompany the students, who will give a presentation during the summit detailing the College'sCampus Resource Monitoring System, an innovative program that garnered the College an award from the National Wildlife Federation. The student- and faculty-designed automated system gathers and processes data on dormitory energy and water use and displays the data online. Included in the presentation will be a discussion of the system’s latest refinement, Energy Orbs, which Totoiu and Hull helped develop. The devices are pulsing glass domes whose changing color enables dormitory residents to see how much energy they actually consume at any given time. “Oberlin is one of only two institutions from the United States whose students are attending the summit,” says Totoiu, a physics major. “I am very proud that the College’s forward thinking on environmental issues is being recognized at an international level.” The Oberlin students are excited by the prospect of meeting their global counterparts and the possibility of long-term outcomes. “It's not every day you get the chance to talk environmental politics with students from countries like China, Japan, England, and Australia,” says Torres. A major is environmental studies, she also has a minor in East Asian Studies and is fluent in Japanese. “Perhaps we can form a long lasting coalition of students so that we can continue to exchange knowledge and ideas in the future. The desire to continue working together in the long term is more important than just meeting once to say, ‘Hey, things need to change’." “I hope we will begin to work together across political boundaries to tackle environmental problems on a global scale,” says Hull, an engineering major. Media Contact:
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