MTSU student organization Students for Environmental Action advocates for increased environmental action on campus and pushes university administration to invest more money in shrinking the school’s carbon footprint, with some recent success. 

A carbon footprint is a buildup of greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide that are released into the atmosphere through daily energy-fueled activities. Universities use significant amounts of energy for things like construction, heating, utilities and transportation. This energy comes from burning fossil fuels like gas, coal and oil, which release greenhouse gases and exacerbate climate change. 

Thomas Smith and Ian Wilson, president and vice president of MTSU SEA, dedicate themselves to raising awareness about MTSU’s role in greenhouse gas emissions and advocating for a more eco-friendly campus. 

“Our goal is to educate people about the environment, do service projects and engage in activism to help improve the environment in our local communities,” Smith said. 

Another goal is to raise the university’s Sustainable Campus Fee.

In 2006, MTSU introduced its Sustainable Campus Fee Program to fund renewable forms of energy on campus. Through the program, students and faculty can submit proposals for sustainable projects they would like to see on campus. The program gains its funds by collecting $8 per student per semester. 

“Last year we did this campaign to raise the fee,” Smith said. “We were trying to get it raised because it hasn’t been raised since 2006, and it’s depreciated in value because of inflation since then.” 

From 2019 to 2021, the university allocated over $500,000 to sustainable projects like tree planting and solar panel installation. While this funding helped reduce the university’s carbon footprint, proposals from students and faculty for sustainable projects during that time totaled to $1,654,674–nearly four times the available budget, according to the Approved Project Listing for MTSU SCF 2006-current year.  

Despite SEA’s efforts to raise the fee and the petition signatures they earned, the university was uncooperative, Smith said. 

“We partnered with a senator to get the bill passed,” Smith said. “And then the former Vice President of Student Affairs actually vetoed it. They vetoed the fee increase that the students voted for in favor of one the students didn’t pick…I think that’s sort of indicative of where their priorities are.” 

The group was completely blindsided, Wilson said. 

Todd Moore, chair and professor of the Department of Geosciences at MTSU, said that while MTSU has taken some initiatives toward progressive climate action, there is still much more they can do. 

“What MTSU could be doing is exploring solar energy, wind energy, recycling more and reducing waste,” Moore said. “MTSU is doing some of that, [but] we could be doing better.” 

One thing Moore commends the university for is its Farmer’s Market restaurant and its role in creating food sustainability. By offering locally sourced food, the market helps reduce the energy and materials required for production, packaging and transportation. 

“The food industry generates a tremendous amount of greenhouse gases from growing to processing and transportation,” Moore said. “The fact that we have that [Farmer’s Market] is neat. I’ve been at three universities now, and they never had that at any one of them.” 

These initiatives, along with the university’s recycling program—which has been in place since the 1970s—and the introduction of water refill stations in 2019, represent positive strides forward. However, students like Smith and Wilson want to see more urgent action taken. 

“We were really ahead of the curve when we implemented our recycling program and the Center for Energy Efficiency in 2006,” Smith said. “But that was 19 years ago. Things have changed a lot since then, and something needs to happen.” 

Raising the Sustainable Energy Fee and forming a dedicated office of personnel whose full-time jobs are steps to ensure that MTSU is environmentally friendly, according to Smith. 

“Sustainability needs to be a consistent priority when it comes to planning the future of this campus,” Smith said. “And right now, you just don’t see that from the administration.” 

The answer, according to Moore? Organizing and fundraising. 

Finding alums, industry partners and citizens willing to donate for environmental change is key to funding greater sustainable projects and reducing the university’s carbon footprint. But this can only be made possible through collective action. 

“People have to speak up,” Moore said. “We care about so many things, but we’re so often silent on so many things, from social reform to energy reform to all these things. We all care deeply about these issues, but when the time comes, we’re not vocal. So let your leaders on campus know.” 

SEA is taking this initiative by continuing to campaign, petition and raise awareness for environmental action at MTSU. Growing involvement in SEA each semester proves how passionate students are about creating sustainable change. 

Smith and Ian Wilson want students to know that even if they don’t believe they can make a difference, every action they take matters. 

“Changes don’t have to be huge or drastic, they can be small changes,” Wilson said. “If you feel like every action has to address the entire problem…that’s not the case because that’s not how problems get solved. We can’t change everything in one semester. It takes consistent, small action. So, start local…focus on where you’re at. Your campus, hometown, wherever.” 

Recent studies from the UN Environment Programme and the Harvard Business Review on the environmental impacts of AI due to the immense energy consumption of AI data centers, which release greenhouse gases and use enormous amounts of water to power their cooling systems. 

In October 2024, MTSU provosts announced plans to integrate new AI resources for faculty and students in upcoming years, which could potentially raise concerns about the technology’s environmental safety.

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