I sat down with Denis Lescano last week to discuss the Environmental Cooperation Organization here at Baruch. They are group dedicated to helping New York City’s local ecology, as well as to spread awareness both on campus and around the city.
Q. What are some things ECO is doing this year?
A. We hold events informing students on environmental issues through general meetings, movie screenings, we also do things like volunteer, we’ve done coastal clean ups, last week we did a community clean up in Corona, Queens where we picked up garbage and planted spring bulbs. Next week we have an event where we also are planting spring bulbs and cleaning up Washington Square Park.
Q. You mentioned volunteer events, I saw on your online calendar that you have one tomorrow, could you tell me more about that?
A. We are going to be cleaning up the park with other volunteers organized by the New York City Parks [Department] and also plant spring bulbs for next spring.
Q. What are the group’s long term and short term goals?
A. My goal for the year is to not only inform students on environmental issues, but also make them feel confident in taking actions against such issues. I feel like everybody knows something about what’s happening in the world, but they don’t know what they can do. So specifically at Baruch, I want student to feel empowered that they can actually do something about it.
Q. Since you’ve been a part of the ECO Group, what are the biggest achievements you’ve seen?
A. The biggest achievements I’ve seen are this semester, I feel that now students at Baruch are more aware of the club. When the club was founded in 2008, a lot of people would come to our events, and slowly that number slowly declined, but this semester ECO is coming back onto the radar and people are respecting the club more. We are building strong relationships with other clubs, so I feel like that’s a huge achievement, because I feel in the long run we need everyone, for my vision we need everyone’s cooperation on campus.