While most of us are focused on final exams and winter break, a few students at DVC are taking the time and initiative to help create a more environmentally friendly campus.

The Associated Students of DVC are considering forming a new executive officer position, tentatively called the Minister of Environmental Affairs, who would pursue and promote ideas to keep the college environmentally conscious, ASDVC President Katerina Schreck said.

“The position’s main purpose is going to be for student green advocacy, working with the college Sustainability Committee and forming [an ASDVC] Sustainability Committee,” Schreck said.

The Sustainability Committee at DVC has proposed a resolution to remove  Styrofoam containers from the Crow’s Nest, Basement Café and cafeteria, and has been endorsed by ASDVC.

Schreck created the ASDVC Sustainability Committee, currently an ad hoc, in November in hopes of brainstorming ways to make the school greener, such as removing Styrofoam on campus and adding more solar panels.

She said she wants the committee to determine whether the environmental affairs officer would be feasible as a long-term position.

Committee chairman Sean De Witt said the first ASDVC Sustainability Committee meeting was Nov. 25 in the Student Union quiet room.

“I hope to promote and increase the knowledge of the students and general populace around DVC on the subject of green sustainability on the campus itself,” said De Witt. “Environmental technology is my passion. I believe it’s a key feature of the future.”

Former ASDVC member Brian Donovan proposed the idea of an environmental affairs officer earlier in the year. “[It] actually started as an idea I was campaigning on last semester,” said Donovan, who was elected to the position of vice president of legislative affairs last spring but had to resign before taking office.

He said the committee and board position would help students gain environmental knowledge that could help not only themselves, but also their community.

Schreck said there wasn’t an exact timetable for the creation of the environmental affairs position, but she said it could happen as early as this semester.

As of now, it is undetermined whether the new position would be voted on by students in the annual election with other ASDVC officers in spring 2011, or if it would be picked in house, Schreck said.

If the board decides to create the position this semester or next, it would be filled by an interim who would be picked by ASDVC.

Donovan said he wouldn’t be disappointed if the position wasn’t formed until fall 2011 because there is already a campus-wide sustainability committee that is working toward making DVC more environmentally friendly.

He expressed concern, however, that the new board position could be neglected.

“If unchecked, this position would just become another position to put on your transcript.”

Contact Jonathan Roisman at [email protected]