SIUE’s Veverka is Awarded for Years of Sustainability Work
The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability (CSS) has honored Southern Illinois University Edwardsville student Wolf Mark Veverka for his more than 35 years of work and activism for sustainability.
Veverka received the CSS 2017 Sustainability Leadership Award at its 14th Annual Awards Dinner on Saturday, March 25 on the SIUE campus. Veverka was one of three receiving accolades.
Madison County Transit (MCT) Trails System also received a Sustainability Leadership Award. Dr. Billie Mayo, board president of the Interfaith Partnership of Greater St. Louis, accepted the Spirituality Leadership Award.
The awards reflect the Center’s mission to “promote humanity’s sacred connection to the Earth and to each other,” said Juli Jacobson, of the CSS.
Veverka’s SIUE sustainability involvement includes:
• President of the Student Organization for Sustainability (SOS), a group designed to promote awareness of environmental issues ranging from the local to the global scale
• Creator and president of Natural Connections, a student organization concerned with community gardens and nutritional education for students
• Developed the Sustainability Chats, which features SIUE professors who discuss how sustainability relates to their field of study
• Conducted SIUE sustainability tours for incoming freshmen and their families, which explores The Gardens at SIUE, the Bike Share Program, hiking and bicycle trails, the Nature Preserves and more
• Volunteer worker at The Gardens at SIUE, helping with weeding, raking leaves, maintaining plant beds and helping to grow food that is contributed to the Campus Kitchens at SIUE and SIUE Dining Services
“Native Americans have what they call the Seven Generations of Sustainability,” Veverka said. “It means that you utilize the land and its natural resources, so that they will remain in order to provide for the next seven generations. I share that philosophy.
“Generations before me made sure that I had land and the resources to live,” he continued. “It’s my turn and my responsibility to do the same. I want to pass on a good, green earth and all of its natural resources to my two-year-old daughter (Willow).”
Veverka will graduate cum laude on May 6 with a bachelor’s in geography. His minor is in environmental sciences, with an emphasis on sustainability.
“I plan on being involved with sustainability at SIUE as an alumnus,” he said. “I care about our community. It is what will save us. We all share the same community, schools and spaces. We need to pull together in order to flourish. That is the definition of sustainability.”
Photo: Wolf Mark Veverka.
