Student activists at Loyola are involved in plans that will affect the livelihood of the entire Gulf Coast, including plants, animals and humans alike.

The Environmental Action Program at Loyola, a group within LUCAP, seeks to educate the campus and general community on environmental issues. “We try to gain people’s awareness through volunteering and empowering people to make phone calls to politicians about environmental concerns,” said Sunshine Bond, Spanish junior and one of the core members of the program.

The EAP works closely with the Gulf Restoration Network, a national program consisting of different social justice and environmental groups and individuals across the United States devoted to promoting communication and action on environmental issues, with an emphasis on threats to the Gulf Coast.

Most recently, the EAP has been joining forces with the GRN to stop companies from selling cypress mulch they acquire from logging cypress forests in Louisiana. Cypress forests are assets to the sustainability and healthy conditions of coastal wetlands, serving as barriers to flood and hurricane damage as well as providing a habitat for endangered species.

Bond, with the rest of the EAP members and members from the GRN made 129 phone calls recently to Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe’s requesting they terminate the use of cypress mulch as merchandise and instead resort to alternative gardening materials such as pine straw and eucalyptus mulch.

Another project the EAP and GRN are focusing on is communicating with Shell Oil Co. to administer their imported natural gas in a less environmentally harmful way. When the gas is imported from overseas, it is frozen so it can be transported. Once it gets to its destination, Shell uses ocean water to defrost it. According to Bond, the EAP and GRN are imploring Shell to use the close-loop method, which takes a reserved amount of water from the ocean used to defrost the gas and can be recycled.

On Friday, April 22, the EAP will be one of the hosts for Gaia Fest, the Earth Day celebration, in the Peace Quad. The EAP members hope this event will raise awareness about their activities.

The EAP started with a small core of three members, and over the past week a few more volunteers have come forth to contribute to their efforts. Bond encourages more students to join and be a part of acting on pressing Gulf Coast issues.

“We’re a welcoming group and not exclusive at all. We only ask that people are at least curious about environmental issues, and hopefully we can get them excited about helping the Gulf Coast,” said Bond.

Sally Tunmer can be reached at [email protected].