As the De Anza Student Government looks to 2026, its environmental sustainability committee focuses its attention on directly supporting local ecosystems, from restoring coastal habitats to building shelters for campus wildlife.
During the committee’s Nov. 13 meeting, interns hammered out deadlines for two of its three sustainability efforts — a beach cleanup, a DIY birdhouse series and a planter box initiative — that they presented at its previous meeting.
DASG Chair of Environmental Sustainability Myles Vongnakhone, 22, biology major, wrote on Discord that this meeting would “create roadmaps for each project and set milestones,” asking interns to “have a rough idea of how to proceed” next year.
Rather than selecting only one project as it planned to earlier, the committee wants to bring all three to life.
“I’m most excited about the community we are trying to build,” Carlos Reid, 19, biology major, said. “One of the goals of these projects is to build awareness around the committee and increase student participation.”
The birdhouse project aims to support winter nesting species that live on or migrate through campus by February.
“We need more biodiversity,” Janice Lee, 22, biology major, said. “Urban areas lack bird habitats because we’re surrounded by buildings. It doesn’t hurt to build birdhouses around campus.”
Harmonie Nguyen, 18, biology major and committee intern, said her team wants the project to be both hands-on and educational.
“We’re planning multiple workshop sessions so students can learn how habitat loss affects local birds and what we can do about it,” Nguyen said.
The birdhouse team plans to finalize its dates and locations with campus partners, setting Feb. 17 through Feb. 19 as its tentative workshop days.
The beach team scheduled its first cleanup for Jan. 30. Organizers hope to address shoreline pollution that harms marine life and disrupts coastal ecosystems.
Samuel Ngo, 20, environmental science major, said even though he thinks beach cleanups may not sound as effective or important as other projects, he is excited.
“Beach cleanups are such an easy way to protect marine life,” Ngo said. “Marine life getting caught in plastic bags or stuck in water bottles happens more than we think.”
The beach cleanup team must finalize its contract with nonprofit The Trash Punx before launching outreach in the winter quarter.
“If we see strong turnout, we’ll consider bi-weekly or monthly cleanups,” cleanup group lead and committee intern Allissa Lo, 18, psychology major, said.
The planter box team, which was not present at the meeting, did not set a deadline at the meeting.
The team wrote on its slides that planter boxes increase green space on campus and support pollinators, depending on what plants it selects.
Angelina Suarez, 21, communications major, said she is looking forward to the three project initiatives.
“I just learned that we are not on track to reduce global temperatures and earth is on track to become hotter in the coming years,” Suarez said. “We don’t aim to save the world, we just need more people to care and get involved.”
