Last night, the Big Red Barn on central campus was bursting with green initiative.

The Sustainability Hub hosted a follow-up event to the Student Leader Sustainability Summit on Sept. 26. The focus of the meeting was to help leaders of student groups — both sustainability-minded and non-sustainability oriented — brainstorm ways to boost awareness about environmental issues on campus.

Jeff Bercuvitz, the president of the Center for Leadership, Innovation and Community (CLIC), led the session. Bercuvitz, who has worked to build creative sustainability strategies in over 40 states, urged the student leaders in attendance to think outside the box.

“Right now, we are catching the eye of no one,” Bercuvitz said. “Think big and start small. Don’t be afraid to make a new mistake; let people think you are weirdoes. Through this we can open minds.”

Given the abundance of student groups devoted to sustainability on campus, some of the student leaders at the meeting noted the difficulty of addressing sustainability initiatives in unique and innovative ways.

“I think one of the main problems with having so many student groups is all of the priorities we want to address. The great thing about this meeting is that we get to see where interests overlap. We get to figure out what everyone is doing sustainably and how they are doing it so we can better serve the University,” said Beth Martin ‘11, vice president of the Global Development Club.

The night started off with updates about the environmentally friendly ideas that were hatched by some of the clubs at the first Sustainability Summit. Greeks Go Green, a project by the Sustainability Hub focusing on reducing waste in the Greek community, reported forming a committee to head up their initiative. Big Red Bikes, a proposed public bike sharing system on campus, announced they had just received by-line funding and hope to start purchasing equipment this semester.

Stressing the importance of reaching out to fellow students, Bercuvitz said, “Instead of just trying to solve problems, I want you to look for connections. Build relationships with people in the Cornell community.”

Bercuvitz maintained a fun and light atmosphere by cracking jokes, handing out chocolate to students with particularly daring suggestions and even passing around a rubber chicken to those wishing to speak.

Sustainability Hub President and organizer of the summit, Christina Copeland ‘11, said that Bercuvitz was a great motivator for her peers. “Jeff’s insights can help all student leaders increase creativity in their actions, let them reach out to a larger audience, and have more fun while doing so,” Copeland stated in an e-mail.

With the lure of chocolate, Bercuvitz dared the groups throughout the evening to generate new and creative ideas. Breaking with the traditional lecture format, he challenged the groups with different tasks — in five minutes, Bercuvitz had the student groups generate a list of 20 “pockets of people” to target with sustainability awareness initiatives. As an example, Bercuvitz cited the group of graduate students who attend the weekly happy hour at the Big Red Barn.

“Capture people’s imagination — give them something to do and make it easy. It is on you, my leaders, to give students an opportunity,” Bercuvitz said.

At the end of the night, students put the brainstorming to good use and wrote their sustainability ideas on a seven-foot tall, self-standing wooden paw-print puzzle. The puzzle represented the “carbon paw-print” of the University. In addition to the sustainability themed student groups like KyotoNOW! and Engineers for a Sustainable World, groups like the Cornell Democrats and Slope Media Group contributed their ideas as well.

Bercuvitz closed out the meeting by reading the poem “Landscape” by Mary Oliver.

“I want you all to find and re-find your own ‘thick wings,’” Bercuvitz said, quoting the poem. “Live with passion while you are looking out for yourself, others and the planet.”