The Student Environmental Action Coalition or SEAC is a student and youth run national network of progressive organizations and individuals based in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

SEAC, "working together to protect our planet and our future," defines the environment as including the physical, economic, political and cultural conditions in which we live. By challenging the power structure that threatens these environmental conditions, SEAC works to create progressive social change on both the local and global level.

SEAC was started in 1988 by students at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. It differs from other student environmental organizations by its broad definition of the environment that includes racism, sexism, militarism, heterosexism, economic justice, and animal rights.

Although, sometimes disruptive and willing to break the law, members of the Student Environmental Action Coalition or SEACers (as they call themselves) are prepared to do what it takes to get their message received. SEAC has a bottom-up approach where the headquarters takes direction from the individual chapters around the country. People from Burma, England and Hong Kong, China, for example, participated in the 1995 SEAC Conference. They are, also, included in numerous websites dedicated to networking environmentalists such as www.campusactivism.org and www.climatechallenge.org.1, 2

History and Past Accomplishments

In early 1988, students from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill contacted Greenpeace Magazine to place an ad about networking with other young environmentalists. One of the first accomplishments was their first national student environmental conference called Threshold. Now the name Threshold is their national magazine and blog. Late October 1989, more than 1700 students from 225 schools in 43 states congregated in Chapel Hill to discuss, among other things, saving old-growth forest and reorganization of the U.S. Forest Service. The next time SEACers met in Champaign, IL they were 7000 strong from every U.S. state, plus others from 11 countries.

Since 1989, American (and Canadian) students from junior to college level have come together with a common goal of creating of more than 200 recycling programs at schools across the country. Prior to Earth Summit 1992, SEAC worked together with others in order to give a voice at that summit. Below are the SEAC accomplishments: 1

January 1991- As SEACers protested the war in Iraq and at the same time launched the Energy Independence Campaign. Only 100 attended the rally in Washington, D.C. in support of SEAC. However, the idea of Energy Independence Campaigns has some resistant. Energyindependencenow.org is a California not-for-profit organization striving for cleaner energy resources, but some believe this goal with drive prices up and people out of work. 1, 3

1992 - The New York chapter brought together 120 schools to protest the Hydro-Québec II dam in Canada. This dam would have flooded an area 1000 kilometers and damaged land of the indigenous Cree tribe. SEAC and the Cree challenged the two billion dollar Rupert River hydroelectric project again in 2005. Originally, the Cree had agreed on payment for this over 50 years summing $70 million at the hand of Grand Chieft Ted Moses. However, Matthew Mukash is the person now challenging it. In August 2005, “federal and provincial environmental review panels said Hydro-Québec's impact study was deeply flawed and sent the provincial utility back to the drawing board.” 1,4

1994 - Pitt & Michigan State removed themselves from the Mt. Graham Telescope project in Arizona which was endangering red squirrel habitat and sacred Apache land. Judge Alfredo Marquez oversaw the case in court stated the "risks of irreparable injury to the endangered red squirrels which live on the site" violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. 1, 5, 6

At a University of Wisconsin, Madison Greens, Madison’s own annual Earth Day was created. Frances Moore Lappe (social change activist and one of Earth Days founders), Dana Lyons (environmentalist), and Road Rage (anti-GMO road show) visited the celebration. Part of the event was also a protest against the Agracetus Campus, a subsidiary Monsanto known for its genetically engineered Roundup© as well as transgenic corn, cotton and soy. Roundup, a pesticide applied to crops, has glyphosates, which had varying results regarding carcinogens. 1, 7, 8

Miami Dade, FL - A Student Organization for Animal Rights from the Miami-Dade Community College successfully pushed a bill through its General assembly regarding the situation of factory-farmed pigs. This was a first nationwide.

Late 2002 – Berea, Kentucky – a joint effort observed a leap forward when the Pentagon released information stating “neutralization and supercritical water oxidation

Supercritical water oxidation

Supercritical water oxidation or SCWO is a process that occurs in water at temperatures and pressures above a mixture's thermodynamic critical point. Under these conditions water becomes a fluid with unique properties that can be used to advantage in the destruction of hazardous wastes such as PCBs...

 -- not incineration -- is its preferred recommended technology for destruction of chemical weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot.”

November 2002 - After a 2 year campaign, SEAC successfully convinced office supply company Staples, to stop offering products that came from endangered forests and start offering recycled paper products.

Shepherdstown, WV - A student won an election on the town council which was “a huge role in fighting gentrification as well as signing the town onto the US Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement”

“No Coal Days of Action” exposed Citibank and Bank of America’s support of destructive coal companies when SEACers performed a “die-in” and effectively shut down Washington DC Citibank branch. 1,9

March 2007 - Students protested mountaintop coal removal at “Mountain Justice Spring Break”, West Virginia.

October 2007 – “No War No Warming,” a war and global warming protest congregated at Capitol Hill on Independence Avenue.

SEAC’s Principles

1. Fight environmental degradation.

2. Recognize the impact of the environment on human individuals and communities.

3. Support human rights.

4. Support animal rights.

5. Demand corporate responsibility.

6. Fight class inequalities.

7. Fight racism.

8. Fight sexism.

9. Fight homophobia and heterosexism.

10. Fight imperialism and militarism.

11. Have a diverse membership.

12. Develop an activist rather than a volunteer approach.

13. Link our issues to local, community concerns.

14. SEAC National exists to empower the grassroots through training and education. We view national campaigns as one of the tools to accomplish these goals.

Current projects

Currently, SEAC has 1 national campaign, Campus Climate Challenge, and 3 initiatives: Tampaction, Militarism and the Environment, and Mountain Justice.

The Campus Climate Challenge

SEAC is one of 30 organizations from the United States and Canada that is a part of Campus Climate Challenge, their primary campaign. Climatechallenge.org is a partner in fighting global warming.1, 10

Tampaction

Those participating in Tampaction believe that tampons and menstrual pads oppress sexually mature women. The products themselves are thought to be detrimental to the environment. The companies that make the products are suspected of dumping toxins into the ecosystem. Participants of Tampaction want to embrace their body and all that that implies and return to a more natural mindset, like herbal for example.

Militarism and the Environment

SEAC also fights military conflicts. Since in military conflicts, bombs are dropped and/or chemicals used from napalm to hydrogen bombs. SEAC believes no war considered a good war. “No War No Warming” is still an active project due to this concern. SEAC, also, aims for complete nuclear disarming and dismantling.

Mountain Justice Spring Break

Mountain Justice Spring Break is an ongoing project supported by SEAC. Mountaintop mining economically benefits very few (including employment), and has disproportionally far-reaching environmental impacts; including soil erosion and flooding. When the Mountaintop removal blasts ignite, dust particulates of materials in the soil become airborne and are having a negative impact on human health. In addition, when the blast site is too close to residential areas, the structural stability of the residential buildings are adversely affected.

Schools with SEAC Chapters (by state and alphabetized)

Alabaster High School (AL)

Cal Poly

California Polytechnic State University

California Polytechnic State University, or Cal Poly, is a public university located in San Luis Obispo, California, United States. The university is one of two polytechnic campuses in the 23-member California State University system....

, San Luis Obispo (CA)

San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...

 (CA)

University of Colorado

University of Colorado

The University of Colorado system is a system of public universities in Colorado consisting of three universities in four campuses: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and University of Colorado Denver in downtown Denver and at the Anschutz Medical Campus in...

, Boulder (CO)

American University

American University

American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...

 (DC)

Bradley University

Bradley University

Bradley University, founded in 1897, is a private, co-educational university located in Peoria, Illinois. It is a small institution with an enrollment of approximately 6,100 undergraduate and postgraduate students and a full-time faculty of approximately 350....

 (IL)

Illinois State University

Illinois State University

Illinois State University , founded in 1857, is the oldest public university in Illinois; it is located in the town of Normal. ISU is considered a "national university" that grants a variety of doctoral degrees and strongly emphasizes research; it is also recognized as one of the top ten largest...

 (IL)

Southern Illinois University

Southern Illinois University

Southern Illinois University is a state university system based in Carbondale, Illinois, in the Southern Illinois region of the state, with multiple campuses...

 at (IL)

Ball State University

Ball State University

Ball State University is a state-run research university located in Muncie, Indiana. It is also known as Ball State or simply BSU.Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans and includes 106 buildings...

 (IL)

Indiana University

Indiana University

Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

 (IN)

Berea College

Berea College

Berea College is a liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky , founded in 1855. Current full-time enrollment is 1,514 students...

 (KY)

Centre College

Centre College

Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, USA, a community of approximately 16,000 in Boyle County south of Lexington, KY. Centre is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution. Centre was founded by Presbyterian leaders, with whom it maintains a loose...

 (KY)

Eastern Kentucky University

Eastern Kentucky University

Eastern Kentucky University, commonly referred to as Eastern or by the acronym EKU by local residents, is an undergraduate and graduate teaching and research institution located in Richmond, Kentucky, U.S.A.. EKU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools...

 (KY)

Kentucky Wesleyan (KY)

Morehead State University

Morehead State University

Morehead State University is a public, co-educational university located in Morehead, Kentucky, United States in the foothills of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rowan County, midway between Lexington, Kentucky, and Huntington, West Virginia. The 2012 edition of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S...

 (KY)

Murray State University

Murray State University

Murray State University, located in the city of Murray, Kentucky, is a four-year public university with approximately 10,400 students. The school is Kentucky’s only public university to be listed in the U.S.News & World Report regional university top tier for the past 20 consecutive years...

 (KY)

Transylvania University

Transylvania University

Transylvania University is a private, undergraduate liberal arts college in Lexington, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with the Christian Church . The school was founded in 1780. It offers 38 majors, and pre-professional degrees in engineering and accounting...

 (KY)

Union College

Union College

Union College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as...

 (KY)

University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

, Lexington (KY)

Western Kentucky University

Western Kentucky University

Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. It was formally founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier....

 (KY)

St. Mary's College of Maryland

St. Mary's College of Maryland

St. Mary's College of Maryland, established in 1840, is a public, secular liberal arts college located in St. Mary's City, Maryland. It is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges and designated as a Public Honors College . St. Mary's College is a small college, with about 2,000...

 (MD)

University of Massachusetts

University of Massachusetts

This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...

, Boston (MA)

University of Massachusetts

University of Massachusetts

This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...

, Dartmouth (MA)

Central Michigan University

Central Michigan University

Central Michigan University is a public research university located in Mount Pleasant in the U.S. state of Michigan...

 (MI)

Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...

 (MI)

Grand Valley State University

Grand Valley State University

Grand Valley State University is a public liberal arts university located in Allendale, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1960, and its main campus is situated on approximately west of Grand Rapids...

 (MI)

University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 (MI)

Wayne State University

Wayne State University

Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...

 (MI)

Hastings College

Hastings College

Hastings College is a private, undergraduate, four-year, residential liberal arts college in Hastings, Nebraska, USA.- History :The college was founded in 1882 by a group of men and women seeking to establish a Presbyterian college dedicated to high academic and cultural standards...

 (NE)

University of New Hampshire

University of New Hampshire

The University of New Hampshire is a public university in the University System of New Hampshire , United States. The main campus is in Durham, New Hampshire. An additional campus is located in Manchester. With over 15,000 students, UNH is the largest university in New Hampshire. The university is...

, Durham (NH)

Drew University

Drew University

Drew University is a private university located in Madison, New Jersey.Originally established as the Drew Theological Seminary in 1867, the university later expanded to include an undergraduate liberal arts college in 1928 and commenced a program of graduate studies in 1955...

 (NJ)

Spaulding High School

Spaulding High School

Spaulding High School and Barre Technical Center, more commonly called Spaulding High School or SHS-BTC, is a high school located in the city of Barre, Vermont...

 (NH}

Binghamton University

Binghamton University

Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...

 (NY}

Hofstra University

Hofstra University

Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...

 (NY)

The New School

The New School

The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...

 (NY)

Stuyvesant High School

Stuyvesant High School

Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...

 (NY)

Syracuse University

Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...

 (NY)

State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry

State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry

The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry is an American specialized doctoral-granting institution located in the University Hill neighborhood of Syracuse, New York, immediately adjacent to Syracuse University...

, Fredonia (NY)

Federal University of Technology Owerri

Federal University of Technology Owerri

The Federal University of Technology Owerri is a university in Ihiagwa-Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. It was one of the new universities set up by the Federal Government in June 1980 for each geo political zones, in order to increase skills, innovation and technologically oriented manpower for the...

 (Nigeria)

Central Carolina Community College

Central Carolina Community College

Central Carolina Community College is a tax-supported public, non-profit, two-year college in the North Carolina Community College System. It offered its first classes in 1961. The college has campuses in Chatham, Harnett, and Lee counties, as well as a number of centers to serve those areas...

 (NC)

University of North Carolina

University of North Carolina

Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...

, Chapel Hill (NC)

Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...

 (NC)

Warren Wilson College

Warren Wilson College

Warren Wilson College is a private four-year work college in the Swannanoa Valley, North Carolina, United States near Asheville. It is known for its curriculum of work, academics, and service, called "the Triad," which requires every student to work an on-campus job, perform at least one hundred...

 (NC)

Hiram University (OH)

Ohio State University

Ohio State University

The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...

, Columbus (OH)

Carnegie Mellon (PA)

Mercyhurst College

Mercyhurst College

Mercyhurst College is a Catholic liberal arts college in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA.-History:On September 20, 1926, Mercyhurst College opened its doors just a few blocks away from the city's southern boundary. It was founded by the Sisters of Mercy of the Erie Diocese, who were led by Mother M. Borgia...

 (PA)

Shippensburg University (PA)

Temple University

Temple University

Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...

 (PA)

Providence College

Providence College

Providence College is a private, coeducational, Catholic university located about two miles west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States, the state's capital city. With a 2010–2011 enrollment of 3,850 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the College specializes in academic...

 (RI)

University of Regina

University of Regina

The University of Regina is a public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a junior college in 1925, and was disaffiliated...

 (SK)

Claflin University

Claflin University

Claflin University is located in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. Claflin University was founded in 1869 and is the oldest historically black college or university in the state of South Carolina.-History:...

 (SC)

Clemson University

Clemson University

Clemson University is an American public, coeducational, land-grant, sea-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States....

 (SC)

College of Charleston

College of Charleston

The College of Charleston is a public, sea-grant and space-grant university located in historic downtown Charleston, South Carolina, United States...

 (SC)

Furman University

Furman University

Furman University is a selective, private, coeducational, liberal arts college in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Furman is one of the oldest, and more selective private institutions in South Carolina...

 (SC)

University of South Carolina

University of South Carolina

The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...

, Columbia (SC)

Winthrop University

Winthrop University

Winthrop University is a public, four-year liberal arts university in Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA. In 2006-07, Winthrop University had an enrollment of 6,292 students. The University has been recognized as South Carolina's top-rated university according to evaluations conducted by the South...

 (SC)

Wofford College

Wofford College

Established in 1854 and related to the United Methodist Church, Wofford College is an independent, Phi Beta Kappa liberal arts college of 1,525 students located in downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. The historic campus is recognized as a national arboretum and features “The...

 (SC)

Middle Tennessee State University

Middle Tennessee State University

Middle Tennessee State University, commonly abbreviated as MTSU, is a public university located in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, United States....

, Murfreesboro (TN)

Tennessee Technological University

Tennessee Technological University

Tennessee Technological University, popularly known as Tennessee Tech, is an accredited public university located in Cookeville, Tennessee, US, a city approximately seventy miles east of Nashville. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute , and before that as Dixie College, the...

, Cookesville (TN)

Tusculum College

Tusculum College

Tusculum College is a coeducational private college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church , with its main campus in Tusculum, Tennessee, United States, a suburb of Greeneville...

 (TN)

James Madison University

James Madison University

James Madison University is a public coeducational research university located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the university has undergone four name changes before settling with James Madison University...

 (VA)

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is a Virginia state-chartered magnet school located within Fairfax County, Virginia, United States...

 (VA)

University of Virginia

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

, Wise (VA)

Virginia Tech, (VA)

Anstead Middle School (WV)

Gilbert High School (WV)

Glenville State College

Glenville State College

Glenville State College is a public four-year college located in Glenville, a town in the rural north-central part of the U.S. state of West Virginia.-History:...

 (WV)

Fairmont State University

Fairmont State University

Fairmont State University is a public university located in Fairmont, West Virginia, USA. Enrollment of the university is about 7,700 and offers masters degrees in business, education, teaching, criminal justice and nursing in addition to 90 baccalaureate and 50 associate degrees...

 (WV)

Marshall University

Marshall University

Marshall University is a coeducational public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States founded in 1837, and named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States....

 (WV)

Midland Trail High School

Midland Trail High School

Midland Trail High School is a public 9-12 school located in Hico, West Virginia located upon the historic hence the name. The campus is located north of the New River Gorge National River and in Fayette County...

 (WV)

Shepherd University

Shepherd University

Shepherd University, formerly Shepherd College, is a state-funded university in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, United States. The University currently serves more than 4,200 students.- Accreditation :...

 (WV)

South Charleston High School

South Charleston High School

South Charleston High School is a public high school grades 9 through 12 located on the southern half of the Kanawha River, west of the city of Charleston, in the city of South Charleston's Spring Hill neighborhood. The School mascot is the Black Eagle and the enrollment is approximately 1,200...

 (WV)

West Virginia State University

West Virginia State University

West Virginia State University is a historically black public college in Institute, West Virginia, United States. In the Charleston-metro area, the school is usually referred to simply as "State" or "West Virginia State"...

 (WV)

West Virginia Wesleyan College

West Virginia Wesleyan College

West Virginia Wesleyan College is a regionally accredited private, coeducational, liberal arts college in Buckhannon, West Virginia, United States. It has an enrollment of about 1,400 students from 35 U.S. states and 26 countries. The school was founded in 1890 by the West Virginia Conference of...

 (WV)

University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh (WI)1

External links

• SEAC website
• SEAC Organizing Guide

1-http://www.seac.org/

2-http://www.bookrags.com/research/student-environmental-action-coalit-enve-02/

3-http://www.energyindependencenow.org/resources-links.html

4-http://www.hour.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=7212

5-http://wc.arizona.edu/papers/old-wildcats/fall94/August/August25,1994/01_2_m.html

6-http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/laws/esa.pdf

7-http://www.agracetus.com/

8-http://www.epa.gov/iris/subst/0057.htm

9-http://ran.org/media_center/news_article/?uid=2437