Future Focus is a new initiative at SLU run by four students and founded by junior public health major Chris Hays. Having always been drawn to nature and the environment, Hays was inspired to begin the initiative after his study abroad program in Sweden, where he witnessed how environmentally aware and friendly his campus was.
“They live a lot more collectively and much less focused on individual ambition…it is such a normal part of their lives to be green,” Hays says. Hays discusses how Swedes are simply more aware of the problems surrounding the environment nowadays and have gone out of their way to integrate that into their campus life in various ways.
“Everything that their [bookstore] sells is made of 100% of recycled materials, and if its not made of 100% of recycled materials they won’t sell it,” Hays says, “Another example is that trash cans around campus are separated by materials. They have recycling bins for just aluminum, just plastic, wood, paper, all the different materials get separated immediately.”
The time in Sweden enhanced Hays’ knowledge and interest in the environment, encouraging him to not only want to spread the message to SLU’s campus but to the community in general. “I would say the disconnect between how environmentally friendly Sweden is and how bad our general way of life in this country is, the gap between those two has inspired me to say what it is that needs to be known and how can we get this in a message that a lot of people can come to understand.”
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Hays discusses how the Future Focus initiative is focused on getting people to come together to help make a better and bigger change in the environment. “Small steps on an individual level really aren’t going to do much to address these problems, but when a lot of individuals take small steps then all of that gets amplified and makes a lot more change”
Their main way of spreading their message is through social media. They have Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, using each one of those platforms in a different way to spread their message. They can be found at @future_focus314 on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. They put out short, attention-drawing videos on TikTok to help spread their message to a wider audience as opposed to their Twitter where they put out newsletters outlining who they are and steps individuals could take to help the environment.
They also collaborate with other SLU clubs like Green Billikens, the Sustainability Committee, and Active Minds to help spread more awareness about the environment and sustain mental health relating to environmental issues on SLU’s campus.
“If there’s a group that we specifically want to partner with because they have a mission that’s in line with environmentalism then we just reach out to them and ask if they want to show up at the Clocktower and talk about what their club does,” Hays says.