The Student Environmental Center is a registered student organization of SIUC composed of volunteers dedicated to educating the public on environmental issues and working for environmental causes, Harris said.

She said the group also works on local, regional, national and international issues related to the environment.

We try to focus on local issues as the top priority, Harris said.

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Among current activities planned by the center is a boat regatta to protest the Crab Orchard incinerator, a device which can produce dioxin, a cancer causing agent.

The regatta is slated for noon on Sept. 9. The group will be assembling in the parking lot across from Pirates Cove Marina on Rt. 13 east of Carbondale..

Regional issues the center has focused on include the management and logging in the Shawnee National Forest, the Crab Orchard incinerator, recycling, the recently passed Salvage logging law and water pollution, especially Sugar Creek and Lake Kinkaid, Harris said.

One national issue the group focused on was the placing of telescopes on Apache sacred land on Mt. Graham in Arizona. Mt. Graham is a habitat to a number of federal endangered species.

Harris said that educating the public is important to the group.

We have to educate the public before they can become active on issues, said Harris.

Harris said the group teaches the public on how they can be active in opposing, stopping and changing things that can be harmful to the environment. The instruction includes how the public can become active in politics, writing letters and other forms of activism.

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We want to teach people how to research their own issues, even if it isn’t an issue we are currently working on, Harris said. They can attend the meetings and bring the issue up to the group. We have the resources, so we can probably help them work on environmental issues, she said.

This year, the group plans to have guest speakers on various subjects every other week. During the weeks a speaker is not present, the group will work on environmental issues such as the ones listed previously.

Kristen Kordecki, who first became involved in the center towards the end of the spring semester cites the Earth Day Weekend as the most memorable event the group had. Among highlights of the weekend was a performance by environmental musician Robert Hoyt, she said.

It’s a group that really opens up awareness of community and environmental issues that everyone should be aware of, Kordecki said. It’s a great opportunity to meet people and become involved in the community.

Harris said SIUC students, faculty and the public are invited to attend the weekly meetings of the SEC. The group meets every Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Interfaith Center located on the corner of South Illinois and Grand Ave.