Students Eliminating Environmental Destruction (SEED) have traveled through rough waters and down rocky roads, but this new student activist group is trying to make a name for itself in the Kent State Office of Campus Life.

"We're such a new group that a lot of people don't even know we exist," said Dena Berliner, president of SEED.

Last semester, Berliner said she and a couple of her friends who are concerned about environmental issues decided to start an environmental club.

"I was involved with two environmental clubs in high school - SEED and Earth Spirit," Berliner said. "When I came here there weren't any, so I decided to start one."

Berliner registered the group with only a few weeks left in spring semester 1997. She said it took her four months to do so because she wasn't familiar with the registration process.

"You need to have five members before you can register a group, but you have to be registered to reserve a room for meetings," Berliner said. "It's sort of a Catch 22. You can't recruit members without meetings and you can't have meetings without members."

But Berliner said other student leaders helped SEED to get the ball rolling.

"They showed us what to do and how to fill out all the paper work," Berliner said.

With this being SEED's first full semester as a registered and active student organization, things are picking up. But things are still not as good as they could be, Berliner said.

For one thing, SEED does not have an office to work out of because the group registered two days after office space was allocated to student organizations.

Berliner said another problem seems to be retention of members.

"I hear a lot of people say, 'Oh, finally an environmental group,'" Berliner said. "I think they came to the first meeting, but I haven't seen them after that. Student apathy definitely is one of our biggest problems."

Berliner said despite this problem, membership in the group has increased from five to fifteen.

"I think that's pretty impressive considering the fact that we've only been around for a little over a semester," Berliner said.

Brian Leopold, SEED secretary, said the group is trying to recruit new members by educating students about the organization.

"This semester we have set up tables in the Student Center with information about local environmental problems and what we are doing to help out," Leopold said. "We want people to know they can do a lot on the local level."

One local environmental concern is Dutch Elm disease, which has wiped out an area of trees on northern Stow city property, Leopold said. He said SEED has arranged to help the city plant new trees.

Berliner said the group is working on bringing Styrofoam recycling to campus. She said this project is in the research stage right now, but next semester the group will submit a proposal to the university to begin Styrofoam recycling in the Student Center.

"By starting out at the Student Center, we will be able to determine if the program is economically valuable enough to go to other cafeterias," Berliner said.

Leopold said SEED is looking into working closely with resident hall students in the future.

"We want to try and make recycling more convenient for them," Leopold said. "But more importantly we want to talk to them about things like conserving water and how to backpack without damaging the wilderness."

SEED is also making plans to sponsor an Earth Day celebration in April, Leopold said. The group does not have any money right now but is working with Kent Hempery, a store that sells environmentally sound products made out of hemp, to raise money for this event.

Berliner said SEED will use the least amount of money possible for this event.

"Earth Day is not some big flashy show," Berliner said. "It is to educate and reflect on environmental destruction."

Berliner said the group is looking into joining either the Rainforest Action Network or Earth First, two national environmental organizations. She said these groups are useful in providing information on global environmental issues and helping environmental groups create web pages and sponsor programs.

"They have resources that we don't have," Berliner said. "They are able to subsidize programs we would like to bring to campus."

SEED meets at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays in the Kent State Student Center.