Month: September 2013

Tufts Eco-Reps at Community Day and Future Events

Despite autumn having finally found its way onto campus, the grass is still green on the academic quad here at Tufts! This past weekend, the Tufts Eco-Reps helped welcome members of the local cities of Medford and Somerville to our campus for Community Day at Tufts. Meant to bring the Tufts, Medford, and Somerville communities together, Community Day had a number of student performance groups showcased as well as a few groups running booths and tables on the main academic quad.

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The Reps had a great time running the apple carving station that included stamping and decorating our own fruit sculpted masterpieces. The event was meant to raise awareness for the almost unlimited potential behind reusing everyday items. Overall, it was a great chance to reach out to other members of the community and have a little fun while we’re at it.

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Going ahead, you can look forward to a number of campaigns that the Eco-Reps will be hosting in each of the dorms on campus, with the intention of raising awareness for specific sustainability related issues. Coming up soonest is H2(WHAT)!?, a water themed trivia night on October 3rd from 8-10 PM in the Hill Hall Lounge hosted by Eco-Reps Audrey and Chantal. Don’t forget to bring your own glass, and you could win a new reusable water bottle!

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As the semester progresses, keep an eye out for your dorm’s Eco-Rep as we continue to work our hardest in trying to make green living at Tufts a little easier.

Freecycling at Sustainability Suite and Blakeley’s new Eco-Rep

It’s been a busy and exciting week as the Tufts Eco-Reps got back to work across campus! First and foremost, we are very pleased to introduce Andrew Williams, our new Rep for Blakeley Hall! Andrew is a second year MALD student at the Fletcher School, an avid cyclist, and a distance runner. We’re so glad to have him join the team, and we’re looking forward to working with Fletcher students to promote sustainability.

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In other news, this past week Reps continued to host “Meet-and-Greets” in their halls as a way of getting to know residents, plan future activities, and discuss sustainable behavior. Cookies, brownies, and music were all brought out to start the year off with good vibes and good humor. Many halls constructed new Terracycle boxes or reconstructed old ones as a way of further diverting wrappers from the waste stream, and composting bins have now spread to all of the dorms.

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The Eco-Reps also enjoyed the Tufts Freecycle event hosted by the Sustainability Suite this past Friday. At the event, people were able to drop off old clothing, shoes, sombreros, parasols, and other items, with the opportunity to find for themselves a great pair of used jeans, a comfy sweater, or a sweet new carpet. All this, while chatting over music, fresh baked treats, and beautiful weather!

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Looking ahead, the Reps are beginning to plan events and campaigns for the remainder of the semester–things that should be both a lot of fun, and a great opportunity to make a positive impact on the environment. That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading, and stay green!

Greetings from this year’s Eco-Reps 2013-2014!

As the new school year begins, so does a new set of Eco-Reps! We kicked off this year in the same way last year’s group did, working for Tufts Recycles during the matriculation lunch and O-show dinners, helping people sort their waste into “compostables”, “plastic”, which consisted of ONLY the utensils, and trash.

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But a new addition to this year’s Eco-Reps’ role in orientation included a pledge booth at “Jumbolicious”, one of the largest orientation events. This year, it was held in Aidekman, featuring an electric bull, a dance floor with DJ, free food, free swag, and of course…yours truly! Freshmen (and others) were able to pledge to be more sustainable in their lives, by doing things from composting to taking shorter showers to turning off the lights to unplugging electronics. Our goal is to print out pictures of the residents in their respective halls, holding them more accountable (AND making them famous, of course), for their noble actions. We got over 100 pledges!

 

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Then, right as school started, we got to work. Hopefully you saw us at your all-hall meetings, in the lobbies of the dorms putting out the terraCycle boxes or Compost bins, or maybe at our meet-and-greets! (Complete with donuts, cookies, and other great treats). The meet and greets are ways for us to really have one-on-one time with our residents to receive feedback, ideas, and goals.

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Another new addition to the Eco-Rep agenda this year is the terraCycle Brigade. Terracycle (http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/) is a company that turns snack wrappers that contain the shiny inner lining, such as chip bags or granola bars, into some sweet products. We’ve also decided to weigh our compost before emptying it in order to accurately report on how much people are really composting in the dorms. Reception has varied across dorms, but in general been very good. Keep up the good work, residents!

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C2C Fellowship Workshops

 

Are you an undergrad or recent grad? Do you aspire to be a leader in sustainability in business and/or politics?

Bard Center for Environmental Politics   trains C2C fellows to become exactly that. They have upcoming weekend training sessions, including one close to home, at Bentley University in Waltham, MA.

Students can apply now. Applications are due two weeks prior to each workshop. Learn more about the benefits of becoming a Bard C2C Fellow here. Cost for the weekend trainings, including food (and lodging for those traveling more than an hour), is $30. Registration scholarships are available, and students can often apply to their student governments for travel support as well.

This is a fantastic opportunity to build your skills as a sustainability leader and build your network of others who are passionate about changing the world.

Not at Tufts? Here’s the full list of dates and locations for the training sessions across the country:

MA (Bentley University) | October 25–27, 2013
CA   (Bay Area) | November 8–10, 2013
NY   (Bard College) | February 14-16, 2014
FL    (University of Florida) | March, 2014
IL     (Moraine Valley Community College) | April, 2014