The 2013 Eco Rep Symposium

Off of the buzzing, always busy streets of Boston, representatives from different colleges were gathering together for the 2013 Eco Rep Symposium at Boston University. Some traveled from Maine, Vermont, Connecticut and more. They were all gathered to discuss their Eco Rep programs back at their colleges and to feed off of others’ ideas. Each school was at a different stage of their program, from very successful and popular within the school to an itty-bitty program that didn’t have a name yet, only passion. That was one thing all the schools had in common- they were all passionate about sustainability and making their peers and school in general more aware of their impact on the environment.

 

The event started off with a lunch to meet and chat with some students from the different schools and get to know their programs better. Even at the Symposium, there were waste goalies, because even Eco-Reps mess up which items can go into the trash, compost, or be recycled. After the lunch, we went off to hear different presentations created by Eco Reps. The presentations were split into three categories: Programs, Engagement and Communications. I listened to the Engagement presentations because I wanted to hear about how other schools are getting students involved, and how we can apply what they do to Babson. The first presentation was from a student at Boston University about how they have discussion nights, where students sign up to talk about different subjects related to the environment. This was a hit at their school, and we even had a discussion of our own, writing down comments on large pieces of paper that had quotes on them such as, “only if we understand, we can care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved”, by Jane Goodall. The second presentation was by a student at UMass Dartmouth about having a “sustainable spring break”, and caught my attention as something we could try at Babson. The school had a five day program over spring break that students could sign up for to work on different trails, learn about the environment, and be outdoorsy. Usually most students try to go somewhere warm, but the trips are a nice change of pace from the usual spring break, and were also offered as community service hours. I could see Babson offering a similar program, especially because we have such an ideal location.

 

After the first round of presentations, we regrouped with all of the Eco-Reps and had the “Failure in 5” presentations. This was probably my favorite part of the day, because the stories were fascinating and none were truly “failures”, because they all amounted to a lesson learned or a different project. For instance, one group tried to create a pyramid out of beer cans and Solo cups to show how much students use when they drink and how it can all be recycled. The story went that after a night of hard work putting the pyramid together, they put it outside so people would see it in the morning, only to find out in the morning that it had been destroyed. As funny as the story was, it taught them that maybe a pyramid isn’t the best solution. After the other stories of “failure” the group split to listen to more presentations.

 

This round I chose to listen to the Engagement presentations. The first presentation was about freshmen orientation and making students aware of sustainability on campus, something that Babson has been pursuing as well. Mount Holyoke presented a video during their freshmen orientation to get awareness out, something that Babson could consider doing as well. In their video, they included that they have a free-bin, where students can put items they no longer want and other students are allowed to take anything from it. This is an idea that Babson has been considering, so we were curious to see how it was implemented. The final presentation I listened to was by Babson’s own Sarah Lehnert. She talked about communication between different organizations, and how we create a more uniform appearance for templates and clubs to bring everyone together. The presentations throughout the day gave us many ideas of how we can improve our sustainability program or different ideas we can implement, and it was a great way to network and meet other Eco Reps.