UVM Eco-Reps Annual Report 2020-2021
Written by Annie Selle, BS Environmental Science ‘22 Designed by Maya Bostwick, BA Environmental Studies ‘21
WHAT IS ECO-REPS? The UVM Eco-Reps Program trains student leaders in environmental justice and campus sustainability programs who then offer education and outreach about these topics on campus through programming. The UVM Eco-Reps program is one of the oldest and most well-respected Eco-Reps programs in the country. It began in 2004 as a pilot project to connect the overarching environmental commitment of the institution with individual student behavior and campus culture. Today the program is a partnership between Residential Life, which pays the wages of the Eco-Reps, and the Office of Sustainability whose staff runs the program. The Eco-Rep approach draws from the idea that sustainable behavior change is most effective when it involves direct contact with people and is carried out at the community level. The community level that Eco-Reps focus on is the residential student population for two main reasons. First, UVM’s sustainability metrics include the energy use of residence halls, the type of food served in dining halls, and the volume of waste generated in each. The individual choices the ~5,000 on-campus students make about these things each day add up to a big collective impact! Second, residents are also usually first or second year students who are learning how to live on their own for the first time. Major life events are the time people are most likely to change their behaviors; and the habits people adopt in their formative years can stick with them for a lifetime. Many UVM programs already exist to make it easy for students to build more sustainable lifestyles. Eco-Reps help communicate these programs and encourage other environmentally responsible behaviors. This can help to improve sustainability metrics and possibly result in financial savings from resource conservation and efficiency. Organized education and outreach efforts also build a culture of sustainability, which 79% of UVM students agreed the campus has (2019 survey).
DEFINITIONS The Eco-Reps are divided into five Community Teams (CT) following Residential Life’s Learning Community themes. Each CT has four Eco-Reps (one Manager and three Change Agents). The five Eco-Rep Managers each work on a specialty area and supervise three Change Agents (CA). The 15 CAs live on campus and carry out most Eco-Rep programming. Eco-Reps cover a variety of sustainability topics throughout the year and create programming related to each. These topics and the associated programming are called a campaign. Each campaign incorporates both Community Team and campus-wide programming elements.
Campus-wide programs are events or outreach designed to reach the whole student body. There is usually only one per campaign and they are focused on students but open to staff, faculty and visitors. Managers take the lead on these and Change Agents contribute. A Community Team program is an event or behavior change strategy designed by one CT that is specifically for and targeted to their residential learning community. There are usually 5-15 per campaign. Change Agents take the lead on these and Managers support them. An engagement is any level of interaction with the Eco-Reps program, whether direct or indirect.
Indirect engagement indicates that someone was exposed to Eco-Reps
but did not have a direct interaction. Examples include viewing a social media post, or attending a large event where Eco-Reps are present but not the focus.
Direct engagement indicates an interaction that an Eco-Rep sensed and
self-reported as meaningful. These interactions feel productive and like they could have a lasting impact. Examples of this are students asking questions or making comments (online or in person), engaging in an educational game or challenge, making a pledge, or completing a survey.
EXPERIENCE 100% OF ECO-REPS... Feel empowered to carry-out campaigns creatively and effectively. Believe Eco-Reps make a difference on campus. Enjoy being an Eco-Rep.
100% 2
of Eco-Reps attended 2020 AASHE Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education virtually.
Eco-Rep alumni on Career Center panel.
4
Eco-Reps participated in additional external professional development.
“I think the program was very adaptive to COVID and did a good job at cultivating a sense of community even though we all worked from our homes and dorms.” - Change Agent
PROGRAM EXPENSES
Spending was significantly lower than our $5000 budget. We spent less on food, transportation and training than usual and more on prizes to incentivize participation in programming.
purpose
scope
cost
Just Sustainability campaign
Campus-Wide
$1,437.65
Community Team
$226.93
Earth Week
Campus-Wide
$384.00
EcoWare support
Campus-Wide
$90.00 $35.00
Professional Development Uniforms
Program Operations
$428.90
Other
$48.25
Total
$2,650.73
COVID-19 This year, we had to do things a bit differently...
Meetings Because we needed to have our weekly meetings online, it was important to foster community and conversation among Eco-Reps. Many meetings were centered around conversations of environmental justice topics, utilizing breakout rooms and a “fishbowl” discussion to allow Eco-Reps to respond together to prompts. On some occasions, guest speakers came to present on relevant subjects, including: Office of Civic Engagement on the importance and logistics of voting. Food Not Bombs on their efforts to feed the community during COVID. Chittenden Solid Waste District on what happens after waste leaves campus. Planned Parenthood Generation Action on reproductive justice. Old North End Mutual Aid on how mutual aid fosters resilient communities. LivingWell on all things periods. UVM Organize on student activism.
“Our weekly meetings have been very engaging. I can always expect an interesting presentation or productive conversation of some sort.” - Change Agent
EcoWare Due to COVID, more meals were served in to-go containers causing a spike in food container waste on campus. To curb some of this waste, the University revamped the EcoWare reusable to-go container program by purchasing additional containers. The program prevented the waste of 37,689 single-use containers just in the fall semester. Eco-Rep Change Agents were instrumental in the new EcoWare program. Every day, they gathered the containers from waste rooms of their residence halls and delivered them to the kitchens for washing. Without the hard work of the Eco-Reps, the program would not have been so robust. To strengthen the program further, Eco-Reps created an instructional video and tabled at their residence halls to educate about the program and encourage its proper use.
REACH OVERALL ENGAGEMENT: 1,782 We counted 735 high engagement impressions and 1,047 low engagement impressions across all of our programming. We held 22 programs. 54% of overall engagement came from community team programming and 46% came from campus-wide programming. Community team programming resulted in approximately double the amount of high-engagement impressions than campus-wide programming. “I think that the program did a good job reaching a large audience virtually. I think we really stepped up our game in that sense and the programming seemed to be successful in my opinion.” - Change Agent
D IGI TA L MED I A In this year of few in person programs, our online outreach became more important than ever. We saw a 236% increase in newsletter subscribers from 1,378 to 3,254. A lot of this growth is attributed to the 1,357 emails gained from our CampusCup program. On Instagram we gained 163 followers, for a total of 1,402 followers. We saw big spikes in content interactions and DMs after our Mr. Moseby Cameo video and @universityofvermont story takeover as well as a spike in followers during Earth Week. Instagram was our most active social media platform and several Change Agent story takeovers highlighted events throughout the year. Our Facebook page gained nine likes and 35 followers, for a total of 854 likes and 915 followers. We mainly use Facebook to advertise our events, which over 1,600 people have viewed. We created a TikTok and made 12 videos through three Change Agent takeovers and one LivingWell takeover. Our account gained 29 followers and 406 likes. We dusted off our Twitter this year and gained 6 followers for a total of 271 followers. We added a Linktree to social media platforms which had 670 views and 601 clicks.
CAMPAIGN IMPACT JUST SUSTAINABILITY In the wake of a summer of protests for racial justice, Eco-Reps decided to spend the year focusing on one campaign: Just Sustainability. The goal of the campaign was to educate peers on what environmental justice is, why racial justice is inextricably linked to sustainability, and what they can do to act and organize.
CAMPUS-WIDE HIGHLIGHTS What You Need To Know About The Green New Deal And The Global Warming Solutions Act A virtual panel in which speakers Rigo Melgar-Melgar, PhD student in RSENR, and Lauren Oates, of the VT Nature Conservancy, shared their knowledge and perspectives on two important policies. The event took place over Microsoft Teams, and saw the largest turnout of any virtual Eco-Reps event with 76 attendees.
EcoChallenge 33 students participated in this virtual challenge platform by logging sustainable actions ranging from refusing a plastic straw to attending UVM Earth Week events. We incentivized this challenge with popular prizes like a skateboard and gift cards for local experiences for the top four point earners at a cost of $385. The following five highest point earners won zero waste kits donated from Generation Conscious, a $125 value.
Campus Cup
Eco-Reps partnered with OrganiCup to give away free menstrual cups to students who signed up for one. Thanks to great partnerships and advertising 1,358 students signed during a twoweek period! Cups were distributed throughout the rest of the semester with the help of LivingWell. Eco-Reps spent $600 to mail cups to at home students, a small cost compared to the $38,000 retail value of the cups themselves.
COMMUNITY TEAM HIGHLIGHTS Below are some highlights from the year that each team submitted.
Mondays for Migrant Justice
By Redstone Team: Ali Drew, Nick Bishop, Amanda Minsk, KC Johnson
Migrant Justice’s Milk With Dignity campaign calls on companies to source milk from dairies that pay their workers a living wage. The Redstone team tabled on three Monday’s in May and encouraged people to sign a petition or write a postcard calling on the CEO of Hannaford Supermarket to join the campaign. Prizes were offered through an Eco-Rep made plinko board and three lucky visitors out of the 300 won a Migrant Justice T-shirt. “We felt like the work we put in was equal to the amount of engagement we received. This event led to a good amount of action as many visitors signed the petition!”
Environmental Policy in Burlington: Discussion with Local Policy Makers and Activists By Trinity Team: Annie Selle, Althea Deschenes, Annie Stibora, Jack Pitblado, Nico Perugini
Eco-Reps virtually hosted three Burlington City Councilors, a Vermont State Legislator, and a Burlington mutual aid organizer to discuss politics, social justice, environmentalism, and how students can get involved in Burlington and Vermont. 40 students attended and the event closed with an engaging Q&A. “This program gave students an opportunity to hear out their local elected representatives on issues they care about.”
Trash to Treasure Art Making
By Athletic 1 Team: Lauren Waibel, Camille Jacoby, Jane Burton, Nora Looney
Six students came together in person to upcycle trash that Eco-Reps had collected into art. There was also an option for students to participate virtually by sharing their creations on Instagram. “This event allowed people to clean up waste from their communities and give it a second life at the same time as having a creative outlet and making art together.”
Women’s History Month Scavenger Hunt
By Athletic 2 Team: Mia Papageorge, Nerida Williams, Ayanna McDaniel, Sean Magnifico
Flyers were posted around campus with QR codes taking participants to web pages featuring notable women in sustainability, as well as thought-provoking questions for participants to respond to. 23 students participated and three were selected to win a UVM Bookstore gift card. “The women highlighted did highly-impactful work towards environmental justice and participant’s responses showed they learned a lot from engaging with their stories.”
Sustainably Beautiful
By Red/Central Team: Maya Bostwick, Cate Kreider, Julia Grant, Maeve Donnelly, Sam Joyner
This interactive tabling at the Davis Center showed people how to update their beauty routine with inexpensive and sustainable products. 120 students came by and one won a hand-sewn dopp kit full of zero waste beauty products to get them started. “We provided lists of BIPOC/queer owned sustainable beauty businesses, and educated students on how sustainability is gatekept by money and needs to be more affordable for it to be accessible.”
PASSION PROJECTS Each Change Agent completes a “Passion Project” of their choosing over the course of the year. The fall semester is spent planning and the project is executed in the fall. Here are some highlights from this year:
Sam designed and installed eye-catching posters in the chemistry labs to increase safe disposal lab waste.
KC coordinated a single use waste tracking challenge that 40 students participated in. Most items were categorized as food related and made up 51.9% of the total waste count. Sean worked with Honors College staff to set up an internal lending system. Students can now donate books from their required first year class and they will be given out to incoming first year students for free.
Ayanna designed and sewed a handmade quilt was that highlights and celebrates six BIPOC clubs and organizations at UVM.
Cate created a guide to bikeable attractions in and beyond Burlington that details how to bike there safely and promotes local businesses. Amanda visited thrift stores in and beyond Burlington to create an Instagram series highlighting the offerings at each store and rating them by price, accessibility and cool factor. “It was my favorite part about being an Eco-Rep!” - Change Agent
Nerida and Nora reviewed UVM’s vendor list to identify how many were Minority/Women-owned Business Enterprises. They found 42 MWBE vendors representing 5% of UVM’s 828 approved private and for-profit vendors.
Nick and Jane collected redeemable containers in their residence hall waste rooms and donated $40 to Food Not Bombs and $58 to ONE Mutual Aid.
Camille assessed the energy literacy of residents in her building and followed up with an educational tabling event that addressed resident’s common misconceptions. Julia discovered a new offering from a local resale non-profit that allowed UVM to run a COVID-safe campus move out program and collect more material types than previous years. Althea and Jack measured the percentage of Real Food (meaning either local, humane, fair or ecologically sound) purchased by The UVM Bookstore in October of 2020 and determined 39.9% of purchases qualified as Real Food. Annie coordinated six Eco-Reps to write articles for the UVM HerCampus blog that were published during Earth Week. She also interviewed Lauren on InstagramLIVE to help explain EcoReps to the HerCampus audience.
“I really love how we all get to go off in our own directions and share about what we’re doing with everyone. It’s great to see what others are doing/have done.” - Change Agent
ECO-REPS TEAM 2020-2021
Change Agents
Althea Deschenes* Amanda Minsk Annie Stibora Ayanna McDaniel Camille Jacoby Cate Kreider* Dallas Brummer* Jack Pitblado Jane Burton Julia Grant KC Johnson Maddie Leitch Maeve Donnelly Nerida Williams Nick Bishop* Nico Perugini Nora Looney Sam Joyner* Sean Magnifico *recognized as Change Agent of the Month
Staff Supervisor Caylin McCamp
Advisory Council Members Corey Berman Elizabeth Palchak Erica Spiegel Gioia Thompson Marissa Watson Wendy Verrei-Berenback
Supporting Partners
Inter-Residences Association (IRA) Residential Life
Managers
Ali Drew Annie Selle Lauren Waibel Maya Bostwick Mia Papageorge
UVM Eco-Reps www.uvm.edu/ecoreps ecoreps@uvm.edu @uvmecoreps
UVM Eco-Reps www.uvm.edu/ecoreps ecoreps@uvm.edu @uvmecoreps