UVM Eco-Reps Annual Report 2019-2020
Written by Mackenzie Bolas, BS Natural Resources ‘21 Designed by Maya Bostwick, BA Environmental Studies ‘21
WHAT IS ECO-REPS? The UVM Eco-Reps Program cultivates environmental responsibility by training student leaders to promote sustainable practices at the University and encourage environmentally responsible behaviors among peers. The UVM Eco-Reps program is one of the oldest and most wellrespected 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 focuses 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 that 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. Eco-Reps targets this population because the things they learn will stay with them long after they leave campus. 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 ResLife’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 four sustainability topics throughout the year and create programming related to each one for seven weeks. These topics and the associated programming is called a campaign. Each campaign incorporates Community Team specific and campus wide programming.
Campus 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 are open to staff, faculty and visitors. All Eco-Reps 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. An engagement is any level of interaction with the Eco-Reps program, whether direct or indirect.
Direct engagement is a meaningful interaction with someone.
These interactions are productive and 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 completing a questionnaire.
Indirect engagement indicates someone who has exposure to
Eco-Reps but not a direct interaction. These are less likely to have a lasting impact on the individual. Examples of this are viewing a social media post, or attending a large event where Eco-Reps are present but not the focus.
EXPERIENCE 100% OF ECO-REPS AGREE: they make a difference on campus. the program has helped them strengthen their understanding of campus sutainability initiatives. they are a better leader, communicator and event planner because of working for Eco-Reps. they felt empowered to carry out campaigns creatively and effectively.
19 subject matter experts presented to Eco-Reps throughout the year
“I think the Eco-Reps program does a good job at educating students on individual actions that can be taken to improve their sustainability efforts. It serves as a great stepping stone to other environmental habits.” — Eco-Rep
DESIRABILITY
26%
applicant acceptance rate
100%
Change Agent retention rate
professional development
100% 25% 3
of Eco-Reps recieved performance reveiws
of Eco-Reps attended PLAN Students for Zero Waste Conference
Eco-Rep alumni on Career Center panel
REACH OVERALL ENGAGEMENT: 13,584 Direct: 1,392 Indirect: 12,156
ALIGNMENT 93% of ResLife Learning
Communities served by their own residents $395 in-kind support from internal and external groups $2,107 in funding from campus partners
M ED I A
7% increase in Facebook
page followers 59% increase in newsletter subscribers 5 YouTube videos created 94 YouTube views 41% increase in Instagram followers
CAMPAIGN IMPACT OH, THE PLACES WE’LL GO!
778 ENGAGEMENTS | $125.29 spent We encouraged students to use more sustainable forms of transportation by promoting Wheeli for carpools, explaining the free CarShare Vermont membership many are eligible for, demonstrating how the Greenride bikeshare works, taking students on their first bus ride, helping students register their bikes and more!
“Change Agents worked hard to make transportation interesting to learn about.” — Eco-Rep
8 Community Team Programs 134 Highly Engaged 324 Low Engaged The Redstone Community Team held a party at the Redstone Carshare Pod to familiarize students living on that part of campus with the service, answer questions and register people.
2 Campus-wide Programs 40 Highly Engaged 290 Low Engaged The Sustainable Transportation Fair showcased 6 local sustainable transportation services and 110 people attended.
CAMPAIGN IMPACT FOOD VALUES
4,069 ENGAGEMENTS | $405.71 spent This campaign focused on helping people articulate their food values and improving agricultural literacy. Nationally, Agricultural Literacy Week happens during this time and locally, NOFA-VT promotes collaborations between food groups and libraries. We joined that effort by collaborating with UVM Libraries. UVM Dining also hosted their annual Weigh the Waste and Giving Thanks Dinners during this timeframe, which Eco-Reps helped with.
“Food really engages people because it means a lot to everyone.” — Eco-Rep
12 Community Team Programs 263 Highly Engaged 637 Low Engaged 2 cooking events were held that focused on discussing individuals’ food values, why choosing sustainable ingredients matters and how to do it economically.
2 Campus-wide Programs 380 Highly Engaged 3,432 Low Engaged 250 students stopped by our table in Howe Library to sample recipes (that Eco-Reps baked from historic Vermont cookbooks!) and talk about agricultural literacy as a way to celebrate the culinary traditions of Vermont.
CAMPAIGN IMPACT WASTE
3,326 ENGAGEMENTS | $252.22 spent This campaign focused on the broad topic of waste. Guest speakers presented on all levels of our waste system, starting at the UVM scale and expanding to consider the global scale. Each team chose what scale and component was most interesting to them, resulting in programs about plastic waste, proper waste sorting, fast fashion, zero waste as a lifestyle, consumerism and more.
“Waste sorting has a special place in my heart” — Eco-Rep
9 Community Team Programs 198 Highly Engaged 115 Low Engaged 4 swap shop events focused on reducing waste in fashion while providing students with an opportunity to talk about sustainability and get new clothing items!
1 Campus-wide Program 42 Highly Engaged 3,008 Low Engaged UVM Eco-Reps, UVM Recycling and Zero Waste, and UVM Dining worked together to support the annual Green Out the Gut sponsored by Casella Waste Systems. 2,982 attendees at the hockey game learned about proper waste sorting from Eco-Reps.
CAMPAIGN IMPACT COPING WITH CRISES
5,330 ENGAGEMENTS* | $428 spent This campaign focused on mental health in the face of the climate crisis. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, we expanded it to include crises more broadly and all of our programming went virtual. Community Teams “took over” our Instagram account each week, posting daily tips for staying afloat during a crisis. We also did three InstagramLIVEs about signs of spring, tiny house living and home composting. “While this campaign was transformed by the coronavirus, I still feel like it had an impact on the campus. Perhaps people are more likely to talk about their emotions in a time like this...” — Eco-Rep
5 Community Team Programs 276 Highly Engaged 4,814 Low Engaged Our 5-part Climate Film & Conversation Series was a weekly mini film festival about different climate change related topics, followed by guided discussions by each CT. We showcased over 15 videos and 68 people attended.
4 Campus-wide Programs 70 Highly Engaged 179 Low Engaged 25 people were interviewed for our Climate Feels video, sharing how they feel about climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.
*Note: social media engagement used to track impressions for this campaign
CAMPAIGN IMPACT 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 spring. The projects are usually done individually and do not have to correspond with campaign topics. “I think the passion projects are what really get people motivated.” — Eco-Rep A “Swap Shelf” was permanently installed in University Heights South. An estimated 50 items passed through it per week when the residence hall was fully occupied. Shower timers were installed in Harris bathrooms to encourage shorter showers and water conservation. Survey and anecdotal observations suggest success. The timers will remain in place. A dining passport was created in an effort to reduce congestion at Central Campus Dining. The passport encouraged students to visit locations off the beaten path by offering coupons. It wasn’t able to be launched due to COVID-19 but has been printed and will be used next year. A video to help off campus students comply with the Universal Recycling Law (Act 148), which goes into effect July 1, 2020, was created in partnership with Chittenden Solid Waste District and the Off Campus Student Community Relations office. A comprehensive lighting audit of Mercy Hall outlined a possible $7,500 in annual savings if $28,700 in upgrades were done, a less than 4 year return on investment. Two Change Agents whose passion projects were interrupted by COVID-19 got creative about continuing their mission at home by setting up home compost systems and teaching their families how to manage their food scraps in a new way.
ECO-REPS TEAM 2019-2020
Student Employees Addie Didomenico Ailey Bosworth Ali Drew Amanda Minsk Amanda Vilensky Annie Selle Ayanna McDaniel Cate Kreider Clare Nelson Dallas Brummer Emily Johnston Emma Forsythe Kylie Hanley Lauren Waibel Lily Zanta Liz Mackin Mackenzie Bolas Mackenzie Laverick Maggie Friel Makayla Salas Maya Bostwick Mia Papageorge Minnie Brown Natalie Connor Riley Korhonen
Thank you to everyone who made such a successful year possible!
Staff Supervisors Caylin McCamp Holly Pedrini
Advisory Council Members Corey Berman Erica Spiegel Gioia Thompson Marissa Watson Wendy Verrei-Berenback
Supporting Partners
Inter-Residences Association Residential Life
Manager Team
UVM Eco-Reps www.uvm.edu/ecoreps ecoreps@uvm.edu @uvmecoreps