Participate in EcoReps’  Annual Clothing Swap!

*Bring your swap-ticket and your friends. Come enjoy swapping, music and VAULT’s Warm Things Workshop!

Kasper Multipurpose Room

Friday, November 18th

12-4pm

Brown Univ. President Ruth Simmons with EcoReps President Gretchen!

The results are in! The Parents Weekend Football game on October 15th saw 5,265 attendees.  Thanks to our EcoReps and the Brown community we collected 260 pounds of recyclables to be diverted from landfills! Our numbers will be submitted to the EPA Game Day Challenge…but either way everyone who participated in Game Day sustainability is a winner in our eyes!! We’ll see you back next year for another recycling extravaganza. Until then, check out our “Facts and Tips’ section to see how you can go green.

This week Kai and Ginger from the Energy and Environmental Program staff are at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education annual conference in Pittsburgh PA.

There are sessions here on everything from sustainability research to EcoReps to rideshares programs to composting. You can take a look at all the sessions offered here: http://conf2011.aashe.org/program/conference-schedule Let us know in the comments if there are any particular sessions you would like us to attend or questions you think we should ask!

We are here to learn from the exciting work our colleagues are doing! There is great stuff going on and we look foward to sharing it with you!

The University football team brought home a big win on Saturday night at Brown Stadium, and so did our EcoReps! While the Bears were busy collecting fumbles the EcoRep volunteers were busy collecting fans’ recycling to raise awareness about reducing waste at sporting events and keep Brown’s campus beautiful! We collected 20 EXTRA LARGE BAGS of cans, plastic, and glass bottles on Saturday and are looking to do it again for our EPA Game Day Competition on October 15th.

The EPA Game Day Competition is open to all colleges and universities in the U.S. Last year over 88 schools participated and collected over 500,000 pounds of recycling to promote waste reduction, increase participation in recycling and composting, and spread awareness to fans and friends!

We invite you to compete with us this year! Join us at BROWN STADIUM, OCTOBER 15th, 12:30pm!

Have you been craving an ec0-friendly way to take your Ratty lunch to Wriston? Or maybe you want to spend the VDub’s Chicken Finger Friday in the sunshine while still going green? Say no more! Introducing Eco To-Go, Brown’s new swap, fill, & return ecoContainer option that’s as simple as 1-2-3. Watch on to find out how you can get yours, now available at the Ratty and VDub!

Recycling?

Energy Conservation?

Waste Reduction?

Sustainable Living?

Earth Week, Carbon Cubes, Clothing Swaps, Battle of the Bulb, Recyclemania, Beeramids,  Green Dorm Rooms, and Potlucks?

Yes?

Come to EcoReps weekly meetings!

Where: Wilson 101 

When: Sundays 9pm -10pm

Why: You answered YES to one of the above!

Don’t throw them out! Make a Clean Break!

The RIDEP crew partners with 85 social service agencies to make sure our donations get to the RI families who need them!

This year EcoReps is partnering with Facilities Management, Rhode Island Donation Exchange Program,and Waste Haulers to organize Clean Break, a program which provides an easy way for students to donate their unwanted clothes, towels, plates, microwaves, furniture and any and everything else you can think of to give back to the Providence community. Last year Clean Break kept over 18 tons of usable donations out of the landfill! (that’s more than two African elephants worth! )

What can you do?

Look for the blue bags in your residence hall! – This year we will be giving every student a blue bag to fill with donations. Please fill it with what ever you have to give and then take it to the nearest blue bin.

What can I donate?

• Just about anything! As long as it could be used by another person. We accept clothes, shoes, kitchen appliances, speakers, printers, plates, sealed and un-opened jars of peanut butter! Check out the poster for more examples of great donations!

Where do I put my donations?

Donation station in New Dorm. Keep an eye out for donation stations around campus!

Blue bins with Clean Break signs on them will be placed in each dorm. Look for yours in your laundry room, lounge, or kitchen. In addition to the in-dorm stations, we will also have nine outdoor donation stations where you can put large items that don’t fit in the bin, like chairs, lamps, rugs, and sofas. To see where the corrals are located check out the map.

What if I live off-campus?

If you live off-campus you are more than welcome to bring your donations to any one of the nine outdoor reuse corrals on campus. Or you can the RI Donation Exchange Program at 401-831-5516. If you give them 48 hours notice, they will come and pick donations up directly from your house! Door to door service!

Still have Questions? E-mail Recycle@brown.edu

Tons of thanks (two elephants worth!) to the custodial and grounds staff, Waste Haulers employees, RIDEP folk and student volunteers who make this program possible!

Take a peak at our Earth Day Carnival and Green Party slide shows!

The Earth Day Carnival took place on Earth Day (April 22nd) on the Main Green. It featured tables and activities from emPower subcommittees: Beyond the Bottle, Bikes at Brown, EcoReps, Environmental Events, and Scrap!

Events, activities, prizes, bikes, and plants, Oh My!

EcoReps pulled out all the stops and brought every Eco-tastic game in stock to the Carnival.

We had Recycle Pong – How well do you know your recycling bins? Hows your aim? Think of beer pong with balls labeled with various types of disposable items.  Do you know which colored bin they belong in?  If not, consult your Recycle It Right card!

EcoLimbo – How low can your environmental impact go? Earn an increasing level of commitment to environmental goals for each stage you clear!

Reusable Party Cup Decorating – Arrive at all your parties with a reusable-cup in hand and never go SOLO!

And Paper Bag Refurbishing – Shop in style with your easy to make duct-taped and invincible paper bag!

The Carnival was a wonderful success! Thanks to everyone who participated in the festivities!

The Green Party was a celebration in honor of Earth Day and the kickoff for the rest of Earth Week!

Thanks to DJ Big Red and Tyrannosaurus Sex, EcoReps, emPower, and all of the attendees who kicked off Earth Week with smashing tunes and dancing all night long!

If you feeling bummed that you missed out an any of the week’s events, worry no longer! Earth Week is not over! Come to Bill McKibben’s lecture “Global and Local” Friday 4/29 at 3pm in the De Ciccio Auditorium in Salomon!  Bill McKibben, author and founder of 350.org, is a rock star of the modern environmental movement.  You won’t want to miss him!

As Earth Week keynote speaker Bill McKibben will tell you, we are emitting WAY to much CO2 into the atmosphere.  Brown alone emits 56,000 tons of CO2 a year.  But what does that mean? What does that look like? And most importantly, what can you do to help!?

In order to answer these questions, Brown EcoReps have constructed a 10′x10′x10′ carbon cube on the Main Green.

Don't be lame! Join the fun and start reducing your "cube print"!

Cube facts:

Brown emits 1 million cubes worth of CO2 each year. That’s over 3,000 cubes a day!

The average American emits 1 cube of CO2 every 19 hours.

You can help!

Wash your clothes in cold water! Switching from hot to cold water for 28 loads will save 1 cubes worth CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere!

Bike or walk! Every 6 gallons of gas burned sends 1 cubes worth of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle! Reducing your waste by 20 bags of trash keeps 1 cubes worth of CO2 out of the atmosphere!

Got other tips?

Tell us how you are reducing your “cube print” in the comments below!

Happy Earth Week!

p.s. For more great EcoRep pics, check out the EcoReps Flickr!