Student Eco-Ambassadors
“Gee, I never expected to find this problem here, too!”
Who are the Eco-Ambassadors?
● Office of Sustainability
Through an education- and action-focused curriculum, the Eco-Ambassador (EA) program provides participants with the
resources, skills, and knowledge necessary to effect change, serve as leaders, and promote sustainable behaviors both in their
offices and in the larger Tufts community. Using the tools, information, and competencies developed during sessions facilitated by
the Tufts Office of Sustainability, Eco-Ambassadors lead departmental efforts to implement, and educate colleagues about,
environmentally sustainable practices and receive ongoing resources and support from the Office of Sustainability.
Who’s Involved
Betsy Byrum -- Tufts Education & Outreach Coordinator
Whitney Stiehler -- Wildlife Staff Assistant
Elizabeth Lauzon -- Foster Hospital Administration
Tufts Student Eco-Ambassadors and Eco-Representatives
Emily Andersen -- 2nd year student rep
Danielle Woolf -- 3rd year student rep
1st and 4th year reps?
Webmaster
http://sustainability.tufts.edu/programs/ecoambassadors/departments-with-ecoambassadors/
Organization of Student EcoAmbassadors
● Biweekly meetings
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Training & certificate
More frequent meetings as needed for individual
projects
● 1-2 students present ideas at faculty monthly
meetings
● Student representatives for each class
● http://sites.tufts.edu/studentecoambassadors/
On-Campus Projects
● Cummings School Community Garden
● Composting
● Reusable dishware
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Donation event
Fruit trees
Alkaline batteries recycling
Education
MORE!!!
o
Contact Emily with any ideas
Going Forward!
● Sign-up for interested projects
● Select representative for first and fourth year
classes
● Select webmaster
● Email will be sent out with information about
next meeting and training session
Tufts Eco-Ambassador Training Program
Sustainability Overview
· Defining sustainability- what is it?
o Social, environmental, economic dimensions
o Definitions (e.g., Brundtland Commission)
· Sustainability at Tufts
o Timeline of sustainability highlights
o Campus Sustainability Council Report & Tufts’ goals
· *Possible to do activity about defining sustainability OR about Tufts’ sustainability goals
Behavior Change
· Key takeaway: education does not lead directly to behavior change (people don’t
generally change their behaviors just because of what they know)
· Effective behavior change framework: Community-Based Social Marketing (5 steps)
1. Select behaviors
2. Identify barriers & benefits
3. Develop strategies (e.g., prompts, incentives, commitments, norms)
4. Pilot
5. Broad scale implementation & evaluation
· *Behavior change challenge (people try to change 1 personal behavior over course
of the month)*
Climate Change
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What is it?
IPCC data
How it is impacting us in the Northeast, Massachusetts, and Boston
6 Americas – public opinion on climate change
o *Role-playing activity about how to talk to people about sustainability issues*
Waste & Recycling
· Why recycling/properly disposing of waste is important
· Waste and recycling at Tufts
· *Trash sort activity*
Transportation
· Facts about transportation in the US (including GHG emissions)
· Transportation resources (e.g., through the MBTA, MassRIDES)
Water
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Water distribution (i.e., salt vs. fresh), water cycle
Water usage
Tufts’ water source and water usage
Bottled water overview
Energy
· Energy at Tufts
· How you can conserve energy at Tufts
Purchasing
· Eco-Labels: Green vs. Greenwashing
o *Eco-label sorting activity*
· Making purchases at Tufts (probably not relevant – can maybe get more general)
Questions?
Comments?
Great ideas??
“Now do you believe in climate change?”