Chris Hewes

Chris was a member of the Eco-Rep program for 2 semesters as a representative for Grayson Hall in Orchard Hill before assuming his current position as an Area Eco-Rep. He will be leading a class in one of the residential areas on campus. This involves leading discussions about readings pertaining to sustainability, working on educational materials shown in residential halls, and coordinating campus-wide projects that promote sustainability in different ways.

He became very interested in sustainability after his first semester in the Eco-Rep program, where he felt he learned lots of interesting things and expanded upon that knowledge in other classes related to similar topics. There, he gained experience in discussing and thinking about sustainability in a variety of ways.  He felt that the program afforded him a unique opportunity to have discussion about these topics with people who are equally passionate, but each with an individual background and viewpoint.

Chris hopes that a majority of students, faculty, and staff on the UMass campus become more educated about sustainability and understand why it is something important to care about.  He also hopes that people internalize this knowledge and make changes in their lifestyle. It is his belief that “the world as a whole needs to put sustainability at the top of the priorities list and we will be better able to solve any number of other problems: sustainability is linked to everything”.