Paperbark Literary Magazine
Paperbark is an interdisciplinary magazine of creativity and sustainability founded by graduate students, faculty, and staff from across the university. Supported by SES in partnership with the UMass Amherst Libraries and the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, Paperbark aims to showcase the best sustainability work happening on campus and in the Pioneer Valley, working to support the local community around sustainability while also drawing connections to the global context. For more information and to submit your work, visit the Paperbark website.
UMass Eco-Rep Program
The UMass Amherst Eco-Rep Program is focused on working toward environmental literacy and leadership, both within the program and on the campus at large. The Eco-Rep Program is an academic course open to students of all interests and education levels, but especially those who wish to gain or expand their knowledge of sustainability and environmental literacy. Eco-Reps build foundational knowledge surrounding issues of sustainability and explore how best to raise awareness about these issues among their peers. Focusing on the role and impact of the individual, Eco-Reps work to promote environmentally responsible behavior in the campus community. For more information, visit the sustainability website.
BRiDGE
Supported by a campus climate improvement grant, BRiDGE at UMass Amherst is an SES student-led initiative to highlight scholars with exceptional, broader impacts through research, scholarship, pedagogy, and outreach. BRiDGE scholars come from underrepresented backgrounds (as defined by the National Science Foundation) and are early-career scientists making a difference in their respective fields. Find out more about BRiDGE at their website.
TALKING TRUTH: Finding Your Voice around the Climate Crisis
Talking Truth is a growing community, initiated in fall 2015. Rooted in and complementary to many efforts that have been going on for years at UMass, the project intentionally supports and builds on understanding of climate disruption. Some key aims are:
- to learn about climate change in the context of fostering a world that is socially transforming
- explore options for taking action
- create meaning in our individual and collective experiences
- deepen understanding of the connections between one another and the planet
- to build community while recognizing the particularities of our lives in relation to climate change—situated and marked by power and privilege in very different ways
Find out more about Talking Truth on their Facebook page.
Lab Talk with Laura
Laura Fattaruso, a doctoral student in geosciences, hosts a new STEM-focused radio show on student-run WMUA, 91.1FM, beginning Jan. 23. Lab Talk with Laura will feature interviews with UMass Amherst and Five College scientists—including undergrad and grad students, faculty, and postdocs—from a wide range of disciplines talking about their research, how they became interested in their field, and their lives as scientists. In addition to interviews, the program will include a discussion of science-related news and current events. Fattaruso also hopes to use her background as a stand-up comic—one of her passions outside of the lab—to bring humor to the show. The only science talk show on WMUA, Lab Talk with Laura will air on Tuesdays from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
New2U Tag Sale
The New2U Move-Out Collection and Move-In Tag Sale is a waste-reduction program that is created, organized, and run by students. In 2013, Campus Sustainability Fellows saw just how much waste was generated over the moving out of 13,000 students from their residence halls at the end of each academic year. At the time, most of the items being thrown away were only lightly used. A dedicated group of student sustainability leaders decided to create an innovative solution to this problem, and so the idea of New2U was born. Every spring during move-out days, the New2U team of student volunteers and campus staff collects unwanted items—such as clothing, futons, lamps, and TVs—from across campus and resells these items each fall during a move-in tag sale. For more information, visit the Sustainable UMass website.