East Carolina University
EN-3: Student Life

The purpose of the ECO Pirates student organization is to promote and improve campus sustainability and environmental health for East Carolina University and the surrounding Greenville community by working with students, organizations, and Greenville groups; being proactive about our environment; to be committed to the betterment of the health of the citizens of Greenville, NC; to promote the active improvement of environment health science professional education; to assist in the improvement and understanding of North Carolina, National, and World environmental science health problems.

ECU has three opportunities for students to gain experience with organic agriculture and sustainable food systems. First, we have a Freight Farm installed and operating behind Jones Residence Hall on College Hill. Student groups and classes can schedule tours to learn about the Big Leafy Machine that produces over 20,000 heads of lettuce for Dining and Catering Services each year. Second, in Spring 2018, ECU Dining constructed and planted 12 raised garden beds behind Todd Dining Hall, which is also located on College Hill. Students helped with the planting and routine maintenance of these herb and vegetable beds. Third, the ECU Sustainability Manager has partnered with a local nonprofit organization called Love A Sea Turtle (LAST) to develop and expand a community garden located just blocks from Main Campus. In the past three years, we have quadrupled the growing space, hosted hundreds of student and community volunteers, harvested and donated over 1000 pounds of food to local food bank and family support centers. Visit the Greenville Community Garden Facebook Page for more information: https://www.facebook.com/GreenvilleCommunityGarden

Terra Bella Compost is a student-run enterprise that has been working for the past year to conduct a feasibility study on the potential to compost food waste from ECU's two dining halls. They have received seed funding from the ECU Innovation Design Lab (IDL) and are participating in the Pirate Entrepreneurship Challenge this Fall 2019. ECU Dining has already purchased lockable/sealed compost roll off containers and ECU Facilities has agreed to let the team use a state-owned truck for their pilot project, which is set to begin at the start of the Spring 2020 semester after the local transfer station pours a concrete pad and secures the demonstration permit required for this type of composting operation.

SustainECU has continued to host the Sustainability Film & Discussion Series, which is now in its fourth year. The film and discussion series strives to lend a voice to environmental sustainability and climate change issues affecting our community and the world. The monthly screenings average about 40 attendees, but during Earth Week the past three years our outdoor screening has had an audience of over 100 students, staff, faculty, and community members. The series is also supported in part by ECU Facilities Services and local nonprofit organizations.

The series shows monthly documentary films ranging in topics from consumerism to waste, agriculture to water, and transportation to energy. Students are encouraged to attend these events and bring a friend then stick around afterward for the post-film discussions. We have worked with faculty members to require or offer extra credit to their students for attending the films then writing a reflection on what they learned.

Click here to view a flyer of Spring 2019 film series events: https://campusoperations.ecu.edu/sustainability/wp-content/pv-uploads/sites/925/2019/01/Spring-2019-Film-Series-Flyer.pdf

The Jenkins Fine Arts Center Gray Gallery hosted a Spring MFA Thesis Exhibition, an exhibition of artworks by graduating MFA students Joanne Lang, Tim Rickett, Ronson Shultz and Margaret Claire White. The exhibit was on view Monday, March 11 through Saturday, March 30 and they hosted an opening reception on Friday, March 15, 5–8 p.m. MFA artist talks were open to the public and held on Friday, March 22 from 5:30 – 9 p.m.

Abstract by Margaret Claire White who graciously donated one of her original lithographs from the exhibit to the ECU Sustainability Program:

"My Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition consists of two digital prints, ten lithographs, vinyl text corresponding to each print and 5 stickers with listed references, in the SOAD gallery. The artwork is divided into two sections: mitigation and adaptation, and subsections detailing specific predicaments including ocean acidification, energy production, and thawing permafrost. Accompanying text explains the scientific and social relevance behind the imagery. In this way, the art acts as a framing device for the science and social issues of climate change. As I made the work for this exhibition, contemporary events included the 2018 mid-term elections and the International Panel on Climate Change released their report on the impacts of our rising global temperature. These are both relevant and pertinent to the thesis. While the media acknowledged the overwhelming alarm generated by the IPCC report, climate change was forgotten by the midterm campaigners in favor of policies on immigration and healthcare. Climate change is a pressing concern that will affect us for generations even if we solved it today. I believe it worth discussing, especially in the context of a university, but I hope this thesis will one day be irrelevant."

Click this link to learn more: http://thescholarship.ecu.edu/handle/10342/7271

The ECU Outdoor Adventure Program follows Leave No Trace principles in the following ways:

- Backpacking Clinic: Teaching Leave No Trace
- Staff Leadership Training Initiative 7: Leave No Trace

See credit attachment for details on Leave No Trace Training guide.

ECU's Pirate Read selection for 2019-2020 is The Nature Principle by Richard Louv. A committee of faculty, staff, and students selects the book and coordinates activities with departments within academic and student affairs. Prior to the start of their first semester at East Carolina University, incoming students are expected to read a common book. The purposes of the summer read program are to:

- Orient students to the academic community by encouraging intellectual dialogue and critical thinking.
- Prepare students for the college-level environment.
- Allow students to share a common reading experience with fellow classmates, faculty, and staff.
- Enable students and faculty to discuss ideas from the book across the curriculum.

Click here to view the LibGuide on the 2019-2020 Pirate Read Selection: http://libguides.ecu.edu/PirateRead2019

SustainECU hires 1-2 interns each semester through the Self-Help Student Jobs program. In fact, during the Fall 2019 semester, one of our interns is helping with our second STARS submission and other interns are working with departments to get certified in the Green Office Program.

Source: Chad Carwein, University Sustainability Manager