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.

https://www.instagram.com/ecu.eco.pirates/
https://ecu.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/eco-pirates

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 2020, a group of Honors College students called the "Edible Landscaping Initiative" raised funds and installed a Campus Orchard on a University-owned property called Stratford Arms. The Campus Orchard includes pear trees, mulberry trees, persimmon trees, blueberry bushes, and a pollinator garden bed, herb garden bed, and flower bed. 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 following pages for more information:
https://dining.ecu.edu/sustainability/freight-farms/
https://www.instagram.com/the.ecu.orchard/
https://www.facebook.com/GreenvilleCommunityGarden

In 2019, Terra Bella Compost started as student-run enterprise that worked for a year to conduct a feasibility study on the potential to compost food waste from ECU's two dining halls. They received seed funding from the ECU Innovation Design Lab (IDL) and are participated in the Pirate Entrepreneurship Challenge in Fall 2019. ECU Dining purchased compost roll off containers and ECU Facilities agreed to let the team use a state-owned truck for their pilot project, which began in the Spring 2020 semester.

Unfortunately, their first pilot project was cut short due to COVID-19 and the Dining Halls shutting down less than 2 months after they started. However, we resumed the project in fall 2021 and the team continued collecting compost through the spring 2022 semester.

Starting in fall 2022, an ECU alum who helped start the project while she was still a student established Terra Bella as a local business. ECU became her first client, and she has hired an ECU student to run collections of pre-consumer food waste at both ECU Dining Halls.

https://terrabellacompost.com/

SustainECU has continued to host the Sustainability Film & Discussion Series, which is now in its 7th 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 the Fall 2022 film series events: https://campusoperations.ecu.edu/sustainability/wp-content/pv-uploads/sites/180/2022/10/Fall-2022-Film-Series-Flyer.pdf

America Recycles Day with Planet ECU Art Exhibit:
"Most education about climate change is limited to the natural sciences. This includes lectures about the greenhouse effect and classroom discussions about the effects of topics such as rising temperatures, changing rain patterns, and higher sea levels. Instead of giving good examples of how to get involved, the message that is being sent is one of fear. The arts and humanities may be a key part of getting people of all ages to think critically about climate change. One way we learn to think critically is by being exposed to, and taking part in, many forms of art" - Planet ECU President, Giuliana Roccisano

List of Exhibited Artworks:
- Flat Earth Society
- Shell
- Extinction
- Liquid Death
- Mother Earth is Dying
- Evolution
- Earth's Materials
- Ecosystem
- Jellyfish
- Oil Must Stop
- Scrapped Earth
- T minus

Visit this link for photos of this art exhibit: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ckf8-4TuBbE/

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.

For 15 years, the Voyages of Discovery Series has brought timely, thought-provoking, and impactful leaders to speak directly to our community. Established through the creativity and funding of the Dean’s Advancement Council of the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences in 2007, the series advances the spirit of exploration and discovery that is at the heart of the arts and sciences. The Voyages Series showcases the quality of academic life at ECU, while sharing nuanced and meaningful insights into society’s pressing issues with our students, faculty, staff, and the community of eastern North Carolina.

The Spring 2021 Voyages of Discovery Series had a Sustainability Theme including the following two lectures that are open to the public and free to ECU Students, Staff, and Faculty:

Feb. 4, 2021 – Robert Bilott presented “Dark Waters: The Story Behind the Environmental Legal Battle Exposing Corporate Coverup”

March 25, 2021 – Dr. Marshall Shepherd presented “Zombies, Sports, and Cola: Implications for Communicating Weather and Climate Science”

https://voyages.ecu.edu/past-lectures/

The ECU Sustainability Program hires 1-2 interns each semester through the Self-Help Student Jobs program. In fact, during the Fall 2022 semester, one of our interns is helping with our third STARS submission and another intern helped campus departments get certified in the Green Office Program in summer 2022.

Source: Chad Carwein, University Sustainability Manager