Emerson College
EN-3: Student Life

Earth Emerson is the student-run environmental action organization at Emerson College committed to thinking globally about the environment and acting locally to effect change at our college and in our community.

Emerson contracts Red's Best Seafood for 100% of our seafood. Red's Best is a sustainable seafood provider who relies on local fishermen. Each semester the dining hall features a promotional table with a fisherman from Red's Best and related materials. Every Friday the dining hall menu features Red's Best products.

Emerson College has a Green Fund that is open to donors and student class gifts. Donors and students have the ability to request that specific objects or initiatives receive their funds. Fund money is used by request from student and staff environmental projects.

In coordination with the sustainability coordinator, the Bright Lights film screenings feature environmental films. The Vegan Food Fest features sustainability demos and plant-based diet speakers. Emerson College will be the New England satellite host for the 2017 Student Leader Sustainability Symposium.

The Green Gala is a student run event featuring sustainable performing art and media. The event is hosted in one of our theaters during April and there are two $1000 prizes for the winning film and performance. The Up-Cycled Art & Fashion Showcase is an event that promotes creative reuse of items that have already served their purpose. A curated staff and faculty panel judge the student work. There is a reception, runway and cash prizes for winning entries.

Earth Emerson organizes outdoor trips each semester honoring the Leave No Trance principles. In addition, the Living Green floor hosts a volunteer farm field trip to collect leftover harvest for the local food bank.

The Green Room Certification Program and the Green Apartment Checklist help students adopt a more environmentally conscious lifestyle. Green Room Certification is awarded to students who meet criteria outlined in the Green Room Certification Program Checklist. Having a Green Room means choosing to reduce the amount of energy and water students use, the amount of waste they generate, and the size of their carbon footprint. The program is promoted as a way to live a healthy, creative, cost-effective, friendly and fun four years at Emerson. Certified students receive a certificate celebrating their achievement to display on their door once certified; Gain entry into the biannual Green Room Certification Program Raffle to win $50 to a sustainability-related store of your choice (Patagonia, Fjallraven, LL Bean, Whole Foods, Apple); and earn a Chipotle party for their residence hall floor when half or more of the rooms on their floor have been certified. The Green Apartment Checklist provides students with tools for assessing sustainability metrics related to energy, transit, food, water and purchasing for potential apartments.

Emerson Eco-Reps promote campus sustainability through peer-to-peer education, outreach and awareness. Eco-Reps meet weekly with Emerson’s sustainability coordinator to discuss campus sustainability issues and goals, plan activities and events for campus housing, and share challenges, solutions, and successes towards raising awareness. Eco-Reps are engaged in campus affairs to better understand how individual behaviors affect the local environment and how these behaviors collectively create a significant global impact. Eco-Reps build foundational knowledge surrounding sustainability issues and discuss how to best raise awareness of these issues among their peers. While increasing overall campus awareness of environmental, economic and social justice issues, the Eco-Rep program advances environmentally responsible campus initiatives such as energy efficiency, recycling and composting, sustainable food, and efficient resource use. Through education and activities, Emerson Eco-Reps increase their own environmental literacy in order to become effective sustainability leaders on campus. The work of this program is based on the value of individual, day-to-day change in improving our relationship with the environment. Currently, the Eco-Rep program includes all of Emerson’s residential halls and campus populations and is recognized as an influential student group on campus. The Eco-Rep program is open to all undergraduate students interested in sustainability, leadership, and campus affairs. There are eight Eco-Reps positions that represent the Emerson College community—Piano Row (2), the Little Building (2), the Colonial Building, the Paramount Center, off-campus students and graduate students.

Emerson College’s Alternative Spring Break (ASB) Program began as a student leadership initiative in 1998 when six students and two residence directors spent spring break working with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation sowing wildflower seed beds, installing fencing and performing beach clean-up in Westmoreland State Park in Montross, Virginia. Over the years of ASB at Emerson, this leadership program has blossomed into a popular initiative and a hallmark program of the Office of Academic Engagement and Community Action (AECA). Across the year, advisors guide student teams as they plan weeklong excursions and raise funds to help defray costs of the program. The program offers site-specific experiences focused on a particular impact issue, depending on a combination of current events and community needs. The AECA chooses at least one national location for service and also operates a Boston ASB through which a cohort of faculty, staff, students, and alumni serve local nonprofits during business hours over spring break. The Boston experience offers opportunities for service to those who may not be able to commit to a week away while emphasizing how easy it is to take ownership of and respond to nearby needs for as much time as they have during the week. All ASBers return to campus and produce a showcase through which they share compelling stories and new consciousness with the Emerson community. ASB helps Emersonians learn about and from communities as they learn about their own potential to contribute skills, knowledge, and energy to community work. The program emphasizes the school’s core values of moral courage, celebration of diversity of thought and people, and commitment to ethical engagement, collaboration, and meaningful interaction with local and national communities. All of these opportunities let Emersonians practice flexibility while adapting to the unfamiliar—a skill necessary for work and life in the ever-changing 21st century. Many participants name ASB as one of the most transformative experiences not only of their Emerson careers, but also of their lives.