The Sustainability Interns are all so happy to be back on campus and working together again. Some awesome sustainability changes that have already happened this year are the addition of compost mini bins to all residential halls and GustieWare to-go containers back in Dining Services. What else are the Sustainability Interns working on right now?
Interns Melanie Kistnasamy and Collin Carlson are in the final stages of the AASHE STARS report, which is a tool used to track, assess, and rate institutions on their sustainability practices and infrastructure.
Collin is working on further developing the Sustainability page of the Gustavus website, making it much easier to find information about sustainability here at Gustavus! New Intern Tessa Yeager is working to get more information on sustainability out to the campus community, as well as preparing to connect more with Residential Life and Hall Council sustainability representatives. Intern Alex Terpkosh continues to work on the movement for Gustavus to divest from fossil fuels, as well as being Co-President of Gustavus’s Environmental Action Coalition!
Interns Lily Kinglsey and Audrey Ochrtup-DeKeyrel are hard at work as Co-Presidents of Big Hill Farm. Big Hill Farm has been having weekly meetings (Wednesdays in Beck 113 @ 8pm!) and hosted a successful farm open house event on October 15th to introduce more people to the farm and build community.
Intern Lily Engebretson and new Intern Emily Johnson are working on the Gusties on The Go bike-sharing program and our new electric bikes – these e-bikes are available for student rental and use!
Intern Lindsay Johnson and Melanie are searching and applying for grants to fund Gustavus’s sustainability work. One of these grants is the CERTs grant, which would provide a new internship position for a Gustavus student and get Gustavus connected with nearby colleges in southern Minnesota.
Post written by Tessa Yeager