This is the fourth article of a series looking at how college age young people live Sustainability and how this experience transforms their life.
In this series, we first looked at how the Drexel University Environmental Sustainability Community experiment came about. We then considered how the experience transformed the life of the leader/facilitator and the life of some of the group original members. The third post is about Kate the tall Science Undergrad Student who took her friends dumpster diving. In this post, Megan, the low-key and efficient organizer tells her story. The final article is a short essay by Ben, the unexpected environmentalist.
Megan is another of the original members of the Drexel University Sustainability Learning Community. Megan pulled the group together and made our interview dates happen. As you will see below, Megan has definite organizing, event planning skills. Here is how Megan describes her experience in the Drexel University Sustainability Living Community and how it affected her life:
“My participation in the Environmental Sustainability Living/Learning Community has greatly affected my life in a most positive way. I’ve met amazing and inspiring people, gained a little insight as to how a university functions, and of course, further explored the subject of environmental sustainability.
I was introduced to the idea of living/learning communities via e-mail from Drexel the summer before my freshman year. The concept appealed to me because of its focus as well as the opportunity to meet new people with this common interest. Naturally, I had a few expectations as to what it might be like, but what was presented to me was so much more.
The living/learning community provided us with a venue for discussion and support, pertaining not solely to sustainability, but to all aspects of life. While we did have a specific focus, I feel that we were first and foremost a community. We would have regular Wednesday meetings, which I looked forward to weekly. On Wednesday afternoons a few of us journeyed to Trader Joe’s for the makings of a vegan meal to be prepared before, and enjoyed during the meeting. I treasured this time as a sort of get-away from schoolwork and an opportunity to better get to know one another.
Meetings took place in the dormitory all of us students lived in, on the floor we shared, and consisted of dinner and discussion with my fellow learning community members, our dedicated RA Steve, our wonderful and inspirational intern Brett (who more or less served as the community backbone), and for a while, the kind and supportive student life faculty member, Rebecca. Not to pull the sentimental card, but sitting down to dinner to begin our meetings felt like sitting down to dinner with the family.
What I took away from this experience makes me who I am at this moment. I learned so much from the experience in its entirety as well as from each individual I came across while I was a part of it. From Nigora, I learned about her home, Uzbekistan. I found it inspiring that in Uzbekistan, wasting food, especially bread, is hugely frowned upon. Today, I am more conscious of how much food I put on my plate and am sure to finish what I take. From Kattie I learned about dumpster diving and “freeganism” and how they play into sustainability. It’s simply amazing the things that get thrown away that have plenty of use left in them. I cannot count how many previously owned and trash picked items sit in this house. Why buy something new if you can obtain it for cheaper or even free, while saving the resources it takes to make a new one?
From Ben I learned many interesting facts about life because he is a fountain of information. However, what sticks out the most is the importance of buying locally produced goods and how it cuts down on the emission of harmful substances like CO2. Steve and Rebecca both brought an immense amount of support, inspiration and good conversation to our get-togethers and I can say that our experience wouldn’t have been the same without them. Finally, I learned so much from Brett. He is someone who I would consider lives life to the fullest. He always had an interesting experience to share, something exciting for us to get involved in, or encouragement to give.
As a community we set out to plan a few events to occur around Earth Day in April, which gave us all a taste of what it takes to do so at a university. My task was to plan a campus-wide clothing swap. [Megan shares her "Lessons Learned" on how to organize a Clothing Swap right
Annabelle
March 28, 2010
I love the idea of a clothes swap! It not only gives clothes another life, but saves on the budget.
Don’t forget about using hand made items instead of disposable items. A good example of this is disposable kitchen wipes and paper towels — use hand made wash/dish cloths instead. Saves you $$ too! There are many online resources for hand made … here’s an example off ETSY: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41545325.
Great article and good luck to you!
Annabelle
Holland
April 14, 2011
You’ve hit the ball out the park! Incredible!