Eco-Rep Symposium Reflection

Yesterday was the Eco-Rep Symposium, and I'm thrilled with how it went. I was a little weary about just being thrust into the day--yes, we had prepared, but nothing like this ever really feels "finished" but all of our individual and team efforts seemed to just come together to make it work. I was a moderator for the discussions, which felt a little formal seeing as the talks were pretty informal. But I think it was a good experience, as even though I typically enjoy public speaking I don't always think I'm the best at it, so it's always good to practice. But it was great to be in a role in which I could listen to the talks--I especially liked the presentations that my peers from Environmental Action gave. I think they did an excellent job of verbalizing all of the mixed emotions and thoughts that being in this class has made me ponder.

For my round table disscusion, I joined the "financing an eco-reps group" discussion, as I thought it would be particularly pertinent as tufts doesn't have eco-reps in earnest at present, and (I think) one of the main problems with ECO, the main environmental group on campus, is that lack of faculty/monetary support leaves them with a lot of great ideas that don't always get completed. It went really well and I think I got a good idea of what is working at other schools and what some are struggling with. For example, UMass Amherst students get the budget for their Eco-Reps through a variety of different departments (Facilities, Reslife, Waste Management) which I think might be a good idea at Tufts as I get the idea the Office of Sustainability doesn't have a lot of extra money to throw around.

The icing on top of the cake was definitely the awesome band that Ale booked for dinner...I'm not going to lie, we were all a little skeptical of "Tumbleweed Anonymous" but they turned out to be great! And watching Dallase and Alex show off their swing dancing skills was definitely another highlight. I'm not sure how well I really "networked" (I talked with some people during dinner, but people started to leave before I could get up and talk to people) but it was still a lot of fun. I think even if I didn't make that many specific connections, it wouldn't be weird now to email someone I met and ask for more information about programs at their school or help collaborating on an event. And an added bonus--some of my friends came to help eat the leftover food (so delicious) and listen to the bluegrass and they were really interested to hear about the symposium. They seemed to be really excited about the prospect of an Eco-Reps program being restarted at Tufts, and were amazed at how we worked together to put on the symposium. That was a great little ego-boost to end my day with!

One more thing: the last lingering question that I was left with after a day of so much excitement was, "Where do I fit in?" By that, I mean that a lot of the symposium focused on different Eco-Rep programs, and I spent a lot of my day wishing that Tufts had a program like one school or another. Since this is "shifting from saying to doing" I know that wishing there was a program won't get me anywhere, I have to start doing something about it. But I don't really know what the first step towards that is. It's Ale's Tisch Scholar project to restart the Eco-Reps, and so I don't know where I fit into that equation. For now, I have this class as a resource...but how can I make sure my commitment doesn't stop once this class ends?