In September, Dean of the College and Chair of the Education in Sustainability working party, Campbell Bairstow, spent time at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He discovered that many universities in the USA have achieved change through expecting students to take senior roles in sustainability matters.
As a result, Trinity is establishing two positions of Student Intern in Sustainability for 2012. The interns will champion and lead the College's programs to establish and maintain an environmentally sustainable campus, and contribute to educational initiatives, research activities and the shaping of policy.
The President of Trinity's Student Environmental Committee, Juliet Israel (2nd year Environments) and Secretary of the Environment Committee, Douglas Tjandra (2nd year Biomedicine) supported the introduction of an intern as a great opportunity for the College to lead sustainability in an innovative way and drive student involvement.
'The College community is full of people concerned with environmental issues, and we have enjoyed their support at events such as the Earth Hour concert and Clean Up Australia Day,' Juliet said.
'One of the best manifestations of this was the 85 people who attended the Carbon Tax Forum we organised, in addition to another 30 people from around the Colleges,' Doug commented.
'The introduction of an intern is a great way to increase student engagement and make a real difference. It is a good means of complementing the infrastructural and procedural changes with increased cultural awareness of environmental issues – we hope to see a difference not just at Trinity but around the Crescent and in the surrounding community.'
'The future of environmental sustainability at Trinity is very promising because we are so well supported by College staff, leaders and members of the community in our plans to expand awareness and organise worthwhile activities; next year we hope to see our plans for an Environmental Awareness Festival become a reality,' Juliet said.
