Eco-Reps
UofL Eco-Reps Program
Interested in learning more?
Contact Eco-Reps Director, Brian Barnes at brian.barnes@louisville.edu or 502-338-1338 (call/text).
Eco-Reps program wins national award (UofL News, 9/17/14)
Do you care about sustainability and want to make a difference?
Welcome to the University of Louisville Eco-Reps program. The Sustainability Council launched this peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program in 2012 for all students, faculty, and staff who give a damn! Eco-Reps is designed to move the campus community beyond talk to action for a more sustainable UofL. We provide basic training and resources, service opportunities, and leadership positions as a point-person and peer-to-peer advocate for sustainability.
- If you're interested in learning more or signing up to become an Eco-Reps, contact the Director, Brian Barnes at brian.barnes@louisville.edu or 502-338-1338 (call/text).
- All EcoReps will receive a free t-shirt!
- Follow Eco-Reps on
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YouTube Channel
Work in a lab? Become a Green Lab Ambassador to help seek ways to minimize waste, disposables, and toxins!
Eco-Reps Workshops
Our monthly workshop series during the fall and spring semesters provides opportunities for getting together to learn more about specific topics in sustainability and to meet people actively working to advance sustainability in Louisville. Our monthly series of Eco-Reps Workshops features a free, homemade vegetarian lunch and locals making a difference in sustainability!
2024-25 Eco-Reps Workshop Series
All are welcome to join us monthly at noon on last Fridays, in-person in Belknap Academic Building (BAB) room 206 or virtually via Microsoft Teams Meeting, or dial in at 502-792-9582 (Conference ID: 400 100 53#)
Aug. 30 - Feed Louisville (watch recording)
Oct. 4 - Waterfront Botanical Gardens (watch recording)
Oct. 25 - Climate Anxiety (watch recording)
Nov. 22 - Sustainability 101 Student Presentations
Jan. 31 - TBA
Feb. 28 - TBA
Mar. 28 - TBA
Apr. 18 - TBA
Explore our archive of past EcoReps Workshops.
Watch our EcoReps Workshops YouTube Playlist.
Online Training Series
At the core of the Eco-Reps program is an online training series focused on topics in sustainability, particularly as they apply at UofL. The series is not intended to be exhaustive concerning sustainability as a whole, nor any individual topic, but the intent is to empower and educate you about the different ways UofL is addressing sustainability and what we, the UofL community, must do to move forward.
Explore our Video Training Series Here.
Take a virtual Belknap Campus Sustainability Tour to learn about some of our efforts!
Want to be a UofL Eco-Rep?
I don’t know! What’s an Eco-Rep?
An Eco-Rep is a sustainability point person and educator on campus. They help others learn about sustainability practices and they share ideas about sustainability through workshops or informal conversations.
Interesting! Who can be an Eco-Rep?
Eco-Reps can be students, staff, or faculty.
Okay! What else do Eco-Reps do?
Eco-Reps are invited to come to the monthly workshops and to participate in any and all UofL Sustainability events.
I’d like to be an Eco-Rep, but I don’t know much about sustainability.
That’s ok! You don’t have to start with anything except your willingness to learn and a place to practice your learning. Eco-Reps start off with a list of best practices, and you’ll receive more direction as an Eco-Rep if you’ll send the following in an email to the Eco-Reps Director: brian.barnes@louisville.edu:
- Your name
- You status (student/staff/faculty)?
- Your year in school?
- Which building(s) would you like to be an Eco-Rep in? [Eco-Reps will “represent” one or more buildings on campus where they live, work, study, or play. An Eco-Rep’s building affiliation can change semester to semester.]
- Your t-shirt size?
Where can Eco-Reps report their service activities or get more information?
Any Eco-Reps reporting or questions should be sent to the Eco-Reps Director, Dr. Brian Barnes. Dr. Barnes can be reached at 502-338-1338 by phone or text, and he can be emailed at brian.barnes@louisville.edu. Dr. Barnes has a campus mailbox in the Philosophy Department, HUM 312F, and his physical office is Stevenson Hall, room 421.
Service
Get your hands dirty with UofL's Community Composting Project!
Volunteer with the UofL Free Store!
Come grow with us in UofL's Gardens!
As an Eco-Rep, you’ll be expected to serve as a resource person for sustainability in your sub-community at UofL, whether it’s your immediate peers and colleagues, your department, your building, your club, your residence hall, or any other realm where you live, work, study, or play. We encourage you to become conscious of the specific physical and social systems in your particular spaces. Help your peers understand the options and advantages of more sustainable solutions during planning meetings or when designing systems.
Eco-Reps stand for sustainable action, so we also encourage you to actively demonstrate your personal commitment in those places where you can have the most impact. Eco-Reps are not “green police.” Eco-Reps are educators and mentors. As an Eco-Rep, you should feel free to politely observe and make note of problem behaviors or unsustainable systems, but you should always be courteous, respectful and supportive rather than punitive. It’s important to remain sensitive to the university's policies and structure. Eco-Reps should also be a voice for sound practices regarding our campus environment, its inhabitants, and the planet at large. Eco-Reps should always strive to “practice what they preach” and to lead by example.
Eco-Reps will be expected to attend monthly meetings to discuss your own sustainability activities in a public forum (with food!).
Eco-Reps are also encouraged to engage in an annual project of your choosing. The projects should engage the community around UofL in visible and meaningful ways. Eco-Reps typically work most effectively when they partner with RSOs, Residence Life, the Student, Staff, and Faculty Senates, and other campus organizations to spread the word about sustainability on campus, and to help identify opportunities to engage with sustainability.
The Eco-Reps Advanced training program at UofL offers serious sustainability advocates the opportunity to work with a UofL mentor in a particular sustainability area to develop a focused project that addresses the needs of the university or wider community. The Advanced program begins with video training about a particular topic, such as bicycling for transportation, or urban composting. You’ll then explore a set of supplemental materials on the topic and develop a proposal for a community project. Proposals will be reviewed by the Sustainability Council and the Eco-Reps DIrector. If approved, the project will be conducted under the supervision of an Eco-Reps mentor and you will be listed on UofL's Sustainability website as being among UofL's advanced community mentors available for consultation.
Interested in learning more?
Contact Eco-Reps Director, Brian Barnes at brian.barnes@louisville.edu or 502-338-1338 (call/text).
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