I was given the opportunity to interview Christy, thrid-year Econaut.
Can you give a brief description on the Econauts and what the organization does?
The EcoNauts are a group of student workers under the HDH Sustainability Department. We focus on spreading awareness about sustainability around campus, and we do this mainly by partnering with RA’s and HA’s to host educational events with their residents. In addition, we take on a variety of other projects like creating vlogs centered around sustainability topics, conducting quarterly waste audits, and hosting Sixth Week Swaps to promote clothing donations and thrifting.
How is your organization involved in the sustainability community?
We attend Inter-Sustainability Council meetings to see how we can partner with other campus organizations, and we are always happy to partner with different groups for their events. In the past, we have attended resource fairs for a variety of campus organizations, allowing us to spread messages about sustainability to many different parts of campus and the student population. We also like to use our vlogs to highlight campus partners working on sustainability initiatives within HDH or that directly impact residents.
Do the Econauts have any specific goals for the 2019-2020 school year?
Over the summer, we revamped a lot of our programs so we are excited to be bringing new, exciting information to residents across campus. We even have digital versions of our programs now that help reduce our carbon footprint further by reducing paper use. We also conducted a bigger and better version of our waste audits this year during fall and winter quarters, which should help us with waste diversion in residential and dining areas.
How are you adapting to COVID-19?
The EcoNauts are sheltering in place at their respective homes but are still working hard to bring sustainability programs and tips to students. With the new virtual format, we are engaging students primarily through social media and our vlogs. Find this great content on the UC San Diego Housing and Dining Facebook and Instagram accounts. As a team, we are looking to come back better than ever during fall quarter. Be on the lookout for all the exciting things we have planned!