Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Climate change is an important issue for young people, and Trinity College is no exception. ConnPIRG Students hosted an Advocacy Day in support of HB 5004 to commit Connecticut to reducing greenhouse gasses, incentivize sustainable business, and finalize a timeline for Conneciuct to reach carbon zero.
At GreenFest, hosted by Green Campus, ConnPIRG Students collected over 10% of the student body’s support with the help of volunteers Izzy Duane, Helena Hickambottom, Winifred Burckle, Astrid Mayer and Zey Oğuzer. We brought this show of support to 5 representatives and senators working on the bill and asked them to prioritize the bill of which everyone agreed!!
Making Textbooks More Affordable
It’s no secret that textbook prices are a rip-off. We’ve been exposing the textbook publishing industry and calling for solutions like open education resources (OER) for decades. Last year, we released our 21st report on textbook affordability, titled “Open Textbooks: The Billion Dollar Solution” to call for more free open textbooks in classrooms.
To show your support for making textbooks more affordable and accessible for students, click HERE!
Spring Break Trip to Georgia to “Save the Okefenokee”!
This semester, we had the opportunity to take a Spring Break trip to Georgia with other PIRG student leaders from around the country and our friends at the Environment Georgia Research & Policy Center! We walked around in neighborhoods of Metro Atlanta, talking to hundreds of people to educate them on how to keep the Okefenokee Swamp safe and how they can use the Inflation Reduction Act to help fight climate change. We were trained on how to canvass and organize to work on a critical environmental issue.
Protect Our Oceans and the New England Youth Ocean Summit
This semester, our priority was to Protect Our Ocean, specifically, an area called Cashes Ledge, which is an underwater mountain range 90 miles off the coast of Boston in the Gulf of Maine. It’s home to New England’s healthiest kelp forests and so many incredible and endangered species, including humpback whales, seabirds, and one of the last largest remaining populations of North Atlantic Cod.
ConnPIRG Students at Trinity College gathered support for protecting our oceans, collecting over 40 signatures to ask President Biden to protect Cashes Ledge! Students Julia Fox, Maliah Ryan and more even posted photo petitions demonstrating their enthusiasm for protecting Cashes Ledge.
On April 7th, CONNPIRG Students helped organize the first ever Youth Ocean Summit at UMass Boston to inspire young people to take action to protect key New England ocean conservation initiatives, train ocean enthusiasts in key organizing skills to turn their passion, hobby, major and skillset into change for the ocean, and make real change to protect our oceans!
More than 6,000 students across the Northeast took action by signing our petition to call on President Biden to permanently protect Cashes Ledge, as well as a coalition of over 350 faculty, student groups, and business sign-ons. Awesome events included beach clean-ups, ocean banner decorating, and trash monster making!
Fighting Hunger On Campus
Poverty isn’t exclusive to any one community. Even college campuses are not immune. Our latest research suggests that one in five students may currently experience hunger. ConnPIRG Students are working to help end food insecurity with our Hunger Free Campus Initiative that would address this issue by funding eligible institutions that provide resources to students and community members to end food insecurity in Hartford and at Trinity College.
We held a fundraiser to give back to our community – in Fall 2023, we raised $480 for the Trinity Homelessness Project to create survival backpacks for middle and high school students. Six Trinity students in collaboration with students Andrew Moran, Alexander Nadelberg, Jackson Weisman, Joshua Kinsella in AEPI and Pike brothers hosted a Pie a Pi event where they encouraged students to “pie” a fraternity brother to support ending food insecurity in Hartford. We plan on hosting another fundraiser in the Spring so be on the lookout for some fun announcements!
The EPA’s National Environmental Youth Advisory Council
In addition to our state level advocacy, Zey Oğuzer and several student leaders from across the country went to Washington DC for a national leadership training at the launch of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s convening of youth environmental organizations. Students got training from our Political Director Dan Xie and our network’s Vice President and DC legislative director Lisa Frank, attended the youth convening to learn about federal opportunities, network with other groups, and promote our environmental platform, and then co-hosted a reception for our partners at Relist Wolves and the League of Conservation Voters. They also attended a climate rally at the Capitol with our partners from the Climate Action Campaign.
Saving the Bees
ConnPIRG Student Helena Hickambottom, the Save the Bees campaign coordinator, spent this last semester building support and educating the public on important conservation issues like saving our pollinators from toxic pesticides. Students held a Bee Movie Media Night to write Letters-to-the-Editor (LTEs) about how pesticides like neonics have harmed our pollinators and how banning this toxin, we can protect our fragile keystone species.
P.S. We’re so excited for next semester as we have many ideas on how we can continue to grow and develop in order to make the most difference on critical issues. If you’re interested in getting involved with ConnPIRG, sign up for our summer leadership training program or apply for a fall internship!
Zey Oğuzer
State Board and Chapter Chair
ConnPIRG Students
Give us a follow on Instagram to stay up to date @trinityconnpirg!