University of Connecticut
IN-3: Innovation 3

In December of 2015 a group of UConn faculty and staff organized a trip to Paris, France for twelve students, 4 faculty, and 2 sustainability office representatives to attend events related to the 21st annual UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP21). That the University provided enough funding to finance the flight and hotels for each of the 18 participants is very unique and was made possible due to the collaborative efforts between the faculty and the staff to design an educational programming plan aligned with the values and mission of the University. Among the events attended while in Paris, was a higher education networking event that the University arranged and co-hosted along with Second Nature, the Kedge Business School, and AASHE. Furthermore, the students who attended the trip have each proposed and pursued projects through which they can engage the larger UConn community in issues related to sustainability and climate change issues and to educate their peers about the lessons they learned as a result of the UConn @ COP21 experience.

The projects that the students are working on individually vary in content, media, and scope and include all of the following:

- Developing a social media account highlighting the socio-political side of climate issues
- Working with the campus Athletics department to better engage athletes, the Athletics department, and athletic facilities in sustainability
- Organizing a new student groups that brings together members from a variety of different environmentally-focused organizations in order to create an online eco-magazine and facilitate sustainability training programs for students
- Producing a podcast series that includes interviews from UConn @ COP21 participants and other representatives outside of the University that attended events or sites associated with COP21 in order to educate the wider UConn community about the history and importance of climate issues as well as the outcomes of the COP
- Exhibiting photography and brief reflections from Paris in an on-campus art exhibit in an effort to convey visually the issue of climate change and the importance of COP21
- Comparing sustainability initiatives implemented in Paris with those implemented at UConn in a photo series in order to demonstrate both the progress the University has made and the disparity between US and European cities in combatting environmental issues
- Filming and showing a documentary comprised of a series of interviews with individuals who attended COP-related events to provide new perspectives on environmental issues, both on a global and a University scale
- Instituting an annual fundraiser geared towards an advancement in renewable energy generation for the University
- Compiling into an informative video a series of tips and lifestyle changes college-aged students can make in order to lead healthier and more sustainable lives
- Connecting local companies with the University to organize mobile, interactive, pop-up art exhibits in and around campus
- Working with the University to adopt more sustainable land-use practices and to replace farmed turf grass and other commercially available plants with native, carbon-sequestering vegetation
- Creating a visual display that highlights the number of species facing extinction as a direct result of rising global temperature

In addition to the individual projects that the students are working on in the aftermath of the COP21 trip, all participants are working towards two larger, multidisciplinary projects to advance sustainability and climate action at the University. The first is the pursuit for a divestment campaign at the University that would be peopled with the members of various different student groups as well as faculty and that would aid the University in reaching its 2050 emissions targets outlined in the Climate Action Plan. The second project involves further incorporating sustainability into the University’s core curriculum in order to reach a broader range of students and to emphasize the interdisciplinary and global nature of sustainability issues.