P.S. by Macaron Hoarder: Eco Hero: Erin Schrode

Yesterday's PGC 2012 Day 15's extra credit challenge, which focused on Fair Trade, involved creating an event proposal that promotes Fair Trade products and sending a message on campus about Fair Trade. The event I proposed was hosting an afternoon tea with Turning Green Founder Erin Schrode at Salve Regina University.

When I first began PGC 2012, I noticed Schrode "favorited" or retweeted some of my tweets. When I looked on her webpage, I was amazed at all of the honors she earned and the organizations she works with to realize her identity as a powerful, young woman supporting sustainability. I know the PGC 2012 judges read my proposal submission and probably deemed it as brown-nosing, but who better to discuss the importance of Fair Trade and eco-conscious living than one of the co-founders of Turning Green? Check out my full proposal:

Event: Afternoon Tea and Talk with Erin Schrode at Salve Regina University

I KNOW. Selecting Erin as a speaker looks like the most obsequious choice possible. Since she’s been following my tweets, I couldn’t resist checking her profile—and be absolutely amazed at what she’s accomplished. I believe having Erin as a speaker would be effective, because of both her vast experience and ability to connect as a peer.

There are several ideas I would love Erin to talk about, but for a more general audience, I think it would be great if Erin could discuss how college students can still participate in eco-conscious practices without breaking the bank and teaching students that they are not losing out by giving up conventional products, but gaining a sense of fulfillment and understanding of others around the world. More specifically, I would like the talk to be centered on “eco-lifestyle” and “environmental education curriculum.”

The most specific idea I have is discussing the importance of green ethics in business. There is a large business studies presence on campus, both majors and minors, as well as a strong emphasis on international awareness. The university always has environmental speakers for biology and chemistry majors, but how great would it be to show students how to integrate eco-ethics with their business career goals? Discussing Fair Trade and environmental impacts on the world is an evergreen topic at Salve. For example, the Social Work club had a movie showing of “The Dark Side of Chocolate” documentary and partnered with Equal Exchange to hand out some free chocolate.

There is a coined phrase Salve faculty, staff, and administration likes to use: “What does it mean to be a global citizen?”—this would be a great question to base any lecture off of.

Regardless of what the lecture topic is on, it would be great to have it as a tea-time social, Sunday best attire. Attendees would be encouraged to mingle, have Fair Trade tea, coffee, and chocolates, local baked goods, etc. before and after the talk. To promote the event among students, we would have a “green” raffle of prizes—Equal Exchange chocolates, Gluten-Free basket, Gift Certificate to A Market (the local green grocery store), etc. The event would be promoted on Salve Regina University’s website, SalveToday, and press releases would be sent out to Newport Daily News, Patch.Com Newport, and the Providence Journal.

I would like to have the afternoon tea and talk take place in Ochre Court in the spring, the trees look beautiful during that time of year. Here are some pictures of Ochre Court from a fashion show benefit by StyleWeek, LLC for Child and Family this summer, just to give you an idea where the Afternoon Tea and Talk would be held: