Environmental Coalition is one of the five major organizations at Bryn Mawr. Its purpose is to educate the Bryn Mawr community about environmental issues and try to make change in our community. Although this is only my second year with the organization, I want to have a big impact this year, and set a new tone for ECo. When I first became president of ECo, everyone told me “ECo doesn’t do anything.” This became a frustrating sentiment for me to hear continually. Instead of just falling into this reputation, hearing this motivates me to push harder to give ECo a voice. 

Since I have been at Bryn Mawr, ECo’s first big event is Harvest Fest. This year, we decided to make a bigger impact with Harvest Fest by, alongside the businesses that always attend, trying to invite local, black and minority owned businesses. In the week leading up to Harvest Fest, we are also planning on hosting a Power Lunch, discussing Environmental racism and its specific prevalence in Baltimore, as well as providing action steps and explaining why we gave harvest fest this specific theme. We are also planning on providing sweets from Natasha’s Just Brittle, a local, black woman owned business, who will also be attending harvest fest. The day before harvest fest we are planning to host a speaker, Nadia Nazar, who is a MICA student and a founder of the organization Zero Hour. Zero Hour is a grassroot organization that creates entry points, training, and resources for new young activists and organizers. Their account also happens to be verified on instagram with sixty thousand followers. 

Through these initiatives, and more to come throughout the year, we hope to make Bryn Mawr a more environmentally aware place, and especially emphasizing the environmental injustice that exists within our Baltimore community.