ESP Community

Do you like lawn bowls? Do you also like sustainability? ESP and the La Trobe International Relations Association are working together to create a fun and sustainable event! We hope you can join us!!

Last year, ESP supported the Fair Trade Fortnight Campaign and Expo. It was a huge success, and is happening again this year. If you are passionate about social justice and you enjoy the idea of setting up events and campaigns to promote a positive program that directly benefits people in developing countries, then this is an ideal volunteering opportunity for you. La Trobe needs 4 students to run the Fair Trade Fortnight Campaign and Expo in the Agora and hours can be tailored around your study commitments. For more information about getting involved, please see the Fair Trade Campaign document.

Today ESP raised $168.55 for Earthworker Cooperative. Earthworker Cooperative needs funds to begin establishing a solar hot water manufacturing facility in Morwell. This proposed solar hot water manufacturing facility is an important step in the renewable energy sector, creating jobs and positively contributing to the environment. If you want to get involved with Earthworker Cooperative, see here!

You might have seen the posters around campus! ESP is having it’s Annual General Meeting tomorrow! Please come along if you would like to know what’s happening with ESP, or if you would like to be involved with anything that ESP will be doing. We will be doing some housekeeping stuff, brainstorming for ESP events and speakers, and discussing other events that will be happening on and off campus and ESP involvement with those events.

The minutes will be posted next week.

We hope to see you at SS423, Thursday 14th at 4PM!

Peace

Riding a bike is a fun and efficient way to get around campus, whether you are meeting friends at the Agora, heading to a meeting or a lecture, or just feel like pushing the pedals to stretch your legs in a study break.

La Trobe’s FREE on-campus bike share program gives you ready access to human-powered wheels, so you can enjoy the convenience and joy of cruising campus on a bicycle.

In collaboration with Lifeskills, La Trobe University’s Bike Share program is operating as a pilot during semester one, from 28 February (O-Week) to 7 June 2013. The program is part of La Trobe’s sustainable transport options available for staff and students on Melbourne Campus only.

Places are quickly filling! To register, or for more information, see the website.

Hi there,

ESP has some cool new stuff on the website:

Check out our lastest newsletter for a quick run down of this month’s upcoming events and what’s been happening.

Our new Links section will give you some great information about other organisations and collectives that ESP is involved with.

Have a browse through our Gallery to get a visual of what ESP looks like!

See our Events page! It will give you a run down of upcoming events around campus and of what ESP is doing. This will be regularly updated.

Peace

On the weekend of February 15th – 17th, ESP members Jamal, Anna, Marty, Jordy, Morgan, Elin, Bonnie and Renae travelled to a quiet, cosy log cabin surrounded by bushland on Renae’s family farm. The weekend consisted of star-gazing, creek-swimming, relaxing, a best of all, discussing what ESP will be doing in 2013. Here is what ESP will be advocating in 2013:

As discussed at the planning weekend, ESP members are envisaging events and activities like documentary screenings, guest speakers and workshops during meetings, as well as another Trash Hunt.

Throughout this year, ESP will be involved with other clubs and initiatives on and off campus:

The Community Garden welcomes new members to help out with planting, maintenance and promotion. If you are interested in La Trobe’s Community Garden and want to know more, follow this link or find them on their Facebook page.

Green Drinks will be happening every Wednesday, 4PM at the Eagle Bar to bring all environmentally-minded students and staff together for a casual, social and friendly gathering!

ESP is heavily interested in the work of the Australian Student Environment Network (ASEN) and will hopefully soon be affiliated with the Network. ASEN has created a documentary called Mining the Truth, which ESP will be screening in one of the weekly meetings this year. ESP will also be discussing other ASEN activities like Lock The Campus, EduFactory and Students of Sustainability (SoS). See the ASEN website for more information.

ESP is very excited for 2013 and welcomes all students to join in our weekly meetings, every Thursday from 4-6PM! We will keep you updated.

ESP successfully held the first Trash Hunt event, where students were given the chance to win prizes for cleaning up any rubbish around the La Trobe Melbourne campus. We had some exceptionally keen participants, who ventured all around campus to find around 100-200 pieces of rubbish! At the end of the day, approximately 100 students and staff members collected around 1,600 pieces of rubbish! Congratulations to Kylie Neilson for winning a Kindle! Thank you to all who participated and made La Trobe a more beautiful, cleaner place to be in.

For those of you on campus at La Trobe this week you may have noticed the circus-like spectacle taking place in the Agora. That’s right, it’s election time! The La Trobe University Student Union elections for 2013 Office Bearers are on now for a limited time only (ie until Friday). Two of our very own ESP members (Jamal Blakkarly and Morgan Cumming) are running together for the position of Environment Officer. They are running on the Stand Up ticket, and have also been included on the Stop the HUSS Cuts ticket. Whoever you vote for, make it an informed vote. The LTSU is students’ representation on campus in official matters, as such they should be representative of student opinion which only happens if students exercise their right to vote.