A Day in the Life of an ECU Sustainability Intern

It’s a beautiful Monday morning, so you know what that means, composting! I pick up the large box truck used to collect food waste from the dining halls and head to the first stop. It is a particularly heavy day so there are three rolling trash bins full of fruit and vegetable waste at Todd. After I’ve picked up the two bins that West End had to offer I am headed out to the Pitt County Recycling Center. In the back of the recycling center there is an open field that is home to our large composting pile. It is where I add to the pile what was picked up and cover with mulch to help decompose the food waste in the composting pile. The bins are then cleaned out and returned to their dining hall homes. The whole process takes around 3 hours and is done every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

After composting, it is off to work on establishing a baseline tree inventory on the ECU Main Campus! Our sustainability program is working with facility services, and the geography and planning department to help create a baseline tree inventory of all trees on ECU campuses using ArcGIS. I spend about two hours walking from tree to tree as I take measurements and photos and ID each tree species. Currently, the section being worked through is the area around the academic buildings on main campus. If you see me hugging trees and taking pictures feel free to come say hi!

After composting and collecting the tree inventory I’ll go work on personal academic tasks and then to whatever environmental event that is going on that day. I love getting to be involved and working with organizations like Releaf ECU, Eco-Pirates, Sustainabilibees, Pirates on Water, along with others!  Hope you have enjoyed reading about a day in the life of a Sustainability Program Intern. If you have any questions about how you can get involved with our program or any environmental club on campus don’t hesitate to look up our campus organizations on Engage or reach out to my program director, Chad Carwein.