MANY students see university as just a stepping stone to starting their professional careers. But Erin Pelly planned for more than a degree when she started studying at La Trobe University three years ago. “I came to uni thinking ‘I want to do something’. I wanted to make a difference,” she says.
In her first year, Pelly joined Equality, Sustainability and Peace, a group of about 300 students who promote social justice and environmental awareness around campus. “We are involved in changing things at the uni, in terms of better waste management, waste reduction, that sort of thing.”
The group’s Ban the Bottle campaign encourages people to reuse and recycle their bottles and coffee cups instead of unnecessarily adding to landfill.
Pelly, halfway through her degree in international development and public health, serves as one of Equality’s unofficial organisers.
“I’m a bit of an old hack now so I help coordinate the weekly meetings and the mailing list,” she says.
In January, she attended a five-day workshop with the Australian Student Environment Network in Caloola Camp, Canberra.
The event attracted more than 70 student representatives from environmental and social justice collectives across Australia.
“I came back so reinvigorated,” Pelly says. “It was such a wonderful group of passionate, talented young people that were really dedicating their lives to making a positive difference to important issues.”
The camp allowed her to bring valuable organisational lessons back to La Trobe, and help the Equality collective maximise their influence around campus.
It has also inspired her to encourage more students to join the team and campaign for the environment.
“I think people can get a lot out of really connecting with the environment and getting closer to the places they live, by being part of something bigger,” she says.
In July, Pelly will attend Australia’s largest annual gathering of student environmentalists at the Students of Sustainability Conference, to be held at La Trobe’s Bendigo campus.
The event showcases the achievements of university collectives around the nation and teaches students how to be more effective on campus.
