We all seek different ways to leave our footprint or legacy around Trin’s flock, but Bant Trinna Larsen ’20 hopes to do the same by reducing hers—her carbon footprint that is. The proud Vermonter possesses a sense of duty and passion for sustainable practices that will ultimately give future generations at Trin (and beyond) a better quality of life. She hopes that everyone on campus will walk into their futures with pride, knowing that their contributions mattered.

Check out my Q&A with Trinna to learn how we can all get involved in making our campus CLEAN, GREEN, and PRISTINE.

Trinna Larson
Class Year: 2020
Major: INTS-Middle East
Hometown: Westminster, Vermont

Where’s the best place to eat in your hometown?
At my house! My mother makes the best food in town.

In your opinion, what’s the most beautiful place on campus?
I think the most beautiful place on campus is the Quad on a sunny day. With the Long Walk, the Chapel, the trees, and the grass, this is a spot where I feel as though I’m on campus and in nature, making it the most beautiful place on campus to me.

What are you involved in at Trin?
My involvement on campus includes acting as the Student Sustainability Liaison, which makes me a member of the Student Government Association (SGA), the Summit Sustainability Committee, Climate Change+, and Green Campus. I also am a founding member of TrinTalks, an event designed to promote healthy political discourse on campus. For fun, I am also co-president of TREEHouse, as well as a member of the Catan Club, and the Mill.

Can you explain sustainability?
Sustainability takes the understanding that we, as humans, act with limited resources, and must be considerate not only of our needs in the present but also be proactive about the needs of our future. Sustainability applies primarily to environmental issues and incorporates concerns for economics and social matters as it is the belief of myself and many others that the three elements are intertwined.

Why is sustainability so important to you?
Sustainability is important to me because my future is important to me. Looking at the International Panel on Climate Change, and their reports over the past 50-years, it becomes clear that our world is heading in a direction that quite literally cannot support our rising populations and the resulting resource demands. In addition to sustainability being an issue of practicality, it is an issue of morality. People are impacted by sustainability at disproportionate levels. Displacement due to increasingly extreme weather events, rising sea levels, changing agricultural conditions, and water and air pollution, have already begun, and will only get worse as we continue to ignore the ramifications of our behaviors. The lack of sustainability in today’s world is not an environmental issue; it is an existential crisis. If I have children, I want to be able to tell them about what I have done for their future with pride, not with shame.

How have your views on sustainability shaped your time at Trin?
My time at Trinity has been dedicated to making sustainable behavior a norm on campus. This work has led me to meet people and create relationships that have made my time here feel completely worthwhile. It has provided my direction for not only my years as a student but also for the rest of my life.

What are some of the ways that Trinity has pledged to move toward sustainability?
Our campus has made significant steps towards establishing sustainability in both theory and application. Together, we have created several committees across campus that are dedicated to sustainability efforts. The college hired a sustainability coordinator, Rose Rodriguez, and has made significant progress towards tracking and reducing its overall resource consumption. The most tangible example of this can be seen in the improved composting in Mather Hall, one of our dining facilities. Hopefully, with this combination of institutional and cultural changes, our campus can become one that is not only reactive but also proactive when it comes to sustainable practices.

As SGA sustainability liaison, how do you reduce your carbon footprint?
What are some easy ways for Trinity students to do the same?
I do my best to reduce my carbon footprint, but no one is perfect, and I am certainly far from it. A list of things I and any other Bantam can do to reduce our carbon footprint include:

walk instead of drive
bring a water bottle
skip the straw
take shorter showers
pick up litter when you see it
eat at Mather where you can compost
pick to-go goods with recyclable packaging instead of single use
rinse recyclables and make sure the bin you place them in is contamination-free
educate yourself on composting and make sure you are doing so properly
avoid red meats (preferably all meats)
reuse your solo cups when you are out
reuse as many disposable plastics as you can
purchase toxic free cosmetic and cleaning materials

This list is not entirely comprehensive, but these suggestions are what come to mind when I consider my daily behaviors. It is important to keep in mind that as college students, we are limited in our means, and therefore must push to not only be sustainable ourselves, but also for our institutions to support us. Make sure to answer surveys, speak to your college representatives, and to your friends, about different barriers you face in living sustainably. When we do these things, our campus can work together to support a culture we can all be proud of.

How do you envision sustainability efforts at Trin in the future?
I am really hopeful for Trin’s future sustainability efforts. We now have core values woven into the fabrics of our campus thanks to the summit sustainability committee, Rose Rodriguez, our SGA constitution, and these networks are only growing as sustainability becomes an increasing concern to our generation and as more opportunities to act are uncovered or created. For me, our future is epitomized in GREENFest, happening this year on April 14. This event incorporates students from all walks of life on campus, who come together to celebrate what we can to work towards greater sustainability. As long as these efforts include economic and social/cultural considerations, a healthy future of sustainability at Trinity is achievable.