Planet Blue Student Leaders work as part-time employees of Student Life who mobilize their peers to grow a culture of sustainability on campus by building partnerships on campus and designing behavior change campaigns. Throughout the year, PBSLs participate in weekly programs to develop leadership skills and build the capacity of their diverse, interdisciplinary project teams. Contact planetbluestudentleader@umich.edu to learn more.
Applications will open for the 2021-22 PBSL cohort in March.
Our Work
Our current projects include:
- Water bottle beauty pageant: a campaign to express yourself and reduce single-use plastic consumption through competitive water bottle decorating
- Mythbusting recycling: a campaign to reduce recycling contamination in off-campus housing
- Turn it down one degree: a campaign to save money and energy in student housing
- Second-hand when you can: a campaign to reduce environmental harm from fast fashion
- The PBSL Podcast - a bi-weekly conversation about all things student sustainability on campus. Listen on Spotify.
Past projects include:
- Carbon Neutrality Trivia Night
- WasteLESS Dinner and Panel Discussion: a meal and community conversation about food waste
- Zero Waste Convocation
- UMove-Out: organized an off-campus move-out waste reduction project that provided drop-off locations for students to donate nearly 600 goods to the Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit
- Support campus-wide sustainability efforts like Earthfest.
- Energy Scavenger Hunt: piloted an interactive energy efficiency audit at Pierpont Commons
Get Involved
- Register for the PBSL Water Bottle Decorating Contest, which ends on February 14. Follow @campus_bottles on Instagram to get inspired and see the winners announced at the Water Bottle Awards Ceremony on Thurs, Feb 25 at 7pm.
- Attend a short know-where-to-throw training and recycling myths debunking session with PBSLs at 6pm on Monday, Feb 8, 15, or 22.
- Make a commitment to save money and energy by turning down your thermostat. The kick-off event is on Monday, Feb 15 at 7pm. Register for the event here and follow @studentenergychallenge on Instagram.
- Join PBSLs in making a commitment to buy second-hand when you can. Express yourself without sacrificing a pristine environment and human dignity.
- Volunteer alongside PBSLs at eco-rep events.
