Sustainability and Resiliency

Student Groups

From composting to climate change, poetry to policy, there is a student group at Brown that can inspire your environmental enthusiasm.

Many student groups at Brown promote sustainability initiatives and have spurred significant progress towards a more sustainable world on and off-campus. These student groups represent efforts spanning a diverse array of environmental issues and advocacy approaches. Find the full list of Brown student groups on BearSync.

BWxD is a student-led initiative that celebrates the collaboration between designers, educators, innovators, and learners. We envision a world where design-thinking is accessible to everyone in order to catalyze positive change. We facilitate workshops, panels, and discussions that engage in and promote design. Our annual 3-day conference reinvigorates these ideas and inspires us to continue these conversations.
Bikes at Brown offers bicycle repairs, week-long bicycle rentals, and hosts repair workshops, all for free to Brown and RISD affiliates. They accept bicycle donations from the community and restore them to working condition for others to rent. You can find the group and rent a bike, learn tips, and ask questions in the basement of the Urban Environmental Lab.
Market Shares is a student-run, campus-based food distribution program that connects the Brown community with regional producers through affordable weekly shares of fresh, local, and sustainable produce, dairy, eggs, and meat. Their fall season runs for 10 weeks from September 24 – December 3, excluding the week of Thanksgiving (November 26).
EJ@ Brown is a student group committed to supporting environmental justice efforts in Providence, educating the Brown community, and holding Brown – especially the Institute at Brown for the Environment and Society (IBES) – accountable for actively fighting for environmental justice in and out of the classrooms. They believe in every person's right to access needed resources for healthy minds, bodies, and communities.
EPH is made up of West House and North House; residents are committed to environmentalism, social activism, and the arts. At any given moment, both houses are bustling with activity and you can always find people cooking food, making tea, playing music and discussing how to bring change to the world. They cultivate a value system that prioritizes community decision-making and sustainable daily practice.
Food Recovery Network @ Brown is a network of student groups and individuals who volunteer to recover the surplus food from the dining halls and special events. Every night volunteers collect food from the dining halls that is still perfectly good, but would have been thrown out for various reasons. FRN takes that food and brings it to shelters and meal sites in Providence.
OLEEP works with high school students to develop leadership skills and environmental science knowledge, with a specific emphasis on building a supportive, collaborative community where Brown and Met students can learn and grow together. OLEEP believes that, with the right support, everyone can be a leader–and that bringing about an environmentally just world depends on it.
SSW is a group composed of engineers, scientists and general students with a keen interest in sustainability. The group has worked to implement various projects that include energy audits, solar panel installations and a waste weighing system. As a chapter of the national Engineers for a Sustainable World, SSW is working on a solar powered laptop charging station and engaging the student body around sustainability.
Sunrise Brown and RISD is a local hub of the national Sunrise Movement, their mission is to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process. Sunrise mobilizes young people to make climate change an urgent priority across America, end the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives on our politics, and elect leaders who stand up for the health and wellbeing of all people.
SBS is a student group on campus that is focused on highlighting and preparing Brown students for careers that are focused on sustainability. This includes impact consulting and investing, sustainable finance, environmental research, and engineering with a sustainable focus. We also provide a curriculum in the Spring semester that showcases Brown professors in the sustainability, energy, or environmental sectors.
The Brown Sustainable Food Initiative strives to improve, promote, and contribute food policy, advance food security, and land use initiatives, address food distribution and waste issues, as well as food justice and community engagement. SuFI supports sustainable-food related projects, spreads awareness about food system sustainability, and provides a space for people to connect and talk about sustainable food.