Contributed by Sustainability Intern Grace DiTunno

Next month, 11 UConn students will be departing from UConn and flying 11 hours to Antalya, Turkey, to this year’s UN’s Conference of the Parties (COP). UConn began sending students to the conference in 2015, when the landmark Paris Agreement was created. The Paris Agreement was the first widespread international agreement that focused on countries reducing their carbon emissions through nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and setting our goal warming temperature to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. This agreement brought international attention to climate change like never before.  At the conference, UConn students will be able to see the climate negotiations that happen between nations and represent UConn and US academia as they speak to fellow students, ambassadors, and advocates.  

In this series, I will be highlighting the stories of five COP31 fellows following their journeys before and after COP. 

Paige Gregory, a senior Environmental Studies major, Political Science and Climate Science minor on the Master’s of Public Policy track from Virigina Beach, saw the firsthand impacts climate change had on coastal communities while growing up. She highlighted how she worked on banning plastic bags with her city council members and created a rain garden for her Girl Scout Gold Award. She just recently wrapped her summer at the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG) in Waterbury, CT, working on the USDA-funded expanding urban agriculture project and as research apprentice at UConn’s SUPER Lab. Paige is currently interning at the Office of Sustainability. 

As a college student, balancing personal environmental goals while bearing the weight of an anti-climate federal government can feel overwhelming. However, our UConn fellows are having pre-departure meetings to prepare for this experience. In these meetings, the fellows collaborate with faculty a divisors, discussing climate topics and how to be a good ambassador for UConn. 

For Paige’s preparation for COP, she is “personally staying up to date on global and federal climate news. The United States government is not attending, so that means that universities, students, and professors who are going are going to be the face of the United States.” 

In addition to the conference, fellows have cultural immersion experiences to better understand the life and culture of the host country. Brenny Alcantara, who describes himself as a confident, introspective and very passionate individual with a curiosity for new information, couldn’t describe how eye-opening the experience of Turkey as a whole will be. “To go to a country such as Turkey is an amazing opportunity. Just being able to experience a completely new culture, a different mode of life, for a mere nine days, I think will be very beneficial to my perspective of the world and build on the curiosity that I have.” Meeting residents of the host country and learning their way of life builds cross cultural understandings and lessons all fellows can take back home. 

Policy and politics are seen on the global scale at COP, yet small town perspective is sometimes undermined when everyone is focused on the large, influential countries. Ryan Engels, a Political Science student, is a member of the Zoning Commission and Chair of the Sustainability Committee in the small coastal town of Westbrook, Connecticut.  

“I saw that not many young people were doing this type of work. I knew that those decisions that were being made by commissions would impact my generation. So, I decided to bring my youth perspective to it.” 

When Ryan goes to COP, he is excited to “learn what other communities are doing in the face of climate change,” especially regarding responsible land use and redevelopment. 

Samantha Glass, a PhD Candidate in Oceanography, was inspired by a fellow graduate student and former UConn@COP Fellow to apply to COP. When she started graduate school, she thought she wanted to be a research professor, but throughout her time in grad school, her perspective has since evolved. “I realized that I wanted all the signs that we have about climate change to have the ability to impact the policy that gets made.”  

 

While the science and policy sides of COP are constantly highlighted, business is another factor at play. Take Megan Romansky, a second-year master’s student in Applied Resource Economics, who has an expansive background in welfare, environmental justice, and energy. “I really care about advancing economic growth while keeping it clean and equitable,” she said. “I can’t wait to step outside my comfort zone.” 

While all of the fellows are excited for this life-changing experience, many of them are approaching COP with a critical, but open mindset.  

Brenny mentioned the unfortunate truth of these conferences. “We are on COP31, and the world is still burning.” While the famous 2015 Paris Agreement is still in action, countries are not reducing their emission to the level that is needed, and climate has become a backburner issue for many countries. Both Samantha and Megan agreed that they are coming to COP with “no expectations” to be able to fully absorb other people’s and countries‘ perspectives. As Ryan mentioned, he is there is to “learn what other communities are doing.” 

As our fellows continue to prepare to be UConn’s and the United States’ global ambassadors, the rest of us back home can learn from the fellows by following along. We can be active learners by following news developments from the negotiations and hearing from the fellows at the Climate Change Cafe on December 2nd hosted by UConn’s Office of Sustainability. As mentioned before, a follow-up story will be written here with the same five fellows, giving us a firsthand account of what it was like to be a UConn@COP fellow.

Campus Spotlight by Mya Bynoe, Sustainability Intern

Halloween is next week, and if you’re still figuring out what to wear, you’re not alone. There’s still time to get creative—but before you rush to order a costume, consider what happens when the parties end. Americans are expected to spend a baffling $4.4 billion on Halloween costumes this year.¹ That’s a frightening price tag, especially considering that nearly 40% respondents in a 2019 U.S survey only wear their Halloween costumes once.² Besides putting your wallet in an early grave, this seasonal purchasing can haunt the planet long after Halloween. It’s part of a larger waste problem—every year millions of tons of textiles end up in U.S landfills, according to the EPA.³ Luckily, a more affordable, sustainable costume might be waiting for you right here on campus.

The Thrift Den has two treats that just emerged from the crypt. As a circular initiative on campus designed around accessibility, the Thrift Den empowers students’ ability to engage in sustainable fashion and reduce waste around campus. All clothing donations come from the UConn community, mainly through donation bins located in residential areas. Members of the UConn community can then ‘shop’ for one free item a week. Now through the end of October, the Thrift Den will have Halloween-themed items and costume items available, helping you to have a cost-friendly, circular Halloweekend whether it be a full costume, an accessory, or another fall-item on display.

Want to create, or already have something you’d like to wear? Give a ghost a new life at the Thrift Den’s Halloween-themed upcycling sewing workshop! To help extend the life of clothing items, the Thrift Den hosts sewing workshops and sewing hours to give students the skills, and resources to steward their clothing. In this upcoming upcycling sewing workshop October 26th, students can mend and create with their own items, or provided items, that can transform their outfit.

When the party ends and November rolls around, think of donating your gently used, out-of-season items to the Thrift Den to keep the cycle going. From Halloween season to move-out day and all the times in between, the Thrift Den is here as a step towards waste reduction and sustainability, stretching from campus all the way to your closet. Close the loop and give your clothes another life.

Questions?

Visit the Thrift Den on Instagram @uconnthriftden or visit at room 001 in the basement of the Family Studies Building Wednesday – Friday 4-6pm

 

Sources

1. National Retail Federation. “NRF Halloween Survey Shows Consumer Spending Expected to Reach $13.5 Billion.” September 22, 2026.
2. com. “2019 Halloween in America Survey Results.” September 9, 2019.
3. S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Textiles: Material-Specific Data.” Updated March 19, 2026.

 

The Office of Sustainability will not be hosting Haunted HEEP this year. If your student group has volunteered in the past and would like to earn service hours, please consider volunteering at Don’t Mess with Mansfield, our community litter clean up, on November 14 from noon to 4pm. Details here.

The Town of Mansfield and UConn are pleased to team up against litter in our town. Join in to meet others in the Mansfield community and do good for our people and planet.

	UConn & Vicinity	Town Wide
Date & Time:	Saturday, November 14 Cleanup Check In Stations will be open Noon to 4pm Optional RSVP HERE.	Saturday, November 14 At your leisure throughout the day. OR Noon to 4pm to participate with UConn students.
Where:	Volunteer to clean up in the core of campus, Hunting Lodge Rd, Separatist Rd, North Eagleville Rd, Moulton Rd, or Eastwood/Westwood Rds. Check In Station Map Litter pickup supplies will be provided at check in stations.	UConn welcomes all residents to join students in cleaning up North Eagleville Rd. Park in F Lot and check in at the litter clean up station near Wings Over Storrs. Bags, gloves and safety vests will be provided. On your own? You’re welcome to go anywhere you feel safe collecting roadside litter. Roads that are especially littered include Browns Rd, Chaffeeville Rd, Maple Rd, Pleasant Valley Rd, Mansfield City Rd, Moulton Rd, Stearns Rd, White Oak Rd and Gurleyville Rd. Consider making a commitment to pick up litter on a section of road throughout the year by joining Adopt A Road.
What To Do With Full Trash/Recycling Bags:	Bring your litter bag to your Check In station once you are finished. Casella trucks will be making rounds to pick up bags from the stations.	Bags of litter from independent clean ups may be placed out with household trash for those with collection service or taken to the Mansfield Transfer Station for no charge. The Transfer Station is located on Rte 89, one mile from the intersection of Routes 195 and 89 in Mansfield Center at 221 Warrenville Rd. The Transfer Station is open Tuesdays, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm, Thursdays, 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm and Saturdays, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.   If you’re joining UConn, bring your bag back to the litter station at Wings Over Storrs.

Litter is an unsightly blight on our roadways, and hurts the environment. It can be especially dangerous for wildlife. Small animals may crawl into bottles and get stuck, and litter can blow into storm drains and streams and may eventually make its way to the ocean. When litter gets eaten by animals and sea life, they can starve to death or suffocate. Litter also attracts pests. Be part of the solution, not the pollution!

Since starting this program in 2024, we have collected over 4,000 pounds of litter!

Read last year’s story about Don’t Mess with Mansfield in UConn Today.