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Matto Mildenberger 0T7 & Brian Kolenda 0T7

“It’s gratifying when you see positive change in your community – and part of that, even a little part, is the result of the time and effort you put into it.”

“Trinity exposes you to a lot of interesting people who have drive and ambition, and that sort of rubs off on you.” 

 

JUNE 2007 - Matto Mildenberger and Brian Kolenda did not feel like nagging parents when they persuaded Trinity students to turn off the lights and electrical equipment when they left a room, or to switch computers to energy-saving settings. As they saw it, their role was to motivate, not moralize.

For an independent research project in 2004-05, the two, friends since first year, surveyed students’ energy use and environmental attitudes, then tested ways to motivate people to reduce energy use. Mildenberger, studying international relations and botany, says that the environmental movement needs its activists, but it also needs to be more inclusive. “We want to engage and empower people to make thoughtfulness regarding energy use part of their everyday values rather than lecturing to them.”

Their pilot project, which ran on two floors at the St. Hilda’s and Trinity residences, provided students with daily feedback on electrical use and offered incentives such as pizza parties for reducing consumption. “Those who wanted to make a change could see they were making a difference,” says Kolenda, an international relations and economics major. “So feedback is really important for changing attitudes and making energy conservation a social norm.” [Both Mildenberger and Kolenda graduated in June 2007.]

Their work was recognized with awards from Natural Resources Canada and Environment Canada, and subsequently they were invited to Ottawa to meet other student winners and industry leaders, then to Montreal to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2005.

Mildenberger won the 2007 University of Toronto Alumni Association Moss Scholarship, which recognizes academic and extracurricular achievement in a graduating student. “It’s gratifying when you see positive change in your community,” he says – “and part of that, even a little part, is the result of the time and effort you put into it.” Kolenda adds that attending Trinity spurred his intense involvement in campus life. “It exposes you to a lot of interesting people who have drive and ambition, and that sort of rubs off on you.” 

– Margaret Webb