As an organizer with the Student PIRGs, you’ll work with students to make a difference on important issues facing your community and the country. Here’s a snapshot of some of our top campaign priorities that you’ll work with students on:
Break Free From Plastics
Every day, people throw away tons of plastic “stuff” — which not only clogs our landfills, trashes our parks and litters our streets, but also washes into our rivers and oceans, where it can harm wildlife.
A measly 9% of all plastic ever produced has been recycled. As a society, we need to stop creating enormous quantities of unnecessary waste in the first place, rather than focus only on recycling waste after the fact. That’s why we’re calling for campus, city, and statewide bans on single use plastic products, including bags and take-out foam cups and containers.
The action of our advocates and organizers is playing a major role in building momentum to move the country beyond plastic. From helping win Connecticut’s statewide plastic bag ban to convincing the University of California to phase out all non-essential plastics by 2030, the Student PIRGs are at the forefront of the movement to break free from single-use plastics.
Protect Public Lands
We want more open spaces where we can hike, bike and enjoy native wildflowers. We want a world richer in wildlife and untamed ecosystems. PIRG’s 30×30 campaign aims to protect 30% of U.S. lands and waterways by 2030. This will combat biodiversity loss and fight climate change by preserving critical habitats and natural carbon sinks. For example, public lands are essential for maintaining the health of our ecosystems, and they offer accessible spaces for recreation.
Across the country, PIRG students are working to protect our wild places at the local, state and national levels. Whether it’s submitting more than 500 public comments to protect the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia, the largest wildlife refuge in the eastern U.S., from a proposed titanium dioxide mine, or testifying at multiple public hearings in support of preserving the Dungeness River Levee Trail, a local gem in Washington state that provides important habitat for wildlife, students are helping to build support to safeguard these special places.
New Voters Project
Another crucial element of our work is youth voter engagement. Young people represent the largest and most diverse group of potential voters in the country, with our own values and our own ideas. But the issues that affect us are not being addressed because we don’t vote in high enough numbers. That’s why the Student PIRGs have been working to help students register to vote and make their voices heard in our democracy since 1984.
Learn more about our work to help register voters by hearing more from our organizers in the video below:
Save The Bees
Millions of bees are dying off, with alarming consequences for our environment and our food supply. We rely on bees to pollinate everything from almonds to strawberries to the alfalfa used to feed dairy cows. What happens if the bees disappear? It’s simple: No bees, no food.
Scientists point to several causes behind the problem, including global warming, habitat loss, parasites and a class of bee-killing insecticides known as neonicotinoids (or neonics).
Agribusiness, giant retailers and government agencies all have a role to play in eliminating pesticides that are killing off the bees — and PIRG students are working to get corporations, as well as their campuses, communities and states, to stop the use and sale of bee-killing pesticides.
Make Textbooks Affordable
College is already too expensive. Why are millions of students forced to pay hundreds of dollars each semester for brand-new textbooks, especially when there are cheaper, smarter alternatives? We’re working to make sure students have access to these other options — at an affordable price.
For more than a decade, the Student PIRGs have led the way in exposing publishers’ practices that rip off students, championing cost-saving textbook options such as used books and rental programs, and advocating for open textbooks as a long-term solution. As we continue this work and put the heat on publishers to make textbooks affordable, we can save current and future generations of students a ton of money.
Protect Our Oceans
The ocean and the life it holds fills us with wonder and inspires us to protect our blue planet. But our oceans are under threat – oil spills, overfishing, pollution, and rising temperatures all threaten to rob us of that very wonder. That’s why we’re working to set aside parts of the ocean untouched by commercial activity and protect 30% of our oceans by 2030. We’re working to expand Marine Protected Areas in California, increase funding for the Marine Reserved Program in Oregon, protect the underwater mountain range and kelp forest known as Cashes Ledge off the coast of Massachusetts, and more.
Right to Repair
Companies don’t make things like they used to, and that’s a big problem. Not long ago, most consumer goods were easily repaired with parts that were widely available. But more and more, manufacturers have implemented barriers that prevent consumers from doing their own repairs or using independent repair shops. The result is a massive amount of waste — in fact, electronic waste is now the fastest growing waste stream in the world. Continuing to extract, produce and consume electronics at this rate is not sustainable for the environment or consumers. We’re working with our partners at U.S.PIRG to pass right to repair laws that would require manufacturers to provide consumers and independent repairers with access to parts, physical and software tools, and schematics at a fair and reasonable price.
Ready to make a difference? Check out our available positions.
Underclassmen? Interested, but not yet ready to apply? Register your interest here!