Wednesday, Sept. 24, the Office of Sustainability partnered with the Ralph Brown Draughon library Innovation and Research Commons to introduce Create and Cultivate, just one event in the MiniMake series. Held from 5 to 7 p.m., the event promoted sustainable crafting and horticulture by inviting participants to bring ceramic mugs and leave with an up cycled planter filled with its own greenery.
Chole Hoefling, sophomore in industrial design, explained how she and a couple of interns in the Office of Sustainability came up with the idea to turn mugs into planters.
"We were trying to think of a good crafty event that involved decorating and settling in. Getting some plants for your home, making it feel homey, having some kitchen herbs and making it fun," Hoefling said.
Students paint old mugs with paint and markers provided by Auburn Office of Sustainability during the Create and Cultivate event on Sept. 24, 2025.
Lilly Dawson, junior in marketing, shared that there are four seasons of topics that they discuss on social media and their blog. The first season focuses on settling in, so events in this series and the Sustainability Picnic, held on Aug. 27, are centered around that concept.
On their social media, Dawson said, they focus on plants and food and a sustainable way of cooking using reusable herbs.
Herbs such as basil, oregano, catnip, and pothos were provided as options for participants to plant because of how sustainable they are.
"I had a pothos plant and decided to cut pieces off of it because it was a sustainable way to make more plants and sharing is caring," she said. "And catnip, there are so many cat lovers in our office and I think it's just a fun and unique herb," Hoefling said.
Dawson shared why she believes the herbs were intentional choices when deciding on which ones to incorporate in the event.
"It's interesting to tie in your pets with sustainability and it's a whole other branch of settling in," she said. "Same with the herbs, settling in is having your apartment full of things you can cook with. Instead of buying single-use oregano in a plastic bag from the grocery store that will you can have plant that keeps regenerating itself and it saves you money," Dawson said.
Emily Moore, senior in environmental science, shared the impact she hopes participants took away from the event.
"Maybe people will learn they are interested in planting more things and maybe if they've never taken care of a plant before they will realize it's not too difficult. They might fall in love with it and they might want to do more green activities," Moore said.
Hoefling emphasized sustainability being everywhere. She mentioned that most mugs that get donated go straight to the landfill and by doing events like this, it is a way to give a mug another life.
Students transplant plants into their up-cycled mugs during the Create and Cultivate event put on by the Auburn Office of Sustainability on Sept. 24, 2025.
"A sustainable way of building a community through borrowing other people's mugs, repurposing that, borrowing people's plants through the propagations and seeing how by being in your community it makes you live more sustainable," Dawson said.
She shared the most rewarding part of the event was taking her own plant home and seeing different types of people come together and have fun while being sustainable.
Moore said that they define sustainability through the sustainability compass, which focuses on protecting nature, protecting the economy, helping society, and well-being for all people.
Dawson, Hoefling and Moore shared there is a particular way that the Office of Sustainability defines sustainability, making sure the current reality connects to an ideal future.
"Meeting human needs now and in the future in a fair, just, and equitable way while protecting and maintaining healthy ecosystems in perpetuity."
Dawson shared why she believes sustainability is best taught through smaller, more approachable projects like this, compared to projects on a larger scale.
"In terms of personal lifestyle sustainability, it's so much more attainable and reachable when you do it with community-based projects and you have people beside you with little changes like repurposing what you have and propagating plants that your friends have," Dawson said.
Moore explained how the idea of sustainability can be reached through even the smallest of efforts.
"If you go the worldly route and you talk about everything that's happening right now, it feels a little overwhelming and makes you lose hope. But, when you do these small steps, it makes you realize that even just doing this helps the environment and your well-being. Even if it's just one percent each day, that adds up," Moore said.
Ashlyn Miller, freshman in computer science, shared that she had a slight interest in sustainability before coming to the event and is exploring that curiosity by going to events like this. She expressed that she would enjoy seeing more events like this, as it helps students think differently about sustainability.
"It gives you an opportunity to do more sustainable acts that you wouldn't do on your own," Miller said.
In November, the Office of Sustainability plans to have an upcycled gift wrapping event using old craft supplies, as part of their idea to "celebrate sustainably." They also plan on having a Mending Night event in January and are working on a Sustainable Tailgate event, where they teach people how to make sustainable party snacks for tailgate season.
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