gateway to university honors
PROBLEM PITCH
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I think the main concerns involving sustainability are the apathy of individuals. From our interview with Daniel Hart, I believe that UC truly is doing its best with what it has. Especially with their work towards getting their buildings LEED certified or above, such as my own dorm Morgens Hall or new Lindner College of Business. In addition, it works towards writing climate action plans and other plans regarding carbon emissions, etc. However, UC Sustainability is a small office with very few staff members, and mostly counts on volunteers for many of its initiatives. Although UC has taken some steps in the right direction, if UC wants to be a top school when it comes to sustainability and environmental initiatives, it should invest in the UC Sustainability office (and especially reducing/recycling initiatives).
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Personally, I disagreed with Daniel Hart on his opinion that sustainability is a nonpartisan issue. He said that saving energy equals saving money, therefore people should want to be more sustainable (especially with building creations)- although upfront costs are higher, the benefits outweigh the costs. As much as I wish this thought-process was true amongst people, I think that we see (especially with social media), that sustainability is more of a partisan issue. The more left-leaning a person is, the more likely they are to believe in climate change and work towards sustainability, and vice-versa for right-leaning people. This boils down to the issue of believing whether climate change is real, despite the overwhelming amount of scientific evidence. It is hard to ignore the changes our Earth is facing, but people do because that is what is most convenient. People do not want to face cognitive dissonance and have their actions (which are unsustainable) not match their beliefs (they are contributing to climate change).
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This leads back to my main point. The biggest issue with sustainability is people simply not caring. Often, people seem to think that if they do not care about sustainability and their own actions, then the effects of climate change will not affect them. This is highly false, as the Earth will spare no one. The way towards having sustainable behaviors is changing our own individual behaviors.
Although I know that corporations, farming, and fashion are the main leaders of contributing to climate change, we cannot turn a blind eye on our own actions. We are what drive these companies- they work on derived demand. If we take steps to change our own behaviors, the corporations will be forced to change theirs. They will not waste resources if people are not buying.
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Therefore, I believe that the biggest steps that need to be taken are changing our own behaviors. The corporations (and Universities) will not change unless we do and they see that their consumers (who provide their money) care. This is so easy and can be done slowly! People need to realize that their actions do have consequences on our Earth, and that money/profit does not matter if the Earth does not even survive, therefore no place to use the money people work so hard for.
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GLOBAL CITIZEN SCHOLAR MISSION
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I am driven by my passionate beliefs in community, knowledge, and balance. I pursue these passions by utilizing my core strengths of woo, communication, and includer. I plan to live out these values through opportunities where I am communicating and initiating to achieve excellence and empowerment that impacts the under-represented and the environment. To do so, I will seek opportunities to improve the process and make analysis-driven changes. When I face challenges or obstacles along the way, I will remember to stay flexible and utilize reflective practices.
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Some things I would like to do before I graduate include being on exec for student orgs that I am most involved in (Lindner Student Association and Leaders for Environmental Awareness and Protection), as well as be on exec for my honors program Circle of Excellence. Though these goals are all very similar, they are just the beginning of what I want to do. I want to embark on and begin with these specifically because I believe they are great ways to make an influence in areas I care about, and I already have plans to improve some processes within these organizations, and I think that making analysis-driven changes will come easily with the plans that I have in mind.
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As of April 22, 2019, I have already been elected onto the executive teams of LSA and LEAP. For LSA, I will serve as the Vice President of Communications and for LEAP I will serve as the Secretary. To reach these positions, I reached out to those who held the positions for the 2018-2019 school year, and also was very involved throughout the year, doing everything I could to be as involved as I could be. I think that being on exec team for these two organizations will help my global citizen scholar mission because I think they exemplify my beliefs, strengths, values, and impact those who I intend on impacting. I want to make changes in these organizations, mainly increasing membership retention because these organizations actually do mean a lot to me and the campus as a whole. LSA makes a lot of decisions regarding other student orgs, it works alongside Lindner staff, and its mission is to build better business students and empower them. LEAP is important because it is aimed towards improving the environment that we live in, pushing for sustainability and awareness on our campus and beyond.
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Goals I have for myself and these organizations is to increase the amount of members attending meetings and to make the attendance consistent, plan meetings ahead of time (at least a month in advance), and have a general purpose. I think a lot of the problems these orgs are facing now is that they are not very structured, and people often do not know what they are getting into when they attend a meeting. I will reflect on my progress by asking other exec and general members for their feedback, observing the numbers for the meetings, and by taking meeting minutes to ensure that the meetings are structured and on-topic.
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When it comes to Circle of Excellence, this is a program I am heavily involved in. I try to go to every event they host, and get to know as many members as possible. With the incoming freshmen coming in, I want to get to know them as well as I can. I plan on talking to program Melissa Newman, and students who will be in the positions I consider running for which includes Marketing, PR, Social Media, and Strategic Planning. I have not yet decided which one I would like to run for, but it would not be until the end of my sophomore year that I pursue an exec position with CoE. I love having an impact on others and hope to influence as many people as possible to make the best of their college experience, especially with the opportunities that being a business honors student offers. I am not sure about any specific goals related to the positions, I mainly would just want to make sure all CoE scholars are taking full advantage of what is offered to them and encourage others to be prideful in their distinction.
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As time goes on, I know I will develop more goals towards fulfilling my global citizen scholar mission. For now however, I have these plans in mind, and do not plan on adding too many more so that my current goals can receive as much attention as needed. Stretching myself too thin would have a negative impact on my mission and on my future, so this is where I will start, but by no means is it where I will end.