Interdisciplinary Sustainability Seminar
First Semester of the Seminar
At the beginning of this semester, I did not know what to expect to get out of this seminar. Now looking back, I realize how much I did gain. Not only did I gain knowledge, and career outlooks but I also gained a community. I joined the Sustainability Certificate March 2018 after going back and forth on whether or not I should do it. Since I added it halfway through last semester, this was my first full semester in the certificate program. Everyone talked about how it is a good community to be a part of, but I never understood what they meant. Now I do understand. The people who put their heart into this program are the reason the certificate program is a community. I enjoy how our community can be made up of people from all different degrees and programs, yet we still have a passion for sustainability. Until this semester, I had always just assumed that only “environmental majors” focused on sustainability in their careers, but after talking to my classmates and listening to the speakers, I realized this was not the case. There is so much more to that. One speaker discussed how your major could be in communications, but through the company you work for, you are able to focus, and in her case, she focused on sustainability. I have learned that you can incorporate sustainability in your life and your career in any way you want to, and each person’s way is unique.
Throughout this semester I have gained everything from career to life advice. What I love is that we can seek out advice and help even if the questions have nothing to do with a topic we have discussed. I am grateful for the people who I have reached out to for their opinions, and I am grateful that they genuinely want to help. The connections that have been made, and doors that have been opened through this seminar provides so many opportunities. One speaker that specifically stood out to me was Jeffrey Foote from Tree Zero. Not only does he work for an amazing company now, but he is also the former director of sustainability at Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola company is one of the reasons I started looking into sustainability so much. In my eyes they were one of the first major companies to push for environmental consciousness within a company. In high school, I used to tell people that I was going to work for Coke in their sustainability department, so to meet the former director was inspiring. Mr. Foote also gave us very good advice, which was along the lines: to be good at these jobs you must keep up with current events. This is something that I knew but did not really think about on a daily or even weekly basis. Mr. Foote encouraged us to sign up to receive the Tree Zero newsletter, which I did as well as others, and now I receive it each Monday. Within this newsletter, are important current events. Everything from topics of energy efficiency, recycling, deforestation, and water. Within these topics there are a plentiful of articles to read.
After this semester, I am even more excited to start my career in sustainability. These speakers and my classmates opened up opportunities for careers in sustainability. I am hopeful for the future knowing there are so many ways for me to incorporate sustainability not only in my career but also throughout my life.
Second Semester of the Seminar
I took my second sustainability seminar my last semester of my undergraduate studies. This seminar has allowed me to meet different people and learn about what they do to increase sustainability in Athens. Without the seminar, I would not have learned about any of these things in the Athens community such as the Oconee River Land Trust or small sustainable businesses. One of my favorite seminars was when we got to hear from Kristen Baskin who is the founder of Let Us Compost which is located here in Athens. Let Us Compost allows people in Athens or small or commercial businesses to sign up for a monthly or annual subscription for compost to be picked up from your house (like a trash or recycling service). They give you a compost bin to keep your organic materials in until they pick it up. They not only pick up your compost but also teach you what can or cannot go in it. They then take the compost to the Athens-Clarke County Commercial Composting Facility. They also have started to provide mulches or soils produced from the compost in order to show how we can complete the cycle.
Other than learning more about sustainability in the Athens community, I also strengthened my sustainability knowledge. Each seminar I get to learn something new from one of my classmates whether it is a project they are working on or an event to go to. Something I have experienced in the seminar and overall certificate program that I have not experienced in other programs, is the community the certificate built. Every week in the seminar, we are encouraged to share news about ourselves. I wish that I had started this certificate program earlier in college and was able to spread out my seminars a little more. The support I get from the seminars and the certificate program is something I wish I could have had all 4 years of college, but I am still grateful for the time I did have. Throughout the seminar, I have built sustainability leadership skills that I did not even know exist, and a community that I did not know I was missing.