My Story

​

Running is my favorite way to connect with nature. I have gotten the chance over the last 10 years to run through beautiful forests and mountains and beaches and parks and riversides. When I began running, I had no idea just how much I was taking for granted my free access to visit natural areas. Over the years, I watched as many of my favorite childhood running trails were destroyed: deforested, leveled, and commodified to make room for new neighborhoods and highways. And on these new residential roads, newcomers, who had little idea how the land functioned before their arrival, would chuck their McDonalds, Wendy’s, or Wawa trash out the windows of their cars and simply forget about it. But as a runner who now navigates these new roads, it’s much harder to pass by these things and forget about them; not only because they’re obstacles in my way, but because of what they represent. I’ve had to do multiple cleanups of the same few locations for years just to remove the litter, because the townships simply failed to. Human nature and unfettered development has toppled ecosystems and habitats long forgotten all around me, and obstructed my personal relationship with nature. I want our society to realize that we should be preserving natural and sacred lands, treating our relationship with nature as codependent rather than exploitative. I run through nature as a visitor, an admirer, and a steward. Let’s reevaluate our relationship with nature.

​

My Beliefs

​

For a full exposition into my position on climate and justice, check out my blog post from the Earth Day 2020. As a summary, I believe in a new movement that combines environmental justice, racial justice and inclusion, labor and economic justice, and sustainable business under a new economy. I believe this movement comes at a particularly kairos moment, as we experience a recession only paralleled by the Great Depression, to which our country responded by implementing a monumental (albeit, marginalizing) New Deal. The movement behind enacting the New Deal was not peaceful; instead, it required mass non-cooperation to push for now-revered systems like Social Security, National Parks, and even labor unions. Proponents of this progressive justice movement recognize the need for a Green New Deal, or a similar political agenda that promotes climate action, guarantees jobs to every American, and establishes a Second Bill of Rights to secure universal dignities for all Americans and beyond. An aggressive, intersectional movement is necessary to implement before the end of the decade, and I will work hard to make sure this movement is recognized and accepted.

​

But not every improvement can effectively happen on the national level. It is vital that communities be on the forefronts of implementing climate action and mechanisms for justice that befit their circumstances. Local advocacy is the most critical yet attainable form of action one can take. 

 

How I Take Action

​

• Eberly College of Science Sustainability Council: I work with my fellow council members to evaluate the future course for ECoS as it pertains to sustainability and resilience. College-wide curriculum overhauls, transportation reform, facility upgrades, public outreach events, and assessing progress compared to the Strategic Plan are all typical actions being taken by our council. We also had a large influence over adjusting department- and college-level 5-year Strategic Plans to address sustainability and resilience. 

• Student Sustainability Advisory Council: as a member of the Carbon Neutral Working group in SSAC, I work to convince University leadership to pursue climate action in the form of decarbonization, implementing internal carbon pricing schemes, stimulating carbon capture & storage research and projects, and more. 

• Carbon Corps: I help prepare drawdown solutions for University leadership to consider in their growing initiative to decarbonize. I specifically assisted in developing solutions for storing excess solar energy in large batteries, as well as converting much of the lighting throughout the University to LED.

• Awaken State: I work to strategize on future initiatives like Earth Day events, climate action demonstrations, curricular campaigns, and local advocacy opportunities at or around University Park, PA.

• Sunrise Movement: I participate in numerous courses and virtual events hosted by the Sunrise Movement, all in an effort to build a mass non-cooperative, youth-led, inclusive movement to support the Green New Deal in the United States. 

• Local Support: I have gotten involved in multiple small-scale initiatives to support our community's most vulnerable members. I have supported rent moratoriums, progressive campaigns for local offices, safer pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, improved busing availability & efficiency & affordability, and fundraisers to curb the effects of homelessness.

​

How You Can Take Action​

​

For those of us who have the ability, I encourage you to consider where you may fit in supporting your community. Whether that looks like becoming an advocate for climate action, an elected politician, an artist who highlights homelessness, a facilitator for community deliberations on important issues, or a casual litter collector; you can make a real difference in your community using your skills and passions. 

​

​