Our Team's Mission
Under the guidance of Dr. Carol Sabbar, the Carthage Sustainability Interns, also referred to as the Green Team, is a group of undergraduate students that organize and host events and activities and interact with the campus community to encourage sustainability-aware mindsets and environmentally clean habits.
See our Facebook Profile: www.facebook.com/carthage.green/
My Contributions
I was hired as a Sustainability Intern in September of 2021 and since then, I've been able to make an impact in various avenues of campus sustainability. Ever since grade school when I learned about the limited supply of fossil fuels, heaps of plastic distributed all over the planet, and climate change, I've never been able to shake the idea that there must be something I can do to change the current trajectory. Of course, as I've grown older and gained a larger understanding of the mechanisms of humanity that have led to the state of consumption we are in, I realized that the three topics I learned in elementary school are severely complex problems. However, we collectively have only one home and I believe it is essential to realize that everyone has the ability to help make the world a more sustainable place. Working toward a clean and self-sustaining efficient world is my overarching goal in life. Some of my accomplishments as a member of the Carthage Green Team are highlighted here.
Managing recycling and repurposing electronic waste
It is my job as an E-waste manager to maintain a sorted and organized campus used-electronics room. Each week I dedicate time to identify and test different used electronics from the college and accumulate a stack that is scheduled to be picked up and sent to an E-waste recycling center. A few other Interns and I have created a Facebook group through our Carthage Going Green account that documents the inventory of our electronics room with the purpose of finding a new owner of our functioning technology. We are currently in the planning stages of donating some electronics and accessories to local assisted shelter centers and schools.
Initiating our Campus Reuse House
During my second semester as a sustainability intern, our team advocated for a system where students had the option to donate slightly used or functioning items that they were planning on getting rid of and store them for other students in need of such items. We noticed that a large amount of perfectly reusable items would be thrown in the trash as students were moving out of their dorms. Shortly after we expressed the potential of such a system, we were given permission to turn one of Carthage's slightly off-campus homes into a reusable items storage location, a Reuse House. Organizing and inventorying the Reuse House became another responsibility of mine throughout the week. Similar to how we document available electronics, it has been my job this past semester to photo-document and post the items available at the Reuse House.
Planning the Inaugural Carthage-UW Parkside Sustainability Summit
Another focus of mine during my second semester as a sustainability intern was being a member of the Sustainability Summit planning committee. Before the semester began, a few students and I attended the Renew Wisconsin Energy Summit in January of 2022. Attending this conference made us jokingly say, "imagine if Carthage put on a conference like this, imagine how impactful on the community that might be." That joke soon turned into inspiration and we decided to take the matters into our own hands and plan a summit that would take place on our campus. As a committee, we planned the agenda, assembled a list of potential speakers and booth hosts, and made decisions about details like catering and how to make the event hybrid (in-person and online).
In preparation for the event, I took on the role of speaker outreach where I emailed multiple potential speakers and set up meetings to gauge their interest in being a part of our event. Through this role I met with Mayor John Antaramian which led to our connection with Brianna Dobiesz, communications and fundraising coordinator for Menonomee Valley Partners. I also met with Pamela Oksiuta, the Senior Director Global Sustainability at SC Johnson, who ended up being our keynote speaker. On the day of the event, I Introduced Pam Oksiuta to the stage and proctored breakout room 128B. |
To see our eventbrite page, click the following link then click view details:
www.eventbrite.com/e/carthageparkside-sustainability-summit-registration-270783499737?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
www.eventbrite.com/e/carthageparkside-sustainability-summit-registration-270783499737?aff=ebdssbdestsearch