 |
Meghan Mooney ‘09 Anthropology / Environmental Studies Communications Coordinator I grew up on the Puget Sound in Washington State, sailing and playing the woods. I love nature and I love people. Thus, I love sustainability; it is a balanced, holistic, informed and sophisticated approach to the environmental issues of our time. My question is, who couldn’t love sustainability? I am most involved with the Sustainability Decathlon, an outreach competition I co-developed and coordinated for local high schools to “green” their campuses and become environmental leaders. I firmly believe in the power of education through action. In addition, I also work coordinating the communications team, designing house tours, developing our website, writing anything that needs to be written, and generally being a non-engineer on a team full of them. The Solar Decathlon is an amazing opportunity to mobilize and educate people about the environment in a way that is not a “save-the-trees, granola, tie-dye” approach. I think the most important myth we need to dispel is that caring about the environment is a fringe movement for people who do not have concerns for the economy or human beings. I do like granola, though. Through education and community outreach, the Solar Decathlon will serve as a tool for raising awareness and stimulating change. We are moving toward energy alternatives and sustainable design from the youth up. It is exciting that in a year or two all the students working on the Solar Decathlon will be headed toward careers in the very industries that so badly need a new vision of environmental stewardship. Post-Santa Clara Plans: Travel, attend applied anthropology graduate school, work in sustainable development, and set out on the treacherous, oft-daunting but exciting and rewarding life a modern eco hero. Lately, I have been thinking that I want to lead corporate social responsibility for a Silicon Valley company. Or start my own. Favorite sustainable thing to do: I love riding my bright yellow bicycle around the SCU campus. My apartment-mates and I just installed a gray water toilet flushing system. I guess “installed” is really a euphemism here… |
