Four years with CU Zero Waste
Everyone always told me that college will be some of the best years of my life and that it goes by quickly. Man were they right. I remember going through the motions of orientation in the summer of 2014 and it feels like an eternity ago. To this day I couldn鈥檛 tell you what any of those presentations were about, except for one, and that was from the Environmental Center. I think it was one of the few presentations I actively listened to.听I remember staying after and chatting with Sarah Dawn Haynes, the Environmental Center's听Outreach and Engagement Coordinator, about the Center听for some time.
That conversation really supported my interest in chasing my environmental passion. I thought that volunteering with the E-Center would be a great place for me to gain more experience in the environmental field.
My previous experience was solely from my role as the president of my high school鈥檚 Environmental Club through which I led students to the shores of New Jersey for beach clean-ups, sand dune plantings, beach protection movements听and similar activities. Volunteering with the听Environmental Center was the perfect transition for me and听I knew I wanted to get as involved as I could.
Fast forward about a month, where I was in Boulder and听had听a paying job at the E-Center -听I was incredibly stoked!听I was hired on with the Recycling Outreach Crew, where听I still work as a member of the team, except now we are the Zero Waste Outreach Crew to emphasize composting, reuse听and other sustainable habits in addition to recycling. The greatest part was that it never felt like work, and it still doesn鈥檛.听I was getting paid to share my passion for sustainability with听students, just like in high school. Except now it was to a much bigger audience. I found myself reaching out to people I had never seen before in my life and may never see again. The fact that those moments may be the only time I would ever see that individual was exciting to me and I hoped to be memorable in my sustainability messages. It was, and still is, a very rewarding role.
Four years later, I鈥檝e learned more than I ever imagined听through a college job. I know the ins and outs of recycling and composting here in Boulder. I have brought this knowledge with me to summer jobs, to the rugby team I play with here at CU, to my home and family back in New Jersey听and anywhere else that I can promote sustainable听habits. It is a passion and knowledge that has been engrained in me. If it wasn鈥檛 ingrained in me from my time spent sorting recycling at the Recycling Operations Center on campus, it has definitely been ingrained in me from the long, sometimes cold nights spent sorting compost and recycling after home football games.
Over these four years, I have participated in听over 40 compost sorts. Whether they followed a football game and were in the rain, or followed a basketball game and were in the snow, my hands were deep in听compost bags pulling out aluminum foil, candy wrappers听or beer cans.听Anything that didn鈥檛 belong there听stood no chance of听getting past听me. Digging through other people鈥檚 leftover food to ensure proper composting changed my habits听and truly drove home the importance of sustainability. Those long nights spent elbow-deep in compost fuel my passion for sustainability and that听passion fuels my conversations with people who don鈥檛 yet听recycle or compost.听Generally by the end of those conversations I have听helped听that individual rethink their actions as a result of听a newly found understanding.
My career with the E-Center and Zero Waste hasn鈥檛 been limited to compost sorts. I鈥檝e personally gone door-to-door with the Zero Waste听crews of every residence听hall asking for freshmen to give me their recycling. Most are baffled but then get super stoked, especially if they have a ton of recycling. This gives us the chance to pick out contaminants with听new students, to help them understand the ways of green living in Boulder, and to help them understand the difference between听and importance听of composting and recycling. This is when we attempt to motivate people to help in the diversion effort. We try to make these interactions memorable and influence those students to take this new knowledge to live sustainably through their time at CU and, hopefully, into the rest of their lives. It鈥檚 really rewarding to have somebody say 鈥渙h, wow, I always thought that since it鈥檚 plastic that it could go in the recycling. I鈥檒l keep that in mind going forward.鈥 Hearing comments like these gets me excited听to keep going and talking to as many people as I can to spread awareness and hopefully help make a change in the wasteful world we live in.
Another great part about working at the E-Center is that, yes, we are all part of different teams, but we are united in a singular cause and work hard to get听the job done. It is a great family and organization to be a part of. The connections I鈥檝e made with coworkers is awesome and I wouldn鈥檛 trade the friendships I鈥檝e made and the experiences I鈥檝e had for anything. I am stoked to carry these experiences and knowledge with me into the world as I prepare to leave college听and, sadly, Boulder.
As of now I plan to work up in Alaska for my second summer as a backcountry guide. Many great things come from leading backpacking trips into the backcountry of the Alaskan interior, but most specifically is the interactions I make with the men and women I lead out there. I always stress the importance of sustainable living and hiking in the backcountry, and I try to promote these habits to stick with these individuals into their lives back home. My goals out there are that if I can get them to adopt these habits for their 15-20 days they spend in Alaska with me, then they can take these habits home and promote them to their friends and family. All it takes is a little education to individuals here and there and next thing you know a community I have never been to is living more sustainably because of what I shared听with a few individuals of that community - thoughts like that keep me going! Another great part about the job is I sometimes get individuals who have doubts about climate change. After 10-20 days of discussion about the issue, they generally have a new understanding of climate change and the importance听individual actions play听in it.听
Regardless of my future occupation, the individuals and events I have worked with and experiences I have gained at the Environmental Center will never leave me and will forever fuel my passion to educate and promote a sustainable future.