Unique Vance

CNI Fellow - Class of 2015

Undergraduate Student, Global Studies
UC Santa Barbara

Project

Broadening the Movement

Description

I focused on increasing student engagement in the Carbon Neutrality Initiative in partnership with one other fellow. We hoped to engage students who have not typically been involved in campus sustainability measures. The strategies that I used to achieve this included: developing the plans for a climate justice lecture series, executing a “Pizza for Carbon Neutrality” event, and creating a climate wheel to visually describe the components of climate justice that are important to students.

Goals

We have identified four speakers for our climate justice lecture series and have developed a proposal that we can use to confirm the speakers and recruit co-sponsors and partners. The “Pizza for Carbon Neutrality” event was a tremendous success. There were 55 students in attendance, 46 of whom had not previously attended a UC Santa Barbara sustainability event and who were not on our Listserv. Also, we have drafted a climate wheel graphic, which includes economic, social and environmental considerations related to climate justice.

Future Plans

I am currently unsure if I will be continuing my work as a fellow this upcoming academic year. I will be working as an office assistant for the Educational Opportunity Program and will have a position as the co-chair of UC Santa Barbara's Student Commission on Racial Equality (SCORE). I will undoubtedly tie in aspects of climate justice and carbon neutrality into my other leadership roles and encourage SCORE to be an active social justice partner for the project. If I do not continue with the fellowship project, an incoming fellow will continue to work on projects such as the Climate Justice Speaker Series and building coalitions with social justice organizations.

Mentors

Katie Maynard and David Auston