Week 1:
Diving Right In

June 13, 2016

When starting any new venture it’s normal to feel a mix of nervousness and excitement, but honestly I only felt the latter. I was eager to begin my Fellowship and learn all I could about sustainability and working in a professional office environment.

What I Did

My first day at the Sustainability Center was a rush of faces and introductions. I met many of the people I would be spending the next eight weeks with. With the exception of Liz Christiansen, the director of the office and my site mentor, everyone was completely new to me. Within the next few days I would especially get to know George McCrory, the communications specialist, as he directed many of my tasks. A majority of my first day was spent familiarizing myself with the office and filling out some finalizing paperwork.

But that’s not to say my first day was uneventful. From the moment I walked into U of I’s Sustainability Center I was put to work. My first task was to catalog and organize the office’s resource library, which had over one hundred works on various environmental topics such as climate change and agriculture. This took up the bulk of my first two days, and the result was a sprawling Excel spreadsheet and a more organized library.

In the following days I helped with Summer cleaning – organizing files and such. I also got the chance to flex my creative muscles by helping devise and build a new display for the front window of the office. Using some salvaged boxes and logo prints we created a sort of DIY shadowbox. The display hasn’t been hung, but that is expected to happen within the next day or so.

One of my ongoing duties will be to add events to the office’s website calendar using SilverStripe. While I had never used this program before, I was not intimidated. My college experience thus far and the block plan especially have prepared me to deal with the unexpected. The program itself is also quite intuitive, allowing for quick learning.

What I Learned

When I initially met with Liz about coming to work at the Sustainability Center, she encouraged me to do outside research on some of their initiatives. Coming from Cornell, I know that “encouraged research” is usually code for “required research.” And I’m glad I looked into it, otherwise I would have been at a serious disadvantage . Chief among their initiatives is the 2020 Vision, the seven main goals the office wants to achieve by the year 2020:

1. Consume less energy by updating old buildings and consciously avoiding using more energy
2. Bring renewable energy usage up to 40%
3. Decrease production of waste by recycling, composting, and using green purchasing practices
4. Reduce carbon impact of transportation by using efficient fuels and reducing air travel
5. Increase student opportunities to learn and practice principles of sustainability by offering internships and research experiences centered around sustainability
6. Support and grow interdisciplinary research in sustainability-focused and related areas
7. Develop partnerships to advance collaborative initiatives

Many of the office’s smaller initiatives go towards reaching these 2020 goals, and they’ve made great strides towards achieving them.

Want to learn more about the U of I Sustainability Center and what they do? Click here!