Hi, my name is Owen Harrison and I am a sophomore and I am a Latin American and Caribbean Studies major with a Spanish minor.  I am from a town called Warwick that is in New York and is about one hour from New York City.  My main hobby and thing that I enjoy to do the most is play soccer.  I have played soccer for pretty much my entire life and now I am also a part of the Union Club soccer team here on campus.  My understanding of sustainability is somewhat limited since this is my first course I have taken related to the topic.  However, I understand that sustainability is essential to ensuring that future generations can grow and prosper.  Making sure that not everything is used up before the following generations are here is a task that all people must understand and support.  Sustainability is about the here and now but also mainly about the future and ensuring a brighter future for those that come after us.

Hi! My name is Rayna Katzman and I’m a junior sociology major and visual arts minor from Short Hills, New Jersey. I love to hike, take photos, and spend time with my family and friends. I became interested in sustainability when I took intro to environmental studies last fall. It was really interesting to me to learn more about what actions each of us as individuals can take in our daily lives in order to promote a more sustainable world. After taking that course I became increasingly interested in environmental policy and global warming and it made me want to continue learning more on these topics!

Hi everyone, my name is Athena Bo and I am currently a senior at Union College. I grew up in Hong Kong but I have also lived in Spain, Costa Rica, United States and London. I took IB environmental science in my high school and one topic that fascinated me the most was climate justice. Climate justice is a movement that ¨acknowledges climate change can have differing social, economic, public health, and other adverse impacts on underprivileged populations¨ (Yale Climate Connections) The weight on environmental protection should not weight equally on all countries, rather, the countries that have had reap the benefits of the industrial development (mainly the west) should take the lead in this movement. When I was in Costa Rica, I also got the chance to go to many national parks where I saw the diverse kinds of animals. Costa Rica occupies only 0.03 percent of earth’s land but accounts for 6 percent of the biodiversity of the world. Its environmental effort and its biodiversity is something that more countries should adhere to do. Due to the above reasons, I am really excited to be taking this class.

Hello Classmates,

My name is Matt Schwartz. I am a Senior History Major and focused on Caribbean History. I enjoy painting and watching documentaries. My understanding of sustainability is that the world is facing a crisis in regard to pollution, climate change, and depletion of natural resources and sustainability is a solution to combat these issues. Methods of sustainability can be used across industries and governments to help lessen the detrimental effects of human interference and help sustain and preserve the planet. Sustainability is more important than ever.

Hi! I’m Sydney McPartlon, I’m a junior, Environmental Policy major, from Niskayuna, NY. My understanding of sustainability stems from its definition, that we must meet this generations needs while also ensuring the survival of future generations. Sustainability can be found in every industry like food, energy, fashion, and so on. When I look into sustainability and environmental issues I tend to focus on marine environments and the effects of the fishing industry. The ocean makes up the majority of our planet and is a huge resource humanity uses. The ocean is heavily impacted by human interference (extraction and pollution). Hopefully, the necessary precautions and protections will be made so the ocean stays healthy and thriving.

My name is Justin Aguirre and I am a sophomore who’s currently undeclared, but who is looking to complete perhaps a poli sci major. I am from New York and a fun fact about me is that I have a puppy named Hudson. I think about sustainability on a micro level in the hopes of inspiring those around me to inspire those around them to make a sustainable change. For me, that just means recycling what I know to be recyclable like plastic bottles, cardboard boxes. Additionally, it means trip planning more precisely. While nothing will ever be perfectly green, I think smaller actions have the potential for larger and planet positive consequences. *Positive in the sense of smaller actions benefitting the larger whole*