Program on Environment honored at 2017 Husky Green Awards
Teaching, studying and modeling sustainability in action is a hallmark of the Program on the Environment.
This year, the Program is thrilled to congratulate three superstars who are leading change for a more just and sustainable world, through environmental student club leadership, environmental justice capstone work and creative teaching methods.
The 2017 Husky Green Awards winners, honored on April 20 at UW Sustainability‘s Earth Day festival include Environmental Studies majors Cassie Maylor, Shelby Cramer and Program on the Environment (POE) lecturer Kristi Straus. Another winner from the College of the Environment was Judy Twedt, graduate student in Atmospheric Sciences, who founded a Climate Change Speaker’s Bureau to engage with labor unions. Judy is also a Teaching Assistant for POE lecturer Beth Wheat’s class Attaining a Sustainable Society.
The awards are in their eighth year of recognizing leaders on the UW campus who demonstrate their dedication to the environment.
Cassie is co-president of SAGE (the Student Association for Green Environments), and co-organizes activities and events such as Art to Inspire, which was a group effort to gather the UW community to celebrate art as a vehicle for raising environmental awareness. Cassie is interested how companies can lessen their impact on the planet, and is the vice president of operations of ReThink UW, a student group centered on business sustainability. She’s also a student assistant for the UW Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship where she helps coordinate events and outreach.
“I’m grateful to have so many opportunities in Seattle to practice, research, communicate, create, and share what sustainability is and can be. The Husky Green Award has been a wonderful reminder to work harder, reach more people, and not be afraid to share the true environmental geek that I am. Don’t forget, that the “out there” is right here, and can start with you.”
“A lot of us in the dynamic and broad field of the environment struggle with just wanting to save the world. I find that as I get closer to fully aligning my values with my beliefs and actions, I get closer to knowing that I can achieve the change I want.” – Cassie Maylor
Don’t forget, that the “out there” is right here, and can start with you.” -Cassie Maylor
Shelby also played a key role in the Art to Inspire event as an officer of SAGE. She is interested in how communication can be a valuable tool to guide sustainable decision-making at the community level. Her capstone project with the EPA examines how organizations are engaging with the community around the Duwamish SuperFund site and how that outreach impacts the community’s actions. She’ll couple these insights with research on how effective communication can benefit outreach efforts.
As a UW Environment undergraduate student ambassador, Shelby is available to connect with prospective students and as a student student assistant for the College of the Environment, she links students to resources and professional opportunities.
“I am grateful for the time UW Sustainability takes to recognize efforts made by individuals and groups for greener, more sustainable environments, and I am constantly proud and heartened by the many Program on the Environment students, staff, and faculty who are devoted to that effort.”
We don’t just study the environment here; we connect to it and foster its welfare.” -Shelby Cramer
Kristi recently received the Distinguished Teaching Award for her efforts to empower students to take ownership of their personal impact on the world. She teaches sustainability and environmental courses at the Program on the Environment and is launching a new flipped classroom study abroad experience through her sustainability course in partnership with Tsinghua University in China. Read more about Kristi’s philosophy and teaching path on the Whole U Faculty Friday feature.
“I think that the students in my sustainability course all “lead change for a sustainable future.” That class is SO inspiring to me – every quarter that I teach it, the students give so much of themselves, thinking so deeply, really working hard to see the way our society is structured around consumption.”
By working to reduce our individual impacts around waste, and food, by thinking deeply about consumption and happiness, we are all the beginning of a much bigger change. -Kristi Straus