Archives: People

I am Johannes Maquiling, an 11th grader from Philippine Science High School Western Visayas Campus. I was encouraged to join the Project Green Challenge 2017 by my parents when I just happened to stumble upon it on the internet. As the challenge unfolded and as I kept on going through with the tasks, I became inspired by the fact that someone like me who mostly likes to stay on the sidelines can actually do things that can make a difference.

eye-opening, interesting, hectic, action-packed, humbling

I have two memorable experiences in PGC 2017. The first would have to be me delivering a lecture on soil. I enjoy talking and discussing things with friends but I am not someone who will go and volunteer to do a lecture when it is not a school requirement. It was our exam week and I had to ask my friends to meet me after exams to listen to my lecture. They were kind of making fun of how I had to have pictures of the activity and that I would be documenting it but when the lecture went underway, they were interested and ended up really asking questions about the topic. The other memorable one was when I submitted my “No Polystyrene” Policy proposal to the Campus Director. Getting it approved was an achievement because I know that it would be a start in reducing waste and raising awareness to the community.

I usually describe myself as easy going and friendly. I do not like confrontations or conflicts. I want to promote respect for others and I do not like discrimination. In PGC 2017, I learned many things. There were numerous concepts that were explained in different ways using multimedia. In all these things that I learned about the world, the environment, the many processes and the organizations around me, I also learned things about myself.

I learned that I may be a good public speaker but I get shy when approaching people in authority. I had to overcome this to do a few tasks. I learned that some of the things I do are actually good practices. The fact that I bring a re-usable water jug and that I have packed lunches for school are good starters. I am not into fashion trends and shopping and that I am not brand conscious. I want to be able to keep that kind of mentality. I learned that I do not easily get humiliated with such tasks as wearing a shirt inside out or stopping by the roadside to take a snapshot of a pollinator. When it came to social media, it was an effort for me to get into posting personal things. I learned that I was not too keen whenever I had to turn to social media. I also learned that I could come up with ideas quickyly since we had such a short time to be able to finish daily tasks. I also learned that I can do a lot if I was given enough guidance and direction — I could be a good follower. Finally, I learned that I find it really satisfying to be able to stick to a worthy cause.

Catalina is a student at Western Washington University, studying Environmental Education.
“Without Turning Green I wouldn’t have a set direction in school of what I want to study, or how I want to impact the world. I participated in PGC on a whim and that pushed me forward and solidified my interest in environmental activism.”

One word to describe Turning Green? Essential!

Cami is a student at Loyola University of Chicago, working with Loyola’s Institute of Environmental Sustainability and the Restoration Club.
“Turning Green gave me a sense of belonging. I am now so much more aware of my impact and through my experiences with Turning Green, I am able to better educate and communicate what conscious living means to others.”

One word to describe Turning Green? Genuine!

My name is Christine Dobbin and I am a senior at Rice University studying Environmental Health Education. I am from El Paso, Texas and love exploring all landscapes, from scuba diving and kayaking to camping and hiking. These appetites drove me to backpack around Australia for a semester during which I witnessed environmental activism and its intersection with the medical field, lived with Aboriginals and heard their stories, and experienced breathtaking ecosystems. Arriving back in the states, I longed for support in sustainability and found it with a group of beautifully passionate individuals who compose my Project Green Challenge team. Over the last 30 days, I watched the dedication of every one of my team members surpass all of my expectations—a devotion I had almost given up on finding long ago. I am inspired not only by what we were able to accomplish but also by the enthusiasm with which we worked. Project Green Challenge began as a casual and auxiliary project to help me get my environmental fix and is now ending as a much-needed and durable renewal of confidence in the people fighting for justice behind the larger movement, people all across the world, and people right in my backyard.

enriching, engaging, enlightening, entertaining, enabling

We all agreed that the most memorable part of this was the formation of our team. Meredith and I were chatting about our ideas for a post-consumer composting project after Environmental Club at the beginning of October. We talked for a while about it and then got side-tracked by plastic-free project ideas. Travis and Amy joined our conversation, Travis, because he had experience working with the Rice administrators on environmental projects and, Amy, because she was interested in learning more about the solutions for environmental problems in our world.
We soon ended up talking about Project Green Challenge after Travis had brought it up to us. It did not take long for us to decide on joining and forming a team.

This was a very exciting time for us all because we discovered other people that were equally enthusiastic about environmental activism as we each were individually.

Over the last 30 days, we have learned that it is possible to have an impact as one person or a small group. However, the caveat was that we had to recognize the need to focus on making a larger impact on fewer topics rather than smaller impacts on more diverse topics. These were important for us to recognize because they are key in making a sustainable and significant impact.

Jon and Julia are chemistry graduate students at the University of Chicago. Jon grew up in Kent, Ohio and loves running, pottery, reading, and Netflix almost as much as chemistry. Julia is from New Mexico and dances, runs, hikes, and dabbles in painting on occasion. We have a shared interest in environmentalism – Jon’s interest was instilled by his father and Julia’s by her mother. This interest is what motivated us to sign up for Project Green Challenge and the month of challenges inspired us to become Eco-Heroes and create a sustainable world for future generations.

eye-opening, fulfilling, empowering, creative, inspiring

Meeting with the Associate Director of Campus Environment and the Associate Director of Campus Dining was the most memorable part of PGC. They are both very passionate about what they do and have worked to bring sustainability to UChicago’s practices. They were very excited that we were interested in their work and took a lot of time out of their day to meet with us and answer our questions.

I learned a lot about myself during PGC, but probably the most important thing is that I have the power to make a difference. The choices I make everyday can have a drastic impact on the planet, for better or for worse. What I purchase to eat, wear, or clean my home tells corporations what kind of world I want and where my values align. I can demand or even initiate change, on a small scale with friends and family or face my university. Each person who changes to a more sustainable lifestyle causes ripples that spread to others. There’s no need to feel helpless or sit around waiting for someone else to make the changes for us. We can take personal responsibility for our actions and change the world with whatever gifts and resources we have.

Lauren is a sophomore at Yale University interested in majoring in Environmental Studies. She is originally from Irvine, CA and is passionate about sustainable food and agriculture, environmental justice, urban planning, and clean energy. She loves to cook, pickle things, and eat avocados in her free time. At school, she works at the Yale Farm, Office of Sustainability and is a Dwight Hall Urban Fellow working with the City of New Haven Office of Economic Development. She decided to participate in PGC after feeling stuck in finding ways to engage with sustainability and feeling frustrated that her lifestyle is not as sustainable as it could be. She has been greatly inspired by the challenges (especially the challenge considering natural body products) she has completed and now looks at her life and the choices she makes in a different light.
Jinno is a sophomore at Orange Coast College interested in majoring in Agriculture. He lives in Orange County and explores local farmers markets and loves to support small businesses. He brings his reusable cup anywhere he goes to avoid using plastic cups and straws. Jinno currently works at Lush Cosmetics, which is a natural cosmetics company that fights against animal testing, uses fairtrade and organic ingredients. Jinno works hard to try and educate people about environmental issues and felt that by doing PGC, he could get a stronger understanding of the subject and back up his future conversations with scientific fact. Jinno’s favorite day was the Economics challenge, as it opened his eyes to how important it is to place your money into local banks. Since doing PGC, Jinno’s passion for the environment has only become stronger and it looks as if there is no stopping him and what he can do.

Motivational, transformational, fun, collaboration, rewarding

For one of the challenges, we were called to make our own version of a “Better Burger”. Inspired by Lauren’s Korean heritage, we decided to make a black bean and gochujang (a traditional Korean red pepper sauce) burger. However, Jinno did not have any Korean ingredients at home, so we enlisted the help of Lauren’s mom who let Jinno borrow some of her gochujang and some homemade pickled vegetables. Through sharing resources and bridging communities, we were able to create a more sustainable burger. Lauren’s mom was even inspired to think of her own ways in which she can live more sustainably. PGC unexpectedly built a community and showed us that any opportunity is one to inspire others to live more sustainable lives. This experience just showed how our PGC challenges have built community connections and engagement on all sorts of levels.

Lauren: There are many layers to sustainability that I discovered through PGC. As I continue to learn more about sustainability, I realized just how much I need to work on improving my own personal self. It does not mean anything unless I ACT on what I have learned. In order to form successful habits, I need to first recognize what is lacking in my own life. To really be an environmental advocate, I need to make sure that I am living my own life in the most sustainable way possible. I have always considered myself a very straightforward person, but I realized that I have a creative side as well. I really enjoyed exploring different mediums during the PGC challenge and pushed myself to draw and design.
Jinno: Over the last 30 days it has further reinforced why I choose to pursue an environmentalist lifestyle. I felt small in what is was doing, whether it be eating vegan, thrift shopping, or just spending the extra money to encourage local businesses. Seeing all the amazing participants makes me feel that what I am doing is the right thing for my health and the environment. I have learned that there are TONS of young and inspiring students, just like me, wanting a better future for all of humanity.

My name is Benjamin Wong and I am a senior at Jericho High School on Long Island, New York. I’ve been environmentally-conscious since a very young age, when my mother would tell me to put my food scraps into the small compost bin located in our background next to the tomato plant. And today, I’ve become an active environmentalist always looking for opportunities to pursue green actions and to inspire others to do the same. As the current captain of my school’s Science Olympiad team and an avid reader of science topics, I’m always on the lookout for novel ways to create a more sustainable Earth, and understanding how we can mitigate global issues that we face in our developing world. In addition, I love immersing myself in nature, often going on weekend hikes in the woods of upstate New York with my family and just sitting outside and enjoying the sunlight when I come home from school. My teammates (Benjamin Yao, Robert Yu, and Rohan Reddy), all sophomores at our high school, have found their interests in science, technology, and engineering, but bonded over the difficulty to find good ways to apply their new skills and enthusiasm for these fields. Therefore, I decided to inspire my three teammates to join me in the Project Green Challenge this year to see how we may expand their scientific interests towards a more environmental and global viewpoint. Having listened to the many experiences of past PGC finalists at our schools and how they have changed themselves as well as the environment, all four of us were determined to see how we could create the multitude of impacts and changes that PGC enables one to make during the valuable journey. What inspired us the most from our PGC experience was having the ability, the opportunity, to motivate others, to begin their own pursuits, to take action to change the environment in a way that demonstrates that small individual actions can culminate into a growing, collective movement. Essentially, the greatest inspiration that we gained from this experience is that we can choose who we will be: to either follow in the footsteps of others or to lead others in our own movement that will contribute to the revitalization of our planet.

Monumental. Enlightening. Influential. Reflective. Together.

One of the most vivid and lasting memories of my PGC experience was the first time my team and I inspired a non-group member to take their own action. It was the first time I realized the weight of my actions and that in me changing the way others live, I was changing other’s environmental impact and mindset. On PGC Day 3, my peers asked me about my experience thus far, and I told them about how I had barely begun PGC yet was so energized to protect the environment. Many began to think of their own ways to contribute to the cause, while others even signed up for PGC. After starting a #foamfree movement, we began to see the ripple effect after other challenges (i.e. our non-GMO party and Van Cortlandt Park adventure). It was only until then, after inspiring others, that we truly completed each challenge.

I have learned over the past days of the dependence that I have upon the environment, and the incredible dependence the environment has on me. By learning about the many different ways in which I play a role, sometimes unknowingly, in writing out our planet’s future, I learned that my impact on the environment is a double-edged blade. I can either continue to live an unsustainable life, drain the planet of its resources, and destroy our biosphere, or change my habits for the better, but either way, my actions regarding the environment will eventually “mirror” back to me. For centuries, Earth has given us clean air, clean waters, plants, and animals. Mistreat our earth, and it will give us toxic air to breathe, dirty water to drink, barren plants, and animals which will no longer be of any help to us. Treat the Earth well, and we will receive an amount equal to what we gave. This all lies in my hands and in the hands of others. It is our decision, ultimately, over the future of our planet, and therefore ourselves.

Jamie is pursuing a degree in Global Studies: Environment and Sustainability and Public Policy. After graduating, she hopes to develop a career in environmental policy or work for a sustainable business while continuing to inform others how to develop environmentally friendly habits. She was a Project Green Challenge participant in 2016 and an intern with Turning Green over the summer. She loves working with Turning Green because the team shares her passion for promoting a more sustainable planet. When she is not studying or working, she often is rock climbing, hiking, or exploring a farmer’s market.

Louie is an award-winning cinematographer, director and producer whose notable career spans more than four decades providing breathtaking imagery using his time-lapse, high-speed and macro cinematography techniques. Schwartzberg is a visual artist who breaks barriers, connects with audiences, and tells stories that celebrate life and reveal the mysteries and wisdom of nature, people, and places.

Louie’s theatrical releases include the 3D IMAX film Mysteries of the Unseen World with National Geographic, narrated by Forest Whitaker; the documentary, Wings of Life for Disneynature, narrated by Meryl Streep, and America’s Heart and Soul for Walt Disney Studios.

His Netflix series, Moving Art, was renewed for a second season and will be premiering later in 2017. Designed to inspire, educate and evolve our perspective on the world, each episode immerses viewers in the natural world, taking them on a journey through time and scale.

Louie’s TED talks have gone viral with almost 50 million combined views. His Gratitude Revealed series of shorts were launched on Oprah.com. Supported by the Templeton Foundation, with science and analytics by the Greater Good Center at UC Berkeley, the series explores the multifaceted virtues of gratitude.

Louie is the only artist/filmmaker to be inducted into the Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Lemelson Foundation’s Invention Ambassadors Program.

For Schwartzberg, the greatest satisfaction is creating works that can have a positive effect on the future of the planet. “I hope my films inspire and open people’s hearts. Beauty is nature’s tool for survival – we protect what we love. That is the shift in consciousness we need to sustain and celebrate life.”