While more northern parts of Pennsylvania like this are beautiful (look up the Blue Mountains!), the older I became, the more I began to learn about legacies of environmental injustice. Environmental injustice occurs when groups of vulnerable and/or marginalized people are unfairly exposed to dangerous or unjust conditions. Can you think of sources of environmental injustice? (Hint: think about what we need to keep ourselves and our communities healthy and safe.)
Growing up in nature but also learning about how these environmental issues hurt both the land and my communities made me interested in studying environmental science. I hope to use my skills in art and my passion for education and the environment to communicate environmental issues to the general public and inspire positive change.
Last summer, this passion led me to O'ahu, where I met your amazing science teacher, Ms. Cummings, through the organization NOAA! We worked together to find the best way to communicate new technology that has been used to study coral reefs AND how to describe and teach about recent coral reef bleaching that affected Hawai'i. This work turned into an educational video. I truly enjoyed living in O'ahu and learning more about Hawaiian culture and O'ahu's unique environment.
After the summer, I moved to Ecuador to deepen my skills in educating others through different forms of art, such as theater, storytelling, and designing neat projects. I moved here to learn about different world views, environments and cultures, too. Right now I live at a high altitude in the Ecuadorian Andes. There are lots of farms and small towns just like my hometown, but the mountains and volcanoes here are a lot more reminiscent of Hawai'i!
