Sustainability

Sarah Johnson
Class of 2013

Posted December 05, 2011

Name: Sarah Johnson

Class Year: 2013

Major(s)/Minor: Environmental Studies/Government and Legal Studies

Hometown: Gloucester, MA

Leadership on campus:

I play Ultimate Frisbee and am a leader for the Bowdoin Outing Club. Also I am a former EcoRep.

Environmental Mission:

To make small, living, sustainable communities.

How have you been involved in sustainability efforts on campus?

I was an Eco-Rep my sophomore year, and now work in the Office of Sustainability for Keisha Payson. My favorite event as an EcoRep was planning Greenstock, when we got the band Big Tree to come and play for us here at Bowdoin. They were touring the country in a biofuel truck, and we used solar power to run the whole thing! Now, working for Keisha, I get to help coordinate the EcoRep program. It’s fun to see the program from the other side. And I get to work the facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sustainable-Bowdoin/

What course or professor helped you to connect with sustainability on campus?

 I took my first ES class with Professor Pearlman, who has been instrumental in my involvement with ES/Sustainability on campus. She nudged me toward the EcoRep position, and has since kept me in the loop for sustainable events and lectures on campus.

I also had a big helping hand from upperclassmen on the Frisbee team my freshman year, who sent me to Keisha to talk about Sustainability (great work, Lucia).

Have you been involved in a summer research fellowship? What did that entail?

 No. But, I work at an outdoor education/wilderness adventure camp in the summers and get to teach kids about sustainable lifestyles, getting to know the area you live in and how to work with the resources you have. And I get to spend lots of time outside, which is great.

Did you study abroad? Were environmental topics a part of your program?

I am going abroad this spring to do the SEA Semester program, based out of the Sea Education Association’s marine institute in Woods Hole. I’ll spend 6 weeks there, and then 6 weeks sailing from Florida to Antigua and back on a 20-person schooner. My courses will cover Oceanography, Maritime History, Sustainability in Island Nations and Marine Biodiversity. I’m excited.

How do you think will you remain involved in sustainability efforts after graduation?

I don’t have any concrete plans set but I have a feeling my future holds some sense of sustainability. I’ve learned a lot at Bowdoin about recycling, composting, reducing my carbon footprint and the value of keeping things local. I think the greatest lesson I’ll take away is to simply find the right kind of community to live in where I can maintain that sense of local sustainability, because that’s where it all starts. Hopefully I can use the skills from my EcoRep days to reach out to members in my community to promote sustainability and raise awareness. Who knows, maybe I’ll be bringing my produce to a farmers’ market every week, or trying to pass recycling legislation in Augusta. Whatever it is, I promise, I’ll keep it green.

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