宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校 junior Karley Feather leads the campus Green Team on a cleanup in the nearby town of Ambler.
When Karley Feather traveled to Belize 18 months ago to earn her scuba diving certification, she was stunned to discover plastics contaminating what she assumed would be the pristine Caribbean Sea.
“我充满了愤怒和悲伤, and I started stuffing the trash in my dive suit,这位威尼斯人娱乐信誉平台分校的大三学生说. “That trip kickstarted my passion for sustainability.”
从那时起, Feather has earned her dive master designation and decided she wants to work in coral restoration. She has temporarily transferred to World Campus so she can pursue her environmental goals while still in school.
“这学期, I will be living in Australia to complete my coral restoration certification with hopes that I can start working in coral farming to help restore our oceans to the way they once were,”她说。.
从伯利兹回来后, Feather replaced all single-use plastics in her life and created a vermicompost for food waste, which reduces the amount of methane being released into the atmosphere. She also switched to a plant-based diet strictly to reduce her carbon footprint.
“一些简单的改变可以带来巨大的不同, and then spreading the knowledge you have learned will change the world,羽毛说.
宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校 student Karley Feather (left) and another member of the campus Green Team plant trees to help reduce the number of pollutants that enter waterways as well as clean the air.
She began changing the world locally by pursuing her broader environmental objectives at 阿宾顿 and in the community with the support of Shelly Grinar-Boyd, 生物学讲师.
“Shelly and I started working together on how we could create a lasting environmental difference,羽毛说.
Feather and Grinar-Boyd established a Penn State Green Team at the 阿宾顿 campus. 绿色团队由教师组成, 工作人员, and students volunteering to take specific actions to help their organization within the University operate in a more efficient, 创新健康之道.
The 阿宾顿 Green Team kicked off its campaign on America Recycles Day last fall with an event featuring representatives from Waste Management and a local environmental advisory council. The next goal of the Green Team is to work with the firm that manages the cafeteria at 阿宾顿 to offer more compostable dishes and cutlery and plant-based dining options.
因为她的行动主义, Feather was invited to sit on the 阿宾顿 Chancellor’s Environmental 可持续性 Task Force.
“I focus on sustainability because it is my life and future in my hands.”
-- Karley Feather, junior in corporate communications at 宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校
Off campus, Feather connected with a local environmental organization.
“We did a community cigarette butt clean up and picked up over 2,279支香烟，只有10名志愿者 .3英里，”她说. “We also did a tree planting to help reduce the number of pollutants that enter our waterways as well as clean our air.”
Feather came to realize that her major in corporate communication dovetails with her advocacy.
“当我第一次参与环保活动时, I was worried that corporate communication wouldn’t relate at all. No matter where I go and whatever job I may have, I will always have a voice,”她说。. “现在有了通讯方面的背景, I am able to spread that voice effectively over a wide variety of platforms.”
Feather said she remembers the state of the environment when she was younger, 而现在变化如此之快.
“I see our forests burning and our ice caps melting. I have seen firsthand the devastation that global temperature risings have had on our oceans. I have seen the garbage in our oceans and on our streets. I have cleaned countless amounts of trash without even making a dent,”她说。. “I focus on sustainability because it is my life and future in my hands.”
关于宾大阿宾顿
威尼斯人娱乐信誉平台分校提供了一个负担得起的, 可访问的, and high-impact education resulting in the success of a diverse student body. It is committed to student success through innovative approaches to 21st-century public higher education within a world-class research university. 大约3个,700名学生, 宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校 is a residential campus that offers baccalaureate degrees in 21 majors, 本科研究, 施赖尔荣誉项目, 美国大学生体育协会第三组, 和更多的.
