Generation Conscious

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Happy Friday! Ever get to the end of the day and you are exhausted - but in all the good ways! Today was one of those days...beginning with having lunch with a professional connection that I can proudly say has also become a friend. I have had the honor of overseeing 60,000 Aunt Flow period products distributed in #Colorado, alongside of 3,000 Generation Conscious loads of laundry sheets! Friday business day, came to a close working alongside Justice Necessary team member AudreeRae Castleman, B.S., PMP with whom has been a pleasure working alongside. There are so many more exciting things that lay ahead and I can't wait to share...Stay Tuned! Enjoy the weekend!

When a mainstream resource like McKinsey & Company reports on a growing business movement - like this, on the #circulareconomy - I pay attention. For one, I learn a few things, for example that, "Every year, some $2.6 trillion worth of material in fast-moving consumer goods—80 percent of the material value—is?thrown away and never recovered." WILD. Secondly, I get to learn how big business is looking to tell its version of the story, piggybacking on a trend while minimizing true innovation. Whatever McKinsey is selling here, they're selling to corporate leaders. To wit: they indicate plastics as ripe for the circular economy - not because they can be repurposed in their current form, but rather via recycling. That’s a palatable, somewhat “greenwashed,” way to reposition a broken, unsustainable approach. It also conveniently muddies the water so consumers can’t clearly distinguish between what are decidedly distinct strategies. My favorite misnomer: "circular plastics," in a bait-and-switch for recycled materials (and let’s be clear: plastics are categorically downcycled, not recycled in the sense that the original material retains its original quality and character). They want to have their cake & eat it too: claim thought leadership on a revolutionary business movement, but smash a square peg into a round (circular?) hole so that the big boys can continue with business as usual. #singleuseplasticsux #plasticfreejuly #plasticpollution #circulareconomy #innovation

In May, I graduated summa cum laude from Tufts University with a BS in Biology, Psychology, and Environmental Studies. Thank you to my academic advisors Dr. Stein, Michael Reed, and Lisa Shin for all the support over the years, to Sara Gomez and Colin Orians for pushing me to be my best in the ENVS department and beyond, and to Ann Ward, PhD, Dano Weisbord and the OOS for helping me direct my passion for institutionally funded sustainability work. I’ve been honored to receive several recognitions during my time at Tufts:? - Presidential Award for Civic Life (2024) - Nancy Anderson Award for Environmental Sustainability (2024) - Gemma Cifarelli Memorial Scholarship (2023) - The Class of 1921 Leonard Carmichael Prize Scholarship (2023) - AASHE Racial Equity and Sustainability Collaboration Award Finalist (2023) - Tufts University Dean’s List (2020 - 2024) While at Tufts, I’ve also filled my time serving as: - Founder and coordinator of the Sustainable CORE Fellows - Carbon Emissions Research Assistant, building a carbon roadmap at Tufts - Research Assistant for Sam Sommers' Racial Equity and Diversity (RED) Lab - Fellow and Board Member of Our Climate Common - Environmental Science and Stewardship Fellow with Mystic River Watershed Association - Board Member of BREN - Representative on the ENVS Executive Committee - Advocate to bring Generation Conscious free laundry detergent sheets to campus - Research Assistant for the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition? - Founder of an Asian Adoptee Identity Group at the Asian American Center After graduation, I will be continuing my commitment to OCC and BREN as a board member and working with the RED lab on developing an environmental justice and identity safety cue research study. I have also accepted a job with Mystic River Watershed Association, starting this July! I’m excited to continue exploring the environmental science nonprofit space and work with an amazing group of people dedicated to environmental justice, outdoor accessibility, and the ecosystem health of the Mystic River and its communities.

The Circular Economy isn’t some trend for out of touch hippies or privileged boutique shoppers... It is a mission critical movement to secure the lives of billions of regular people while preserving the finite resources that keep our ecological systems in balance. If you are in Chicago at GreenBiz Group #Circularity24 conference then please reach out as we'd love to build with like-minded leaders. We'll be presenting how Generation Conscious anchors itself in the circular economy movement, by growing through economies of scale while guided by the political ecology of the global south. Thank you to Upstream for inviting us ?