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September 1, 2020

The Women in the World zoom event, hosted by the Columbus Council on World Affairs focused on how women are often disproportionally affected by poverty based on their gender but also based on their race. The guest speaker, Gayle Smith, discussed how women across the globe are disadvantaged solely because they are women. She also touched on the impact Covid-19 has had in increasing the disparity between men and women in things like owning land, access to secondary education, and average income.

One thing that really stuck out to me was that she also talked about beneficial it is to invest in women and girls. Not to say it is never beneficial to invest in men and boys, but investing in women and girls can lead to economic and societal benefits that can outweigh men and boys. More girls receiving higher education can cause more financial independence, fewer teen pregnancies, and decreased child marriages.  This not only helps those individual women, but it can also have global effects. In previous ENR courses I have taken, girls’ access to education has always been listed as a way to reduce climate change. The reason for this is that women who have received higher education levels are more likely to have fewer children, which can reduce the effects of climate change. This just shows how reducing inequality can benefit everyone, not just the group facing inequality. As a woman, it was beneficial to hear what another person had to say about how different are affected at varying levels of inequality, how these challenges continue to persist, and how they can be mitigated.

On January 28th I attended the showing of Ice on Fire, a documentary about climate change and the multiple efforts and techniques trying to combat the effects of climate change. This was a part of the annual Environmental Film Series that OSU holds, a series of different environmentally focused films, with professors who speak on the subject after the film is done. As an environmental science student, I felt like it was important for me to attend this to try and learn a little bit more about modern or new ways of combating climate change.

While I thought that the film was very well done in its information it used and the showcasing of new ideas for carbon sequestration, some of the newly developed techniques can be misleading. There was one example of a new technique where they took some form of waste, burned it, and then could use it to add nutrients to forest soil, in an attempt to lessen the amount of dead/dying trees in California forests. Even though this sounds like an amazing, low cost, way of creating healthier forests, looking closer at the process of making this nutrient additive reveals some issues. Burning the whatever waste they are using might add even more pollutants into the air, and this material is flammable, which would not be the best thing for forests that have a tendency to catch on fire very quickly.

This push and pull with ways of fighting off climate change is something that I still am trying to understand, and something that really makes climate change a wicked problem. Even if there are these new and interesting ways of combating climate change, they often come with some negative side effects, like adding different pollutants into the air or being too costly to be practical. I am hoping to work on ways to sequester carbon and other greenhouse gasses in a way that doesn’t negatively impact populations, but that could honestly take more time than we as a population have to combat the effects of climate change.

The most important thing I tool from this film was that we need to start a massive effort to reverse the effects of climate change before it is too late. The populations who are first affected won’t really be any of us, but instead people in developing countries or the impoverished parts of developed countries. These people are the people who have contributed the least to climate change, but will be the first ones who are affected by it. This is one of my main drives for becoming more sustainable and why I really am invested in environmental sustainability, since I do not believe it is fair to those who are vulnerable to climate change to be the main ones affected, when corporations are the ones who are really responsible.

On January 16 I attended the student involvement fair, which showcased a variety of student clubs and programs that I could join. However, my main goal with going to the involvement fair was to learn more about the sustainability or environmentally focused clubs, since that is was I am the most interested in. With my major being environmental science, and my heavy interest in environmental sustainability, I wanted to become more involved in those types of student groups at OSU.

At the involvement fair, I learned about different student groups like Ecosia at OSU, a newly formed student group dedicated to the promotion of Ecosia, which is a search engine that uses ad revenue to plant trees. They are specifically focused on getting Ecosia more widely used on campus through initiatives like changing default browsers on campus to Ecosia, that way more trees can be planted to sequester carbon. This really interested me, since I am very passionate about global warming, carbon sequestration, and as previously mentioned, environmental sustainability. Other clubs I learned about included the Environmental Protection Student Association, which helps spread information on environmental policy and help students become involved in environmental policy or just become more informed.

From the student involvement fair I was able to learn about these clubs that really related to my interests, and I was also able to attend meeting for new clubs that I had never joined in the beginning of last semester. Hopefully I can continue to become more involved in these environmental student groups and work to make a positive impact on this campus in terms of increased sustainability and environmental awareness.

On October 25th I attended the final Friday dinner at North Market with other IA students. At North Market there are many diverse vendors who all bring a different aspect of Columbus into one space. This is related to International Affairs through the combination of the many different types of vendors in a single environment that allows for understanding multiple cultures through their different cuisines. It was interesting to see how each vendor’s area was set up was distinct and represented what they were selling. When eating all together, everyone’s choice in food was very diverse and it was fun to try all the different meals that everyone selected. This event intersected with personal goals I had in that I was able to connect even more with other members of International Affairs Scholars who I previously did not know much about. Sitting down with others and having a meal together helped me get to know other students better than I did previously, since I had not had the time before to become acquainted with everyone. This applied to my personal goal of getting to know more people in this scholars program, which is a goal of mine because I only know people from my floor and do not really know other students very well.

I attended a presentation about the Global Water Crisis by the Global Water Institute at OSU on October 24th. The presentation examined the difficulties that rural or isolated areas face when trying to implement more efficient methods of water retrieval. This especially connects to coursework I was completing for my ENR 2100 class, which was an intro to environmental science. For this course I was researching rural electrification and alternative energy implementation in off-grid communities. Many of the points discussed during this presentation tied into this topic, with the focus on educating communities about new systems and working with communities that wanted alternative access to water and/or energy. One point that stuck out to me was when the presentation mentioned communities getting access to water and then destroying it or being unable to maintain it since they were not properly informed before it was installed. A large factor in creating access to water or, relating to my research topic, access to electricity is the maintenance of whatever is installed in the community, and their willingness to utilize it. Personally, it was really interesting to see areas of my studies intersecting with my interests outside of classes I am taking. Learning about the process of implementing more effective access to water and the difficulties that come with it allowed me to better understand why the global water crisis is such a prevalent issue, and I was able to apply that knowledge to create a more detailed understanding of related coursework.

The October Democratic Debate covered many domestic issues, like gun control policy and healthcare coverage; however, my main interest in the debate was candidate’s stance on occupancy in Syria. This applies to International Affairs as the decisions that take place in America can end up affecting multiple world parties. The main three candidates that discussed their stance on a continued occupancy of Syria were Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg. Biden’s stance was difficult to see at first, since he tried to dance around a concrete answer. However, from what he did say, he would continue to support troops in Syria even though he does not think Syria is a problem for the United States. Warren had an opposing position, instead she believes that there must be an end to regime change wars through negotiation. She also emphasized that there is no military solution to the conflict in Syria, and resolution can only come from negotiation. Buttigieg countered this with saying that America must “keep its word” in regards to Syria and that he supports further occupancy of troops in Syria.

Watching political debates and keeping up to date on candidate’s policies is necessary if someone wants to stay active in the presidential election and future foreign policy. This question was particularly important in deciding which candidates I will be more likely to support in the upcoming election season. I am a nonviolent person, and I am of the belief that conflict must be solved diplomatically in order to be effectively resolved.

The documentary opens up with the closing of a GM factory, evoking the American beliefs of hope and a positive future. This comes true when a Chinese glass manufacturing company opens in place of the old GM; however, there is a clear distinction between how the factory was run when it was strictly an American company and how it is currently run as an American-Chinese fusion of a company. An employee at the newly opened Fuyao Glass America talks about how she used to make around $29/hr when she worked at GM, but she now makes less than $13/hr at the glass production factory. The chairman of the company also emphasized how they did not want unions in the factory, presumably due to non-unionized workers being able to be paid less or work in less than ideal conditions. However, this was contrasted with the speech US senator, Sherrod Brown, gave a speech that mentioned the history of unions in Ohio, the state where the factory is located. This highlighted the difference between the American history of unions being present in factory jobs, and the Chinese aversion to unions forming. The company going so far as to give presentations to Chinese employees about unions not working and being detrimental to the worker.

Keeping workers from forming unions, while favorable to the company, is certainly unfavorable to the worker, as they can be at higher risk for workplace injury and unsafe working conditions. The workers are not making a living wage, something that is important to an immigrant. The Chinese employees at the factory have moved their lives from their families in order to be able to better support them, but if they are not even making a living wage, is it even worth it to move to America? Factories should not solely be motivated by the bottom line and profit, but instead they should also look out for their employees and keep their safety in mind.

I attended the Greek Festival in the Short North district of downtown Columbus with students from IA Scholars on Friday, August 30th. Going to the Greek Festival let me learn first-hand about Greek culture and what that means to people who live in central Columbus. An important part of International Affairs is identity and how someone’s identity impacts their world view. The festival really helped me learn about different aspects of the cultural identity that the people participating in the festival shared. The impact that this event had on me was that I got to learn about another culture by experiencing it whether it was through the food there or the traditional dancing that everyone joined in on. 

The Greek Festival intersected with my personal goals by educating me on a culture that I was previously unfamiliar with. Before I first came to college, I had some personal goals that I wanted to reach and one of those goals was to be more aware of other cultures or identities. For me, remaining connected to my ethnic culture is extremely important, since I spent so much of my life trying to distance myself from it, and I am finally starting to reclaim that aspect of my identity. Because of this, I want to learn more about other cultures and identities. This event helped me know more about the Greek culture, and hopefully, with that information I will be able to better understand people who identify with that culture. 

The Student Wellness Center Presentation took place on campus on August 27th, and I attended it with some other students from international affairs scholars. This event does not really relate to international affairs, since it relates more to the students on campus. The presentation was more of an educational opportunity about health services available to students at an on campus location. Self care is important to me, and I try to prioritize my personal needs from time to time, so this presentation impacted my understanding of all aspects of personal health. As a college student who is constantly busy, it is necessary to pay attention to my health, and the event helped me become more aware of ways to remain healthy in all parts of my life.
This event connected with my personal goals of maintaining good health in all aspects of my life. It was good to hear about ways that I can work on those goals somewhere close by and on campus. Every week I make sure to set aside time where I can work on self care, and this presentation educated me in aspects of health that I should focus on and ways to improve those areas.