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Coming to Ohio State has allowed me to broaden my horizons and see the world in a different light. This year, I have become able to communicate with others as a result of me attending the Ohio State University and my involvement in the ENR Scholars group. ENR Scholars helped me with my communication skills as it provided me with an opportunity to interact with people who had similar interests as me, and gave me a small group of people to get close to and practice my developing skills on. The ability to communicate with strangers and new people has allowed me to branch out and make friends, which was kind of a struggle for me in middle and high school. In terms of other changes I would like to make in my life, one change I would like to make would be the ability to help other people. I think that if I were able to help other people, I could make a greater impact in and on the world. In addition to this change, I also think that, in order to improve myself, I will aim to take time to think about a situation before I react to it. I think that this will help me become a better person by allowing myself not to hurt others with my words or actions unintentionally. One reason I have decided to live differently was because I was not entirely pleased with the way I interacted with people throughout my high school career, so I think being better at communication can help me branch out to more people. This is also the reason I plan to think more before I speak in regard to offending other people, as I am now realizing that my actions are having a greater impact on people than I previously thought they had. I am currently taking in many things from the world around me. One of these things is the ability to connect both with society and nature, partially due to my involvement with ENR Scholars. My Earth Month Action Plan allowed me to become more aware of issues facing society and the world. Since I donated money to a non-profit (more than once), I think that my contributions were able to make a small change, and I plan to continue to do this, to allow the non-profit I donated money to to continue doing their work. I think that my choices were meaningful as I was able to inform more people about an issue that I care about, and I was also able to convince other people to donate money to the cause. In conclusion, ENR Scholars as a group and attending the Ohio State University as a whole has led to me developing more interpersonal skills in addition to taking more responsibility for my actions both in my personal life and my effect on the world around me. I am glad to be a part of the ENR Scholars group, and I am grateful for the opportunity to continue my involvement in the group in the upcoming year.

For my first week, I had planned to talk to people about climate change to inform them on the issue and tell them what they could do to help combat it. I was able to complete this action with ease as I talked to many people from my suite, floor, and the rest of my dorm about the issue. I did not really have issues doing this task, as I find it easy to approach and talk to people, and once that part was done, bringing up climate change and some preventative methods when dealing with it was easy. For my second week, I planned to sign petitions that were related to the field of climate change and renewable energy. This action was a little bit harder, because I decided to sign petitions on change.org. However, when I looked up climate change centered petitions on the website, the most recent petitions were from August of 2016. I signed these petitions, but I also found additional petitions relating to the environment and environmental issues, such as one to help save Blanchard State Park in Bellingham, Washington from clearcutting, and another one to help prohibit the use of plastic bags in Coral Gables, Florida. One thing I learned from my first two weeks is that I have very good skills when it comes to communicating with people, which came out during my first week as I had to talk to other people about the issue of climate change as a whole. For my next two weeks, my actions are to donate money to a non-profit related to climate change, and to convince other people to also donate to non-profits. I do not foresee challenges arising with me donating money to an environmental non-profit organization, as I have already planned to donate funds to a non-profit organization by the name of Climate Central. I foresee some issues trying to get other people to donate to non-profits, because people may not want to give their money to an organization that they are not entirely passionate about. I plan to address this issue by using my persuasive talents to attempt to sway people’s minds in order to get them to donate.

For my first action, I plan to inform those around me about climate change and its issues. I believe my biggest obstacle would be getting people to listen to me, but I believe that I could eventually get many people to listen to what I am saying. For my second action, I plan to sign petitions related to climate change issues. I don’t foresee any issues arising from me attempting to signing petitions. For my action for the third week of the month, I plan to donate money to either one or two of the many non-profits working in the area of climate change. The most difficult part about this action would be picking a non-profit to donate to that identifies most with my ideologies and interests, and I plan to do additional research on climate change non-profit organizations to facilitate the process of choosing which organization to donate to. For my action for the last week of the month, I plan to try to recruit others to also donate to climate change focused non-profit organizations in order to increase the funding they receive and help them get closer to completing their mission. One thing that would be difficult for this action would be that some people may have their minds set on not donating to any organization for a variety of reasons. Another difficult thing with this action would be to convince people to not just donate to an organization once, but rather repeatedly in order to make a larger impact. I plan to use persuasive skills to influence people to give once, and then possibly tell them about the benefits of donating repeatedly.

As a result of what I learned from the guest speakers, I learned a lot about a couple of non-profit organizations in the city of Columbus. The first speaker worked at the St. Stephens Community House, which aims to assist families in the Linden area to become self-sufficient. They do this through many programs that serve in the areas of community organization, education, childcare, and social development. The second speaker worked at Community Refugee and Immigration Services, or CRIS for short. The mission of CRIS is to help refugees and immigrants reach and sustain self-sufficiency and achieve successful integration into the Central Ohio community. Overall, as a result of my research from before the class discussion, and what was said during the discussion, I realized how hard certain non-profit organizations have it due to the lack of funding they receive to complete their missions for an extended period of time. I also learned that non-profits have difficulty when it comes to retaining donors to their organizations, as some people think that by donating once or twice, they are helping combat the issue in an effective way, when in reality, that is sometimes not the case. In terms of my future plans to combat climate change when it comes to non-profits, I plan to donate to at least one organization in order to help them complete their missions. Also, during or after my career, I may attempt to work for a climate change centered non-profit organization such as Climate Central, that conducts and publishes scientific research to show the effects of climate change on the planet.

Currently, there are many different non-profits that are working to make an impact when regarding to halting climate change which carry out their methods in different fashions and have different goals. One of these organizations is the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which aims to get important environment-friendly legislation passed at the local, state, and national levels as well as attempts to get businesses of all varieties to implement more efficient and green business practices. Another non-profit organization that works to make an impact in the field of climate change in a different way is Climate Central, which is a non-profit news organization that conducts scientific research in the fields of climate change and energy, and then distributes the results of their studies through their website. One way in which people could get involved with non-profits addressing the field of climate change would be to donate funds to these organizations in order to help them complete their missions easier. Another way people could get involved with climate change centered non-profit organizations would be to get an employment opportunity with a non-profit organization in the field. One challenge that exists when getting involved with non-profit organizations is that non-profit organizations typically do not offer especially lucrative job openings, meaning that it would take a major sacrifice in order to work at a non-profit as opposed to a for-profit organization. Another huge obstacle that non-profits face is retaining donors, as many people will donate to an organization once or twice and then feel like they have done their part in supporting a good cause, but without a steady cash flow, these businesses have hard times staying around and completing their missions. In my opinion, the most important thing to consider when viewing the issue of climate change through a non-profit work lens would be the actual effectiveness of the organization in completing its goals, as if an organization is not able to complete what it sets out to do, its viability decreases substantially.

The TED talk I found that is somewhat related to this issue is titled “The way we think about charity is dead wrong” by Dan Pallotta. This TED talk was not necessarily about environmental specific non-profits, but rather about non-profits and charities in general. In his TED talk, Pallotta discusses the differences in key areas between for-profit and non-profit businesses, such as how non-profits aren’t supposed to use money to convince people to give to their business and how for-profit businesses have far more time to prove themselves as viable companies as opposed to non-profits. He also discusses how society has a misconception on the ways charities and non-profits should operate, because society typically believes that charities and non-profits should spend as little money as possible on fundraising because then they would have more money for the cause that they are trying to support. However, Pallotta believes that this is backwards as fundraising is essential to multiplying the amount of money that is available for research and outreach. I took away from this video that, from a business standpoint, non-profits have a much harder time completing their goals than for-profit businesses due to many constraints both financially and socially. I also took away that in order for non-profits to successfully complete their missions, it is essential for society to not try to constrain them to a large extent.

As a result of what I learned from the guest speaker, I now have a greater understanding of what social enterprises stand for and do. I also have a greater appreciation for social enterprises as a result of what the guest speaker said, as I learned that some social enterprises cut down on their profits and paychecks in order to donate towards causes they support. As I consider to explore the issue of climate change, I think I now need to focus on businesses that donate towards environmental action groups and implement business practices that help the environment and slow down the change in climate that is currently affecting the world. Personally, my biggest takeaway from the session in class was that any business that works towards solving a social or environmental issue can be a social enterprise. It is important to support social enterprises in my opinion because social enterprises do what they can to actually make a tangible change in an issue that they are passionate about. There are also social enterprises that attempt to solve every social issue, such as Warby Parker that works to train eye doctors in third-world countries and Hot Chicken Takeover which does what it can to combat homelessness and precious incarceration.  After the initial assignment for this lens and hearing the guest speaker talk about social enterprises, I think what I could do to counteract the issue of climate change when it comes to social enterprise would be to attempt to be employed by one in the near or far future, buying products from companies that work towards bettering the environment or potentially starting a business that donates a majority of its profits towards charities and non-profits that work towards slowing down climate change.

A social enterprise is an organization that attempts to solve social and environmental problems through improved business strategies or through use of their profits to improve the local communities. Currently, there are many business doing their part when it comes to implementing business strategies that are moving towards a greener approach to running their business, or donating money towards environmental organizations. A couple examples of these businesses would be Wal-Mart and Patagonia. Personally, I could get involved with the issue of climate change through social enterprise through supporting businesses that employ green strategies in their sale of products and that donate to environmental organizations. I could also encourage people to shop at these specific stores instead of possibly cheaper, but less environmentally friendly options in order to increase the profits of the greener companies, which would allow them to put more money towards instituting more environmentally friendly strategies and would also allow the companies to donate more money to environmental organizations. One problem that I could encounter while trying to do this is that people may not listen to me when I advise that they use the greener companies due to a preference of lower prices or better quality elsewhere. In fact, I have encountered this problem in the past as my mother frequently refuses to shop at Wal-Mart, which employs green techniques, in favor of better quality good elsewhere. On the personally responsible citizen level, I currently recycle containers and goods I use that are recyclable. On the participatory citizen level, in the past I participated in events in my high school that were geared towards conserving energy and recycling, such as Power Down Day, in which as little as possible electricity was used in classrooms and the halways. On the social-justice oriented citizen level, I am currently exploring ways to get people in my family to recycle and do more environmentally friendly actions, such as turning down the heat in their house a few degrees during the winter. The most important things to consider when it comes to how social enterprises enact more green policies and attempt to slow down climate change would be which companies are doing the most to help slow the issue by either donating to environmental organizations that spend more time working in the climate change field or how certain businesses institute business methods that allow them to be more environmentally friendly and environmentally conscious than rival organizations.

The TED Talk I found that addresses the issue of social enterprise and its intersection with climate change was given by John Doerr in 2007, titled “Salvation (and profit) in greentech.” The talk was about the impact that companies, individuals, policy, and new technology currently have and may potentially have when dealing with saving the environment. A couple minutes into the video, Doerr talks about how Wal-Mart decided to go green in 2005 by reducing energy consumption in their existing stores by twenty percent, and reducing it by thirty percent in their new stores between 2005 and 2012. Wal-Mart is one example of a business doing what it can to combat climate change through improved business methods, such as using efficient lighting and painting the roofs of their buildings white in order to naturally regulate heating and cooling easier. Other businesses such as McDonald’s, Home Depot, and Target have also used improved business strategies in an effort to save the environment, from switching to entirely recyclable containers to installing more renewable energy sources.

In society today, there are many complex issues throughout different regions and areas of the country that need to be solved. In my opinion, three of the biggest issues facing society today are sustainable energy, climate change, and a disparity in access to education. I believe that these three are some of the most important issues in society today due to the way the world is changing the world around us, and if I were to attempt to influence the world in a positive way, I would aim for it to be in one of these three areas. The model I decided to put these different topics through is the Three Pillars of Sustainability. The Three Pillars of Sustainability are economic, environmental, and social goals, also known as people, planet, and profit driven goals.

The first issue I chose was the issue of sustainable energy. I chose the issue of sustainable energy because I think it is one of the most important topics facing the world right now, and could have serious impacts on current and future generations. This issue has to do with the planet as if we were to use more sustainable sources of energy, it would help increase the longevity of the planet by not wasting its natural resources at such an alarming rate. The use of sustainable energy sources would help preserve the resources of the planet and possibly help preserve some habitats as well. This issue has to do with the people because an increased use in sustainable energy would help preserve human habitats and potentially be more cost effective for people in general. This issue would be good for profits because there are some sources of renewable energy right now that are pretty cheap, and even if they were too expensive now, it would be easier to sustain in the long term and may be more cost effective.

The second issue I chose was the issue of climate change. Personally, I find this issue to be the largest issue facing the human race right now, as the world has consistently been getting warmer on average over the past few years. This issue particularly stood out to me over the other options because when I was a child, I really wanted to be a meteorologist, so I devoted a lot of time and effort into researching climate and the weather. I still care a lot about the changing climate and am concerned about many events that have to do with the changing climate, such as more intense storms, rising ocean levels, and changes in the global temperature. This issue affects potential profits because it may have an increasingly negative effect on agriculture. Increasing temperatures and heightened storm intensity may affect possible crop yield in the short and long term. The planet is affected by climate change as the changing temperature has very negative effects, such as melting ice caps and causing sea levels to rise, leading to a decrease in the habitat of certain animals, including humans, as island nations such as the Maldives, which has an average elevation of around five feet above sea level, are in danger of becoming submerged due to climate change. This issue affects the people in a number of ways, including a higher possibility of death during more intense heat waves, and forcing communities to move from regions which are at risk of being flooded by the rising sea levels to safer areas. This is the issue I plan to explore throughout the course of the semester. Challenges I may experience as I seek to become more engaged in the issue include possible limitations based on costs and accessibility.

The third issue I chose was the issue of a disparity in access to education. I chose this issue over the other issues because in my community and even in my family, I have seen the impact this issue has on different people. This issue effects the people because it a disparity in education leads to a future inequality in wages and future possibilities. In terms of profits, it would be better for the economy of the nation as a whole if the education disparity was reduced, because it would lead to more competitive wages for everyone and allow for a larger flow of money throughout the economy. This has to do with the planet because generally, people with higher levels of education seem to care more about the environment than people with lower levels of education.

For this semester, I chose the Nature and Outdoor Adventure Columbus To-Do List. I am most looking forward to the possibility to explore the city of Columbus’ parks. From this assignment, I hope to be able to interact more with the city I plan to spend at least the next four years of my life. The first experience I had was taking a trip down the Olentangy Trail. The ENR Scholars as a group did a service trip to the trail earlier in the year, and I enjoyed the experience on the trail at that time, so I decided to go again at night. I was able to enjoy the trail much more in a setting in which there were minimal people and lights, because I was able to interact with and appreciate nature much more than when I was focused on picking up trash from around the trail. On this walk, I spent a decent amount of time looking out on the water and reflecting upon the day’s events. I found the opportunity to reflect upon a long day and past life choices really relaxing, as I was able to spend valuable alone time that I was not aware that I needed. Also, since I went at night, the low amount of traffic gave me a greater ability to experience the nature around me, and look out upon the beautiful Columbus wilderness, both natural and artificial. I would definitely recommend this activity (night walking along the Olentangy Trail) to a friend and would more than likely do it again.