Now that I have learned as much as I can about the impact of the aviation industry on the environment, the politics involved with addressing the issue, and nonprofits who are working for change, it’s time for me to take action. During Earth Month, over the next 4 weeks, I will be completing actions to address my issue, attempting to reach all three levels of the Justice-Oriented Citizen model in the process.
The first week will be focused on being a Personally Responsible Citizen. I plan on educating myself even further about what people in the aviation industry are doing to address the issue of aviation pollution. Specifically, I will be looking at how the aviation and aerospace engineering departments at OSU are working towards creating a more sustainable aviation industry. I will be contacting the top researchers at the Aerodynamic Flow Control and Advanced Diagnostics (AFCAD), Gas Dynamics and Turbulence, and Gas Turbine labs at Ohio State to ask a few questions about how their research is helping to make aviation more sustainable. I know these researchers will be very busy, so it might be difficult for them to spare the time to answer my questions, but I plan on emailing them and providing multiple times that we could possibly talk over the phone, and also providing the option of them simply answering the questions over email. I also plan on stopping by their offices (since I basically see them on a daily basis, due to my job being in Scott Lab).
The second and third weeks of Earth Month will be my Participatory Citizen level week. I plan on registering for the Ohio Aviation Association’s 2017 Annual Conference, in which I will attend in the third week of April (April 18-19). I plan on developing questions to ask the various panelists that will focus around my issue (still debating whether I should register as a moderator or not). This conference will be a collection of “airport sponsors and their governing bodies, FBO’s [fixed-base operators] and the airport supply chain, association members, legislators, ODOT, educators, students, consultants, and FAA representatives” and will explore a wide array of topics, including the effect recent regulations will have on innovation and efficiency as well as fuel systems. The thing that might be difficult when completing this action is that the conference occurs on a Tuesday and Wednesday, meaning that I will miss classes. However, once I register, which I plan on doing sometime this week, I will contact my instructors and inform all relevant parties of my absence on these days.
The last week of Earth Month will be the week to be a Justice-Oriented Citizen. I believe that one of the root causes of the aviation industry contributing as it is to global climate change and pollution is that these are the consequences of the technology and techniques available to the aviation industry at this time. At the forefront of solving this root problem is research, which is why throughout the entire month of April, I plan on applying for research internships, such as within the labs that I mentioned previously. By the last week of April, I will most likely have decisions about whether or not I can work with them over the upcoming summer. The difficulty that comes with this action is that it is dependent upon whether or not I obtain an internship or not, however I plan on using all of the resources at my disposal to make this happen, such as Engineering Career Services, in which I am already registered with, and my networking connections that I have acquired while working at my current job in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Ohio State.
I am very excited to complete all of this actions. My goal by the end of Earth Month is to become more involved in the aviation industry and start to make an impact, no matter how small, on the progress towards making the aviation industry a more sustainable one.