UCSD GELS SIO/DC 2019

July 14th, 2019 Final Reflections Submitted by Audrey Dickinson: Of the seven Cs, the ones that impacted me the most were consciousness of self and collaboration. I struggle with consciousness of self because during the school year, I tend to shove everything down to stay functional. I’m also wary of collaboration because I’m an academic loner by nature and I generally see other people as more of a hindrance than an asset when working. One activity on the first Wednesday night addressed both of these areas. We sat in a circle and, after some contrived trust exercises, each shared an intensely personal story. This was collaborative because, as every person revealed something, it encouraged other people to be more vulnerable. It was also an exercise in consciousness of self; I articulated things I hadn’t really allowed myself to acknowledge before then. I generally shy away from introspection because I never like what I find and it sends me into a crisis for a few days. But...

July 11th, 2019 Success on the Hill by Peter Tangikyan Before heading into a congressional office, millions of scenarios go through one’s head and they rarely are positive thoughts. We all go in looking for the big “yes,” but quite frankly, this is only ideal and rarely occurs. Going into Representative Tony Cardenas’ office, I surprisingly was not nervous because this office was to represent the needs of my community. It felt like a safe space where I was able to explain my ideas to passionate and concerned individuals, without the fear of being judged. Unlike the proposal of other students, my ask was ambitious since I was asking him to introduce new legislation that required a large sum of money.  Peter outside of Representative Tony Cardenas office. Walking into his office, I really expected nothing more than a couple of “good jobs” and I already accepted the worst outcome. I met with Representative Cardenas’ Deputy Chief of Staff/Legislative Director, who wa...

July 10th , 2019 The First Day of Meetings by Alex Huen The past week has been nothing but eventful. Through visiting historical sites such as the African American History Museum and the Washington Monument, I learned a great deal about the culture of D.C. After the hectic metro ride, the first sight of seeing Capitol Hill was breathtaking and I really admired the beauty of the architecture. I have been particularly fond of my first visit to Washington D.C. As a group, we have learned a lot about our environment and fun times have passed by quickly. While our activities in California were academic and technically oriented, exercises in D.C. took a 180-degree turn as business and politics kicks in. Besides learning about the fundamentals of climate changes, we were also taught lobbying skills. It is evident that environmental issues as a science will not be applicable in real-world situations without political support. Before our first round of meetings, we listene...

July 10th, 2019 Change, Change, Change by Cha Thompson The first activity in our evening activity was about change. We had to stare into a partner’s eyes for exactly one minute. Everyone paired up and my partner was Hannah. As we were staring into each other’s eyes, I felt calm and relaxed. During that one minute, we had a conversation about the color of their eyes and hair. I personally think that having a conversation helps both people feel less uncomfortable because you can connect with them verbally and visually. Once the minute was over, we were told to change five things about ourselves. At first I got stressed out deciding on what I should change. For example, I started by rolling up one sleeve and taking a shoe off. I felt that once we turned back around, it was easy to see what was changed because we had just spent a minute staring at them and I personally felt more connected to my partner. Cha and her partner Hannah working to find ways to change their appe...

July 9th, 2019 A Day In Science and Film by Julia Marquis Today was the final day before our congressional meetings at Capitol Hill. Everyone has been working really hard on their issue papers and their arguments with the hopes of making an impact on their congressperson. We engaged in mock meetings and had our final papers reviewed by our instructors so they will be perfect for our meetings on Capitol Hill. We also had the opportunity to take a tour of the National Science Foundation (NSF), which was a truly incredible experience.  Early this morning we all piled into Ubers and ventured off to experience NSF. After arriving and making our way through security we met our tour guides and went up to a conference room to learn about NSF before embarking on the tour. The conversation impacted me a lot because I found myself very interested with NSF and how it works. We learned that NSF is an independent foundation that issues grants to science institutes all around the ...

July 8th, 2019 Preparing for Meetings by Chloe  Haner Today we all woke up to an Amber Alert about a flash flood. No one was excited about this except Robert and me. For the rest of the day we worked on presentation skills, which was very beneficial to me. I’ve noticed that my presentation skills have gotten substantially better since I’ve been on this trip. I’ve also noticed that I’ve been more open to discussions with other people and I actually engage with them, instead of shutting myself out.  The rest of the day went great, as we were slowly reaching the day we all talk to our representatives. Whitney and I have prepared as a team to talk to our representative, Ami Bera, about co-sponsoring a bill to put a tax on carbon emissions. Her and I have poured out heart and souls into our issue papers for about 15 hours. We also practiced presenting to our RA for about 8 hours. I think we can all say that we are extremely prepared and will do a great job.  ...

July 8th, 2019 Preparing for the Big Day by Whitney Barnett I am anxiously awaiting my meeting with my representative in a few days, but today improved my self confidence and my optimism for the future of environmental advocacy. At the beginning of the program, I was less nervous than I am now, since it seemed like such a far out concept. Now that the day is approaching, I’m feeling more and more pressure to succeed, especially with all the practice we are getting.  Today we had another meeting with a CCL member and each time we hear about CCL, the more interested I become in this monumental organization. We learned more about how to lobby and actually started to practice the roles which was very helpful as I know now that I will not be confused or lost while in a different representative’s meeting. I know how I can fully support the asker to the best of my abilities. Since I share a representative with another member of the program, we had the opportunity to practic...

July 7th, 2019 The First Day in D.C. by Robert Burch Today is Sunday and we are just over halfway through our Global Environmental Leadership and Sustainability program. Our day today was full of activities such as visiting the zoo, an informative monument tour, and detailed work on our issue papers to present to our representatives. No matter what we did, all of it was exciting and interesting. The group outside of the National Zoo. Our first activity on our first full day in D.C. was leaving immediately after breakfast to take the metro and then walk the rest of the way to the Smithsonian National Zoo. The group was given around two hours where we got to walk around the zoo, look at the animals there, and learn about them and their place in our world. The animals there were very diverse and fascinating to learn about and helped remind me of the importance of protecting biodiversity in the ecosystem. Sadly, however, a lot of the animals and plants we saw there were...

Saturday, July 6 2019 As we shift our focus and time zone, and arrive in Washington DC, we have taken the time to think back on the best moments of the past week and the anticipation of what is to come. Here are the thoughts of the participants as they reflect and prepare for what lies ahead. LOOKING BACK -- Submitted by Audrey Dickenson: One of my favorite activities from the past week was the crash course about public speaking on Tuesday. We worked in teams of five to address fluency, body language, and filler words. For each of these areas, we delivered one-minute speeches on randomly selected topics; at the end of the night, we evaluated overall quality in individual two-minute speeches to the entire group. I had an amazing time during this session because I’m rather opinionated and a natural storyteller. With my captive audience, I delivered hot takes on everything from childhood nightmares to the movie The Silence of the Lambs. When I received my evaluations from my ...

July 5th, 2019 Day 6: One Last Ride (Kind of) by Dexter Lim It is both exciting and melancholic to write this on our group's last day at UCSD. In the 6 days here, I have met some of the most dedicated, forward-thinking, and involved people in my entire life. During the week, through research and team-building activities, I feel that the group’s camaraderie and trust has become much stronger, and that we have all been working together towards the common goal set forth by this program: to learn to become responsible and well-informed leaders in sustainability.  Today, we made a monumental step towards that focus as we drafted our issue papers, as well as learning how to research our congressional representatives and their political stances. I personally found my research into the numerous bills introduced and cosigned by my representative, Susie Lee, frustrating as I could not find any decisive policy to help protect the environment that she had endorsed. Additional resea...