When I started my Master’s in the School of Resource and Environmental Management last Fall, I was eager to find a meaningful role among student organizations working on climate change solutions on campus. As it happens, I came across precisely the kind of role I was hoping for as Embark’s Climate Coordinator. Throughout the year, I led a team of passionate and dedicated volunteers to educate SFU students about energy conservation, to encourage our university administration to take bolder steps toward investing in renewable energy, and to rally university students across Canada to support more effective federal climate policies.

Having witnessed so much positive momentum on the sustainability issues I care about in the past year while working with Embark, I have now returned to the organization for a second year serving on their External Relations Committee. It’s my belief that having a grassroots student organization on campus that supports students taking on their own sustainability initiatives and builds their capacity to affect change only enriches the graduate and undergraduate experience – and this is the advantage that an organization like Embark offers to us at SFU.

Want to see more programming like this across SFU’s campuses? Vote YES in Embark’s upcoming grad student referendum:

Graduate students, go to http://websurvey.sfu.ca/survey/261114938 to vote November 29 (8 am) – December 1 (11:30 am).