The latest episode of The SustainUW Podcast’s new miniseries, Sustainability Conversations across the Big Ten, looks at how student leadership shapes campus sustainability work, from the earliest pushes for action to the programs that keep the work moving today.
Hosts John Ernst and Ren Nickel spoke with Angela Oberg, Chief Climate Officer at Rutgers University, about the beginnings of Rutgers’ sustainability initiatives. “Our Climate Action Plan was adopted in 2021, and it lays out our goals for decarbonization and resilience building across all three of our physical campuses,” she said. Oberg noted that much of the plan’s direction “came from student advocacy and action,” and she described how students continue to lead through advisory roles, coursework, ambassador positions, and sustainability-focused internships.
The episode then shifts back to UW–Madison with longtime Office of Sustainability intern manager Tim Lindstrom, who describes how UW’s sustainability work and its Student Intern Program have grown alongside each other.
“The interns in our program do a lot… and engage with a lot of different stakeholders and actors on our campus,” he said, underscoring how central their involvement has become to the office’s outreach, research, and programming. He also pointed out how impactful this work can be on an individual level in addition to an institutional one.
“One of the things that is immensely rewarding [and] gratifying about working with students,” Lindstrom said, “is when you do have students that come to you and say, ‘this experience changed the way I think about things… or what I think I’m capable of.’”
The SustainUW Podcast is produced by undergraduate interns Evie Skibicki, John Ernst, Julia Fechner, Kate Scroggins, Nate Dancer, and Ren Nickel, with original theme music by Abhinay Reddy. You can listen to the full episode above, or wherever you get your podcasts.