This is Climate to Action, a CSUSM student podcast.
My name is Saturn Salama. I am a second year
double major in literature and writing and theater.
I'm here because I believe climate justice might
just save our lives. Climate to Action is here
to amplify voices and explore solutions in the
fight against climate change, and to address
climate injustice for all living things. We are
committed to incorporating discussions on Indigenous
knowledge in addressing the climate crisis, and
to provide a call to action in every episode.
But first, we'd like to acknowledge that our
recording studio is located on the traditional
territory of the Luiseño -Payocoichin people.
CSUSM and its surrounding areas are still home
to the six federally recognized bands of the
La Jolla, Paula, Palma, Pachanga, Rincon, and
Ceboba -Luiseno -Payacuichan people. It's also
important to acknowledge that this land remains
the shared space among the Kupenyo, Kumeyaay,
and Ipai peoples. Today's episode is focused
on CSUSM's campus and sustainability initiatives.
We are delighted to introduce a special guest,
the ASI Sustainability Representative for the
2024 -2025 school year. Let's give a warm welcome
to Ashley Skarsgård. Thank you so much for having
me. Please tell us a bit about yourself and when
did you first hear about climate change and climate
action? Absolutely. So my name is Ashley Skarshaug.
I'm a third year here on campus, double majoring
in criminology and political science. I first
heard about climate justice and climate change
probably back when we all did when like kindergarten,
when you learn how to recycle for the first time.
And honestly, ever since I've just been had a
really big passion for it and the drive has just
never ended. Sick. So what initially drew you
to being the ASI sustainability representative?
Because that's a big role. That's a role in student
government. So it goes beyond just like recycling.
So what impact were you hoping to make by being
the ASI sustainability representative? That's
a really good question. So originally, I got
into ASI as a whole in our Lobby Corps volunteer
opportunity back on my second year here on campus.
And that's honestly when I found out what ASI
was. And so I was just really inspired just to
take on not just a leadership role, but something
that I was passionate about being sustainability.
Like I said, I've been very passionate about
it low key since day one or more high key since
day one. And it's just been such a great adventure
being the ASI sustainability representative from
learning what the position does to doing the
position to actually sitting there and sitting
on those committees, having a vote, having a
voice, telling them the concerns that students
had. It was not only inspiring for me, but very
much. continued to educate me in a sustainability
and environmental consciousness. Could you tell
us a bit more about what the ASI Sustainability
Representative does on a day -to -day? Yeah,
absolutely. So we sit on the board of directors,
which means that we hold office hours. So me
personally, my office hours were every Monday
and Wednesday. And it was... So what we would
do in our office hours is really like check our
emails, respond to students. We would make sure
that we're up to date on things that are going
on on campus, whether that's initiatives that
are happening, events, etc. And then every Friday
or one Friday every month. We would have our
board of directors meeting where it was a committee
where all of the board of directors and our entire
exec team was there. And we would have either
action items, presentations brought in for us,
or even just students at large coming in to voice
their concerns. And we would sit there, take
notes about if we had to just be informed students
to really give back to our community. And then
another thing that the ASI sustainability representative
does is we, oversee and chair the sustainability
fund no the sustainability projects fund committee
which is a committee where we oversee a budget
of ten thousand dollars funded by the students
for student -led initiatives with sustainability
specifically and it's honestly just incredible
to be able to have had this opportunity and to
be able to continue sharing more about it Yes.
Can you tell us a bit more about that $10 ,000
sustainability fund? That's a lot of money. Like
what projects did that committee decide to support
and what outcomes are you most proud of? So just
some projects off the top of my head would be
the Milpa Hub. They've been on campus for a couple
years now. We just funded them, I want to say
last week. And then we also funded hydroponics,
which we will start seeing both of these more
emerge on campus next semester or the following
semester. I'm very excited to see how they choose
to spend these funds. I'm very much giving them.
Or the committee is very much giving them, like,
free will onto where they want to put these funds.
We did give them, like, specified things on,
you know, what we can and can't fund just regarding,
like, logistics. So I'm really excited to see
the Milpa Hub, honestly. come more to life. They
have such an amazing community. I went and visited
them the other day and there were so many people
out there planting plants, eating food, just
laughing and really having like such a bond.
And it was just so amazing to see. Could you
tell me a bit more about hydroponics? What is
that? So hydroponics is kind of like a method
of growing plants without using soil. So it uses
more of a nutrient rich water instead. The ones
that we funded specifically, I think they're
going to have wheels and be like moved around.
Cute. Yeah, it's going to have different plants.
I'm very excited. I don't know if they're going
to be like vegetables or fruits or anything.
definitely keep in touch maybe we'll find out
soon okay could you tell me a bit more about
what your committee was funding like who they
decide to fund yeah so we have um like guidelines
to follow when we are deciding like what projects
to fund um But the first thing that happens is
a student applies to the fund during the application
period. Does it have to be a student? It does.
Okay. Yes. So it's a student and then they have
to have a co -advisor of a staff or faculty member.
But the whole point of SPF is really to have
a student -led initiative. So it's just really
like we're giving back the money that students
are giving to ASI. We're really just like always
bringing it back to the students. And so during
the application process, they'll apply and we
get the applications and then we have our meeting,
our SPF meeting with the entire committee there,
all of our advisors. And they have the option
to come in and present if they want, whether
that's just coming in with like a little speech
or coming in with a presentation like Canva slides,
super fancy. It's really up to them. So then
our committee goes into these things called a
closed session, where we just ask everyone to
leave the room, except for, you know, the committee
and the advisors. And then we go over the guidelines
of SPF and whether or not we can fund it, how
much we want to allocate to that project. We
really just leave it up to the committee members.
As the chair, I don't vote necessarily on these
committees. However, I do just really oversee
and kind of move the conversation along, just
really Make sure it's effective. So true. Looking
ahead, how do you plan to carry your experience
with sustainability and student advocacy to your
future career? That's a really good question.
Actually, this summer, I have an internship abroad
as to work with a sustainability project in Belgium.
And I'm very excited. So that's like the most
recent thing that I'm going to be doing. And
then just I'm definitely going to continue this
passion I've had for so long. And I will. just
honestly continue with that path. And student
advocacy wise, I became the communications officer
for the pre -law society. So that's what I will
be doing next school year. And yeah, I'm honestly
just excited to see where the path takes me.
I'm just going to keep following it down. Yes.
Sounds awesome. I can't wait to see what you
do and how you incorporate sustainability into
your future plans. Why do you think sustainability
should be a student issue, not just a campus
operations issue? I think it should be a student
issue because we're not the future generation.
We're the current generation. We're the current
generation that can make change and we should
be making change. Just if we see... anything
our friend doesn't recycle something we should
call them out there's little things in our day
-to -day lives that we could be doing I'm not
expecting everyone to go swimming in the ocean
and pick up trash that'd be amazing if you do
but there's little things in your day -to -day
life that you could be doing and as the ASI sustainability
rep that's something that I really tried to just
push out there to students is like being sustainable
isn't necessarily hard It could just be, I recycled
my Starbucks cup, I threw the ice down the sink,
and then I threw away the cup. It could be anything.
It could be, I actually didn't even get a Starbucks
cup. I used my reusable cup this morning. It
could be really anything. I walk to school. Yeah.
Is there something you want to talk about? I
also serve currently as the vice president of
philanthropy and service for the Greek Leadership
Council. And within that, I oversee one volunteer
opportunity for everyone in Greek life to be
able to participate in just that has to do with
service and all of my future initiatives when
it comes to planning. these service events is
really trying to focus on sustainability efforts,
whether that's like a clothing drive or going
and cleaning up like a national, no, cleaning
up like a lake or the beach or just a park. It
could be anything. That's very much like what
my focus is going to be on though. And, yeah,
so that's another way that I'm trying to, not
trying to, but going to be continuing my sustainable
efforts on campus and elsewhere. Absolutely.
Thank you so much. In every episode of our podcast,
we have a call to action. We like to ask our
guests their thoughts about what our listeners
can do to positively impact our community. What
are some simple things people can do to help
address the climate crisis? Honestly, right now,
with the influx of AI in our day -to -day lives,
I've been seeing it everywhere, not only in our
classrooms, but even on TV shows and movies,
you'll have that AI guide in the corner. Please
don't use AI, guys. It's really harmful to the
environment. It uses a high energy consumption.
It has a high energy consumption, especially
during its model training. So especially when
it comes to things like chat GPT, just try and
stay away from it. Turn off the AI search on
Google if you can. I have. Yeah, that's honestly
my biggest suggestion, especially just where
the world is going now with artificial intelligence.
Yeah. Let's try our hardest to avoid that if
we could. There's other ways around it. If you
have a question, you could Google it. Absolutely.
And thank you all for tuning in to this episode
of Climate to Action. Remember, whether it's
through learning more, making sustainable choices
or advocating for change, every step counts.
Keep taking action and we'll see you next time.
Thank you so much for being on our podcast. Thank
you so much for having me and for listening.
Want to hear more from Climate to Action, a CSUSM
student podcast? Listen wherever you get your
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number two action. Visit for updates, behind
the scenes content and more. Finally, Climate
to Action wants to remind you to take climate
action. We challenge you to take the first step
in your own climate journey. Like Ashley suggested,
maybe let's stop using AI. Let's transform our
climate curiosity into climate action together.
Remember, every small change can make a big impact
when we work collectively. Climate to Action
is produced at Inspiration Studios on the CSUSM
campus and is funded through a generous donation
from the Rosemary Kramer Raitt Foundation. Until
next time, this is Saturn from Climate to Action
signing off.