This is Climate to Action, a CSUSM student podcast.
We amplify voices, explore solutions to the climate
crisis, and confront climate injustice for all
living beings. I'm Jocelyn Oxley, one of your
new hosts for this episode. And I'm Saturn Salama,
the co -host for this episode. Here on this podcast,
we are committed to incorporating discussions
on climate justice and Indigenous knowledge to
address the climate crisis and to providing a
call to action in every episode. Stay tuned for
the end of the episode where we provide ways
you can take climate action yourself. We are
committed to incorporating discussions on climate
justice and indigenous knowledge to address the
climate crisis and to providing 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 six federally recognized bands of the La Jolla,
Pala, Palma, Pechanga, Rincon, and Soboba, Luiseno,
and Parumcoichum people. It's also important
to acknowledge that this land remains the shared
space among the Kupeno, Kumeyaay, and Ipai peoples.
And for today's episode, it is focused on CSUSM
Sustainability Club. They call themselves the
Environmental Stewards Association, usually shortened
to ESA. We've invited Scarlett, one of the club's
presidents of ESA, to talk with us. Scarlett,
thank you for being with us today. Thank you
for having me. We'd love to introduce you first.
Please tell us a bit about yourself. What's your
major and what makes you passionate about the
environment? Okay, well, I'm Scarlett. I am a
third year here. I'm a biology major with a focus
in ecology. And yeah, I'm the president of USA.
I just became president last fall semester, I
would say. And I think I got into just like sustainability
in general. Since I was like a kid, honestly,
my mom was very big on like... Very much, very,
what's the right word, activist on, like, the
environment, climate change, like, very much,
like, very open about it, like, growing up. So
she kind of really inspired me as a kid. She
would take me to, like, climate, like, justice
walks and just getting to see, like, the activism
and the unity, everyone being united over. a
shared cause especially one so special to me
like the environment I think it's just so inspiring
and like I kind of carried that into college
and then I heard about um ESA when I got was
a freshman and I was like I want to be a part
of that like I want to do something like because
I feel like it's so hard you can feel so helpless
when there's so many things going around about
climate change it's such a big issue but just
doing something in your own community whether
it's small like I feel like that like is so has
a big impact on itself like if everyone was just
doing little little things um in their communities
like I think we can make a big change and that's
kind of my mindset and why I wanted to join the
club all right well thank you for that well also
kind of going into ESA we wanted to know like
what's the ESA's mission so like just the basics
of what you guys kind of like what for students
for sure yeah um i'd say so esa we kind of we
work very closely with the sustainability program
here on campus um and we kind of want to spread
awareness on sustainability in general like on
the campus in this community in san marcos um
just yeah spreading spreading word about being
sustainable um giving students like opportunities
to i don't make a little difference you know
we we host little like beach cleanups trail cleanups
um we usually like collaborate um we try to collaborate
we're trying to collaborate more with like more
local organizations um getting more hands -on
with like um just trail cleanups and just cleaning
up the community as much as we can and spreading
awareness on sustainability and being very conscious
about the environment. It's kind of our goal.
Okay. We also understand that ESA members help
maintain gardens and natural spaces on campus.
For example, the pollinator garden. Could you
share a bit about how ESA helps to sustain that
garden? yeah so um we have yeah we have the pollinator
garden we run it we that's basically we're in
charge of that um we have our garden manager
um right now it's lucas shout out lucas um and
basically we do Right now we're doing bi -weekly
garden meetings where we'll have the whole club
meet at the garden and basically Lucas will give
us tasks for what we should be doing, like just
cleaning it up, basically making it look nice.
We have a couple projects in mind about planting
more things in there because it's all native
plants. We kind of try to keep it native to San
Diego. we have a couple ideas running around
we try to get the club very involved with you
know putting getting your input on what we should
be planting growing and yeah basically just spending
time in the garden cleaning it up weeding teaching
people about like how to weed how to clean up
like use certain tools and the importance of
keeping a maintained garden and making sure it's
not super overgrown and yeah we like to educate
people on the plants as well and that's why we
have our garden manager too to help us spread
the word about it oh got some fun is there anywhere
else that you guys kind of like take care of
or is it mainly just it's mainly just the garden
yeah okay i thought you guys had helped out with
the ethnobotany garden at some point we so we
we helped out with the um i believe it's the
one right next to the pollinator garden um we
were doing helping out with that for a while
but um i don't know i think some policies changed
or something like that we currently don't have
access to unfortunately but we used to be in
there a little bit um but now it's mostly it's
only used for classes now i believe yeah yeah
so we only we only run the pollinator garden
but honestly it's okay the pollinator garden
itself is kind of a lot of work so yeah i can
imagine where is the pollinator garden on campus
yeah so i okay so basically it's right by the
I'm pretty sure it's the child something child
center but it's right across the street from
the police department so oh and the transit center
yeah so if you were to walk like past PS1 and
walk all the way down literally all the way down
that road make a right there's like a parking
lot over there I can't remember the life of me
with the parking lot which one it is but um you'll
see it we're kind of tucked away in a corner
but yeah i would say it's by the police department
the transit center gotcha it's right outside
the daycare yes yeah okay okay yeah it's the
daycare yeah yeah i think i've been there like
probably like once or twice but it was for class
too yeah yeah exactly I know it's kind of like
out of the way like I wouldn't have known about
it unless I was in ESA so yeah we try to so we
try to advertise as much as we can we're like
yes like come to the garden so people more people
know about it people know and so people can help
too yes exactly yeah we can use all that we need
all the help we can get honestly and why is maintaining
that garden important for ESA I mean it's just
I feel like it's one of the things on campus
that we own personally and so I just think it's
it's always had a special place like in ESA like
for this organization like it's our garden and
it is our responsibility to take care of it and
I think it's a great way to kind of educate others
on just because I myself like when I was a freshman
I didn't know much about gardening but even just
like being a part of the club and like going
to the garden i learn about like native plants
and why it's really important to maintain native
species in like only native species and try not
to bring in too many invasive species and why
it's important for ecosystems as well i think
it's just a really good learning opportunity
for students and yeah do you think anyone can
have a green thumb then in that case i think
anyone can have a green thumb honestly literally
all you got to do is get a shovel get a get a
weed picker and just Get your hands dirty. Not
be afraid to get your hands dirty. That's the
main thing. But it can be a lot of fun, especially
I think our garden meetings are a lot of fun.
We have music going. We're all chatting. It's
fun. Oh, that's fun. Yeah. I know. It's been
really hot lately, too. Yeah. You should bring
some water. Definitely bring some water. Don't
wear heavy clothes. It gets really hot. It's
hard work, but it's worth it, in my opinion.
Fun. Nice. We would also like to know how...
like, being in ESA has changed your student experience?
Like, how, like, what are the different things
you're, like, you're thinking about, like, after
you've been in ESA? Or, like, I don't know, your
connections with people, maybe your professors?
Yeah, I mean, I've been a part of ESA since freshman
year, so I haven't really known a time without
it, but I think it just, being involved in anything,
honestly, on campus, I think it kind of brings
you It makes you feel, like, more closer to the
campus environment in general. I remember I,
like, joined ESA, like, my freshman year. And,
like, the people in it were so welcoming. They
literally, like, I was just, like, scared little
freshman. And, like, I had, like, the older members
of, like, the cabinet, like, coming up to me,
like, introducing themselves. And it just made
me feel so welcomed. And I was, like, I really
like this environment. And in general, I feel
like people who love the environment, like, they're
really nice. Like, they're just, we're just cool
people. I don't know. I've always. i've always
noticed that like everyone is just super kind
we're all there for like a similar reason like
we all care for the environment so i think it
just gave me a good sense of community um especially
like coming here not knowing anyone like i think
it just gave me a good sense of community and
it kind of gave me a taste for people fighting
for the same cause like it's very inspiring to
see your peers like fighting for something that
you also believe in and like being able to share
that with each other. Like, I don't know, I feel
like it's just so inspiring. And I think ESA
has given me the chance to learn a lot more about
environmental issues and being more conscious
about my impact on the environment and educating
my friends, my peers about the environment. I
think if I didn't have that, I think I would
just be like, oh, yeah, I like the environment,
but I don't think I would be as involved. And
so I really appreciate ESA for giving me the
opportunity and the friends I've made to the
people I've met, just amazing people. So, yeah,
that's fun. I know I'm a I've always been a commuter
so like freshman year I was just like here and
out because I was also working like 30 hours
a week oh my goodness I can't do that again yeah
um but like joining into parts of school whether
it was like in a club or just finding um little
activities around campus for sure like I totally
if I would have known about ESA yeah I would
have been in that garden. But that's cool. I
love that. Yeah. She's like fine community in
that. For sure. It's just a lot of fun to just
like be there. We're all just like, we all just
like the environment. We're all just hanging
out. It's, I feel like ESA is very much like,
it's not a high stakes club. It's a very chill
club. Like no one there is like judgmental. No
one there is like expecting anything. We're just,
we're all there for the same reason. And that's
like, I think a very beautiful thing. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. So. Kind of going along with community,
what is it that you think students get most excited
about or the most engaged when talking about
climate justice? Oh, that's a good one. I think,
okay, well, in general, like when we're advertising
the club to people, like people who care about
the environment are the ones coming up to our
booth, obviously. So actually, sometimes we get
people that I've never really thought about it,
but I feel like we average. I noticed that we
advertise it people get interested when we talk
about like our like cleanups like a lot of the
times when it's like beach cleanups trail cleanups
because I think a lot of people are going to
these places and seeing all the trash and thinking
about it like wow like this place like could
use some cleaning up but then they don't do anything
you know which is like fine that's like human
I feel like I've been victim of that as well
like I've done that but I think our club kind
of gives people the opportunity to be like oh
wait like i have noticed that this is an issue
like i could be a part of the the solution and
i think like people realizing they can be a part
of the solution when they probably before we're
thinking oh it's such a big problem i couldn't
do anything like it's such a what would my impact
do i think we kind of give people that outlook
of like no like you can like just come on a trail
clean up with us like that's In its own, you're
helping the environment in some way. And I think
when people realize that it doesn't take much,
you know, you just have to be a little more conscious
and maybe join us on like a hike and pick up
a couple pieces of trash. They realize, wow,
like I could get into doing this more often.
And then, yeah, I think just that in its own,
it gets people more interested and engaged. so
giving people like that opportunity yeah because
it's like it's it's one thing when we do it ourselves
we know where to recycle where to throw trash
where to compost but it's like having that community
having that group of people at that group effort
i feel like that's what gives people hope that's
what gives people that opportunity to say like
yeah we can do something about this because i
feel like Talking about the environment, I feel
like it can be really overwhelming sometimes
when you get all these words like climate change
and global warming. I don't know, but I think
we kind of give people a more easy, no, this
is something you can do and we'll help you. We'll
explain it to you. We'll be there along the way
with you. We're kind of all learning too. It's
not high stakes and I think that's good. It's
a good thing for people who don't really know
much about the environment to get involved with
that. yeah and especially like a trail cleanup
or a beach cleanup it's a very tangible solution
yeah so like people because people can see it
and then they can remove the trash exactly um
and i feel like i feel like our generation like
gen z we've had like the the doom and gloom of
like climate change global warming climate crisis
like hanging over our heads yeah so it feels
like so terrifying but also inevitable because
we've been hearing about the climate crisis forever
but when we get opportunities to do like tangible
stuff like a beach cleanup yeah i feel like that
makes a lot of sense of why people would be excited
about that and like wanting to do those kinds
of things because i think it's in the back of
people's minds a lot of the time but they're
just they don't really take that leap of like
oh starting to do cleanups and stuff but then
we kind of give them like the push like no like
join us like come come do it with us and i think
like then they get more involved that's when
they start to more so like get more involved
like with other organizations as well and like
getting just doing more in general and like being
more educated so i think it's kind of like a
pipeline like you know okay like we'll start
with this and then we'll do more and more which
is the goal ultimately to get people to be more
environmentally conscious and live more sustainably
so yeah yeah um what do you hope students will
take away from being an esa And what impact do
you hope ESA will have on the campus culture?
Okay. Well, I think a goal of the club in general,
at least for since I've been president, is to
educate those who probably aren't that educated
and who probably initially wouldn't have been
that interested. Like, I think just having a
place, a good, like you're saying earlier, like
community is really important to get people involved.
it's not something that you have to do alone
because it climate change is a very impending
it feels like impending doom like oh there's
nothing we can do but having a community of other
people that care and just doing little things
to help like even just in our own community i
think it's so important and i i hope that like
our members like take away like um that's what
they take away is that um they can do something
it doesn't matter how big or small like i think
if everyone just does like a lit like has a little
impact or picks up trash from time to time, like
I think given a huge difference. And, um, yeah,
I just hope people will be inspired to kind of
take, um, the things that we do to in their own
lives and like practice that outside of the club.
Um, I think that's the ultimate goal. be more
sustainable people to educate people on sustainability
and hope that it kind of carries on throughout
their adult life as well yeah no matter if they're
like a math major exactly or theater major i'm
theater and literature and writing i know that's
why we try to encourage like people from all
majors like come join like it doesn't have to
be just like environmental majors or like i'm
ecology like it we want a diversity of majors
because like environmental just um justice and
sustainability it doesn't have to it's not limited
to just like you know it's it's for everyone
and in the grand scheme of things it affects
everybody everybody doesn't matter your major
it affects everyone so yeah yeah no matter if
you're like in the sciences or or in the arts
in the humanities like It really does have to
be, you know, it takes a village to raise a child.
It takes a village to save the environment. We're
all going to have to work together. So I think
that's, yeah, I think that's really cool. I wonder,
like, are you guys planning on doing any kind
of art projects in ESA? I mean, I remember last
semester I went to one of the meetings and it
was so fun. We did these like turkey hands. That
was my idea. that was like a fun community thing
but i was wondering like yeah what's the what
does the future of esa look like oh well since
this is my last minister's president but i hope
that like my next my successor i um would hope
that they would continue on like the get more
involved with the community itself that was one
of my goals as president and i hope that the
next president also tries to get more involved
with the community um as far as art projects
i mean we do want to design or we're trying to
design posters right now for like the club to
get more like networking like around the campus.
So that's something. And I feel like I try to
keep the meetings very chill. I try to do like
little activities. So like the turkey thing was
just like a little like a de -stressor because
it was around like midterms. Yeah. Right after.
Yeah. At the tail end of midterm. For sure. Yeah.
So I, I try to keep them chill and do little
activities like that from time to time. So it's
like, and I feel like, creativity is a very good
outlet and we actually just had a um meeting
this week at the makery we were making um crafts
for our student market that's coming up oh yeah
i think you showed me yeah yeah yeah um so we
were just there doing crafts and yeah i don't
know it's that is nice I remember in middle school,
they, I went to high tech high, so high tech
middle school. They made a giant whale out of
like net and like plastics that they found. I
don't know if it was, I can't remember where.
I don't know if it was like a beach cleanup or
if it was. be a lot of feels found around campus
yeah but it's like i know like communal art pieces
like that always kind of help everyone to be
like oh yeah we all made this yeah that we all
like contributed to so it gives them all kind
of like that that um like you said de -stressor
um but it also gives them that opportunity to
like make their mark put in their piece yeah
um i remember um i think it was uh for the uh
what's it called the earth the earth day fair
that we had last year we had to go through this
and stuff lucas made these um boxes um like it
was a recycling box a trash remember and a compost
box and he made it completely out of like recycled
materials it was so it was really cool yeah and
i so that's what i think i think like for our
club it's like it's really the people that make
it honestly and i think we have such creative
and minds in our club and it just like it's a
big help because we're i we need that creativity
sometimes like to fuel like you know projects
and stuff like the members my members are super
creative and it's kind of a wonder to watch sometimes
i'm like damn how do you come up with that like
that's that's a really good idea like this is
on pinterest i was like i saw the boxes i was
like there's no way you do this by yourself like
it was yeah It was amazing. That's so sick. I
thought I missed that. No, I, we might bring
him back. I don't know where they are looking,
but. Yeah. Maybe we can like, you could send
us some pictures and we'll put it up on our Instagram.
I'll try to get a pic from Lucas. Yeah. Yeah.
um what are like some events that are like coming
up or like meetings that like students could
get involved in oh okay um well we try to plan
like hikes every every month or so i know we're
doing we um we follow uh the surf rider foundation
for beach cleanups they do um beach cleanups
all over san diego but um we kind of focus on
the oceanside ones because that's the closest
one so it's a lot easier for like if we're doing
carpools because we try to carpool to all of
our events to save on like not use as much like
gas and fossil fuels while we're driving it's
just it's a lot more sustainable it makes sense
yeah exactly for our club um so we stick to the
oceanside ones and i'm pretty sure that's the
first saturday of every month so we typically
go to those um for beach cleanups and let's see
i'm trying to think of our events we have um
the cougar thrifts like earth day event coming
up in april i believe it's april 21st don't call
me on that i'll have to double check but i'm
pretty sure it's april 21st if that's a tuesday
that's if that's the day but it's a big thrifting
event basically that we do every semester on
campus and all the clothes are free um we as
a club we sort through them ourselves and um
yeah so it's a big event we'll have like a bunch
of clothes out just people need clothes they
can go to get it for free and there'll be a lot
of like events going on around as well like more
like because it's the earth day fair some like
sustainability program is going to help a lot
of like booths there's going to be games like
it's just yeah i think we were um climate to
action we were there last year hopefully we'll
be there again i'm sure we will see you guys
and we'll we'll see each other that'll be fun
It's a cool event. It is a really cool event.
I love that event so much. I think the Cougar
Thrifts is a very big event for us. We get the
most interest in that event. Obviously, it's
free clothes. But I think it's such a cool event.
because i'm not it's just for people who can't
maybe don't have access to that many clothes
and they need it like it's we have all clothes
from like little kids clothes to like we have
some suits in there like it's we have truly everything
and i think it's such a special event for people
who may not be able to afford clothes like i
don't know it's i think it's really cool i just
helped you guys when you sorted them like the
sorting so that's always fun too because it's
like like it makes it easier for you guys because
of course How many members do you actually have?
It kind of varies semester to semester. I couldn't
give an exact number right now. We kind of get
like different people every time. In our cabinet,
we have, let's see, we have like eight members
in our cabinet, I would say. And then plus like
a couple members each time. we we try we're trying
to we're trying to grow we're trying to expand
as much as we can oh yeah and i think that's
why um we're trying to do like the posters and
stuff just so we can get the word out about esa
like the publicity publicity exactly it helps
a lot i yeah it does help a lot so yeah but yeah
but that's what i was saying is like you you
only have so many members and yet you guys get
so many clothes shoes you get everything yeah
but um i know that one's like one of the biggest
ones oh for sure like It gets a lot of word out.
Yeah. We are doing sorting April. I think it's
the week after we get back from spring break.
At Tuesday, we're doing sorting. So that's another
event that's coming up is the Cougar Thrift's
clothes sorting. That's going to be at the recycling
center in Lot F. It'll just be like us there
sorting all the clothes. It's really chill. And
other events I'm trying to think. we i think
that same day it we're doing market day so we'll
be selling a couple things um but we also have
elections coming up for our club so i know um
we're looking for president vice president treasurer
um and secretary so that's um something that's
coming up as well and i think that's i can think
of at the top of my head um i'm trying right
now i'm trying to get more involved with the
community so i'm trying i'm planning on reaching
out to a couple local places about collaborating
and stuff like that so yeah it's kind of a work
in progress right now but yeah yeah you got it
and then kind of our last question um what is
one climate action that you incorporate in your
life every day oh i for me it's recycle recycle
recycle i tell all my friends like if i see them
not recycling i i literally like yell at them
i'm like that's recycling and you know better
like but then they're recycling compost like
because it is confusing and i get it can be confusing
but honestly learning about it educating yourself
it's so important like just know what has to
be recycling what has to be in compost that's
one thing that i try to do every day is recycle
everything i can compost everything i can um
yeah appreciate it actually Kind of going off
of that, what's one action that you would hope
other people do? What's your call to action for
others? Educate yourself. Don't be afraid of
the scary word like climate change, global warming.
It is a very heavy topic, but just educate yourself
a little bit. Learn a little bit about it. Don't
listen to misinformation. Just learn about it
yourself. I think just being educated about it
is a step towards being more environmentally
conscious and sustainable. And just kind of be
curious, I would say. Be curious. And check your
sources. Check your sources. Please check your
sources. Yes. Pick up your trash. But yeah, thank
you, Scarlett, for talking with us. This is so
fun. Thank you for having me. I love this. Yes.
And now for our call to climate action, educate
yourself and make sure to be checking your sources
and try to ask yourself difficult questions as
you're educating yourself on the climate crisis.
Want to hear more from Climate to Action, a CSUSM
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Climate2Action is recorded at Inspiration Studios
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wants to remind you to take climate action. Get
educated. And make sure you check your sources.
Until next time, this is Josie. And Saturn. From
Climate to Action, signing off.