Brumley Next Gen Scholar Juhi Amodwala, a Supply Chain Management and Government senior, tells us about her work as the CEC’s Green Offices Program Coordinator and her future in the climate change policy arena, as part of our ongoing Brumley Next Gen Program check ins.

Strauss Center: As the Brumley Next Gen Scholars class wraps up, you all have been focused on assignments and guest speakers that have helped you build your professional skills. Which speaker really grabbed your attention?
Juhi: Dr. William Inboden [Associate Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs] talked to us about his experience working as a staff member in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.  He explained how you can break into D.C.: that it’s of course very difficult to get a job there; you gotta shake a lot of hands, and do a lot of informational interviews.  He had great advice that I can actually use, especially starting out in a career in policy.  I’d like to eventually go into policy research around climate change and how that policy affects society.

SC: You’re the Program Coordinator for the Campus Environmental Center’s Green Offices initiative.  Tell us a little about it.
JA: The program aims to change behavior in UT faculty and staff by showing them more sustainable ways to operate and giving them initiative to take those actions.  After an office participates, it receives a bronze, silver, platinum, or gold certification, which creates a little competitive spirit between the offices and gets them more involved.  Those small changes can have a big impact when you think about, for example, 100 people not using a Keurig for their coffee everyday.

SC: What are some successes of the program?
JA: Before they got into Green Offices, one office was using more than 100 plastic cups per day for drinking water.  Now they’ve completely stopped ordering plastic cups and bought reusable water bottles for their entire office.  Other offices have started composting, offering yoga classes at work; we’ve been quite thrilled to see how enthusiastic offices have been about it and that they are willing to make changes.

SC: What led to your dedication to environmental issues?
JA: Back in high school here in Austin, I went to the first meeting of the environmental club and realized that the club did all of the recycling for campus.  At that time Austin wasn’t single-stream, so we had to manually sort glass, aluminum, plastic, and paper. I thought: if our club wasn’t doing this, then the entire high school’s recycling would just not get done.  I realized that I need to play a part in doing something about climate change, and if I don’t do it, it’s not necessarily true that someone else will.  We have a big responsibility to our future and our children’s future to take action.  I think I’m especially interested in policy because I don’t think our government is doing enough yet.

SC: Why do you think the government hasn’t yet done enough?
JA: Our government has been in a “push the economy” mode for a long time, so it’s been difficult to prioritize climate change over the economy, but I don’t think you have to prioritize it over the economy.  We just have to take a different approach to growing the economy.  I think once people realize that and are more open to change, we can move forward.

SC: Thank you Juhi for taking the time to speak with us! We wish you the best as you break into the field of climate change research and policy.