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Meet the EcoReps – Jason Luo ’25

Hometown – Johns Creek, GA 

How do you engage with sustainability?

I try to be especially cognizant of my recycling and waste practices, as well as energy and water consumption. I also make efforts to avoid plastic waste by bringing tote bags to the store and using reusable straws/utensils.  

What do you study and why?

I am majoring in Comparative Literature with a cognitive science certificate. I really enjoy reading and engaging with texts while being able to incorporate a psychological lens to view literary characters in relation to the real world.

What other campus groups are you involved with?

Quizbowl, Sinfonia, La Vie en Cello, TigerLaunch/E-Club, and The Daily Princetonian. 

What do you like to do in your free time?

I really enjoy watching TV and playing video games with my roommates. Recently, I’ve been trying to get back into chess! 

Share a fun fact about yourself!

During the pandemic, I folded over 1,000 origami cranes for fun. 

Meet the EcoReps – Fawaz Ahmad ’25

Hometown – Oxford, MS

How do you engage with sustainability?

I like to be conscious about the waste that I am producing in my day-to-day life and try my best to minimize that. I love going thrifting as a way to expand my wardrobe and reduce my environmental footprint. I’m also really passionate about sustainability research and work on projects relating to water quality and pollution.  

What do you study and why?

I’m majoring in MAE and I hope to get certificates in Sustainable Energy and Robotics and Intelligent Systems. I’m particularly interested in the intersection of environmental consciousness and air travel with the goal of decarbonizing the aviation industry.  

What other campus groups are you involved with?

On campus I am involved in the Princeton Debate Panel, Peer Reps, Civic Leadership Council, and Más Flow Dance Company. 

What do you like to do in your free time?

Recently, I have gotten into embroidering so I have been working on some projects related to that. I also love to cook dishes from different cuisines and work out! 

Share a fun fact about yourself!

I like to go fishing and have caught over 15 different species of fish! 

Meet the EcoReps – Aditi Desai ’24

Hometown – Livingston, NJ  

How do you engage with sustainability?

Period Sustainability and Menstrual Equity  

What do you study and why?

SPIA, certificates in SML and Bioengineering (interested in decarbonization, climate change, and effective energy transition models)  

What other campus groups are you involved with?

Menstrual Products Task Force, Writing Center, Naacho  

What do you like to do in your free time?

Run + finding new coffee spots!  

Share a fun fact about yourself!

I’ve recently been trying to do a crossword a day

Meet the EcoReps – Ezekiel Akinsanya ’26

How do you engage with sustainability?

With previous interests in politics, I engaged with sustainability a lot at the national and international level working at the UK Parliament and taking part in COP26. However, I also want to engage sustainably on the grassroots level and have given lectures on sustainable financing and sustainable investing! 

What do you study and why?

I am a prospective Economics Major with Certificates in Finance and Environmental Studies! In high school, I loved human geography and macroeconomics. That alongside the fact that I intend to pursue a career in finance with a focus on impact investing means that I can cover both my career goals and interests with my course selection! 

What other campus groups are you involved with?

I am involved in Scholars of Finance, an ethics-based finance group, Tiger Investments, Princeton Rugby, and the Pan-African Students Association! 

What do you like to do in your free time?

To wind down, I love listening to music (all types but I love jazz), exploring new cities, and playing squash or golf! 

Share a fun fact about yourself!

I had never visited the United States before coming to Princeton! 

Meet the EcoReps – Bailey Glenetske ’25 

Hometown – Antigo, WI 

How do you engage with sustainability?

Recently, I’ve been working on reducing my food waste and single-use plastic consumption. Also, I usually opt to eat plant-based proteins like Beyond Burgers, non-farmed meat, or wild-caught fish.  

What do you study and why?

I study Politics and am getting certificates in Environmental Studies and Values & Public Life! I’m especially interested in the geopolitics of decarbonization and climate change and hope to work as an environmental lawyer or advisor after graduation.  

What other campus groups are you involved with?

I’m a member of the Daily Princetonian (check out some of my news articles!), and also work for the Office of Sustainability as a Campus-as-Lab research assistant.  

What do you like to do in your free time?

I absolutely love taking naps… and going backpacking, taking care of my plant babies, and playing ice hockey!  

Share a fun fact about yourself!

I grew up hunting whitetail deer on my family’s 80-acre farm in Wisconsin! 

Meet the EcoReps – Frida Ruiz ’25 

Hometown – Cranford, New Jersey  

How do you engage with sustainability?

I engage with sustainability in various ways from reducing my carbon footprint and consumption as an individual to engaging in direct action to promote sustainability within my communities. In my junior year of high school I founded- and still am actively involved in- an environmental education organization called The Green Cause, where high school students create lesson presentations and other educational content for schools and social media. I created this platform to empower high school students to actively participate to improve their communities and create educational resources for schools. 

What do you study and why?

I am a mechanical engineering student because I am passionate about renewable energy/ technology. The transition to renewable energy is one of the most important global projects, and I want to contribute by either working with battery technology or nuclear fusion. 

What other campus groups are you involved with?

I’m President of Princeton Student Climate Initiative, which focuses on pursuing different climate initiatives ranging from collaborations with Princeton’s municipality to creating awareness of various environmental issues. We are currently in the process of establishing environmental volunteering opportunities with the PACE Center. I also am a partial member of 2D Co-op, which practices sustainability by composting and only cooking delicious vegetarian & vegan foods. Although not related to sustainability, I am a Humor Writer at The Daily Princetonian and plan to get more involved in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I enjoy hanging out with friends, hiking, thrifting, partaking in photography, and writing humor articles where I get to unwind and satirize Princeton events.

Share a fun fact about yourself!

I own way too many green pieces of clothing, please help

Black Women and the Inherent Racism of Redlining

Author: Jayla Cornelius ’23

The textbook definition of redlining is “the discriminatory practice of denying services (typically financial) to residents of certain areas based on their race or ethnicity.” Very commonly in the world of mortgage lending practices and homeownership, people of color are denied loans and renting contracts because of preexisting stereotypes amongst realtors that often deem them as incapable of keeping up with the property and/or making timely payments. This is, at least, what they claimed was their reason behind denying millions of African Americans access to certain neighborhoods across the country. But, as we dig deeper, we can uncover a long history of discriminatory practices that have strategically and effectively pushed Black Americans into certain areas, usually more decrepit ones, and creating a distinctive “red line.”

If we were to dive into historic records and search for obvious instances of redlining, we would have a pretty unsuccessful turnout. The reason why this modern form of segregation has been able to persist for so long is because of its slightly elusive nature. Minority neighborhoods were stigmatized by being labeled as “High Risk” or “Hazardous” from supposedly credible sources like the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) that has created residential security maps of America’s major cities. Appraisers, loan officers, and real estate professionals then use this as evidence to funnel white homeowners into the more affluent, better-kept neighborhoods. Notably, this strategy not only works to keep white homeowners away from minority neighborhoods, but as you begin to associate certain areas with hazard, you begin to label the people as hazardous also. 

Because the rabbit hole of bad housing practices is never-ending, I will now focus the rest of this article on specific instances where black women have been such targets of these bad housing practices. Since the 1970s, many real estate agents have taken advantage of the financial barriers and hardships that Black women endure to sell them mortgages on homes with inhabitable conditions. Yolanda, for example, is a homeowner in New Orleans’ predominantly Black 7th Ward who was backed into a corner and forced into a high-interest loan. The area is riddled with constant noise from the nearby interstate and higher rates of pollution than the adjacent neighborhoods. Many homes in this area are ladened with leaky roofs, broken pipes, and numerous other health and safety code violations. Climate change has continued to exacerbate this issue as increased rainfall and extreme temperatures will cause things like mold and mildew to fester in already unclean environments. Doris, a homeowner in Chicago, notes that “…so much water came in the basement that my washer and dryer was floating up on the water.” 

This practice of selling homes to Black women that are in need of obvious repair is just one way that redlining can expose this demographic to unsafe environmental conditions. Things such as rotten wood and improper ventilation systems can cause various respiratory diseases and related health issues. The government has acknowledged their responsibility to help people suffering from housing discrimination but even this aid is “uneven and hard to obtain.” Through these findings and interviews from local residents such as Yolanda and Doris, we can recognize the disrepair of homes in certain areas as environmental racism that must be addressed in our environmental justice efforts.

This article’s main purpose is not to establish redlining as this new, harmful phenomenon. We have unequivocal proof that it has existed for decades. Our purpose is to keep this issue at the forefront of our minds as we continue the conversation around environmental justice issues. At face value, redlining may not seem to fit into the category of environmental injustices but if we continue putting Black women in homes with bad piping and non-potable water, it becomes an environmental issue. Instances such as the ones described above continue to put the health and safety of communities all over the country at an avoidable risk. Laws such as the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act that sought to combat redlining are still being maneuvered around in more discrete ways. While these elusive behaviors make our environmental justice efforts more difficult, the goal of creating equitable environments for all still remains possible. By engaging with this environmental justice series and keeping this conversation going, you are helping keep this issue at the forefront of this conversation so that, one day, we may all enjoy the feeling of safety and security within our respective communities in Princeton, and beyond. 

Example of the original 1938 HOLC “Residential Security” map of Atlanta with color-coded gradation of neighborhoods by risk level. (Image Credit: Mapping Inequality Project, University of Richmond)

Sources:

https://theconversation.com/black-women-endure-legacy-of-racism-in-homeownership-and-making-costly-repairs-190881

HOLC “redlining” maps: The persistent structure of segregation and economic inequality

1977 Anti-redlining Law: https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/files/cra-npr-fr-notice-20220505.pdf

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/redlining.asp

Louisiana’s Slavery-Era Cemeteries Halt the Construction of a Petrochemical Facility

By: Jayla Cornelius

During the course of American history, many laws have been passed to help preserve historic sites and prevent large companies from unearthing sacred lands. The 1966 National Historic Preservation Act is an example of environmentalists’ attempts to require land developers to do adequate research and testing before obtaining approval for a construction site. The goals of this act were put into practice when Formosa, a Taiwanese industrial company, was met with swift backlash from community members living on the Buena Vista plantation in northern Louisiana. Residents hope to continue to formulate a political and legal case to prevent this facility’s construction, otherwise known as the “Sunshine Project.” In order to do this, they first had to dive about 200 years into past records to understand what truly took place on this plantation site that kept a long history of slaves in bondage.

Although there were many enslaved women, men, and children kept/kidnapped throughout the history of the United States, this case draws our attention to a particular young child named Rachel who died at the age of 11 in 1832 under unthinkable conditions. Although this is not the focus of this article, I would briefly like to acknowledge the “constant threat of disease, insufficient food, and rampant abuse” that many young children endured throughout all sections of America. Rachel’s name, amongst others, was uncovered fairly recently in a Louisiana archive and helps build the foundation to proving that this chemical facility may not only be of great environmental risk to surrounding residents but may also risk gravesite desecration.

Jane Patton, a campaign manager with a Washington DC organization, quotes that “the spiritual and religious significance of gravesites has been upheld by courts of law in the United States and in other countries over and over again.” Efforts from Jane and other members of grassroots organizations has continued to give voices and humanity back to people who had their identities taken away by slavery.

Fellow lovers of nature may understand me when I say that our environment often tells us all we need to know and speaks to us in various ways. In this case, nature tries to tell us the history of this terrain through various anomalies that might indicate gravesites. One of these anomalies is the clusters of vegetation still seen in otherwise flat and cultivated areas that could be remnants of past magnolia and/or willow trees that were often planted to celebrate the lives of those lost. 

Telling the history of this land makes this story more real for people. The potential unearthing of Black residents’ ancestors and the potentially harmful chemicals being released from the site may be enough to halt the construction of yet another chemical plant inconveniently placed in a minority neighborhood. In this environmental justice series, I hope to provide short but coherent glimpses into injustices happening around the country. While I will continue to highlight environmental injustices that have negatively impacted many communities, I believe this story shows the brighter side of what can happen if we remain active on the front end to combat this harmful issue. 

There is a long tradition, specifically in the South, of Black leaders doing their own extensive research and investigations to reclaim their land and, with that, their identities. This example in northern Louisiana shows how we as a community can combat the growing dangers of new fossil fuel infrastructure and work to protect any and all “descendants of men and women who were kidnapped from Africa; who survived the Middle Passage; who were transported to a foreign land; and then sold on auction blocks and enslaved.”

Here are some resources for anyone interested in exploring this issue further:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/20/formosa-sunshine-project-louisiana-rachel-buena-vista-plantation-taiwan

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_c58e7f22-3997-11ec-909f-9bdd7461a90c.html

https://www.reuters.com/legal/louisiana-judge-cancels-air-permits-controversial-plastics-plant-2022-09-15/

Climate Change on a Local Scale: Decreased Ice Skating Ability on Lake Carnegie

Author: Grace Liu ’23

Most of you living in Princeton are probably pretty familiar with Lake Carnegie, and if you’ve been in the Princeton area for a while, you may have noticed that it hasn’t been freezing over recently. In fact, the last time that Lake Carnegie froze solidly enough to allow for ice skating was over 5 years ago!

File:Lake Carnegie Skating.jpg
Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lake_Carnegie_Skating.jpg

The summer after my freshman year, I researched lake freeze for my HMEI internship. Two of my mentors, Professor Vecchi and Dr. Jeevanjee, conceived this research project because they noticed that Lake Carnegie hadn’t frozen over for a few years. We wanted to see whether we could attribute this decrease in ice skating ability in recent years to climate change.

In order to answer this question, we had to take a look into the past. I wanted to figure out which years Lake Carnegie froze and which years it didn’t, so I dug into newspaper archives for mentions of ice skating or lake freezing.

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Newspaper archives mentioning ice skating on Lake Carnegie

One of the most interesting findings was a newspaper from 1960 which expressed surprise that the lake didn’t freeze that year, suggesting that it was very uncommon for Lake Carnegie not to freeze back then. However, in 2007, people were surprised that the lake did freeze, instead of the other way around! These archives indicate that not only are freeze events decreasing overall, but also that climate change is actively shifting people’s expectations, from assuming the lake would freeze every year to being surprised when it does freeze.

On the plot below, we indicate every year with safe ice skating at the top and every year without safe ice skating on the bottom. The years without data are not present. The logistic regression curve shows the probability of safe ice skating in a given year, and we see that within a matter of decades, the probability of safe ice skating has decreased from 100% to 20%.

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Time series of ice skating on Lake Carnegie

This reflects the newspapers we examined earlier, except now we’ve actually quantified the reversal of expectations. It makes sense that in the 1960s, everyone would be surprised if the lake didn’t freeze, because it had frozen almost every single year before that. Today, with a 1 in 5 chance of lake freezing, ice skating is treated as a rare and special occasion.

Overall, this was a really cool project to work on because I got the chance to use both quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate how climate change is impacting communities. I’m now a senior, and in all my time at Princeton, the lake has not been safe for ice skating. With any luck, it will freeze over this year, and I’ll finally experience the joys of skating that I’ve read so much about in the newspapers.

The Question Linking Countries Around the World: Should We Ban the Bag?

By: Jayla Cornelius

The permanent ban of plastic bag usage in commercial spaces has been an ongoing issue linking cities around the world. In countries like Australia, the conversation continues as the local government considers the institution of the “Plastics Reduction and Circular Economy Act.” This act, much like similar acts being proposed in other countries, aims to “protect the environment and human health … promote and support the principles of a circular economy (and) reduce the impact … of items, waste from items and waste material on the environment and human health,” according to Environment Minister James Griffin. This act took effect June 1, 2022 and these efforts are coupled with encouragement from businesses and local store owners for consumers to switch to reusable bags.

Image Credit: Anna Shvets via pexels.com


This conversation in Australia is just as important to the one that started in Bangladesh back in 2002 when it passed its landmark bill banning single-use bags. This was an interesting bill not only because it would go on to pioneer the plastic bag ban movement, but also because the punishments for violating this act brought an added seriousness to the issue. According to Rule 6ka of Clause-5 under Section-9 of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, the penalty for using plastic bags/products made of polyethylene or poly-propeleyne was astounding. For production of these banned items: 10 years sentence of “vigorous prison” or a 1 million taka (10,750 USD) fine. For sale, store, distribution, transportation, or use for commercial purposes: 6 month sentence of vigorous prison or 10 thousand taka (107.50 USD) fine. Although this ban proved difficult to implement and enforce, it highlighted the importance and severity of the issue as it blatantly affected the surrounding ecosystems.

To bring this conversation back home, we can take a quick look at what is happening here, in the United States. According to the most recent report published on February 8, 2021 by the National Conference of State Legislatures, eight states—California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New York, Oregon and Vermont—have banned single-use plastic bags. The famous question of “should we ban the bag?” is coming under fire, however. Researchers at the University of Georgia found that specific California communities with this bag policy “saw sales of four-gallon trash bags increase by 55%, to 75%, and sales of eight-gallon trash bags increase 87%, to 110%.” The intentions of this ban seem to be backfiring as the demand for unregulated bags increased. Overall, the researchers deemed that the effects of the ban are a net positive but the data serves as a warning to all concerned that this will not be an easy issue to fix. 

To wrap things up for now, I would like everyone to reflect on the detrimental effects that plastic disposal has had on our ecosystems for decades. A list of major contributors to plastic pollution have poisoned, starved, and killed over 100 million marine organisms each year. Over this time, many grassroots organizations have advocated for the removal of plastic sources ranging from plastic soda holder rings to plastic bottles and cutlery. I encourage everyone reading to join me in continuing this conversation and finding ways on campus, no matter how small, to help us move towards a cleaner world. 

Here are some resources for anyone interested in exploring this issue further:

NSW plastic bag ban explained: How it affects you | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

Single Use Plastics Ban Burwood Council (nsw.gov.au)

The Biggest Contributors to Plastic Waste in our Oceans – How Everyday Australians Can do their Bit – Eat Pray Workout

Which Plastics are the Major Contributors to Plastic Pollution? | rePurpose Global Blog

Bangladesh: world leader in banning plastic bags – Ecospearbd

Are plastic bag bans backfiring? | TechCrunch