Kimberley Schroder

My Interests:

Making every aspect of society sustainable.

Political Skills:

talking to people - especially in person; number crunching; arranging/organizing things

Favorite Quote:

"Look, I'm not a perfect person. I have my warts. I sometimes say things that get me in trouble. I wear suits that are cheap. But I say what I think and I believe what I say, and I'm willing to say things that are not popular but ordinary people know are right."
– Howard Dean

"Let us resolve to be patriots always, nationalists never. Let us love our country, but pledge allegiance to the earth and to the flora and fauna and human life that it supports - one planet indivisible, with clean air, soil and water; with liberty, justice and peace for all." – Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr., in his New York Times Obituary

"Some might argue that the environmental collapse of ancient societies is relevant to the modern decline of weak, far-off, overpopulated Rwanda and environmentally devastated Somalia, but isn't it ridiculous to suggest any possible relevance to the fate of our own society? After all, we might reason, those ancients didn't enjoy the wonders of modern environment-friendly technologies. Those ancients had the misfortune to suffer from the effects of climate change. They behaved stupidly and ruined their own environment by doing obviously dumb things, like cutting down their forests, watching their topsoil erode, and building cities in dry areas likely to run short of water. They had foolish leaders who didn't have books and so couldn't learn from history, and who embroiled them in destabilizing wars and didn't pay attention to problems at home. They were overwhelmed by desperate immigrants, as one society after another collapsed, sending floods of economic refugees to tax the resources of the societies that weren't collapsing. In all those respects, we modern Americans are fundamentally different from those primitive ancients, and there is nothing that we could learn from them." – Jared Diamond

About Me:

I currently majoring in Science of Natural and Environmental Systems with a concentration in Sustainable Development at Cornell University.

Last summer I was a Field Manager for the Berkeley office of Environment California! I spent ~55 hours/week talking with people about how they can help fight global warming and working to pass the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (which was signed into law on Sept 27th)! I also got to canvass for HRC at SF Pride!!!

Activities I'm involved in at Cornell include: Kyoto Now! (focus on global climate change), Sustainability Hub (coordinates and connects all sustainability-related groups, classes, individuals, etc... around campus and helps students get their idea for a green campus improvement implemented), Cornell University Solar Decathlon (builds a solar house every other year for a national competition sponsored by the DOE - I'm on the Outreach Sub-team), Earthrise/Roots&Shoots (environmental awareness and education), Cornell International Affairs Society (Model UN is through this), Engineers for a Sustainable World, EcoRecycling (runs recycling and refundables in Ecology House - where I live - and promotes recycling awareness throughout campus), EcoPlayers (puts on environmentally themed plays like "The Lorax" and "There's a Hair in My Dirt"), Wilderness Reflections (runs pre-orientation outdoor trips for incoming freshmen like backpacking, mountain biking, canoeing, and rockclimbing - I was a guide last summer and a tripper the summer before), Cornell Democrats, EcoCrafters, and EcoAdventures.

I'm also involved with an inter-Ivy group (the Ivy League Environmental Coalition) that's working to coordinate sustainability efforts on our various campuses. We're currently planning a conference to talk about issues, learn from and about each other, and plan a unified front. For the Eco-Challenge competition sponsored by GM and MTV, Cornell has a team (which I'm on) that's working to submit multiple project ideas for significant feasible changes at Cornell to win $25,000 and an MTV concert on Earth Day! Wish us luck!