这些阿尔弗诺校友的生活和事业可能让他们走上了截然不同的道路, 但他们都确定了将可持续性作为工作核心的方法. 在密尔沃基和其他地方，他们教会我们如何在这个过程中更好地保护地球.
点击这里阅读这些澳门水利博彩官方网站 Strong校友的建议，将可持续发展融入你的日常生活.
Erin Dentice ’06, Parkside Elementary School, Milwaukee
当06届的Erin Dentice走进她的花园时，她看到的不仅仅是鸡、植物和漂亮的花朵. She sees a sustainable food source.
On Milwaukee’s south side, 在Parkside小学，Dentice作为项目农业协调员和特殊教育中学教师度过了她的日子. 在那里的16年里，她把建立一个有意识的食客社区作为自己的使命.
Parkside的学生了解密尔沃基的许多种植空间和温室, grow seedlings and transplant them onsite. 他们还与当地的厨师合作，这些厨师教学生和他们的家人用他们种植的食物准备健康有趣的食物.
“We talk with kids about food miles, understanding how far some of the food travels to get to you, 还有他们收获的食物和我们从自家花园里采摘的食物的样子. There are endless possibilities that you can cover, 但我认为你就这个问题展开的任何对话都能起到作用,” she says. “我们需要做出改变，因为气候变化对我们的环境造成了影响，人们因饮食而对健康产生了担忧.”
Motherhood helped Dentice’s passion for sustainability. “I started thinking about sustainability right after my kids were born. I ran my childcare center for many years, and we spent a lot of time outside. It was something we took very seriously as a family. 孩子们在户外茁壮成长，所以照顾户外成了我的爱好.”
Access to healthy food can be an issue in cities like Milwaukee, where many residents live more than a 10-minute walk from a supermarket, 根据密尔沃基市城市发展部2019年的一份报告. Dentice hopes to change this.
“If we want to change the world’s current trajectory for our planet, 我们必须教育我们的孩子，因为他们必须以不同的方式生活，以不同的方式理解,” she says. “All kids deserve access to healthy food to nourish their minds and bodies.”
– Natasha Lettner ’09
卡莉亚·约翰逊，15岁，大烟山国家公园，北卡罗来纳州和田纳西州
15岁的卡利亚·约翰逊永远不会忘记那个孤独的春天徒步旅行，当时野花分开了，她发现自己离一只吃草的黑熊只有几英寸远. 或者是她和另一个野生物种争论的时间:一车又一车古怪的学生去野外旅行.
这些只是约翰逊在北卡罗来纳州和田纳西州的大烟山国家公园生活和工作时的一些难忘时刻. 她于2020年加入国家公园管理局，担任教育和公民科学方面的公园管理员，现在是公园负责人办公室的行政助理, 让她对美国游客最多的国家公园有了不同的看法. 她指出:“这让我了解了如何运营如此复杂的业务。.
约翰逊对大自然的热爱在很小的时候就扎根了，但她花了很长时间才把这种热爱转化为一份工作. 她来阿尔弗诺是想学习教育，但最终主修了生物学和环境科学的双学位.
“我知道我想做一些有可能让我有一天教书的事情, but I didn’t want go straight into the classroom,” she says. “我非常关心我们的地球，想做一些与环境有关的事情来了解它并拯救它, and that’s also something that can be taught to other generations.”
约翰逊说，大烟山国家公园是“生物多样性的热点”. “We have more plants and trees than almost anywhere else in the States. It’s also considered the salamander capital of the world.”
最近，约翰逊发现了两种不同寻常的黄蜂:大黄蜂(Megarhyssa macrurus)和Lymeon orbus. “我发现了两个科学上已知的新物种，但从来没有在公园里发现过,” she says.
– Nicole Sweeney Etter
Erica Perez ’10, Perez Urban Farm, Houston
On the Perez Urban Farm 在德克萨斯州休斯顿，10岁的埃里卡·佩雷斯(Erica Perez)正在蓬勃发展，并将她的技能转向更可持续的生活. After working corporate jobs for years, 佩雷斯在被诊断患有自身免疫性疾病后，于2019年重新开始，开始了她的城市农场.
As she sowed, tended, harvested, infused and stored organic food, she not only was healing herself, but she was also learning. “我认为这是我个人经历的一个很好的比喻，我看到了植物想要什么，需要什么，以及它们想要如何生存和茁壮成长. It’s been therapeutic for me as well,” Perez reflects.
Other factors, like supply chain shortages brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, also inspired Perez think about new ways to stock her kitchen.
“It was hard reading labels, and I found it easier to supply my own food, especially when the pandemic hit the supply chain. Grocery shelves were empty, especially fresh produce, which is a lot of what I rely on,” Perez explained. “I decided that it’d be more sustainable for myself to grow food. Plus, I realized as a consumer, I’ve left a big imprint on the world.”
Perez currently tends a wide variety of crops, including oranges, avocados, peppers, squash, melons, tomatoes and corn. 她发现卷心菜、西兰花、花椰菜、生菜和菠菜在德克萨斯州的冬天茁壮成长. 但她农场最好的产品是:更好的健康和更小的环境足迹.
She wasn't the only one who established an urban garden during the pandemic. As stores closed and more individuals worked from home, more gardens sprouted across the United States. A study published in the American Society for Horticulture 科学发现，34%的研究参与者种植了一个花园，因为他们有更多的时间呆在家里. Other studies 已经证明园艺有很多健康益处，比如提高心理弹性, life satisfaction and quality of life.
―Elizabeth Gamillo ’18
Denise Renteria ’20, Urban Ecology Center, Milwaukee
As a neighborhood engagement specialist at Milwaukee’s Urban Ecology Center, 20岁的丹尼斯·伦特里亚(Denise Renteria)已经看到了政治决策如何影响我们的日常生活，并促使普通公民采取行动, such as working for environmental justice.
“环境正义的重点是改善那些无法获得环境保护的人的生活条件,” she says. “我最喜欢的环境正义形式之一是绿色空间的可及性, which is what we do at UEC.”
Inclusion is a powerful theme of UEC’s work, 而在梅诺莫尼谷分店工作的Renteria说，从游客到来的那一刻起就开始了.
“I want someone living in the south side of Milwaukee, or attending a neighboring high school, to be able to comfortably come in and think, ‘I belong in this space, and I am welcomed here',” she says. “这就是我几年前刚开始作为志愿者来到UEC时的感受.”
Renteria also seeks greater inclusion in the field of environmentalism.
“我认为，对于BIPOC的人来说，环保主义并不是一个开放或接受的社区, people with disabilities, and even people who are not the conventional definition of fit or thin,” she explains.
作为密尔沃基南区的长期居民，在UEC工作对Renteria来说是私人的.
“It is a requirement to speak in Spanish to work there. We represent the community we serve,” she says.
– Melissa Zacaula Luna ’22
Cassie Rincon, Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, Milwaukee
For Cassie Rincon ’13, hanging out with snakes is a normal day at the office. 在森林小径上漫步，永远不知道会发现什么风景或生物也是如此.
The 澳门水利博彩官方网站 alumna works at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, located just north of Milwaukee, where her colleagues include more than a dozen snakes, turtles and other reptiles and amphibians that, at any given time, make their home among the nature center’s 185 acres of wetlands, woods and Lake Michigan shoreline.
“I consider myself so lucky to be able to work with these animals,” says Rincon, 她开始在阿尔维诺接受教育时，计划成为一名教师，但后来发现传统的教室并不适合她. She switched to environmental science, 她现在的角色使她能够将对教学的热情与对大自然的热爱结合起来. 她很高兴看到“孩子们第一次接触蛇时眼中的惊奇”.(如果你好奇的话，她说蛇皮摸起来像足球或篮球.)
Other activities include welcoming field trips to the center, leading families on guided hikes and exploring the Lake Michigan beachfront. In the cold Wisconsin winter, gorgeous ice formations are on display; in less-frozen weather, visitors can uncover 450 million-year-old fossils on the beach.
In teaching kids about Wisconsin’s native flora and fauna, Rincon hopes to foster an appreciation for nature. 她还希望反驳一种普遍的看法，即对环境的威胁太遥远或太大，一个人——一个孩子——无法改变.
“我们向他们展示，你可以在自己的后院做一些有益的事情. For example, 你可以给候鸟一个栖息地，让它们在旅行时停下来休息一下. 我们有关于有害植物入侵物种的主题:这里是你如何摆脱它，让你的世界变得更好一点,” she says. “We teach so much about Lake Michigan, 正在发生的污染和其他非营利组织正在努力清理并确保我们有健康的饮用水. We also teach them about citizen science roles they can take on.”
Jessy Servi Ortiz MBA ’13, Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council, Milwaukee
When most people think about “green” business practices, they think about conserving resources and reducing pollution. 但确保领导层多元化和为员工提供健康保险也是可持续的商业实践.
倡导更全面地看待可持续发展，并鼓励企业将这些措施付诸行动，这些都是13届MBA杰西·塞尔维·奥尔蒂斯(jesse Servi Ortiz)一天的工作, managing director of the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council.
“可持续发展是一个很大的术语，对很多人来说可能意味着不同的东西. For us, 它减少了你对环境的影响，并加强和增加了我们照顾社区的方式, including the workers and stakeholders of a company,” Servi Ortiz explains.
威斯康辛州可持续商业委员会是一个非营利性会员组织，帮助任何规模的企业评估和提高其可持续性. 企业努力实现可持续发展不仅是道德上的要求, but there’s also a business argument to do so.
“制造商在制造材料或产品时使用了大量资源. Looking through a cost-saving lens, 如果制造商可以通过产品设计的方式提高效率, or redesign it to be remanufactured, you need less raw material, and your spend goes down. You can also design processes to use less energy or less water,” she says. “If you’re doing sustainability right, it should be a cost savings.”
– Jackie Avial
Sheila Teruty ’10, Slow Wave Vintage, Milwaukee
你知道吗?时装业是全球第二大耗水行业?
According to the United Nations’ Geneva Environment Network, washing clothes releases “500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean every year,” equal to 50 billion plastic bottles.
这只是希拉·特鲁蒂认为可持续时尚必须成为我们未来的原因之一. Teruty is a freelance wardrobe stylist who owns Slow Wave Vintage, a clothing brand dedicated to the act of slow fashion: unique, high-quality vintage items that are hand-picked after careful inspection.
As a child, 特鲁蒂的母亲会带她去古董店和车库拍卖，这激发了她对古董和再利用物品的兴趣. As a teenager, she loved fashion and thrifting.
“任何人都可以去商场买到几十个人已经拥有的同一件衣服. Vintage is always about finding something new and different,” she says. “你会发现，这些服装实际上首先引发了这一趋势.”
特鲁蒂说，在过去，服装往往是为了经久耐用而精心制作的. Nowadays, many clothing items are designed to last a season or a few washes. Luckily, she says, “古着越来越受到时尚达人和专业人士的追捧.”
The secret about vintage is out ― and that’s the point.
“我想我用我的技能和品牌让人们意识到这样一个事实:你可以有意识地生活在你生活的方方面面. 对我来说，这是通过时尚和用二手物品创造空间，”她说. “你可以过时尚的生活，拥有时尚的家和衣柜，而不必支持那些你不了解其道德标准的品牌.”
―Alexis Torres, class of 2023
艾薇·汤普森，1995年，马里兰州乔治王子县国家首都公园和规划委员会.
95岁的艾薇·汤普森和她的妹妹都拥有社区规划硕士学位——这绝非偶然.
“我们觉得这是我们的祖母希望我们做的事情，”汤普森解释说. “My paternal grandmother was the administrator of a community health center, 我的外祖母对我长大的那个社区很有兴趣. 他们总是鼓励我们参加社区会议，并提出问题，而不仅仅是为了那一刻, 但他们希望我们在他们离开后很长一段时间内能够为社区辩护.”
For 17 years, 汤普森曾担任马里兰州国家首都公园和乔治王子县规划委员会的高级规划师, Md., which borders Washington, D.C. 她检讨公营及私营发展项目，以确保符合本地的发展标准, 特别是围绕供水和下水道服务以及可及性和应急响应服务.
汤普森对可持续性的定义邀请她考虑一个项目如何在不伤害未来居民的情况下满足当今居民的需求.
“在我离开后，住在这里的人们将如何受益? That takes me back to my grandmothers,” she says.
―Jackie Avial
点击这里阅读这些澳门水利博彩官方网站 Strong校友的建议，将可持续发展融入你的日常生活.
This article appears in the Summer 2022 issue of 澳门水利博彩官方网站 Magazine.
