Reflections As A Sustainability Fellow

By Emma Clark\

This image is of sweetgrass, from Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, by Andy and Sally Wasowski. It is the primary metaphor used by Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass to symbolize care towards the natural world.

As I progress with my Sustainability Fellows project, I’ve had the opportunity to further refine how I want to shape my experience. My project investigates resilience collaboratives, structures built to combat the growing impact of climate change, in various municipal areas, with the goal of developing one in the Apalachee region.

One thing I want to try during my experience as an FSU Sustainability Fellow is an investigation into existing resilience collaboratives in the region where I live – the St. Louis area, and more broadly, the Midwest. Prior to this project, I had little familiarity with local government, regional agencies, or urban planning. This experience has sparked a personal interest in what sustainability efforts are being pursued in my own community. Another thing I want to explore is the role of the Mississippi River in shaping environmental systems in St. Louis. Many of our discussions as Fellows have highlighted how interconnected environmental factors are, particularly how natural systems can create a kind of domino effect, impacting human life in both direct and indirect ways. While much of our curriculum has focused on Florida’s ecosystems, I’ve begun making connections to my own hometown. A final goal for my summer experience is to attend a local sustainability event, whether in St. Louis or back in Tallahassee. Before joining the Fellows program, I was primarily familiar with the concept of social sustainability (inclusivity, access to resources in communities). My involvement as a Fellow has piqued my interest in environmental sustainability, which I’m now eager to explore in more contexts.

One of the key skills I hope to develop during this experience is critical thinking, particularly the ability to analyze and synthesize complex information. This is a skill I see as widely applicable throughout my undergraduate studies and in my future pursuit of a legal career. I expect to build this skill through responsibilities like drafting an annotated bibliography and completing a full literature review. By gathering and interpreting data from a wide range of sources to develop a resilience strategy for the Apalachee region, I hope to improve my analytical abilities. Another skill I’m working on is professionalism, especially in terms of dependability, attention to detail, and consistent goal-setting. As a solo intern working closely with a supervisor, I have a fantastic opportunity to refine these habits applicable in both academic and professional contexts for years to come.

If I had to summarize how I’m feeling at this point in my project, I would choose a quote from Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, which we’ve studied as part of our curriculum: “Individuals far wiser than I have said that we get the government we deserve. That may be true. But the maples, our most generous of benefactors and most responsible of citizens, do not deserve our government. They deserve you and me speaking up on their behalf.” This quote is significant because it captures a central theme I’ve encountered in my work so far: that environmental sustainability can be achieved institutionally if the natural world is treated with respect and priority. I’m excited to continue deepening my understanding of this theme throughout the rest of my experience.