The Community Service Project has encouraged me to talk more to other people at Baruch, be it students or professors. While it is easy to simply research sustainability on the Internet, I’ve realized it was always good to hear another opinion regarding the topic and to look at it from a different perspective, both of which can only be provided by another person. Perhaps there’s a solution we’ve simply never seen before. Perhaps there’s a different perspective that no one is paying attention to. Even if talking to others doesn’t provide a different solution or perspective, it still allows us to find something we share in common, and communicate in a way that’s more than just “Hi I’ve seen you before but I don’t know you so I’ll just walk away now.”

The project has also encouraged me and my team to join our efforts with Baruch’s own ECO club, and we might bring the Sustainability Task Force on board as well, assuming we can find any of its allusive members.

Using these resources for our project doesn’t really give me an edge in my other courses, as none of them relate to sustainability. However, this project has led me to consider courses related to sustainability, but nothing is definite in that regard. The project has, however, helped me improve some of my communication skills so far, and I hope it will continue to do so in the spring semester, as communication is key, regardless of which field I go into.

This project has led me to understand that when solving problems that affect the entire world, it is sometimes best to begin in your own community. While our efforts may not impact the grand scheme of things, it does have some impact on a much smaller scale. Assume no one in a community believes they can do anything to save the world from its environmental ailment. Based on that belief, no one in that community will do anything, since they believe it will have no impact. If that belief continues on, eventually no one in the world will believe they can do anything, and thus the problem is not only unsolved, but also exacerbated. If we can convince even one person to live a more sustainable lifestyle, regardless of impact, then perhaps that person can go on to convince another, and another, and another. Doing good is contagious, and perhaps one day, everyone will live a more sustainable lifestyle and mitigate climate change. Perhaps my team’s efforts won’t save the world, but if we can convince even one person in our community, then I would consider ourselves as successful.

I still don’t know where I will see myself in the next three years. Perhaps I’ll still be working with the Green City Challenge. Perhaps I’ll be doing something entirely different. What I do know is that I will be trying. I will be trying to keep up my grades and academics. I will be trying to help others. And above all, I will be trying to help my community.