Charlotte Fowler - Key to Change

    The other day I came across this TED Talk (that I’ll have linked down below) from Franziska Trautmann, a college student, that has lived to see the devastation of her beloved bayou in Louisiana over her lifetime as sea levels rise and the land becomes more and more eroded. She also had noticed the immense amount of landfill that had been accumulating due to the lack of recycling facilities in her area. As her and her boyfriend lamented over these facts while finishing off a bottle of wine, they began to brainstorm ways to reduce the amount of glass bottles being contributed to the massive landfills. After research, they gathered that glass was originally made from sand! So with the evidence of sand being such a finite resource in the area, and everywhere, they found a way to turn their wine bottles, that would inevitably end up in landfill dumps, into sand to restore their local bayou. With determination and purpose they found a human sized machine that was able to grind the glass bottle back into the sand it was before. And with relentless devotion to this issue, they were able to fundraise enough to open a large facility that has the power to recycle the 295 million pounds of glass that reach our landfills annually.

    On top of the discussion of her project, Franziska talks about the challenges she faced at the beginning of her project, specifically the lack of support she received from others. She says that one of the biggest threats today is climate apathy over climate denial. Most of the population believes and knows that climate change is a real thing but many of them don’t think there is anything we can do to stop it, and that is where the issue lies. She goes on to say that “hope combined with action can be one of the most powerful tools to enact change,” and her actions prove this true. The key to change is simply starting and to keep going. With this mindset she was able to reduce landfill waste and restore coastlines at the same time.

    This story reminds me of an individual here on campus that saw a need and pursued with action. I think it is appropriate to shout out Audrey Hales for starting  a chapter of the Surfrider Club here at CNU last fall, which has developed into a pretty large organization, motivating lots of students and locals to get involved with beach clean ups and other conservational motives. Just this past Saturday, her and her team picked up 400 pounds of trash off of King Lincoln Park! 



Your Empty Wine Bottle Can Help Rebuild Coastlines | Franziska Trautmann | TED

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