August 31, 2011 by Ratna Kamath '11
- Arrive at Pomona with thoughts of studying economics or English. Feel a part of an eco-conscious community for the first time, and settle on an environmental analysis major instead. Wind up working for Bowen Close ’06, who directs the College’s Sustainability Integration Office.
- Help build a mobile solar station to provide energy for campus events, cultivate your own plot of land at the College’s Farm, create an organic garden at the women’s prison in Chino and become a leader of Pomona for Environmental Activism and Responsibility.
- Attend the Real Food Challenge West Coast Summit the summer after your junior year. Learn how to assess where food came from and how it was grown or raised. Decide to scrap your original thesis idea and instead track every food item coming into Frary Dining Hall for a month. Determine most of it wasn’t locally grown or ecologically sound. Write up a food assessment for your thesis, highlighting changes you think should be made.
- Graduate with a job offer to become Pomona’s sustainability and purchasing coordinator. Search out local farms for fresh produce, and work with a family-owned company to find sources of organic and humanely-raised food. Divert more than a ton of compost to the College’s Farm each week. Provide healthy options at every meal. Have your eye on one day being able to do the same thing for low-income, urban schools.