Maggie
Everyone and their mother has heard the words "climate change." For some, this term is extremely evocative but for others it gets pushed to the background along with all the other things to worry about. Climate change and the scientific research is not always a topic that generates excitement. Maggie would like to change that.
Maggie is a 23 year old graduate student in Ethics living in New York who decided to try to live out her dreams and make the world a little bit better. She is currently 9th place in a contest to win a trip to the Arctic with the goal of raising awareness and educating people on climate change, its effect in the Arctic and why this matters. Read an interview with her below.
1. What drew you to this contest?
I have always loved adventure. I thought for the longest time that I would be an archaeologist and I was doing well. I had received scholarships for excavations in the Philippines and Belize. It was very exciting but I wanted to work on present-day issues so I came back to New York and worked on my Master's in Ethics and Society at Fordham University and working with numerous social good initiatives. The Polar Fjallraven competition caught my eye because it was a chance to head back out to the unknown. When I realized the opportunity to make an impact by educating people about Arctic Climate Change, I knew I had to give it my best shot! I like to call this "hacking" the travel contest for social good.
2. Why did you decide to focus on climate change and the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
Ever since I left my small town and moved to New York, I have found myself more and more engaged in environmental work and activism. I never realized how much I loved the natural world that surrounded me growing up until I was living in such an urban area. This September, I participated in Merit 360, a program that brings young people from around the world together to work on solutions to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This program was life-changing for me because I was surrounded by people who were so energetic and driven and making such an impact. I would never have dreamed of entering this competition without the support of World Merit. The SDGs and climate change activism have become as much a part of my own life as breathing. This is how I live. I never had a second thought about focusing on climate change in this competition.
3. "Raising awareness" can be such a vague term. How would you winning this competition actually make a difference?
That's so true! I don't love the term raising awareness but its a succinct way to describe what I am doing. If I won this competition, it would generate so much excitement. People could follow my trip and I would be blogging, streaming, vlogging, tweeting, instragramming, and so on as much as I could before, during, and after the trip. But all of this output would have an educational component to publicize research on Arctic climate change that is currently being conducted. After the trip, I would use my experience to make the Arctic come alive for people. To bring them all of the sensory details and make the threat of climate change there much more tangible and real.
4. So how can people help?
If you want to support me in making climate change education a factor in this competition, click the link to vote!
Send this article on to friends and family and encourage people to take this small step of activism. Voting ends on December 15th and I need a couple thousand people to show their support for the Arctic before then! I've also declared my intention to donate $500 to the Union for Concerned Scientists to support research on climate change in the Arctic if I reach 10,000 votes.
Check out what Grand Central Station had to say about this:
And follow me on social media to see if I make it! Your vote counts!
Twitter @MrMaggieMay
Instagram @dez_347
Facebook @globalcitizensforArctic