It is often easy, when faced with a challenge to give up, to decide that something is simply not worth the time or the energy to find the solution.  However, there is no growth of self in giving up.

I am currently a senior undergraduate in Environmental Biology at Columbia University taking Environmental Ethics, Literature, and Action (ELEA). For this class we are required to produce a semester long project in which we have demonstrated our role as environmental leaders in the communities around us.  To jump start my project and further my interest in ecology, I applied for two internships through the NYC Parks department.  However, I was not chosen for either.  Although I was disappointed, I did not let my apparent failure as a Park's intern applicant stop me from pursuing another avenue---one that I was even more passionate about in the end.  For my project I intend on finding a way to make scientific knowledge that is common and easy to access for scientists more accessible and understandable for the general public (non-scientists). 

I will be using my skills as a scientist, student, and citizen to bridge the knowledge gap between scientific knowledge (regarding conservation, ecology, and several other topics) and the general public by creating my own website where I will post and translate information on these issues into terms that anyone who may not have a scientific background would understand.  The lack of scientific information that is available to the public is appalling.  If this lack of communication between these two sects can be stopped, then I am certain that more positive change regarding environmental issues will occur.  With my website I intend to create a space where open dialogue can flow between scientists and non-scientists alike.  I am certain that changes will happen at a much faster rate if everyone is given the tools to understand exactly what is going on in any one arena.