Yesterday I attended a presentation by Summer Rayne Oaks, an eco-model and Discovery Channel host, at the University of Central Florida. Her presentation mixed video and lecture and was called, “How We Can Kick Climate Change, One Step At A Time: An Expanding Role For Youth.” The ballroom was packed and there were probably 400+ people in attendance.
Besides being a Discovery Channel host, Summer is a consultant, entrepeneur, speaker, activist, and writer. Oh yeah, she’s also frequently mentioned as being one of the hottest gals in green. See here, here, and here for the props.
Summer’s Presentation
Summer’s talk fell mostly into the category of inspirational, where she encouraged students to follow their dreams, live a passionate life, and be environmentally conscious. Her message was definitely not heavy handed or preachy. She showed a number of videos, from commercials for the Planet Green Channel to video of the Power Shift 2007 conference in Washington DC. Here’s three of the videos to give you an idea of the content:
This was a straight-up plug for elephantart.com. Check out Elsa the abstract painting elephant!
This :30 vid is a commercial for Planet Green that featured Ludacris and Tommy Lee arguing about who’s greener. It’s damn clever and gave me a LOL.
This Youtube vid is about Powershift 2007, a national youth summit addressing climate change that happened last November. Summer covered the event.
What Was My Impression Of Summer Rayne Oakes?
The content of her presentation was definitely up my alley and spoke to my own experience. The real value for me was in the number of resources she referenced, particularly Powershift07, a Thomas Friedman article on Generation “Q”, and Greensburg, Kansas, a town being built green from the ground up.
I had one major issue with the presentation, though. I didn’t think her material resonated with the audience…these kids weren’t moved by any spirit of sustainability or environmental consciousness. That was purely my perception based on audience reaction and observing body language, and I could be off here…I just don’t think I was. It was telling when Summer asked how many people in the audience of several hundred had attended Powershift07. Only one hand raised. (Full disclosure, I had never heard of it either).
Here’s the deal. I went to graduate school at UCF for a number of years and I led a sports club, so I interacted with hundreds of UCF students (probably thousands) during my time. There’s zero culture of sustainability at the school. Now, I’m sure this has changed for the better since I graduated in 2006, but the vibe I got was that green isn’t on the radar of these students. These kids are interested in tailgating, parties, and each other. Green is not a priority and they don’t know where to start. When I first got into being green, I had a similar problem…I had no idea what to do to first, what resources to look at, and where to begin. In fact, I didn’t know how to care about the environment. It was only after living with an environmentally conscious roommate for a year did a lightbulb go off.
I think this feeds into a much larger issue in Orlando and the rest of the country…there’s just too many of us who don’t know where to begin. The stuff Summer is talking about is awesome, but it’s Graduate Level Green when UCF students need Being Green 101 and 102 first. My suggestion for Summer, if she decides to do other talks at other colleges like UCF, is to intro the concepts, tell us why it’s important, and tell us what simple things we can do right now that helps. The practical approach. Once the students are dialed in, then they can start thinking about lobbying at Powershift08.
How can we get college students truly invested into sustainability? Tips and ideas, please leave in comments.
Related resources:
- Generation Q, by Thomas L Friedman
- The blog of Summer Rayne Oakes
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Was that lightbulb that went off a compact flourescent? Just couldn’t resist…
@Georgie: Haha, you’re a real card. Trust me, it was of the dim, low wattage variety.
Sunshines last blog post..Eco-Hottie Summer Rayne Oakes at UCF
Great analysis. I’d love to hear the outcome of the chat you have with Summer. I like the Thomas Friedman pointer too, his latest book is on my list to read by the end of the year.
Your post is very valuable, thanks