Chris Jackson: First Steps to COP21!

Hello everyone!  I’m Chris, currently a senior Chemistry major at Saint Edward’s University in Austin, Texas.

Saint Edward's University, Photo credit to Saint Edward's University

As I’m preparing for my senior year of college, I’ve been looking back a few years and would never have imagined that I would be so lucky to be an ACS student representative at COP21.  

Growing up in California, sustainability and climate change were topics I had always heard about, but never had a real interest in.  Coming to Texas for college was a big change.  Granted, Austin is very different from the rest of the state and much more on board with being sustainable and energy efficient, but I still found myself having to make more of an effort to work to live sustainably as a college student.  For example, one of my pet peeves is still the ridiculous amount of unnecessary paper handouts and flyers I’ve received in college!

I started considering climate change from a global perspective after an internship I had last summer (2014) through the Department of Energy at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center National Laboratory (SLAC).  Working on solar cells and seeing other renewable energy technologies being developed there, I became passionate about using my research chemistry background to work towards more sustainable energy.  With that experience, this summer I was an intern at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, synthesizing aerogels as catalyst supports for carbon dioxide reduction.  While it was primarily intended for use on the International Space Station and for long-term space missions/inhabitation, it also has potential applications here on Earth to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions as well.

SLAC National Laboratory, Photo credit to the U.S. Department of Energy

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Photo credit to MSFC/Fred Deaton

Coming from this science background, I can get severely irked when people try to diminish the importance of climate change.  While I was just flying back home for a very brief weekend in California, I glanced out the window and saw the sea of dry, dead grass surrounding the fields and neighborhoods.  If anyone is unconvinced that climate change is real, it’s easy to point to the droughts there, or even in Texas as well.

Luckily, I firmly believe that the younger generation is much more committed to finding sustainable solutions to combat climate change.  However, I don’t think we can wait until we’re “older” or “in charge” – now is the time to start that conversation and show how much we care about this planet!

I’m really hoping that this year at COP we can come to an agreement to prevent further climate change and work towards a sustainable future.  It already promises to be an exciting adventure and I hope y’all readers will stick with us!