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From Campus Clubs to Careers
A member of the environmental club EnVision during her sophomore year, environmental studies major and politics minor Alexandra Agajanian ’05 recalled the group’s fight to reduce and/or eliminate the use of carryout lunch containers at USF’s cafeterias. “For that campaign, students were stationed to sort through a day’s worth of trash inside the cafeteria and we collected and cleaned the to-go containers,” Agajanian said. “We then assembled a large tower of the containers in the cafeteria to exhibit the overuse.”
After a sustained campaign over several semesters, USF’s cafeterias made a change, switching to compostable corn, sugarcane, and potato starch containers and utensils.
Following graduation, Agajanian studied techniques for leading a sustainable lifestyle and growing organic vegetables at an intensive permaculture certification program in Santa Fe, N.M. Now with the nonprofit Sustainable Economic Enterprise – Los Angeles (SEE-LA), she manages three farmers markets, including one in East Hollywood dedicated to providing fresh, local produce to low-income families. The East Hollywood market, one of seven operated by SEE-LA, is among several subsidized by the organization’s better-known Sunday Hollywood Farmers Market, allowing it to accept food stamps and other federal assistance food vouchers.
“I think eating seasonally and locally are two of the most important things that people can do for their health and for the environment,” Agajanian said. Eating locally and seasonally helps reduce the carbon footprint required to grow, harvest, and bring to market the food that finally arrives on families’ tables.
Partnering with the Los Angeles Unified School District, SEE-LA also brings farmers into classrooms to speak with students about growing fruits and vegetables and the importance of a balanced diet. Students taste fresh produce, learn where their food comes from, and, hopefully, come to appreciate it. In SEE-LA’s Good Cooking program, which Agajanian has taught, low-income parents learn to use fresh, seasonal produce to prepare easy and healthy meals.
Uncertain of her major when she entered USF, Agajanian signed up for an environmental course, remembering how the subject captivated her during high school. “It was just mind-blowing that all these environment crises were happening but no one was doing anything,” she said. Once she realized the extent of the crisis there was no going back; she felt a responsibility to do something. USF’s intimate department and small class sizes made her feel connected to a community, even part of an environmental movement, she said.
Breathe in the Air
From the bay wetlands that filter the region’s water and provide refuge for thousands of wildlife species, to the vegetables on Californians’ plates, to the air we breathe, USF alums working in the green economy are driven by a desire for results-oriented environmental improvements. For Alona Davis, MSEM ’07, realizing that passion meant walking away from a private sector job in environmental consulting, where she guided clients through environmental regulations, advised them on permits, and oversaw the decontamination of soil and water toxins. Hired by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) about a year ago, she saw a chance to work with business owners and the public to improve air quality on a measurable basis.
“I am makinga daily contribution to environmental issues right now, and into the future,”
said Davis, comparing her responsibilities at BAAQMD with those of environmental consulting. “It’s a more rewarding feeling.”
Already working to reduce diesel emissions near ports, wood fire smoke particles during the winter, and overall smog through its Spare the Air campaign, BAAQMD is expected to be on the cutting edge of air quality standards by Bay Area residents, Davis said. To that end, she inspects about 250 Bay Area gas stations a year, looking for gas fume leaks that contribute to the region’s hazy air.
With more than 3,000 gas stations in the Bay Area, even small leaks have a combined impact that can cause smog, making it hazardous for severe asthma sufferers or others with diminished lung capacity to go outside.
Enforcement reminds gas station owners that staying in compliance is not only good for the environment, but also good for the bottom line, especially when a citation may range from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars, Davis said.
Davis foresees the green economy, from environmental sustainability to resource conservation, expanding across the board into industry, business, research, law, and education in the coming years. “It will extend into homes and businesses and schools like never before,” she said.
The Business of Green
Environmental studies and environmental science experts alone don’t power the green economy, however. A rising number of Bay Area entrepreneurs, including Oren Jaffe, MBA ’05, believe green business is smart business.
Long attracted to the role of entrepreneurial matchmaker, Jaffe’s latest venture is a rapidly expanding sustainable business networking event he co-founded in February 2007 with Nikki Martinez called EcoTuesday. Since its inception, EcoTuesday’s popularity has proved contagious, resulting in franchises sprouting in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Marin/North Bay, and New York. “I love bringing people together at EcoTuesday and watching the magic happen,” said Jaffe, who also runs environmental consulting firm BlueMap Inc. “The commonality is that they want to improve the world and make products and deliver services to change the world.”
From his perspective, green business — whether it’s related to a company’s supply chain, human resources, or another sector — is where the market is headed. “Lowering your carbon footprint and being more efficient with your waste and energy output is just smart business,” he said. “Those that embrace it are doing well, and those that don’t aren’t.”
Held the fourth Tuesday of each month in downtown San Francisco, EcoTuesday makes meeting people easy for even the least gregarious among the eco-crowd with a semi-structured mixer that includes a 10- to 15-minute talk by a sustainable business leader, networking over drinks, and a roundtable introduction of each attendee.
As the idea of the so-called triple bottom line—economics, the environment, and social responsibility — spreads into corporate boardrooms across America, Jaffe sees an opportunity for USF’s School of Business and Management to expand its course offerings in sustainability. Already, progress has been made from when he was one of a few voices consistently raising questions in his MBA classes about sustainability, Jaffe said. “I’m just excited that (SOBAM) is moving in that direction,” he said. “Because eventually, it’s not going to be a green thing. It’s just going to be the way business is done.”
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