By Mahmudur Rahman and Crista Castillo
Crista and I first got to know each other during a Project Green Challenge virtual meet up. She was an intern and I was a campus rep and a former PGC finalist. Crista is an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan majoring in Earth and Environmental Sciences with a minor in Sustainability. She grew up in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, a city bordering El Paso, Texas. And I’m Mahmudur Rahman, from Dhaka, Bangladesh. I’m in my final year of undergrad at Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka and my major is in Environmental Sciences. Even though we are totally opposite sides of the world, we both care deeply about the environment and want to make a difference.
Our conversation flowed with curiosity and warmth. Even though she was in Michigan and I was in Bangladesh, we instantly found common grounds to our respective environments. Starting with the weather! We laughed about the differences: her snowy, freezing Michigan days versus the warm, tropical air back in her home in Ciudad, Juarez. Dhaka’s weather is quite similar to that in Ciudad, Juarez. As we continued talking, I got to learn about Crista’s amazing journey; how growing up in a border city shaped her view on environmental justice, and how her passion for sustainability led her to study Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Living in between two vastly different countries her whole life, Crista discovered discrepancies in the issues that affected the cities she was surrounded by. These differences, especially in the addressing or lack thereof of climate issues she observed while growing up, led her to want to contribute to climate action initiatives.
Her community in Ciudad Juarez, like many around the world, is dealing with increasing heat waves and droughts. Rising temperatures demand that people stay inside as long as they can, with their air conditioning units constantly running. The amount of stress caused by this energy consumption is so great that power outages are common in her neighbourhood during the summer. In the instance in which rain does fall in the city, it does so in momentary heavy rainfalls. These weather disturbances produce floods inside buildings and houses in underprivileged neighbourhoods. Additionally, rainfall inundates the city’s streets for as much as three-day stretches, streets which are not built or prepared for heavy precipitation. Overall, the infrastructure in Ciudad Juarez is not built for extreme weather events, those that promise to come back with more frequency in the current climate crisis.
One of the biggest issues of concern in her community is a notable degree of climate change denial. She finds that there is a lack of climate action initiatives in her community, as the day-to-day activities in her neighbourhood do not usually prioritize the protection of the surrounding environment.
Some initiatives do take place around Juarez. One of the most active initiatives in her community is called Juarez Limpio, a nonprofit organization that, through volunteering, aims to clean up the city and raise climate change awareness. She is acquainted with this group, hoping to stay informed of the actions that are being taken to help clean up her community.
In her third year at Michigan, she finds inspiration from the students at her university who care deeply for the environment, something that she maintains close to her through classes and extracurricular activities. One of her favourite activities is being a member of a socially-engaged design project team at her university. Her team is working on building a sustainable water irrigation system for a local farm, with the aim to support the growth of the farm while reducing water waste. She contributes to the team’s efforts by researching the characteristics and ideal growing conditions for the various plants grown on the farm.
Crista hopes to continue contributing to efforts like these in her future career. At her university, she has recently become part of the Erb Institute Undergraduate Fellows Program in Business Sustainability. From this program, she hopes to discover ways in which businesses can incorporate sustainable practices. Altogether, she strives to push sustainable development initiatives to provide people around the world with a good quality of life while protecting the environment and resources for future generations. Global projects that aim to build bridges between people inspire her, as she believes that climate change must be addressed in collaboration with people from all walks of life. She hopes to make science accessible and comprehensible for everyone, and envisions a world in which nature’s health is prioritized. While interning for Turning Green, she hopes to motivate students to sign up for Project Green Challenge.
Crista’s story shows how one person can be a part of a big difference. She cares deeply about the planet and is taking real steps to protect it. Her journey reminds us that change starts with small actions, and together, we can all be part of the solution.
