WRRC Meets with Planet Forward College Students from Around the Country
Image: Kevin Bonine
The University of Arizona is a Pillar consortium member of Planet Forward, engaging diverse college students from across the country who use storytelling, media, and educational events to tell the stories of innovation that can move our planet forward. A group of ten Planet Forward students, some from UArizona and others from around the country, convened in Southern Arizona in early October to learn firsthand about the future of food, water, and local communities in the face of a changing climate. Their short time in the region included visits to the Bayer crop production facility in Marana and to Biosphere 2, where they learned about research in the Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO), using a Freight Farm vertical container food production facility, and Agrivoltaics. Students also engaged in conversations with campus experts including WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal and Michael Johnson, faculty in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment and Hopi farmer. The students asked probing questions and shared their interdisciplinary perspectives on solving the world’s greatest environmental challenges. One of the exciting initiatives of the UArizona and Planet Forward partnership is the Indigenous Correspondents Program (ICP), created to empower the next generation of Indigenous scholars to share environmental stories and resilient solutions of relevance around the world. Several of the Planet Forward students participating in the recent visit are part of the ICP cohort. Look for their stories soon on Planet Forward’s website.