A Discussion Dinner on Civic Engagement and Environmental Policy

Executive Summary
Shruti’s leadership project is a Discussion Dinner that intends to catalyze conversation about important science policy issues and how it pertains to the environment and the relationship between science and society. She will be running this event through UCLA’s Graduate and Undergraduate Society of Women Engineers. The goal is to get attendees in the community to think more conscientiously about how scientific issues make its way into the discourse of public policy discussions, their implications for sustainability, climate change, and human health, and how they can integrate civic engagement into their interests and values. Since this is an election year, it will include a database breaking down candidates and ballot measures with respect to their environmental impact as well as voter registration resources.
Importance
I believe this project is important because as a STEM student, we don’t always learn the impact of science on society as a whole, especially when it comes to what we as individuals can do about it. In the face of the climate crisis, COVID-19, attacks on trans rights, and issues related to technology, STEM is inextricably linked with public policy but doesn’t always get portrayed as such. I wanted to put on this event to engage the UCLA community in the importance of staying informed.
Impact and Reach
This project is related to sustainability as it will serve as a means to discuss climate policy and its implications for socioeconomic justice and the health of people and the planet. I hope to be able to educate attendees on lesser-known issues on the ballot, such as initiatives, state and local measures, and voting in off-year elections in general, with the aim of helping them make more informed choices (and feel less overwhelmed when they see all the stuff they have to fill out on their ballots).
Collaborators
I am doing this project as a collaboration with the Graduate and Undergraduate Society of Women Engineers. This helps provide a means to promote the event, particularly to an audience of STEM students with a passion for empowerment and inclusion, but who may have varying levels of civic engagement or may be first-time voters. I am also in correspondence with the Science Policy Group at UCLA, who prepares voter information guides pertaining to science policy issues, as a means to obtain a highly informed perspective on key issues. Most of the actual planning, organizing, and logistical tasks will be on me and other SWE members who would like to volunteer.
My Role Well Defined
I will be organizing this event, researching and providing all the educational materials, and promoting the event on social media. I am working with a team of fellow GradSWE and SWE board members who will help me put this together.
Organization of the event will include setting a date, time, and location. I will also be organizing catering for the event (and am trying to keep it low-waste as far as possible).
The format of the discussion dinner involves providing attendees with sheets of graphics, statistics, and other educational materials, then using guiding questions to spur conversation. I plan on using a combination of ballot guides, peer-reviewed scientific literature, institutional reports, and other reputable sources such as trusted news outlets and environmental groups. My research findings will be boiled down into simple graphics and charts to optimize the breadth of information that attendees can take in. I plan on including information about a few case studies where science (or pseudoscience/misinformation) has been used to push a certain policy agenda, for better or for worse, and what the implications are for the environment, sustainability, and social justice. I will be putting together a voter information guide, since 2022 is a midterm election year. I will be focusing on competitive races for federal, state, and local office as well as statewide and local ballot measures that could have an effect on the environment/sustainability. It will also include resources for voter registration. The research will likely be linked through QR codes or tinyurl, so I only have to print out a few sheets of paper and the rest is all digital.
Lastly, I will be responsible for providing promotional materials on social media. I will promote it through the GradSWE and SWE social media and newsletters as well as advertising on Slack and other means of outreach.