Gabby Perez, FCRH ’21, is a leading voice for sustainability on campus. She has been involved with Students for Environmental Awareness and Justice (SEAJ), St. Rose’s Garden and USG’s Sustainability Committee since her freshman year. She also became involved with the Sunrise

Movement, a youth-led climate organization, early in her sophomore year.  Perez is the school outreach coordinator for New York.

In addition, she works for The Bronx is Blooming, a group involved with community service throughout the Bronx. Through The Bronx is Blooming,  she cares for sprouting trees and combats the spread of invasive species.

Perez first became interested in sustainability and environmentalism after reading about climate change in high school. When she discovered how serious the problem was, she decided to dedicate herself to raising awareness about the issue.

In regards to climate change, Perez came to the realization that “I can’t not do something.”

Perez had previous experience protesting, which she got involved with during high school, when she would attend protests on other issues, including The Tax March and Women’s March, with her mother. Attending the protests proved to her that protests are a great way to bring about change, and she finds them “a really powerful thing to be a part of.”

Perez regularly attends rallies concerning climate change and sustainability.

She said, “Protests are a great way to feel a sense of community with other people as concerned about climate change as I am.”
She said she was excited about the Climate Strike that occurred this past Friday, and particularly about the central role young people played in the protests.

“Younger people have more to worry about,” she said.

Perez said that the youth can bring a lot of energy to the movement, pointing to the decision of the New York City public school system to make attending the protest an excused absence as a major boost to the protests.

“It’s going to go down as the biggest climate protest in history,” she said. “Even more than the ones in the seventies.”

When asked about the largest problems in regards to sustainability, Perez pointed to our continued dependence on fossil fuels and the continued culture of consumption, which encourages us to throw away objects and not recycle or reuse products.

She elaborated that companies usually design products to become obsolete and thrown away rather than repaired. Such practices encourage the production of trash, which Perez sees as one of the largest threats to the environment.

One of the best ways for Fordham students to be more sustainable, she explained, would be to shop only when you need something rather than buy things as a hobby, and appreciate what we already have. Students should also borrow things which they will only need in the short term rather than buy them.

After graduating from Fordham, Perez hopes to work for a company which practices workplace sustainability and continue her involvement with climate activist groups. She also doesn’t intend for her life to revolve around her job.

“Leaving this planet better than it is while I’m alive — or making it so that it will be okay — that would be the main goal in my life,” she said.