My name is Sonali Anderson. I am a rising senior at Brandeis University majoring in Business and Environmental Studies, and I am working with an organization called Business Climate Leaders “BCL”. BCL is a non-profit syndicate group that mobilizes large American businesses to take climate action through nonpartisan climate advocacy. I have the amazing opportunity to help this organization further its efforts within climate justice through engagement within different business sectors. Our shared goal is to help large industries recognize their own contribution to climate change and the importance of advocating for carbon price dividend legislation. In return, we all can make a healthier environment across the nation.
During my time with BCL, I have been tasked with helping this organization within the health sector launch their “Health Professionals Declaration”. This is a document for medical professionals (doctors, veterinarians, nurses, etc.) that brings awareness to this particular industry’s contribution to carbon emissions along with how they individually can make a change by advocating for carbon price dividend legislation within their very own practice. I have learned that this is BCL’s standard first step approach when beginning to engage with a new sector. My responsibilities have been meeting/engaging with as many nurses, dentists, public health professionals, etc that are within the BCL network to sign HCP Declaration. Also, I have been strategizing ways in which this Declaration publication and messaging can be viewed by larger groups who have connections within this specific sector via social media platforms such as (LinkedIn and Facebook) as well. Specifically, in helping with social media outreach, I devised a plan in which it highlights different approaches BCL can implement to increase the amount of recognition of their efforts. This plan is flexible so it can be applied to any other new sector BCL takes on! From my work in completing this initial project, I have helped BCL amass over 1000 Health Professional signatories to the “Health Professionals Declaration”. Ultimately, this has allowed the awareness of BCL in regards to carbon legislation advocacy to increase within this sector.
There are many different sectors in this work ranging from energy and power to food and beverage. As a double major in Business and Environmental Studies, I hope to have a specific focus on the Retail/Fashion industry in relation to making their operations more sustainable. By engaging with this specific sector, through an approach I can begin to further the impact of my work by additionally learning and suggesting ways in which these large companies can reduce their carbon footprint within manufacturing, production, and distribution.