Katherine Freeman

Student

“The underlying values of our society have got to change if we’re to solve the really big problems.”

“I recently wrote a thirty-page paper on the ability of the world’s governments to solve environmental problems,” says Katherine Freeman. “I covered the world in that one. And when I finished,” she adds with a weary laugh, “I really felt it.”

Katherine has been taking the full range of environmental and cross-disciplinary classes offered through the Environmental College at SMC. “Right now I’m looking at a career in environmental law,” she says. “There’s so much legislation that needs to be drafted to help us deal with all our problems.” But though her approach to making a cleaner world is global, she also sees hope in individual action. “People are worried. But if you give them a chance to improve things—like setting up recycling centers—you find they are very eager to be helpful. Recycling one can or bottle isn’t going to solve all our problems,” she continues. “But it’s a start.”

Katherine will soon head for Washington as a Dale Ride intern from SMC where she’ll observe first-hand the political processes that have drawn so much fire of late. “It’s a great time to be going there, with all the election activity going on,” she says. “And thousands of other college kids will be arriving from all over the country, so I’m excited to meet them.”

On her return home, Katherine will be faced with the kind of difficult choice we’d all like to make. “I’ve been accepted to Berkeley and UCLA and I haven’t decided yet,” she says. But whichever campus she lands on, be assured her pursuit of solutions will continue. “We’ve grown up for generations to believe it’s our right to always have more material things, the more the better,” says Katherine. “That’s the kind of mindset that we have to work at changing. Quickly!”

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