BOWSEAT 2023
COMMUNITY CLIMATE HERO
Elizabeth is a climate activist in Southern California, high-school student, and youth representative of the environmental leadership team at her church, the “Green Team”.
She specializes in small-scaled environmental work where she focuses on local policy, community building, activism. Unlike environmental giants, being a small-scaled community leader often causes Elizabeth’s efforts toward solving climate change issues to go unnoticed. Nevertheless, she remains dedicated to her cause because she believes local community activism is the future of environmentalism.
But what makes Elizabeth’s work particularly remarkable is how it has allowed her to
break through a barrier that has prevented many from engaging in environmental action:
the traditional belief that religion conflicts with science and environmentalism.
Sharing the story of Elizabeth Johnstone…
Community
Religion
Environmentalism
Click the stars to see each section!
Diving Into Community
Elizabeth returns from conducting interviews with various members of her school community in hopes of discovering the cause for the environmental inaction on campus. Glancing at her notes and recalling the details of her conversations, she drew upon an unanticipated answer… she couldn't pinpoint one cause, because the root of the issue lied in the fabric of the community- a subject that is much more nuanced, a cloth knit with the intersectional strings of the various backgrounds, experiences, and identities of its community members …
The Importance of Small-Scaled Community Work
As demonstrated by ambitious projects like SpaceX’s mission to colonize Mars and the ever-continuing race to innovate technologies like ChatGPT that can speed up seemingly any process, our society has shifted towards an emphasis on efficiency. This rhetoric has fostered a desire to create a sweeping, all-encompassing solution to the climate crisis. But there is no one-way solution to all of our climate problems. It is important to look back to our history and recognize that we’ve gradually taken steps to get here, and that we need to take small steps to go back.
A message Elizabeth hopes to instill within current and future generations is an understanding that resolving the climate crisis is not an individual effort, solved by one person or one groundbreaking discovery, but rather an effort of the collective.
Elizabeth sees small-scaled community work at the center of this vision. While these efforts may not be as attention-grabbing as the work of environmental giants, engaging and changing the hearts and minds of individuals in smaller communities is nonetheless just as important in the road towards a more sustainable future.
Environmentalism in the Religious Scene
As a practicing Catholic, religion is an important piece of Elizabeth’s identity that simultaneously influences her work. One of the major barriers Elizabeth struggled with in her journey as an environmental activist is the idea that religion and science are contradictory subjects.
Torn between two seemingly separate identities, Elizabeth sought ways to unite her two values ...
She found the key to unlock the door separating these two worlds in religious leader Pope Francis's encyclical, Laudato Si', which calls on members of the Catholic community and world at large to care for the planet. Drawing this connection empowered Elizabeth to become more devoted to both her faith and environmental work, and she hopes her story and work can uplift other youth that face similar struggles.
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Elizabeth now integrates religion into her leadership as a method of forging stronger communal bonds and empowering members of her community to engage in environmental action as an effort towards a shared cause.
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“I hope people can see the two, religion and environmentalism, as partners and two movements with similar and sometimes even the same goals, rather than two opposite ends.”
-Elizabeth Johnstone
IMPACT IN ACTION
The GREEN TEAM of
St. Monica Catholic Church
ELIZABETH
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The Green Team is the environmental committee of Elizabeth’s church that aims to provide the tools and training necessary to help both older and younger generations in the community live more sustainably and in unity with God’s creation.
“From One Kid To Another”
It’s hard to get the message across from one generation to the other. The struggles of intergenerational communication is one of life’s universal experiences- we have all fallen victim to the temptation of brushing off the advice of our elders as “old speak”...
That's why the work of youth environmentalists is so impactful- as the only youth member on the team, Elizabeth plays a significant role in influencing the youth at their church and shaping their values relationship with environmentalism.
Environmental Education
Education and communication is central to Elizabeth’s work. She uses an informative and interacting approach that can be embodied by the “big 3":
Education
Learning the nuts and bolts of environmentalism
Inspiration
Connecting environmentalism to religion and real-life social justice issues
Using what you learned to help improve sustainability in the community.
Action
Elizabeth makes an appearance !
Empowering Green Team ZERO
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Elizabeth’s approach towards environmental education is demonstrated by her leadership on the Green Team ZERO project, a two-year long initiative to examine consumption and the waste system at her parish.
Elizabeth Johnstone (right) poses by a student.
Education
Elizabeth teaches members of her church and youth in Santa Monica, California subjects related to waste reduction such as how recycling works to reduce substance in the waste stream, the difference between a linear and circular economy, and how to properly recycle.
Inspiration
To unite the worlds of environmentalism and religion, Elizabeth turns to Pope Francis as a source of inspiration. As mentioned earlier, Pope Francis called on the Catholic community and world at large to care for creation, live simpler lives, and care for the environment. Elizabeth references this quote to highlight the importance of resolving the waste issue in relation to both the wellbeing of the environment and religious values.
Action
As a next step, Elizabeth helps the community get involved in reducing waste by integrating sustainable waste reduction outlets at her church. This includes implementing a three-bin waste system in parish campus in addition to other specialized methods of reducing waste such as switching from disposable to reusable plates in the church cafeteria and providing the community with free organics collection pails.
“Making the switch to sustainability doesn’t have to be difficult ! Every change counts, even the small ones. If you can’t establish a complete waste and recycling system at home, maybe try reducing waste by switching from disposable to reusable materials. The same applies to the reverse- if you’re ready to do more, there are tons of ways to boost your sustainability out there ! ”
-Elizabeth Johnstone
An example of an ideal event waste station
set-up (landfill, recycling, organics, dishwashing).
Replacing disposable plates in the church cafeteria with reusable ones.
Elizabeth helps the Green Team and her church partner with OrganicsLA (pictured here) and the City of Santa Monica (not pictured) to provide free organics collection pails to the Santa Monica community.
Read Spectrum News 1's
article featuring
Leading the St. Monica Green Team Youth Climate Summit in 2021
Within the “Education” piece, Elizabeth organized the St. Monica Green Team Youth Climate Summit, a day-long event that invited students across Southern California to learn about topics such as fast fashion and sustainable agriculture.
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Elizabeth (front row, third from the right) stands beside volunteers, event participants and guest speakers
Elizabeth featured on Spectrum News helping run the St. Monica Church Youth Climate Summit event.
Beach Cleanups
Within the “Action” piece, Elizabeth regularly organizes beach cleanups to engage the community. Through these events, Elizabeth is not only able to teach the youth at her church about the waste system and recycling but also inspire within them an appreciation of our local ecosystems by exposing them to the beauty of the landscape and marine life they support.
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“Environmental action doesn’t have to just be work, it can be fun too ! What I love about events like beach cleanups is that we not only learn a lot but also get the opportunity to bond as a community.”
-Elizabeth Johnstone
​Elizabeth picks up trash alongside members of her church community that she brought to one of the beach cleanups she organized.
Elizabeth’s story is one of hope and creativity.
Its hopefulness can empower those who are struggling with religion and environmentalism, or any other conflict between their values and identity to persevere and find strength in these differences.
Its creativity, found in the versatility of environmental action demonstrated by Elizabeth’s various initiatives, can tell the world that environmentalism can be accessible, small, simple, and thus inspire aspiring environmentalists and those who have not yet dabbled into the field to join in on the movement toward sustainability.
Credits
- Interview with Community Climate Hero, Elizabeth Johnstone
- Beech, Chace. “Catholics in Santa Monica tackle climate change.” SpectrumNews1.
Website and graphic design (illustrations, geometric art) by Nathalie Leung