CU Boulder student Meredith Nass grew up in Durango, Colo., a region where diverging perspectives about energy, use of resources and sustainability are the norm. But growing up there, Nass didn’t know much about these issues. "I lived there for 18 years, went to public school, and volunteered in my community," she said. "But I never really knew much about the energy and sustainability issues affecting my region."
For Nass, that is about to change. This summer, together with nine other CU Boulder students from the INVST Community Leadership Program, Nass ditched her cell phone and set off for four weeks under the stars to investigate sustainability issues in Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.
"Having the chance to talk to coal miners and people who work on oil rigs, environmentalists, people on the Black Mesa Reservation who work for the water coalition, to be able to hear all these stories and perspectives during our INVST trip and bring this information back to my community, I’m just so excited for that,” she said.