Hi! My name is Einat Gavish, and I’m a rising Junior studying math and computer science. As part of the PKG Fellowship this summer, I am working on a project with Matthew Kearney (another PKG fellow), called Effective Environmentalism. Our goal is to create an online tool that presents the most effective actions a person can take to prevent climate change, across a spectrum of political, economic, lifestyle and other choices, as well as providing resources to follow through with those actions. We’re working with many organizations, particularly the Citizen’s Climate Lobby (our community partner) to support the work, as well as many experts in the field. By the end of the summer, we hope to complete the research and construct a website and app specific to our pilot cities of Boston, Massachusetts and Austin, Texas.
Due to circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, I have to work remotely this summer. While the situation is not ideal, I’m nonetheless really excited about beginning work on the project. The idea behind Effective Environmentalism was largely a result of a personal need for the tool. For me, the project is about finding agency in a situation where it’s easy to feel powerless, providing evidence-based and useful climate change solutions, and recognizing that solving climate change requires substantial changes on many different fronts.
Matt and I have been planning work on this project in some form or another since January of this year; it feels surreal to finally have the opportunity to work on it full time. For the past week, we’ve largely focused on setting up the research—by contacting people, designing a framework for research, and more—but next week, we are jumping headfirst into investigating the efficacy of a whole slew of possible actions, from eating less meat, to switching to green energy, to writing your senator, and more.
While I’m primarily excited, I am also cognizant that the project is very ambitious. I know that completing the project on the desired timeline will depend on hard work (and maybe some luck), but I am genuinely looking forward to the opportunity to learn about what I can do, as an individual, to best prevent climate change, and design and create a tool to share that knowledge with others.