In conversation with the real-life power ranger who has vowed to work towards protecting, preserving and celebrating nature.
Terri Gladus is currently a student of Public Administration at the University of Pittsburg. The mission of her life is to assimilate contemporary urban dwellers with eco-friendly ways of living.
Being sustainable in thought, word and deed is her motto. Terri differs from the thousands of other young ‘climate advocates’ or ‘green influencers’ you often hear about. She doesn't believe in demonstrating public protests or giving exaggerated assurances. Instead of staging intellectual charades on social media, she uses her time to assist the civic government to draft environment-friendly policies, arrange for waste management logistics at community events, successfully availing alternative energy sources for her university, growing floral gardens at local institutions, raise money for animal care groups, or teaching environmental awareness to little children at The Jefferson School - Delaware. She is the catalyst of climate action and not a mere brand ambassador.
Terri has earned her extraordinary achievements only because she never desires individual credit but always serves for collective impact. She was appointed as the Chair of Mayor’s Sustainability Advisory Committee by Jacob Day - Honourable Mayor of Salisbury. She has done commendable work as the Director of Pemberton Nature Camp of Wicomico County. Her incredible contributions as a sustainability volunteer are recognised by Julia Glanz - Honourable City Administrator of Maryland.
An avid camper, animal lover and true-blue vegetarian are the words that can best describe her bio. When outdoors, she pursues nature trailing, trekking, kayaking, rock climbing and gardening with tremendous enthusiasm. Whereas her indoor recreations are essentially about playing with her pet dog Birdie and pampering her houseplants.
It is very evident by now that this young lady ain’t nothing less than Terri-fic !
Read her story below.
What exactly prompted you to become a crusader for environment and sustainability?
First of all, thank you so much for asking me to answer some questions for you. I'm honored! All I've done to try to help the environment has been motivated by my love for the natural world. I grew up camping and playing in the woods, and being in nature is still by-far the one place I feel the most at peace. I truly believe that having positive experiences in nature as a child shape your connection as an adult; it's very hard (though certainly not impossible!) to appreciate something that you don't know and love first-hand. The older I got and the more I learned about sustainability and the environment, the more I learned about the inequities that exist. Often those who are causing the most environmental harm are those feeling the effects the least. This has been extremely motivating for me as of late.
What are your expectations from the newly elected President Joe Biden with regards to environmental policies?
President Trump rolled back more environmental policies than even I thought he would be able to (and I certainly was not an optimist on the matter!). So I am excited to have a leader that is ready to consider climate change impacts seriously and understands that it is a major issue especially among young people in this country. However, there is A LOT of work to be done! And while the national policy is sure to go a long way, I also believe a lot of impactful sustainability work can be done on state and local levels. So, having our national leader be much more supportive of these initiatives will hopefully have a trickle-down effect to the states and cities as well.
Where are you from, how did your city town and neighbourhood helped you become who you are today?
I grew up in a suburb outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. There was an extremely strong sense of community, and what it meant something to people to be part of our town. There are tons of quirky town traditions that people really take pride in. I think that this really shaped me to be who I am today because I truly believe that real, big change happens on the community level. Having national leadership that values climate policy is important, but there is SO much capacity to make a change in people's lives and the environment when you focus locally. My town helped to teach me that, while being active not he large scale is important if everyone focused on their own little corner of the world and made it a little brighter, a little better, a little healthier, than before you know it the whole world would be a little brighter, better and healthier too.
Tell us about the fun things did in the Summer Camps as the Camp Director, how did being in nature and wilderness changed you?
Oh my! Running summer camps and being an environmental science teacher at an elementary school was absolutely my favorite thing I have ever done. As I mentioned before, I believe that having positive experiences in nature helps to create adults who care about the natural world. All of the camps that I ran were nature-adventure camps, and it was such an amazing experience to be able to re-experience nature for the first time through the children's' eyes. It was so inspiring to watch them explore and discover. I was fortunate that both camps I ran, we had acres of wooded land to explore, with ponds and creeks. So the kids were outside most of the day, playing in the water, discovering critters and imagining they were explorers.
As an esteemed student Member of Green Board of Salisbury University (Terri's alma mater) you managed to get a fully-funded grant for an eco-friendly bicycle generator on campus, can you describe the challenges faced and how you overcame them?
My freshman year at Salisbury University, I applied for a Green Fund Grant, which is a program through the University where all students pay a very small fee as part of their tuition that contributes to a pot of money that can be used to fund green student-led projects. I continued a project that had been left unfinished by a former student who graduated, which was to build a bicycle generator, where a person pedalling the bike created electricity to run a blender for making smoothies, or a radio. I was super fortunate to be at a University that offered students the opportunity to write their own grant and request funding for a project. The most difficult part for me was actually building the bikes! I knew nothing about generators at the time so teaching myself along the way was definitely the most challenging. But reaching out to knowledgeable people helped a lot, and enabled me to learn and make connections. After my request went through, I then joined the Green Board which was the board that reviewed the grants and decided which projects got funded. That was an awesome experience as well because I got to be on the other side of the table and see a lot of awesome projects come to fruition that my peers came up with.
You were elected as a Chair of Mayor's Sustainability Advisory Committee. Congratulations. What were your fundamental responsibilities and key learnings from the experience?
Thank you! I began my time with the MSAC as an intern for the City, then I became an official member, then from there, I became Chair. The main role of the MSAC was to act as an advisory board to the Mayor on sustainability projects/green outreach etc... So for example, we told the Mayor that we should have a Green Business program that recognizes businesses that are going above and beyond to do their part for the environment. He liked the idea so we came up with a whole system, and then presented the idea to City Counsel on behalf of the Mayor. City Counsel passed it and now Salisbury has a Green Business program! The most valuable thing I learned from this experience is the importance of having MANY difference voices heard. The board was made up entirely of citizen volunteers, and it became obvious just how important hearing a variety of voices that come from all different backgrounds really is when discussing ideas to bring to the community.
What is your vision of a greener and more sustainable Maryland, do you plan to run elections?
Ha! While I LOVE being civically active in my community I have no desire to run for any sort of office. I will absolutely continue to do as much work in my community as possible, but I am more of a behind-the-scenes kind of girl.
How was your experience in the cultural exchange programme at St Xavier's College -Autonomous, Mumbai, India - interacting with local students, food, culture & places?
Having the opportunity to study in Mumbai at St. Xavier's was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. It is such an awesome City with absolutely wonderful people. It was an experience SO unlike what I had ever experienced so it added a lot fo context to my own life and allowed me to take a fresh look at things here at home that I took for granted before. It is truly an experience that I still carry with me every day. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have met amazing, driven students like yourself that represent all of the best things that Mumbai has to offer. I have tried my hand at making some Indian dishes since I've gotten home. None even COMPARE to the food I fell in love with there, but I am working on it! I have tried to make Palak Paneer and some daal dishes... but I miss the Samosas from the Cantina at Xavier's the most. And, I miss the sweet milky tea that I used to get with lunch every day. They simply just don't have anything like that here.
What are you studying right now and how do you plan to use your education in real life?
I currently am a Graduate Student at the University of Pittsburgh, PA. I left Salisbury, MD to pursue some more education. I will graduate soon with a Master in Public Administration with a concentration in Urban Planning and Affairs and a minor in Energy and Environment. I hope to be able to continue to do work with local municipalities to make them greener, more just places for everyone who lives there. This seemed like the natural next step in doing what I am so passionate about!
What is your advice for the youth of this world, who are currently reading you?
While I would love to tell you that you seek out and connect with local causes, because that is what I find SO important and worthwhile and rewarding, I recognize that this is my niche, my unique space. I think there is a lot of value in finding your community and finding what you are passionate about whatever that may be. Your passion may not be local issues, and your community may not be local but maybe online. I encourage you to go out of your comfort zone and try new things to find what you are truly passionate about, and then stick with it!
How are you keeping yourself busy in lockdown, did you pick any new or productive habits?
Graduate School has done an excellent job keeping me busy. All of my classes are online but lock-down has allowed me to devote a lot more time to my studies and get a lot more out of the work I am doing than I think I would have otherwise. I am also trying actively to keep connected with the community even though we have to be at a distance. I am still on several committees and completing internships for the City virtually. I think this work is more important now than ever as every sector is trying to figure out new, innovative ways to carry on and keep connected. Other than that, I've been hiking and rock climbing a lot more than I usually do, which has been an amazing excuse to connect me back to what I fell in love with in the first place!
What is your favourite - Movie, Song, Musical artist, Book?
Wow that's tough! I wish I had a more profound book to offer but I really just love everything Stephen King. He is not super intellectual but it's just down-right entertaining, and I've needed a little escape recently. I also have read Rupi Kaur's books and I am excited to get my hands on her third. As for music, while I do like American Pop music, I am a bigger fan of the classics. Bruce Springsteen will always be my alltime favorite artist. I watch a lot more TV shows on streaming sites than I do movies these days, I jsut finished Schitts Creek and am very upset that it's over!
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