By Shelby Toles
Last semester, I received the opportunity to be a student representative for the American Chemical Society, a non-governmental organization comprised of scientists all over the world. I was selected to be on a five-student team of chemistry students to go to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 24th Conference of Parties (UNFCCC COP24) for the purpose of promoting climate literacy among college students and universities. This year, the UN conference took place in Katowice, Poland. Since I am not a scientist, my role for this experience was to bring a different perspective to the group by helping them better understand the policy framework of how the UN handles environmental issues.
Shelby Toles in front of the American Chemical Society building.
The experience began with a trip to Washington DC in October to receive training at the ACS headquarters. We were also invited to the US State Department and the US Embassy of the Republic of Poland to make connections and familiarize ourselves with what we would be doing in Poland. The DC trip was very educational and prepared us well for COP24 in December.
Traveling to Poland to participate in a United Nations conference was one of the best experiences of my undergraduate life. While at COP24, we got to participate in plenaries, press conferences, talks, and more. Our ACS team hosted a live stream to explain the issue being discussed at the conference, which was the formulating of a rulebook for Member States to follow to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. I was also able to hear a private talk from Secretary General Antonio Guterres about the growing risks of climate change. COP24 ended in the successful agreement to adopt a set of guidelines for the Paris Agreement.
Shelby (center) with other delegates from the American Chemical Society.
Following COP24, I traveled to Orlando, Florida, at the beginning of April to participate in the annual ACS convention to give a presentation over the policy framework of how the UN handles global waste management. My job as a student representative was to describe my experience at COP24 and incorporate that into research about global waste management. The conference was a success, as I was able to bring a new, non-scientific perspective of the UN to a large group of scientists. I am extremely thankful to have gotten this opportunity, as it has opened many doors for me and deepened my interesting in global environmental issues. I look forward to my future and I encourage anyone to take full advantage of opportunities that come your way, no matter how intimidating they may seem at first.
Shelby Toles (’20) is an International Studies major and German minor from Roswell, New Mexico. She studies global issues and environmental policy at Baylor University. She hopes to work with policy on environmental issues in the future.