Campus Connection

Grace Lopez Johnson shares her inspiring journey to find a sense of belonging through sustainability leadership 

When Grace Lopez Johnson started classes at UW-La Crosse in 2020, the pandemic’s impact left her feeling alone and struggling in online classes. She even considered dropping out of college after her first semester. However, Lopez Johnson’s college outlook completely changed after a friend encouraged her to attend a Students for Sustainability meeting during her second semester. At the meeting she learned of an open seat for a sustainability director as part of the UWL Student Association and decided to apply, fully expecting the position to go to someone with more experience. 

“While I’ve always been interested in sustainability and protecting the Earth, but making a real change always felt so out of reach,” says Lopez Johnson. “I didn’t exactly know what this role would involve, but I knew this could be my opportunity to actually do something.” 

Lopez Johnson was surprised when she was offered the position and sworn in as director only a week later. What resulted was a complete 180 in her sense of belonging on campus. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she was part of something greater than herself. And the result was creating change that made a difference for the UWL campus and the Earth such as: 

• Organizing Sweaters for Sustainability- a gently used warm clothing drive to collect items for the houseless population of La Crosse.
• Hosting Earthapalooza- a campus event to celebrate Earth Day with various sustainable groups, music and vegan food.
• Helping to expand composting efforts on campus
• Working with groups such as Students for Sustainability on various projects such as eco-bricking and advocacy work
• Being the chair of Green Advisory Committee, a student led sustainability committee focused on bringing different environmental groups on campus together to collaborate on events, ideas and green fund grants

“I found that it was possible to tie my passion for policy work to environmentalism and that people could actually make a career out of it!” she says. “Helping other students feel inspired by sustainability has been my greatest accomplishment in my years of doing this, and I’ve found that few things connect people like the passion to protect our planet.”

Political science studies deepen knowledge

In political science classes Lopez Johnson was able to take her interest in environmental policy a step further. In one class she researched different environmental policies such as clean water access for minority groups and analyzed how public opinion influences energy sector policy adoption. In environmental literature classes she deepened her understanding of humans connection to nature, which led to an exploration of various sustainable writers and advocates. 

Her involvement in sustainability also meant meeting amazing, passionate people on campus and expanding her worldview by being challenged and working through the difficult issues. Lopez Johnson will graduate in May 2024 and plans to eventually pursue a graduate degree in environmental policy.

Lopez Johnson shared her sustainability story with the UW-System Board of Regents on Friday, Dec. 8, in Madison as part of a session on sustainability. 

“If I’ve learned anything from my time here, it’s that my voice, and all of ours, has power. It only takes one person to inspire a movement and become the change that once seemed impossible,” she said during the meeting. “Becoming involved in sustainability has not only kept me motivated to stay in school, but it has motivated me to keep fighting — to fight for myself, to fight for those who can’t, and to fight for a cleaner, healthier Earth, because it’s worth it.”

The UWL campus has many avenues to get involved in sustainability efforts as well as many achievements to celebrate. Learn more on the UWL Sustainability website.