Linda Fisher, Jennifer McPartland, and Leslie Carothers orchestrated an impactful panel, during which they illuminated the environmental issues that plague our world today. With decades of experience between them, these women provided a complete vision of a career in environmental protection, voicing the benefits and detriments of working in the field as women. All three women enjoy great success in their respective areas of conservation, and their advice is applicable to young women entering into any area of expertise, regardless of its affiliation with the environment.
Chief among their topics of discourse was reward for hard work. Advocates for environmental conservation are fighting constantly against consumer culture and government obstinacy. Low funds and communication barriers also restrict men and women from enacting or enforcing eco-conscious measures. Despite the myriad of obstacles facing Fisher, McPartland, and Carothers, these women persist in their efforts to affect change. They are undaunted by the enormity of the task with which they have been handed. Aware of sexism and other gender-related challenges that oftentimes hinder women working in science and law, the women of the panel persist, striving to create a cleaner planet. Their methods of reaching the goal - experimentation, policy-making, campaigning, fundraising, - are rendered all the more impressive when one can observe the ferocity within each of these women. They are passionate and unstoppable.
To us, aspiring female leaders, the panel imparted their wisdom. Wedged between facts and statistics were reminders to relentlessly pursue a goal; following each scientific explanation of an environmental issue was a warning to ignore detractors and focus on our own work. Jennifer McPartland offered a concrete benefit of tireless work. As a biologist, she excelled in her analyzation and she admitted that her communication abilities, however, were initially lacking. She quickly developed necessary skills in order to express her research and opinions, earning her high praise and position at the Environmental Defense Fund.
Not all WLP members listening to the panel debate and describe environmental matters plan to be scientists or lawyers. But common to all young women in Post Hall on Thursday is ambition. Wiser with the advice of strong women who have already entered the workforce, we will proceed through our college careers knowing that success is guaranteed only to those who work hardest.
