Shirleen Achieng

Shirleen is a fourth year public health science major at UCI. As a public health major, she felt the need to not only focus on the health of the general community, but values the importance of environmental health in relation to social justice. She is a previous community resilience fellow at UC Irvine and currently serves as the Global Climate Leadership Council (GCLC) and the UC Sustainability Steering Committee (UCSSC) student rep. Within the GCLC she is responsible for advising the University on achieving their goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2025 and other sustainability goals. As a part of the UCSSC, she is responsible for oversight of the systemwide Sustainable Practices Policy. Additionally, she will serve as a Carbon Neutrality Initiative (CNI) fellow. Her biggest inspiration to apply for the Community Resilience Fellowship were her early background experiences of environmental inequality and injustice growing up in Kenya. Her goals within these roles are to examine the intersecting environmental, social justice, and racial crises that are occurring in contemporary society and how they affect the UC sustainability practices. She also hopes to advocate for the implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion, within sustainability goals and practices at the UC system. Shirleen looks forward to interacting and collaborating with other CNI and GFI fellows to make sure student voices are expressed in GCLC and UCSSC meetings!

She currently serves as the Global Climate Leadership Council (GCLC) and the UC Sustainability Steering Committee (UCSSC) student rep. Within the GCLC she is responsible for advising the University on achieving their goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2025 and other sustainability goals. As a part of the UCSSC, she is responsible for oversight of the systemwide Sustainable Practices Policy. Additionally, she will serve as a Carbon Neutrality Initiative (CNI) fellow. Her goals within these roles are to examine the intersecting environmental, social justice, and racial crises that are occurring in contemporary society and how they affect the UC sustainability practices.