Sustainability Journeys: Meet Taylor Welniak
Please share a bit about yourself, what you do for work, and when you became interested in sustainability.
My name is Taylor (pronouns she/her) and I graduated from FSU in 2019 with two degrees in Biology and Editing, Writing, and Media. I plan to pursue a Master's in microbiology and would love to study the microbiome for a potential PhD down the line. After graduating, I started working for Moffitt Cancer Center as a research coordinator in the Health Outcomes and Behavior department for Dr. Heather Jim. Right now I work on a study that aims to improve the lives of cancer patients by developing a novel model for understanding chemotherapy-induced nausea from a biological, psychological, and genetic perspective.
How has your interest in sustainability shaped your life and/or career?
My sustainability journey has been a major part of my entire life. It could have been all of the Animal Planet or Steve Irwin I watched growing up but I seriously became interested in environmental sustainability when I took AP Environmental Science my senior year of high school. This class provided the launchpad that motivated me to join Sustainable Campus as a hall council BLG Eco-Rep my freshman year living on campus and I like to say “the rest is history”. For most of my first half of FSU undergrad I was on fire for environmental sustainability and I began studying the intersections of water, food, farming, energy—all topics I learned at Eco-Reps meetings. Then as I matured in my understanding of sustainability I realized people were at the center of all of these topics and the more I started to volunteer with programs like Food Recovery Network my passion for environmental justice and equitable access to resources grew. I realized nothing would change unless all people were involved and participated in the conversations “sustainability people” were already having.
It makes perfect sense that I would be working in an area like research that unites both of my academic interests (science and writing). Specifically a research group that has people at the center of the study and they are in conversation with the research, where their questionnaire responses will actively change the conversation around cancer patient access to nausea prevention techniques in the future. And oddly enough I feel like I’m right back at the beginning of my sustainability journey as I interact daily with people (and even my own co-workers) who have a very limited understanding of sustainability, if they have heard of it at all. For my new “work family” that is at the beginning of their sustainability journeys I feel like the best thing I can do is: foster an environment where it’s okay to ask questions. Now instead of saying “you eat so healthy!” my team is interested in the sustainability reasons I eat a vegan diet. Instead of throwing something directly in the trash they ask me if it is recyclable and I’ve been able to set the record straight that no, their plastic sandwich bags are not recyclable (they are SHOCKED to find out all plastics are not created equal). We have even begun to reuse materials like cardboard shipping boxes for the sample kits we send to research participants. I have no idea what my sustainability journey will continue to look like down the line, but for now I’m enjoying the break from “preaching to the choir” and teaching my Moffitt family about sustainability.
Sustainable Campus would like to thank Taylor for sharing her Sustainability Journey with us. Have an interest or career in sustainability? We'd love to hear from you! Email our Communications Coordinator, Michelle Presley at mpresley2@fsu.edu with the subject line: Sustainability Journeys.