Janhavee Belvalkar (Jani) is running for Sustainability Officer in this year’s Student Union elections. She has a recent endorsement from the Stirling solidarity space, nine years of passion for sustainability and a pending environmental science degree under her belt.
Belvalkar’s manifesto is built on the concept that global-vision starts at local-action. She aims to provide an accessible approach to making this campus sustainable for us and future generations.
Brig sat down with Belvalkar to discuss her campaign.
Real world understanding of the impact of sustainability
Belvalkar defines sustainability “as a concept that goes beyond recycling, creating small, positive, lasting impact and developing opportunities that improves multiple sectors of the environment such as poverty and education”.
Upon sitting down with Belvalkar, you get a sense that sustainability at every level of a change goes beyond a passion, but a vocation that she needs to put into action.
Curious to know where this stemmed from, she told a story of when she went on a school trip at 13 to a city near where she lived in India, dubbed a sustainable city. When they arrived, they were shown one area with new developments which appeared to be a sustainable and progressive area.
However, when visiting the other side (literally and metaphorically) she met farmers who were previous occupants of the “new development”. They informed her that their land was taken away from them without compensation and turned into wasteland to make room for this new development.
“They had just taken away peoples property all to make their area look good on the surface, while giving on justice to the farmers and ruining innocent land …Thats when I knew I wanted to study sustainability and try to make a difference.”
Janhavee Belvalkar
After that experience at the age of 14, Belvalkar did a course specialising in Youth, Environment and Sustainability. Which she admits she was probably a bit too young, but she learned a lot from.
“It was the first time, I realised I can stand up for this [cause]. I can stand up for people who don’t have a voice. I can stand up and advocate for our environment.”
Janhavee Belvalkar
Extensive Experience
From that experience, she set herself on a continuous track of educating herself on issues regarding sustainability and how she can make things better.
From then on, she devoured any resources she could regarding the subject, as well as committing her passion into practice by studying environmental science.
Belvalkar has put her knowledge into first hand experience. She is an employee of the Green and Blue Space at Stirling University, commonly named the eco hub of the campus. She has a long list of connections and notable reputation with the union which will a valuable asset to her, if she is a elected.
Belvalkar also has extensive experience being an advocate for students in her role as a student peer mentor which provided her the personable skills of understanding and addressing student’s concerns. She has put these skills into practice in the realm of sustainability, being a member of the Earth and Environment committee, a position she has held for two years.
Accessible Action Plan
From Belvakar’s manifesto, it’s evident that she has a clear understanding of the student body, providing an action plan that is achievable for the vast majority of people within student life.
As shown above, Belvalkar plans to implement small changes that are accessible to student that will improve the sustainability, such as the mug revolution. Students bring in a mug or travel cup for their coffee to reduce the amount of disposals cups on campus.
Belvalkar is aware that within a cost of living crisis, sustainability isn’t every student’s first priority but making small changes that use elements that the vast minority of students already have (such as a mug) can have a significant impact. While bringing the students together as a community for a common goal.
This idea is echoed within her proposed plan of the Sustainability Olympics. Taking account of students’ competitive nature in a university with a thriving sports scene, she will develop a sustainability competition. This will give societies goals to improve their sustainable profile with the incentive of being on top on the eco podium.
Belvalkar understands the anxiety that the state of world can bring to students. She wants to help by putting her community skills and passion for the environment into a project that can better students’ well-being. Therefore, she plans to set up eco-anxiety pods where students can come chat about their worries and hopefully come away with clarity and ease some of their stress.
Why you should vote for Belvalkar?
“When I first came to university later on in the semester, everyone was already set in their friendships groups so I found community within the student union, using what I have learned in the last three years, I want to pay that forward to other students, in a role which is passion.”
Janhavee Belvalkar
It’s clear that Belvalkar has a strong urge to be a voice of this student body – with a long list of experience to back it up.
“I can confidently say that with my experiences I have had through my degree, work with societies, baking it up with working with experts in the field I have the skills to make the necessary changes and inspire others to get their voice hard and make change.”
Janhavee Belvalkar
Voting opens on Tuesday, February 27 at 10am.
Brig will be keeping you for updated with information on all candidates.
Featured Image Credit: Janhavee Belvalkar
