Women's Rights

"Though there may be some stereotypes out there, I see no contradiction whatsoever between sorority girl and environmental activist. In fact, I feel that my leadership skills acquired as an officer in my sorority have augmented my skills in environmental organizing," said James in an email interview with Change.org.

James started organizing in high school in Sugar Land, Texas after attending one of the SSC summer training programs.  She started her school's environmental club originally focusing on recycling and getting grants from local businesses to set-up an in-school recycling program.  From there, she launched an effort to make their city more sustainable, eventually getting Sugar Land to sign a commitment to become a "Cool City" meaning they're investing in clean energy and efficiency projects to reduce pollution.  She also served on the Mayor's Youth Council where she helped advise the city on environmental and sustainability projects. 

"I have always cared a lot about sustainability issues (I used to boss people in my preschool around for not recycling), but I realized in high school that something really needed to be done on a bigger scale. I'm a climate activist because i see the urgency of climate change but i have a lot of optimism that we can do something about it. I want to leave college and enter a world with public transportation, clean energy, and an economy with jobs," she said. "I also have a mom with asthma and a sister with a chronic disease, so on a very personal level, I want a cleaner environment for the health of my family. And then of course there's the high I get from doing something bigger than myself!"

In addition, these women also helped win a campaign to get their school to sign the Presidents' Climate Committment, pledging to reduce global warming emissions to zero.  The President signed the agreement alongside.  As part of the build up of the campaign, last year they ran a dorm energy challenge, encouraging students to use less energy and the winning dorm cut their energy use by 15%.  This past fall they worked on Power Vote and got over half of their student body to sign a pledge to vote and demand solutions for a clean energy future.  

As a former sorority girl myself, I am glad to see young women in Greek life getting involved in national philanthropic efforts and serving as catalysts for local change. Hopefully, with more women like Ursula James she can change the way sorority life is portrayed in the media - beyond a place to have a "good time" in college, and instead a means to network and garner life long skills as community organizers.