Net Impact IU is focused on making positive changes for the environment, but the group's work isn’t centered around environmental activism or influencing policy policy. Instead, the student group works to create solutions to environmental challenges using business-focused solutions instead of political ones.
Co-president of Net Impact IU, Kinny Liu, said that, other than addressing the problem, they try to motivate their members to think about the solution.
"When you let them know that they can make a difference through events, through projects, they can influence their friends and think about how that will make a change,” Liu said.
Net Impact will offer an event at 7:30 p.m. Monday in Global and International Studies 1128. The Food Solutions Challenge was initiated by the national organization, and 50 other Net Impact chapters will participate. First, they will teach attendees about the feeding a growing world and food production then analyze a case study about corn production at different stages, from farmer to consumer.
The case study teams will pitch their ideas, and the winning group will get the chance to compete against the other Net Impact chapters for the chance to win $5,000 and a paid trip to the food solutions challenge conference in Wisconsin.
Net Impact is a national non-profit organization with a chapter at IU that helps students come up with ideas for social and environmental change and put them into motion in their future careers.
Net Impact is working on eight long-term projects this semester. Liu said their two biggest are From Pond to Plant and working with Greening Cream & Crimson.
From Pond to Plant, led by Megan Yoder, the club’s other co-president, involves researching and creating algae bioreactors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from IU’s heating plant. Net Impact worked with the Greening Cream & Crimson last semester and are continuing their work this semester analyzing trash at IU athletic complexes.
Bethany Holland, Net Impact’s Vice President of Operations, said while working through climate change issues can be daunting, focusing on solutions is less overwhelming.
Holland’s family home is on a ranch outside Austin, Texas. Even as a young girl, she has always been in touch with the environment. Some nights, she and her father would go to count deer. Holland would sit on the window of the car and hold out the a flashlight so they could spot them.
“Growing up in that environment, I’d always thought about animal conservation or water pollution,” Holland said.
Particularly in her hometown, she said she noticed the droughts and competition over water.
Now at IU, Holland is a supply chain management and sustainable business major working with Net Impact member education.
“As a supply chain major, it is all about reducing waste, and I think that can play well with sustainability,” Holland said. “I think it’s the future of business.”
Not all Net Impact members are Kelley School of Business or School of Public and Environmental Affairs students. They draw many students from the School of Informatics as well as the College of Arts and Sciences, Liu said.
“I don’t have to be majoring in this to do something about it,” Liu said. “That’s why we’re opening these doors to IU students so that while they’re doing something that they’re passionate about, they can have the resources to learn about sustainability.”
Liu started working with Net Impact IU as a freshman. She comes from southern China, and she said the weather there is like Florida’s climate. Liu said China faces issues with heavy smog because the country is focused on industry, but where she lives there is less smog.
“On the days when the smogs are heavy in some cities, you can’t even imagine running on the street,” Liu said. “I cannot imagine a future if there’s no improvement.”
Liu said she thinks educating people through real and persuasive data will make people and businesses think more consciously about the environmental effect they leave.
“Normally, businesses don’t think about environmental issues when they’re started,” Liu said. “People think about profit first because you need to make sure the company sustains, but when it comes to sustainability, you need to consider protecting the resources you use.”
